BigBens Restart.

[BigBen]

Bought myself a pair of these today, fell for them a bit last week but didn't want to buy fish before doing the tank up. I've named them Theseus and Ariadne

Their eyes are incredible

I bought more Dicrossus Filamentosis/Chequerboard Cichlids as well to replace the ones I lost. I bought some neons that wiped them all out in a few days, except 1. Quarantine reminder.

[BigBen]

When is too much Trident Fern? I'm tempted to rip it all out and start again. Definitely needs a trim at least, it's full of sediment at the moment and I'm getting some horrible algae in the darkness of it. My anubias are also a bit algaefied, and a fish sitting is rare. I've largely no idea what fish are in here neither.

The fern has been growing without much maintenance for about 5 years now and I have its "new" plants spread out across all 6 tanks..

[Martinspuddle]

Suggestion, I have fifty hungry young Ancistrus that would demolish that Trident Fern in no time at all.

Seriously, after sometime when these Ferns get large, you will find a lot of dead and dying leaves in the centre and underneath.

I found it best to break the plant down, thin it out the dead parts, reattach and you'll will soon find fresh new growth.

[Staffylover]

Wow that's impressive. I can't grow any kind of Java fern at all I have tried several times and 2 of the different types, I have given it up as a bad job, luckily Anubias and Buce do fine I am just trying out Bolbitis, moss does well but that has the same problem the middle of it gets all full of debris then I try to trim it and it all pulls off from where it was originally glued, does look good for a while though, I'm sure yours will look great split into smaller sections, if you have too much you should be able to sell the excess, plants are expensive enough to buy from shops after all.

[Martinspuddle]

It does depend on what fish species you keep with the Ferns.

I've lost mine but only because of young Ancistrus borrowing under the plant and eating all the roots. ...little F@!!#

[BigBen]

I think I'm going to take it out completely. There's not a lot of point at the moment as I can't see the fish, and I'm far more fish than plants. I also want to catch my Hoplosoma Guianensis for a breeding project. I'm a little worried how many Bristlenoses I'll find in it to be honest. I've not seen the male properly in ages but I see new fry regularly so he's definitely still alive! I've already put an add on a local FB page in anticipation of there being 10+ in there. I might have to re-home the male as well as I have two males in my big tank. It's ok at the moment but I'd imagine that will change.

The only problem is, most of the people on these Facebook groups are cretins and I don't want my fish dead/living in muck.

[BigBen]

I've taken the big fern out. Was driving me mad. I'm going to break it up and chop away most of the roots to see how much I can use elsewhere. I've put it in an empty 60l for now just in case I pulled any little ones out with it. There was an unbelievable amount of anubias below and a fairly healthy Bucephalandra. I'll add a photo tomorrow once the tank has cleared. Was filter clean day.

General fishy update/pics
Loricaria Sp.

Brochis Virginae

Super Red Bristlenoses

And some newcomers from this morning in QT




And a general bit of advice. Don't stand on fish tanks. You spend your Sunday evening waiting for stitches in your foot

[Martinspuddle]

And a general bit of advice. Don't stand on fish tanks. You spend your Sunday evening waiting for stitches in your foot

...write five hundred lines. "I will not stand on glass aquariums"

[BigBen]

Fortunately it was my plastic emergency tank that in generally used for inspection of new fish before I put them into tanks. I think it would have been much worse if it was glass.

[BigBen]

A bit of glue and a tetanus jab. All sorted