Just proof that it's still up and running!

And Aura, the plants have changed somewhat...I lost a few, the wisteria didn't fare too well, and neither did the valisneria, so we replaced it with Amazon swords...



I'm not overly optimistic about the swords doing well, either. I may just keep replacing them every few months!

The little rams are beginning to get very territorial and colouring up nicely. Still, I have two on one side of the tank and two on the other side, so I'm thinking there are two pairs.







Something is up with the cacatuoides, but I'm not sure what is going on. The male is flaring all the time, and his belly is yellow.


The female is very timid, and not really growing much at all. She just tries to stay out of the way for the most part.


I need to remove the pleco I dropped in there, but I can't catch him without tearing the tank apart. I wasn't really thinking about what kind of impact he would have on potential breeding when I added him, but I'm not sure these guys could have a successful spawn with all the fish in there, anyway.

I'm going to have to remove the angelfish soon, they are getting really aggressive, and I know it's just a matter of time until I have to take them out.

Kim

Kim, I'm still following in your footsteps! I've lost or am losing some plants too. And I tried an Amazon sword as well. Mine is sending off little plants, but the mother plant isn't looking so hot with some leaves turning yellow.

I don't know why I'm so terrible with these plants. The ones with the tiny, thin frilly leaves are practically bald stems now. They have a good set of roots, but not exactly attractive. And another one just seems to be rotting away.

The filter is getting plenty of maintenance with all of that plant matter clogging things up!

I hate to give up on them because I really like the way the tanks with live plants look, but if I don't discover the secret pretty soon, I'll be back to fake plants. dumb dumb

One plant that I have that is actually growing and still green is the java fern. It must be true that it's a hard plant to kill!

Your rams are looking good. I bet they will be spawning for you soon enough. Good luck figuring out what their demands are for proper conditions. :D

Well, Aura, I don't feel so bad...

Have you noticed it seems to be men who have success with aquatic plants??? What's up with that? (Actually, I'm terrible with any kind of plants, so I should have known better!)

I'm still determined to keep fighting the fight for now. I leave my lights on all day, add the Flourish twice a week...The only thing I didn't do that I should consider is adding the flourite to my substrate, but I was told that I didn't need it... Hmmmm

There is also some type of "mud" you can get to add to planted tanks that is intriguing.

The fish are doing well, and so far I'm not going broke buying replacement plants. It's just frustrating...They look so nice and then they just die! The only thing green that is still in the tank from the very beginning is the piece of bamboo that everyone told me I couldn't put in there! And it is thriving!

Kim

Nice tank and fish, Kim!

If I'm correct, Steph is having great
success using CO2 in her planted tank.

I've never used CO2, but from what I
seen of her tank, it might be worth a shot!

Good luck and keep the faith!

Thank you, preacherboy!

I have read up on the CO2 and decided against it from the start. I've seen too many tanks crash from it working the health folder over at CF! It would not even be a last resort for me, I would just go back to my nice fake plants!

Kim

As always, I have two words for you: water onions. :D

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/plan.../WaterOnion.php

I have three in a cluster in one tank and one in the other. Since they are my one unqualified success in plant keeping, I plan to have a cluster or two in every tank to do some water cleansing.

Yes, it's the one aquatic plant I am inefficient at killing! B)

Pseudo, I've been looking for water onions since you and Poohbear talked about them, but no luck so far.

Kim, I leave my lights on that tank up to 14 hours a day. I've been adding the plant food and I have the aquatic soil. Maybe my light isn't strong enough, but I tried to choose the plants that were labeled as requiring medium or less light.

I wonder if water changes once a week is too much for a tank with plants. Or is that good for them. Hmmmm

It's funny that the plant that isn't aquatic is the one that's healthy and growing for you. :lol:

Well Kim, how are you enjoying the SA's???????

