niko

Use the button that looks like 'Play". It will start a slideshow. Jump faster to the next picture with your space bar.
Pictures taken today, Thursday, Dec 16, 2010:

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=...5-58d7d9027fbd


And a video from 30 min ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1OmBKqqbmY

Next time consider having a big school of the same fish in a big tank. You see what they do in your living room



--Nikolay

Ekrindul

Very nice, Niko. Amazing how simple elements can have such a great effect: sand, wood, and a single species of plant and fish.

Much be very easy to care for, as well.

kimcadmus

the movement of the school is beautiful and mesmerizing. I want to see it in person.

spypet

i wonder if the center wood-plant mass been more centered front to back,
would the school swim in a continuous racetrack, rather than back and forth.

niko

This tank is beautiful as it is because of the fish. Without them it would be utterly boring. It is not a finished work anyway.

As you can see on the wood I have major Cladophora + some leftover BBA. My first priority is to clean the tank's water and find a way to maintain as little organics flying around as possible. I have it now to where you can look from one side and through 6 ft. of water see the neighbours' house 50 ft. away as if you are not looking through any water at all. But that does not mean it is clean from organics.

That's why I've been talking more about filtration lately. What I see is that increased flow really lifts the dirt particles and eventually reduces their number. Don't know if they are accumulated in my filters or they just get broken down to smaller and smaller particles. My filters do not have mechanical media of any kind. The only mechanical filtration is that HOB Magnum 250 with a sponge on the intake + a micron fabric inside. I rinse it every two days. It collects a lot of stuff. But I doubt it filters all the possible flying debries. That's why I believe that the biofiltration does a good job.

This tank would be pristinely clean if I had about 100 Amano shrimp in it. Or at least 50 or so Otocinclus - not to eat algae but to stir the dirt and raise it up so the filters can take care of it. I'm thinking about putting 3 Garra sp. in it - these fish are always scrubbing whatever is under their mouths. They do not eat algae but by being so active will certainly stir most of the particles from the wood, plants and bottom.

--Nikolay

Michael

Beautiful! And it made me hurry to Seriously Fish to look up the Moenkhausia.

fishyjoe24

very very nice, what are the name of the fish in the tank.

houseofcards

Niko is this an experiment of sorts. Pretty much opposite of most nature aquariums where you have heavy plant load and low fish load, combined with good filtration, healthy plants and water change and you have pristine tank.

spypet

niko - if you want fish to disturb the surfaces of your tank to get particles waterborne,
I would highly recommend a school of two dozen or more Corydoras hastatus which
will school in rolling cylindrical waves across the bottom - it's really amazing to watch.
I would get otos simply to rasp the wood clean, and to blend in well with these corys.
I have one very confused cory who seems to think a little oto male is his girlfriend.
there are several dwarf corys with various markings, but I think hastatus is best from a
distance, because of the two high contrast black on silver/white dots of it's eye and tail.

Dielectric

very nice tank.