Altermac's Aquariums

[altermac]

Today I wan't to show the first of my aquariums. I'm on the metric side of the big pond: This tank ist 80cm long, 40cm deep and 30cm high with 96l volume, wich is around 22G. I have just cut the floating plants, so it is a bit lesser green as usual:

There are about 25 corydoras paleatus, 15 orange Medaka Ricefish, some hidden Neocaridina davidi Blue dream and maybe 6 Panaquolus sp. L448 Clownplecos. All plants are removeable with only 1 cm poolfilter-sand on the bottom. From left to right there are following plants:
- a yellow pot with cryptocoryne parva
- a clump of javamoss
- some microsorium pteropus windelov on small woodbranches (Haselnut)
- some guppygrass
- Bacopa caroligniana
- floating duckweed
I tend to change 50% water once a month or when needed. I use tap-water, no additives, no ferts. There is no chlorine in my tap-water.
Corys are constantly in spawning mood. But there will be no fry because they also hunt for every fry or egg. It is a mature tank. There is only one chinese spongefilter with an AquaEl Powerhead. No heater. Single Eheim 13Watt LED 70cm for lights.
Some details, left to right:


The blue background is simply a RGB-LED-strip behind the top of the aquarium, in front of a white wall.
Enjoy.

 

[Pfrozen]

Wow, awesome tank. It looks incredibly clean for having 6 clown plecos. I'm floored that you only need to change 50% monthly as well. I only change about 10% weekly in my own 20g but it is nowhere near as heavily stocked as yours. I'm sure all those column feeders are sucking everything up for you

Let me guess, no ferts? I'd be surprised if this tank needed any. Overall I'm a big fan of the low maintenance style so kudos to you for making this work

edit: missed the no-ferts part, sorry very cool

That being said, how do you keep the substrate clean? I find I have to waaaaay overfilter to avoid needing to vac the substrate. Do you vac weekly?

 

[Ouse]

Really well done...

 

[Fisch]

How long is that tank running? The plants are really nice and thick, there is a wonderful amount of hiding place in that tank.

 

[altermac]

This tank is running for more than one year with this plants. The tank itself is running longer, sometimes I swap the plants between several tanks.

I don't vacuum regulary. Corys and trumpetsnails do the work.

 

[altermac]

Next is a Neocaridina-breeding tank: It's a 40*25*25cm-Aquarium with 25l volume (5G). I have three of them in the top row of my rack. I use them to breed or keep killis or ... . I use them as needed:



This is a simple setup: Mostly bare bottom, one small clump of javamoss, air driven sponge filter, a Eheim LED and a LED strip. It is a 'fire and forget'-setup for neocaridina. I had some crypt-melt in another tank, so i put in this pot with Cryptocoryne wendtii to recover. Sometimes when necessary the shrimps clean plants from other tanks from algae.

To setup Neocaridina for breeding, i select 10-20 of my best shrimp and let them do their thing. This is F20 or above and the strain is quite stable. I get up to 500 shrimps out of this tank, before i restart a colony. Waterchange is a critical task with all that small shrimplets, so I change 50% every other week. But I can't vacuum the mulm out of the tank. So i let it accumulate under the Javamoss. After 6-12 months I empty the tank and start a clean setup.


I have only Blue dreams, so there is no color-mixing.

 

[Ouse]

Your planting skills are fantastic.

Mulm is probably beneficial to this setup, even if it mulm appears unsightly to some.

Are you profiting from breeding the neos?

 

[altermac]

I'm no commerial nor professional breeder. It's still a hobby. But when I aim for a certain dark blue color and pattern, there are lots of siblings. Since I have no angelfish or cichlids to feed them to, I sell by hundreds from time to time.

 

[altermac]

Another day, another tank: This time it is a 80x40x40cm aquarium with a volume of 128l or 30G. In this one are a few Corydoras paleatus, a dozen Panaquolus sp. L448 and a dozen Nothobranchius korthausae Mafia Island (yellow and red, aquarium strain). Maybe there are some Neocaridina davidii Blue dream left, but this is my last resort for offcolored shrimp. The Nothos will care for them.


The planting isn't that impressive: Only Anubias barteri nana tied on stone, and two fresh cuttings from standard Anubia barteri on the left. Microsorium pteropus windelov (javafern) on the right and duckweed and water-lettuce on top. There is a better view from above:

All my Cryptocoryne wendtii suffered Crypt-melt in this tank. I think this is an incompatibility to anubia, wich could only be solved through 'social distance' and excessive waterchange. So i had to move all Cryptocoryne out of this tank.

Waterchange will happen every month or when needed. Tap-water without additives, no regular fertilizer. The Clownplecos do a bit of a mess, the sponge-filter gets clogged and must be cleaned every week. Aquael powerhead on top of the chinese sponge filter, no heater, 13W Eheim LED.

The Nothos seem to like this setup:

 

[altermac]

Going to the greenhouse: Medaka tubs
I'm breeding medaka in two tubs in our cold greenhouse. These are two rectangular 90 Liter (20G) mortar tubs.

There is only an airline with an airstone in each tub. I do no waterchanges, only top off when needed.

Each tub holds about 20 orange Medaka ricefish, many blue Neocaridina davidii. There is a huge clumb of Javamoss, Bacopa, guppygrass and hornwort. The tubs are a bit too warm for hornwort, so the plants change over the year.



