This tank has been pretty simple for a long time with just a few small pieces of wood and a few straggly plants. This weekend I found a big, wonderfully shaped piece of driftwood that I just had to have, as well as a red tiger lotus. The lfs wanted $15 for this lotus which had only 1 /2 leaves and the smallest root system ever. I asked the girl at the register if this was some super hardy plant that only needed two leaves and a few roots to take off, and she said that most of the lotus's they sell have more established roots, so I got the plant for $5, which is a much more acceptable price for something that I give a 50/50 chance of survival but just had to have because it was so cool. Since last weekend, the 1/2 leaf rotted, the remaining large red leaf has turned more green, but the plant has five new leaves coming up from the bottom!

Poohbear nice grab on the wood and plant! What kind of wood is that?

I'd like to make 2 suggestions for ya,

1) Put a plain colored background on, any color
2) If your serious about live plants, fill your tank up with them. Your green algae will dye off really quick because your live plants will compete with the algae for nutrients.

By the way I love the colors on that angel.

Looks good Poohbear. I bet those plecos are really going to like that driftwood.

Thanks for the ideas! Tres Bien! Actually there is a light greenish background on the tank already, but the flash on the camera kind of washed it out so it kinda just looks like the wall.

I'd love to fill the tank up with more plants, but for the most part have had a hard time finding anything healthy and decent locally.

Very nice piece of driftwood, Poohbear!

Every time I see one of these tank set ups, it makes me want to abandon
my cichlids for a more peaceful setting!

But there's no way I'm about to turn away from the world of cichlids!

Yes, I know angel fish are a cichlid; I'm referring to the other fish!

BTW, how is Dennis doing?

Any pics or updates?

Thanks, Preacherboy. I think I'm lucky that this angel is pretty mild mannered as far as angels go. I've had some in the past that were eye-ball pluckers. This one is really quite peaceful.

I'll post a Dennis update in Off the Wall soon. He's doing quite well in his agility class, and has settled into the family very nicely. In the meanwhile, you can see some more pictures/video of him and the rest of the pack at:

http://dennisthevizsla.wordpress.com/

for quality online plants check out bayleesfishees.com. Also, wormie and audotribe on aquabid are also good. Sometine bayleesfishees has aquabid auctions too.

There are lots of cichlids that do great in planted tanks!



In there are Bolivian rams and Apistogramma borellii. Just to show an example.

Love the frist pic. So natural looking. Must be so easy to maintain huh?
Either those other fish are small or the Angel is huge,,,how big is it?


AP.

AP- I've tried to keep this tank understocked to help with maintenance...don't know if I've achieved that (there are 3 good sized plecos hiding), but everything seems to be going okay.

The angel's body is about the size of the bottom of a soda can. I think he (or she?) is full grown. I was going to bring this tank to school, but now I like it enough to keep it home with me!

Hey Pooh,,,,all I see are 2 tails of the pleco???? what kind are they again?

Are they L#'s,,,,and are they good cleaners? You guys are talking about the algae,,
I can solve that by suggesting you get some AP's. Tres Bien!
IMO,,,the best "cleaners" for the buck. Well,,a few bucks. Giggly

AP.

AP- Those plecos are just in the tank 'cause they're pretty! Not sure they've touched a piece of algae in their life! It's mostly cyanobacter that's the nuisance at the moment. Nutrients are out of balance I'm guessing. I'm trying to catch up on water changes now that school's almost out, and Dennis has settled in.

L075 - Peckoltia sabaji
L091 - Leporacanthicus triactis

if you don't want to intro another pleco like a bristlenos for tha algae then get some olive nerite snails or otos.

Olive nerite snails sound cool. I don't think I've ever seen them for sale though. Where do you get them?

I've bought them on line before. They can't breed in a freshwater tank because they need salt or brackish water to breed. azgardens website can tell you how many per gallon you need and give you pics.

Beautiful tank, I like the "natural" look also. I have begun to move away from the all rock African cichlid tank look lately. I have started using big center piece drift wood pieces myself. Thats a awsome looking piece you got. I have never been able to do the live plant thing, so I wish you good luck.

I love your tank! So beautiful! Better than mine!

With much thanks to cturner, here are pics of my tank with more plants!!! I took these in the late afternoon without flash to get more natural lighting. There's a little bit of blur, but you get the idea.



I put all the guppy grass stems in the substrate. The hygrophila had roots coming out all over, so I kind of put in laterally to get as many of the roots into the substrate as possible. I broke up the java moss into 3 sections and wedged it into different areas of the wood. The grassy stuff is in the middle of the tank (does it make a carpet?). The tank looks very green now, greener than the pictures actually show. I put 10 Flourish tabs throughout the substrate. If I'm going to succeed, this ought to be enough plants to tip the scales in favor of plants over algae.

Poohbear that looks great! With the hygrophila you can just put the lower roots in the substrate and when they start to get longer cut them and replant the cuttings. The original plant will stem out over and over again. The grassy stuff you put in the middle are actually runners off my vals so when they start getting alittle more growth on them I would move them to the back.

Thats very nice.

But I gotta admit,,,,live plants are not my cup of tea. Just seems like to much work. twitchy Love the first/fourth pic the best, very natural for me.

Do the fish in this tank require live plants or is it just something you like???? idunno

Must be frustrating when you have to stick a net in there and pull up some stems????

Is there alot of trimming to be done to keep them from growing "wild" all over the place. And do you just keep making more planted tanks with the overgrown transplants???????


AP.

AP don't worry your not the only person that doesn't like live plants. That's why they invented plastic and silk plants. Nanananaa

With the trimmings you can replant in the same tank, fill another tank up or share with a fellow hobbiest. I know what poohbear was going through trying to find good plants at her LFS and not having any luck. None of the plants I got came from the LFS, they all came from fellow hobbiests. Although some of the plants I got didn't outlast my very first algae break and were taken down by BBA. dumb dumb

Sometimes when you stick your net in the tank you will get stems but when the plants are fully rooted for a couple of weeks to a month you don't have to worry about pulling them out. You might wind up breaking a branch off of something but that's when you stick your hand in and replant what you broke off and watch it grow.

I like having live plants, it's a real challenge for me. Besides I can't have a greenhouse outside and I don't have enough room for too many house plants so what better way to compensate! Giggly

Giggly ,,,you can come and weed, cut, plant, rake at my house ANYTIME you want. Tres Bien!


AP.

I'll take you up on that offer sometime AP, but you must promise to make me the best meal that I would ever taste! Deal?

Great job with the live plants, Kelly!

Rena, that was very nice of you to help her out as well.

We need more hobbyist like yourself in this hobby!

I was playing with the camera today, so here are a few better shots. I re-arranged a few plants yesterday. I cut the hygrophila in a few places and replanted as I had it laying down before. I moved the val babies to the right hand corner, and I moved the crypt to the left middle. I won't fuss anymore now, I'll let it all root, I promise! I did a small water change yesterday,and added some Flourish trace minerals. You can see that the red lotus lost it's two big leaves from when I bought it, but it has lots of new baby leaves, so it looks like it's going to live. I added the last picture of the angel because it shows her pearlscale better than any of the other photos I've ever taken.







Thank you cturner!! Tres Bien!

Very nice Poohbear. That is an excellent picture of your angel. I can see in that last picture really well the areas on your driftwood and plants where the algae is laying. The red lotus looks like it's doing really well too. I can't wait to see it when those new leaves really take off. Good Luck and keep us updated.

nice final arrangement of the plants, bet the fish love 'em.