NEW SILVER DOLLAR PLANTED TANK – Consolidating 2 established Planted SD tanks
- Thread starter FJB
- Start date
Metynnis is actually a close relative to pygocentrus piranhas, much closer than the other silver dollars (which count as pacu). So it stands to reason you will see similarities. That said, there is a big difference once you get to know the two.
RBP:
Updates.
1- A recount of the last few days:
Nov 1 - 4 baby tiger SDs added (1 pleco and 4 otos added about a week before, then 2 Brochis)
Nov 8 - 5 adult SDs added
Nov 11 - 4 baby tigers taken out
Nov 13 - 3 adult SDs added (final total 8 adults)
Today, Nov. 17- Dollars thriving, looking great. Setup working seamlessly. Weekly water changes ~70%.
2- The fish. They seem to be thriving. Each of the eight seems to have a place within a hierarchy, but all operate in a respectful, and gender and status (mainly age related) , and sexual driven dynamic. They school together but each does its own. The two extra feet of tank (6 versus 4) serves them well so there is quite a bit of schooling as the photos portray. All fish know each other as they were together before in a 75g, and later where split into 2 tanks. They have come back together and so far so good. Having the 4 baby tiger dollars in this tank would have been too much I think.
3- First time Comments about plants in this tank (~two weeks since fish-in)
It is too early to say anything with certainty and what has been in the last days cannot just be believed that will continue unchanged. The dollars could snap in a moment and eat everything, or some of the fish could, or some plants would be taken and or damaged. In fact, it could just go as the familiar ...told you so. But not so far.
- Plants are looking great, still in need of continue to fill-in and thrive, but all showing fresh new growth and looking fairly healthy. Different hues mainly of greens and orange.
No evidence (clear, anyway) of munching on any of the plant species (except floating frogbit) by any of the fish currently in.
- The small tiger dollars did seem to munch some on some plants, however not badly and not enough to fully damage any individual plant. I observed this multiple times on several plants, mainly Rotala indica, Hygrophyla araguais, and H. sp. But it could have been more generalized.
- The baby tiger dollars were placed in a planted 75g with quite extensive growth of mainly 2 plant species (Hygrophila sp. and Java fern), but altogether 4 plants. Fish don't seem seem to be munching but it would take a while to notice any effects on the plants as there is a lot of growth. These plants were not eaten before by the adult dollars.
1- A recount of the last few days:
Nov 1 - 4 baby tiger SDs added (1 pleco and 4 otos added about a week before, then 2 Brochis)
Nov 8 - 5 adult SDs added
Nov 11 - 4 baby tigers taken out
Nov 13 - 3 adult SDs added (final total 8 adults)
Today, Nov. 17- Dollars thriving, looking great. Setup working seamlessly. Weekly water changes ~70%.
2- The fish. They seem to be thriving. Each of the eight seems to have a place within a hierarchy, but all operate in a respectful, and gender and status (mainly age related) , and sexual driven dynamic. They school together but each does its own. The two extra feet of tank (6 versus 4) serves them well so there is quite a bit of schooling as the photos portray. All fish know each other as they were together before in a 75g, and later where split into 2 tanks. They have come back together and so far so good. Having the 4 baby tiger dollars in this tank would have been too much I think.
3- First time Comments about plants in this tank (~two weeks since fish-in)
It is too early to say anything with certainty and what has been in the last days cannot just be believed that will continue unchanged. The dollars could snap in a moment and eat everything, or some of the fish could, or some plants would be taken and or damaged. In fact, it could just go as the familiar ...told you so. But not so far.
- Plants are looking great, still in need of continue to fill-in and thrive, but all showing fresh new growth and looking fairly healthy. Different hues mainly of greens and orange.
No evidence (clear, anyway) of munching on any of the plant species (except floating frogbit) by any of the fish currently in.
- The small tiger dollars did seem to munch some on some plants, however not badly and not enough to fully damage any individual plant. I observed this multiple times on several plants, mainly Rotala indica, Hygrophyla araguais, and H. sp. But it could have been more generalized.
- The baby tiger dollars were placed in a planted 75g with quite extensive growth of mainly 2 plant species (Hygrophila sp. and Java fern), but altogether 4 plants. Fish don't seem seem to be munching but it would take a while to notice any effects on the plants as there is a lot of growth. These plants were not eaten before by the adult dollars.
New update -
Fish (8 adult Metynnis, 3 species) continue to settle in nicely.