Your tanks looks great and so do the fish Good Job Good Job

When it comes to plants, I have never been very lucky. However, out of some reason that is totally unknown to me, the Anubias Barteri, Anubias Nana and the Javafern are growing very nicely idunno . I am afraid to talk about it too much and my luck will change :unsure: :unsure:

Any other plants start to die within 2 weeks. Well, I guess my wife know what she was doing when she banned me from the garden Blush Blush

Klaus, I love these little guys! It's such a nice active tank, and even though the little rams are getting bossy and the angels are getting territorial, it's still a breeze compared to all the personality types in a mbuna tank!

Aura, I'm leaving my lights on longer than you, and mine are still dying! They are on from 6:30 a.m. until 10 p.m. most days. Pete does weekly water changes, so you might be onto something with that.

Don, I haven't seen the water onions around here...(Now watch Larry step in and say I walk by them every time I'm in the store...) Would they be under a different name? Can you post a pic of your indestructable plants?

Kim

It's looking great to me Kim...I wish ya luck getting things going successfully, I know it can be a challenge...I'm still going through it now! I'm sure in time I'll be frustrated like you though!

Kim, there is a link with a picture of the water onion in Don's post above.

You must have looked right over it just like you do at Larry's store. Nanananaa

Blush Blush Blush

I am such a spaz...

Nope, never seen that before!

(Come on in, Larry...The water is fine...)

Kim

Last I knew, you had the one black angel. Did you buy another? Do you have pictures of both angels, or do you have more than two angels?

Your tank looks great. I just came back from being away for 2 weeks, and I had a little die off of my crypt which had been doing well. I think the floating hornwort got too thick while I was gone and blocked the light. Towards the end of the 2 weeks, my neighbor called me and asked what to do with the plants sticking to the intake pipe. I had her throw them out, so the light wasn't blocked anymore when I got home. The onion plants still look good, so they're worth keeping an eye out for!

Hi, Kelly! I've had the two angels from the start, just never gotten a pic of both of them together, I guess. They are getting pretty big and tend to stay on opposite sides of the tank, so I may have to remove them if they start fighting too much. I don't think they are a pair from their behaviour, but I haven't kept angels in over 30 years, so I could be wrong!

We had the same problem with the hornwort. I think that is better used in outdoor ponds and things like that. It grows far too fast and way out of control.

The swords and bamboo are doing well, so I think I've actually found something I can keep alive.

Kim

Yeah, sounds like they're not a pair, Kim. Although it's been awhile since I've had pairs of angels, my pairs rarely fought (unless bickering over the "kids") and they always swam near each other.

Do you think you'll trade back your angels, or put them in another tank and get a group going so they can pick out a mate?

What I may do is just keep one of them and trade the other back in...I really like the way they look in the planted tank, and other than their dislike for each other, they aren't bothering anyone else!

When I kept angels in my early years, I always just had a tank of angels, I never mixed them with anything, but I'm thinking a lone angel will be okay with this mix. If anyone knows otherwise, speak up!

Kim

I think you'll be fine with a single angel. On another note, I had a thought today regarding your plants. Have you tried Seachem Excel? It's supposed to be a "liquid" source of carbon for the plants, and some plants respond well to it. If you have any algae, mosses or ferns though, I think they might be sensitive to it, but the higher level plants are supposed to do well with it. Another plus is that Seachem says it won't change your pH. Here's a link to the FAQ about it. I haven't tried it myself because I have 3 moss balls.

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/FlourishExcel_faq.html

Kim, the only plant I can keep alive is anubias, and I'm a man. :lol:

Very nice fishies.

Gerry

That's funny, Gerry...I have an "annubias" story. For years we had one little annubias plant in one of our mbuna tanks - a sole survivor after adding that plant and several java ferns that our cichlids quickly shredded! A few days ago, Pete and I were talking and I said "What ever happened to that annubias plant we had? Where is it?" He looked at me blankly and said "I haven't a clue"...We didn't kill it, it just disappeared...

Kim