HybridHerp's 75 gallon Planted Monster Tank
- Thread starter HybridHerp
- Start date
Thanks for the condolences guys, it means a lot. It was my grandfather that passed away, and one of his biggest things in life was always gardening. So in a way, I guess that got passed on to me, albeit in a very different form and for very different reasons, but it seems relevant so I'm keeping it.
So lets start where we left off. Here’s my latest cichlid addition to the tank.
Several months ago I got a group of Cryptoheros cutteri at a local auction and have been growing them out. This one was the dominant male, and while his fins are either genetically a little funky or just healed weirdly while growing idk but he’s got some nice color to him.
This guy has been doing well, definitely funny to think of how small he was when I got him (or she, I forget how you sex these things, I know it has to do with spines on the gill plate or something) and how he got super beat up for a while and was difficult to get eating. Eats like a champ now that’s for sure haha
A nice shot of the dominant male angel. Might possibly be the boss of the tank too, but he doesn’t mess with the cichlids or bichirs so (shrug)
Love these guys but this one in particular is a little snot. I tried adding an elephant nose to this tank and this guy just would not leave the poor thing alone. But he’s a pretty fish, just can’t have anything too too meek in the tank.
This rainbow cichlid colors up only when he wants to haha, but I’ve had him at least 4 years now and he’s definitely one fun fish and has been through a good amount of things with me. Definitely the biggest cichlid in the tank atm.
The pair.
One of the rose lines. Nice fish, I need more, they have to be near full grown though to play with the Polypterus though.
An assortment of plants, notably Rotala ramisori var. Florida, Rotala Colorata, Limnophila Mini Vietnam, Rotala indica, and Tonia fluviatilis Lotus Blossom.
Blood vomit that’s been buried a little too deep, can’t see the red super well, I’ll bring it up higher in the substrate later on.
Some more cool plants. Rotala ramisori var. Sunset, Limnophila sp. Dwarf, Ammania pedicellata, Limnophila sp. Belem, Ludwigia sp. Atlantis, and some others.
Some Ludwigia Pantanal.
Some Rotala macrandra in front (the red one) and some Didiplis diandra (the green needle leaf one) behind it.
Nothing much to look at now but this is something relatively new to the states called Hygrophila Cherry. Its not the same as the Cherry leaf from what I can see, that plant has a much wider leaf and tends to be a lot greener and grow faster, this thing is growing at a moderate rate at best and is staying a nice red color.
Red Hadi Pearl Sword, a real nice dwarf sword (doesn’t get taller than 4 or 5”) that gets some nice color to it. If I can get it to flower that’d be fantastic lol
The lady pearl gouramis.
So lets start where we left off. Here’s my latest cichlid addition to the tank.
Several months ago I got a group of Cryptoheros cutteri at a local auction and have been growing them out. This one was the dominant male, and while his fins are either genetically a little funky or just healed weirdly while growing idk but he’s got some nice color to him.
This guy has been doing well, definitely funny to think of how small he was when I got him (or she, I forget how you sex these things, I know it has to do with spines on the gill plate or something) and how he got super beat up for a while and was difficult to get eating. Eats like a champ now that’s for sure haha
A nice shot of the dominant male angel. Might possibly be the boss of the tank too, but he doesn’t mess with the cichlids or bichirs so (shrug)
Love these guys but this one in particular is a little snot. I tried adding an elephant nose to this tank and this guy just would not leave the poor thing alone. But he’s a pretty fish, just can’t have anything too too meek in the tank.
This rainbow cichlid colors up only when he wants to haha, but I’ve had him at least 4 years now and he’s definitely one fun fish and has been through a good amount of things with me. Definitely the biggest cichlid in the tank atm.
The pair.
One of the rose lines. Nice fish, I need more, they have to be near full grown though to play with the Polypterus though.
An assortment of plants, notably Rotala ramisori var. Florida, Rotala Colorata, Limnophila Mini Vietnam, Rotala indica, and Tonia fluviatilis Lotus Blossom.
Blood vomit that’s been buried a little too deep, can’t see the red super well, I’ll bring it up higher in the substrate later on.