Plants (8 species) continue to do fairly well, growing. One species (2 plants), Ludwigia repens (broad leaf) doing less well, growing spindly.
In their previous settings (last 2 years and last 4 years, respectively), the only adult fish were 3 M. maculatus (2 females, 1 male), and 1 male altidorsalis. The other 4 fish (4 lippincotianus, 2 males, 2 females) were very young, amounting to no more than little squirts, ignored by the adults. The resulting social dynamics of the tank was centered on the constant chasing of the male maculatus and male altidorsalis on the female maculatus. The 4 little squirts as if they didn't exist.
Things have changed - The 4 M. lippincotianus are now young adults, full of pheromones. The tank's social dynamics is now more lippincotianus-driven. Although no breeding display coloration (or chasing) is shown in the photo, moods and actions change by the minute and there seems to be a lot going on, mostly around the youth's.
Hopefully I can make more informed comments regarding SD-Plant interactions soon....
Fish (8 adult Metynnis, 3 species) continue to settle in nicely.
Plants (8 species) continue to do fairly well, growing. One species (2 plants), Ludwigia repens (broad leaf) doing less well, growing spindly.
In their previous settings (last 2 years and last 4 years, respectively), the only adult fish were 3 M. maculatus (2 females, 1 male), and 1 male altidorsalis. The other 4 fish (4 lippincotianus, 2 males, 2 females) were very young, amounting to no more than little squirts, ignored by the adults. The resulting social dynamics of the tank was centered on the constant chasing of the male maculatus and male altidorsalis on the female maculatus. The 4 little squirts as if they didn't exist.
Things have changed - The 4 M. lippincotianus are now young adults, full of pheromones. The tank's social dynamics is now more lippincotianus-driven. Although no breeding display coloration (or chasing) is shown in the photo, moods and actions change by the minute and there seems to be a lot going on, mostly around the youth's.
Hopefully I can make more informed comments regarding SD-Plant interactions soon....
New updates - (adult SDs introduced over 1 month ago).
Tank continues to develop nicely. Fish are settled in (8 adults of 3 Metynnis species).
Plants continue to do reasonably well, showing some growth (some more than others).
It is still too early to conclude on the relative and long term success of this, my 3rd planted SD tank. Will the plants and fish thrive? Will the SDs destroy the plants? Thus, I can only observe, take notes, and here and there, share some of what I see happening.
For the 1st time, I am showing some detail of the plants (just a few shown) -
A note of caution. As we all know, plants need certain conditions for successfully becoming established and growing in a new tank, independently of whether animals are munching on them. In other words, even without any grazing, some plants may not thrive for other reasons (light, substratum, nutrients, temp, pH, etc.). Thus, what we see is the [early] composite result of the plants' intrinsic current status, plus their coping with any silver dollar munching on them. This is therefore an uncontrolled experiment - I wish I had a similarly planted tank, with equal conditions but no SDs. Well, not possible.
Comments welcome!!
And of course, there are some silver dollars in the tank!
Tank continues to develop nicely. Fish are settled in (8 adults of 3 Metynnis species).
Plants continue to do reasonably well, showing some growth (some more than others).
It is still too early to conclude on the relative and long term success of this, my 3rd planted SD tank. Will the plants and fish thrive? Will the SDs destroy the plants? Thus, I can only observe, take notes, and here and there, share some of what I see happening.
For the 1st time, I am showing some detail of the plants (just a few shown) -
A note of caution. As we all know, plants need certain conditions for successfully becoming established and growing in a new tank, independently of whether animals are munching on them. In other words, even without any grazing, some plants may not thrive for other reasons (light, substratum, nutrients, temp, pH, etc.). Thus, what we see is the [early] composite result of the plants' intrinsic current status, plus their coping with any silver dollar munching on them. This is therefore an uncontrolled experiment - I wish I had a similarly planted tank, with equal conditions but no SDs. Well, not possible.
Comments welcome!!
And of course, there are some silver dollars in the tank!
New update (2 months later)...
Tank continues to do well, both fish (SDs, 1 small BN pleco, 2 Brochis, several Otos) and plants.
I have very little (I am reluctant to say none, but it appears to be NONE) evidence of damage to the plants due to grazing by SDs.
Plants are doing well, some better than others. I believe at this time plants are not more lush due to factors different than grazing by fish, perhaps more due to the short time since planted, the still 'new tank' status (perhaps not enough nutrients in the sand), or other factors I can't control well such as water parameters. I apply weekly a small amount of liquid fertilizer (Seachem Fluorish), and I am probably due to apply some Seachem Root Tabs again. I do not use CO2.
