Looking good! As far as the aquascape, the only thing I would suggest is something tall (driftwood, rocks, fake plants) that reaches or nearly reaches the top - it seems a little "low" in my view.
Just curious - Do the shells and limestone affect your pH much? What is your water like to start with?
The average ph of water here in 2010 according to our city engineers and water dept was 7.45, with some places going as high as 7.56 with others as low as 7.15. Here at the university it taps out at almost close to 7.4.
One thing I forgot to mention with my reason for using the dead rock was 2 fold. I wanted to cleanse the rock by having it leech out in the water for a couple of weeks, yet, I also wanted to have the walter receive a heavy shock treatment with salt before I put fish in so that the salt could work its magic on any baddies that might be there. And with the water changes dropping the salinity off until I got it fish ready.
The fish club auction goes this weekend and there are people in our club who specialize in plants, so I am really hoping to get some nice swords and such. When I put the fake plants in at the start I did to help the cycle get rolling due to them being from other active tanks. Since most of the fish in this tank will leave the plants alone(dang lawn mower festivum HAHAHahhah) I am going to go all live plants. I am thinking that the sw t5 light that I have on the tank should simulate sunlight well enough to make the plants grow.
If the plants go well in this tank, it will be the first time ever for me that I have been able to get them to do so mostly because my other fish I keep destroy them and eat them. Kinda funny to watch a big cichlid stand off with a plant and say YOU LOOKIN AT ME! Only to rush the plant and rip it to shreds for no reason. I can understand when a pacu mows down cause that is what they eat, but, I just can not understand why a fish would literally attack a plant for the sake of attacking it.
I forgot to mention that I put my order in for the first batch of neat little flitters that I will be getting this week.
What I am trying to do with this tank is to paint a picture with the fish as it were. Like the 4 cichlid that I put in to match the festivum. I do not know what they are cause they were mislabled at the store. The latin name they had on the label is actually the name for shovel nose catfish, so I have no idea what they are. If they stay small like the festivum they can stay but if they grow big I have a tank for them. They just really caught my eye with a wonderful color spectrum on them, they looked like they would have some potential just wish I knew what they were. I have tried to find them but have had no luck getting an id by myself. The main thing I am wondering is if they are predatory as the fish I have on order will make very expensive snacks.
With the first catfiish thanks for the id. I got 2 of them for the price of 1 at the store because they put them in with some salvini and the salvini were trying to slaughter them, so the fish guy gave me a 2 for 1, saddly it is not a fish they usually carry they showed up as oddball on the order.
Will try to update the thread when I put the next batch in. Very pumped because the fish I was able to select are not normally available here.
