Mesoheros Festae - Tank Journal 180g

[detto]

Holy cow, 5 months since my last post! Was meaning to update this journal regularly but got side tracked with other things. Sorry guys!

Ok before we get into the aquascaping I thought I'd have a yarn about my filtration... Caution long read with limited photos alert!

So after doing some cleaning and maintenance on the Eheim Pro 3 filter I switched it on and to my suprise it wasn't making anywhere near enough flow, let alone move detritus around! *I assumed this was so the filter could process the water more effectively at a slower rate across the 12 Litres of biological media (Substrat Pro & EHFI Mech).

*Based on no scientific evidence and most likely in denial ?

However I still needed a way to move the detritus around so my options were to either add an inline booster pump or a wavemaker for extra turbulence. I thought if I added a booster pump, that defeats the purpose of the slow filtration so I chose the wavemaker instead.

Well coincidently it turns out that I had actually incorrectly installed a rubber boot near the impeller. Once I corrected this, the full rated 1700L/h came spraying out to my embarassed astonishment!

What a beast of a filter! And now I have a beast of a waver maker too! The total flow was a bit too much now so I added a timer to the wavermaker so it only runs from 7am to 7pm at 1 hour intervals for a total of 6 hours per day.

In the last post reply Rocksor mentioned about his use of pre filters. Luckily for me the Eheim Pro 3 actually has a built in 1.5L prefilter in the head that retains coarse dirt and can be cleaned quickly between maintenance intervals. Very handy feature which helps prolong life and servicing.

Because I wanted to have a lot of driftwood in the tank, for extra clarity I installed a dual media reactor to work as a tannin/medicine remover. I installed it inline to my cannister filter therefore not requiring an extra pump and conveniently adding another pre-prefilter. The individual flow is controlled by 3 valves which also allows me to remove it from the whole system to clean, purge and replace media. The first cannister contains activated carbon and the second has Seachem Purigen which is fluidised.





I did a mock installation to figure out where I wanted it and then installed it in situ as the tank was now filled and running. Big mistake, I should have done it prior. It was extremely hard to fit the hose and fittings with limited space and above your head whilst awkwardly laying down but as usual I got it done with persistence and swearing!

 

[detto]

Please excuse my multiple posting. Trying to smash out the old journal entries and get it out the way so I can finally get to posting current growth and breeding updates for you guys!

In regards to aquascaping I wanted to originally try create a faux biotope (not flora correct but visually similar). I got inspiration mainly from the likes of Lee Nuttall and other sources I found online.

Here's a pic I got ideas from: (photo credit goes to respective owner)



It was a mission finding nice driftwood pieces for a reasonable price here Down Under. Majority of the wood that is sold in our LFS comes from overseas and has to be fumigated and quarantined hence the high mark up.

Luckily I came across these and done a bulk buy deal with the owner. Here I've done a mock lay out of what I was thinking whilst in the store:



I also found these hand made clay urns and pots made in Morroco on Gumtree:



The small ones were $3 each and the large one was $10. The guys family makes them over there and he imports a whole shipping container of them over every so often.

This is the final layout I came up with at home:



Lastly I chose the substrate. I was leaning towards a predominantly fast flowing rocky type style. I ended up with a mix of River stone, gravel and crushed coral sand which I already had at home.





I really regret using the coral sand due to impatience and should have waited untill I found something more like this:



Unfortunately it ruined the whole final aquascaping for me and I lost interest. The thought of removing the sand was way too depressing.

To finish it off I was going to add lots of leaf litter, mainly Indian almond leaves and guava leaves. I was also going to try add Anubias and an Amazon Frogbit cover, though it turns out that the Frogbit was recently labelled a noxious species here in WA so that was off the cards.

It all got too much for me so I just left it as is. Fortunately since taking this photo the sand has got darker due to algae and doesn't look so bad.

 

[detto]

Might as well keep posting while I'm on a motivation buzz!

After long searching and patience I finally tracked down some Festae for sale in Queensland. I had to get them shipped over and pay for quarantine.

I bought 5 and they all arrived alive. Unfortunately one was deformed and I sent an email. They gave me store credit so I bought another 2 and also 40 Buenos Aires Tetras for dithers that arrived 2 weeks later.

It was next to impossible to try sex them all because they were so small but I was just happy I finally got hold of some and had a high possibility of having a female to eventually breed with my big guy.

02 April 2021

 

[Ogertron3000]

Hey, just a bit of advice for a fellow aussie, I have been gathering dead eucalyptus branches for my tanks, soak them for a while and you have no problems besides some water turning brown for a few weeks.
It saves a fortune on the overpriced wood from the fish shops!

 

[rvadog]

It's wild that you were so disappointed with this scape. I love it.

 

[stiker]

I only just saw your updates (I have someone been partially MIA on mfk)

As much as I am not a fan of flowerpots and anything unnatural I think that your aquarium looks good as does the male festae in there. Good luck as well with the juveniles you are growing out, as we have discussed festae quality for the most part in Aus is horrible.

Here are some pictures of a current pair I own (the pictures aren’t recent)

Male;
Below picture was taken 2 months after those above. You can see he no longer has the red spotting on his head and is a lot thicker


Female (same female as pictured in one of my posts above. Again as mentioned, pictures are a few months old as she is growing her colouration is becoming deeper red like her mum)

 

[aussieman57]

A little late to the party but was admiring your stand. I need to build a stand for a 180 gallon tank. Would you be willing to share the build components & plan? BTW looks like you scored on that tank.