While things can change anytime for the worse (I have recognized this all along), I am considering this effort of a new planted SD tank a success for now. Time will continue to tell us what is the case.
I attribute the preliminary success to:
- Plant selection
- Silver dollar species (3 spp - altidorsalis, lippincotianus and altidorsalis)
- Prior 'training' or 'learning' of the silver dollars (in 2 separate planted tanks, not including some of the plant species now present)
- Varied diet provided to the fish, even though I only feed 4 days per week (with exception of seaweed near daily in small amounts)
- Providing seaweed near daily and frogbit/duckweed permanently in a floating corral
- Having the fish entertained with social interactions, such that they are not 'iddle' or 'bored'.
I cannot gauge the relative importance of these various factors, as this is a completely un-controlled experiment (if it can be considered so). However, in my own mind, all of this factors have been important, even if I cannot demonstrate so.
mrrobxc
asked about my experience having Anubias in planted SD tanks (4 separate tanks) - For whatever reason, I had not attempted to keep Anubias with SDs prior to this present tank, where a single Anubias can be seen near the top center, attached to the wood. It has grown great (flowered once, and now having another incipient flower), and has not been touched by the fish. This is very limited experience but so far quite rewarding.
I am sure there are quite a few other plants that can be had with Metynnis silver dollars. n time, I may try some in this or in another tank.
In another thread related to another planted SD tank, [New planted community setup] I discuss my views about yet another SD species, the tiger dollars (M. fasciatus). I have preliminarily concluded that this dollars can also be had in planted tanks (see the above referred thread), but they appear to be more keen on eating plants, and may be more herbivorous than the other 3 species. This is however, a very preliminar and not fully supported conclusion.
First photo of the current look of the tank; Second photo shows the dollars engaged on eating nori from the floating corral (in this shot just excited about it!).
I would love to hear your comments and opinions. Cheers!
Tank continues to do well, both fish (SDs, 1 small BN pleco, 2 Brochis, several Otos) and plants.
I have very little (I am reluctant to say none, but it appears to be NONE) evidence of damage to the plants due to grazing by SDs.
Plants are doing well, some better than others. I believe at this time plants are not more lush due to factors different than grazing by fish, perhaps more due to the short time since planted, the still 'new tank' status (perhaps not enough nutrients in the sand), or other factors I can't control well such as water parameters. I apply weekly a small amount of liquid fertilizer (Seachem Fluorish), and I am probably due to apply some Seachem Root Tabs again. I do not use CO2.
While things can change anytime for the worse (I have recognized this all along), I am considering this effort of a new planted SD tank a success for now. Time will continue to tell us what is the case.
I attribute the preliminary success to:
- Plant selection
- Silver dollar species (3 spp - altidorsalis, lippincotianus and altidorsalis)
- Prior 'training' or 'learning' of the silver dollars (in 2 separate planted tanks, not including some of the plant species now present)
- Varied diet provided to the fish, even though I only feed 4 days per week (with exception of seaweed near daily in small amounts)
- Providing seaweed near daily and frogbit/duckweed permanently in a floating corral
- Having the fish entertained with social interactions, such that they are not 'iddle' or 'bored'.
I cannot gauge the relative importance of these various factors, as this is a completely un-controlled experiment (if it can be considered so). However, in my own mind, all of this factors have been important, even if I cannot demonstrate so.
mrrobxc
asked about my experience having Anubias in planted SD tanks (4 separate tanks) - For whatever reason, I had not attempted to keep Anubias with SDs prior to this present tank, where a single Anubias can be seen near the top center, attached to the wood. It has grown great (flowered once, and now having another incipient flower), and has not been touched by the fish. This is very limited experience but so far quite rewarding. I am sure there are quite a few other plants that can be had with Metynnis silver dollars. n time, I may try some in this or in another tank.
In another thread related to another planted SD tank, [New planted community setup] I discuss my views about yet another SD species, the tiger dollars (M. fasciatus). I have preliminarily concluded that this dollars can also be had in planted tanks (see the above referred thread), but they appear to be more keen on eating plants, and may be more herbivorous than the other 3 species. This is however, a very preliminar and not fully supported conclusion.
First photo of the current look of the tank; Second photo shows the dollars engaged on eating nori from the floating corral (in this shot just excited about it!).
I would love to hear your comments and opinions. Cheers!