Some more cool plants. Rotala ramisori var. Sunset, Limnophila sp. Dwarf, Ammania pedicellata, Limnophila sp. Belem, Ludwigia sp. Atlantis, and some others.
Some Ludwigia Pantanal.
Some Rotala macrandra in front (the red one) and some Didiplis diandra (the green needle leaf one) behind it.
Nothing much to look at now but this is something relatively new to the states called Hygrophila Cherry. Its not the same as the Cherry leaf from what I can see, that plant has a much wider leaf and tends to be a lot greener and grow faster, this thing is growing at a moderate rate at best and is staying a nice red color.
Red Hadi Pearl Sword, a real nice dwarf sword (doesn’t get taller than 4 or 5”) that gets some nice color to it. If I can get it to flower that’d be fantastic lol
The lady pearl gouramis.
This is a new lotus I got from a buddy (Tinanti on several different forums) called Nymphaea sp. Santorum. Stays small (4-5” tall, leaf not too too wide) and has that nice reddish color.
Lagenandra Red, like the previously mentioned lotus it stays on the smaller side. I just want to get some moss or a liverwort growing on the wood that separates this two plants and I’ll get some real nice looking contrast.
Rotala H’ra, Anubias petite, and a bunch more.
Vallisneria Nana, has a lot of tiger striping and likes to spread more than grow tall, definitely a nice Vallisneria and weirdly the only one I’ve ever had luck with (shrug).
Some wave moss, a nice sized Anubias hastifolia.
A lot going on plant wise here. This tank has over 100 different plant varieties in it :S I may or may not have gone overboard with my plant collecting haha
A nice little view at some of my crypt collection. I’m just not sure about wendtii tropica…it seems like its just a nicer name for wendtii bronze, and I have way too much of that plant given that it looks like nothing special. I’d rather have my special crypts take over anyways…striatola and silver queen are taking their sweet time to grow in (like, literal months). Nurii has started doing well for me as well.
Polypterus palmas polli, definitely my most outgoing bichir right now.
Staurogyne sp. purple looks really nice, way cooler than repens imho. Plus you don’t see purple too often in fresh water aquariums.
Several java fern varients (trident, thor’s hammer, narrow leaf, needle leaf), some xmas moss, some Anubias coffefolia, among others.
Anubias Pinto, definitely an algae magnet, trying to get some of the plants behind it to shade it so that it gets less algae and grows a bit better…but right now I’m just happy that it’s growing. Not a cheap plant.
Some misc. plant shots.
Now this one is cool, its Ludwigia glandulosa x palustris from my good friend Barthog, who has a pretty nice website online with plants for sale. This one was also one he collected locally from his area. This one is going to look NICE when it grows in.
Tonia fluviatilis Lotus Blossom.
Bucephalandra centipede.
Java fern Windelov.
Tire track Nerite snail, great algae eaters and very colorful little guys, they do well with the cichlids because unlike other snails these guys tend to stay very close to the glass and leave very little gap between the glass and their shell.
Whiptail Cat is pretty cool, I have two of them, might add a third but idk. Pretty gregarious and never completely out of sight in the tank, pretty active at night and unlike many plecos don’t lay a finger on the plants.
Reason they are called whiptails.
St. Elmo’s Fire…this thing is going to look SICK once it grows tall.
Rotala macrandra Variegated…super pretty plant, grows slower than regular macrandra, but man oh man am I excited for this one to grow in. It took me a FOREVER to find some.
A side view. Aponogeton capuronii is a really cool Aponogeton that I hear is hard to grow (in reality it just seems to demand softer water than most people probably grow it in) and while it grows decently quickly its not a monster like some of the others that needs constant pruning. I’ve had to cut no leafs off from this plant (aside for old growth that looked meh from when I bought the plant) and it’s a blast.
Zebra Nerite, another cool Nerite.
The rope fish being silly.
These pics are about a week old now, and I’ve since added a few more plants, so I’ll have to do some updates in another week or so and at that point I’ll give an updated full stocking list…also that’s going to be a monster of a post when that happens. But thanks for reading this far and tank on people.