It's the favorite drinking spot for our tomcat.

 

[altermac]

Sera 130 Liter Cube:

With 60x60x60cm and 130Liter Volume (34G) this is my oldest and biggest tank. It has the original LED lighting, a heater set to 23 deg Celsius and two air-driven chinese double sponge-filter. I have cut out the original filter compartments, because they blocked 1/4 of the water volume. The Anubias barteri are quite old, from time to time I get some cuttings. (Cut two of them, at the front left, two days ago.) There is Cryptocoryne wendtii, Valisneria and cryptocoryne parva somewhere. A thick layer of hornwort swims on top and puts a lot of shade on the other plants. Works. Waterchange every other month, sometimes less.
Fishes as usual: about 40 to 60 Medaka, 7 Panaquolus sp. L448, 10 or more Corydoras paleatus, lots of Neocaridina davidii.
There a bigger stones under the Anubias, should have been some kind of aquascape. Now it is more a kind of lazy garden.

 

[altermac]

This is the complete rack in my homeoffice:


The tank on the top right corner is my newest project. Medaka will eat their fry and they prefer plants, when placing their eggs. So there are only few eggs in the mop and I got only 20 Medaka fry so far.

Yesterday I took half of the Javamoss out of one of my Ricefish tubs and placed it in 40*25*25cm aquarium. The Javamoss is full of eggs and the first fry spawned today. I'm curious how many Medaka will spawn in the next ten days....

 

[altermac]

Coming to my more temporary corner: A 10 Liter Nano tank on my desktop.

The setup is only two weeks old, cycled media, used gravel, swaped plants from other tanks and around 150 Neocaridina davidii blue that should be sold by now. But its Holiday season, so I have to wait a few weeks to sell these guys.

 

[Ouse]

Nice one. Having a tank on your desk must make working more enjoyable.

That algae growth is amazing; it’s almost like a gingerbread house for the neos.

 

[altermac]

Sometimes a bit distracting ...

This is my homeoffice, finally closed for weekend.

 

[Ouse]

A relaxing environment indeed. Honestly I wouldn’t be able to get much work done in there lol.

 

[altermac]

What to do with algae on plants:
There is water lettuce in some of my tanks. Their roots can get covered with algae, when the tank has a high bioload. To clean this mess, i transfer the plants to one of my Neocaridina davidii tanks:




This takes about an hour.

 

[altermac]

Today my Pelvicachromis pulcher breeding pair showed their fry for the first time:


I got this pair from a friend two months ago. It is not their first spawn, so I let them do their thing.

They are in one tank with Nothobranchius korthausae. These killifish are perfect ditherfish for this cichlid.

 

[altermac]

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[altermac]

Working against MTS: Reduced my aquariums by one 10l-Nano. It is winter but my plants go crazy, so i had to stuff the plants from the Nano into other tanks. My left over Nano tanks look a bit stuffed with plants. First one is a 10l, second one is an 24l, both with blue Neocaridina.

 

[altermac]

The Pelvicachromis pulcher fry is 6 months old by now. I thought there where about 40 to 50 juvenile left, but little did i know: Today i decided to bring them and their parents to my LFS. I got 107 juveniles from my tank. The parents managed to keep the whole batch of fry alive.
Because they were very agressive, only one other species survived. I found only 15 L448 Clownplecos in their tank. One last photo, female with juveniles:

 

[altermac]

New Shrimp bowl (2gal, 8.4l):

Minimalistic aproach with Cryptocoryne wendtii and Cryptocoryne parva and some older blue Neocaridina davidii. The lens-effect makes the shrimps look gigantic.

 

[altermac]

Fishbowl update: Removed the small stones because Cryptocoryne wendtii did so well. Even Cryptocoryne parva has grown larger. Should i remove some plants? Nah, there is enough room left...

 

[altermac]

Update on the fishroom aka my homeoffice: The Sera 130XXL cube is back in use.
The cube should keep all fish left and some odd Neocaridina. There will be a bunch of Panaquolus sp. L448, Corydoras paleatus and my orange indoor medaka.
Since i do not clean the gravel, i try to do a carpet of Cryptocoryne wendtii and Cryptocoryne parva up front. Lava stone with Anubia as a divider and Microsorum pteropus Windelov in the back.
Cycling will be short: All those plants, used gravel and a dirty filter of one of my other tanks should kickstart the nitrogen cycle within hours.
Fish will move next weekend, plants should get some days to stretch their roots.



My work desk will move the left side, a couch on the right. The cube will replace the four tanks in the background. Only one small tank for my blue strain of Neocaridina davidii will move to another place in the room.

 

[altermac]

Relocated all tanks. One is a 25L/5gal Shrimp tank. First time to see this tank from the front, on its last place i could only see through one small side. I will call it mosswall from now on...
It contains Javamoss and blue Neocaridina.

 

[altermac]

A little bit overgrown? Nah...
Sera Cube 130l freshwater. Left alone for a month...

 

[altermac]

New bookshelf aquarium: Div. Anubias barterie and cryptocoryne parva, 50cm and 45l. poolfilter sand at the bottom. Still cycling, will keep most of my blue neocaridina shrimp in this one.