U.S. Native Stream Tank with DIY 3D Background & DIY Roots

[Chasmodes]

Here's a video of the new fish in my stream tank, now that they're acclimated. They're all so bold, not afraid of me when I clean the tank. They even try to eat the hairs on my arm when I clean algae off of the glass. In this video, I feed them blackworms using a turkey baster. I fed the minnows and dace flakes first, so they wouldn't pig out on the worms. Some of the fish are starting to color up more as well. I had 24 minutes of video clips at first, so I had to trim off 14 minutes of it to keep it from being too long. It was tough cutting out some of the scenes for me. Heck, I stayed up way too late last night watching these fish as it was. I'm so addicted to this tank. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did making it.

I have a build thread in the DIY section if you'd like to see how this tank was done.

The species in the tank are as follows:
Darters:
Rainbow Darter (Etheostoma caeruleum)
Fantail Darter (Etheostoma flabellare)
Greenside Darter (Etheostoma blennioides)

Minnows, Shiners and Dace:
Eastern Blacknosed Dace (Rhinichthys atratulus)
Spottail Shiner (Notropis hudsonius))
Silverjaw Minnow (Notropis buccatus)
Longnose Dace (Rhinichthys cataractae)

 

[Arthur12]

Nice

 

[Chasmodes]

Thank you Arthur12!

 

[Chasmodes]

Here's a video update from last night. The fish are a bit aggressive and excited, because I fed them a bunch of blackworms right before filming. They settled down quite a bit toward the end of the video. Also, I added a few new fish, some shiners and one more longnose dace. The new fish ate food less than one hour after I introduced them to the tank. Now, they seem to fit right in. I hope y'all like the video.

 

[BichirKing]

very cool!

 

[BIG-G]

Like this a lot.
You’ve done a very good job making the tank look natural.
It’s like you stuck a camera in a stream. Very nice

 

[Chasmodes]

Thank you BichirKing amd BIG-G!

 

[Chasmodes]

Time for an update. As you might suspect with a new tank, I had an algae invasion, or outbreak, or whatever it's called. It wasn't unexpected, especially given the high bioload. About two weeks ago, I also cleaned the algae off of the wall, roots and rocks, in addition to a large water change that I'll mention again below. I also cleaned the canister filter, being careful as to not hurt the biological filtering ability of the system. As you can see, it's back.

To combat the algae, I'll be performing another large water change this weekend, complete with more physical removal of the algae. I also planted Vallisneria americana to try and out compete the algae for nutrients. I think that will help, assuming the plants take to the tank. The lighting is adequate (Fluval planted light), along with plenty of nutrients with the heavy bioload, which should help the plants grow and thrive.

I lost a few fish since I stocked the tank, mostly some of the smaller blunt nosed minnows, although one hung in there and is growing. All of the adult fish, except for one black nosed dace, are doing fine. I had to battle ich, and that was the main reason for the fish deaths (4 total fish died). I treated them for three weeks with aquarium salt by raising the SG to 1.003. The ich seems gone and hasn't returned since I stopped treatment by making a 90% water change. The fish still scratch occasionally. I may try a treatment of Prazipro, thinking that they might have flukes that survived the salt treatment, or some sort of other unseen parasite. This leads me to a question...do fish still scratch at times when they are parasite free? Are they really ever parasite free?

Now for some pics followed by another video...

Full tank shot:

Left side, showing the faux roots and current sources (spray bar top left, and circulation pump located behind the roots):

Right side, showing the newly planted Vallisneria americana:

And, finally, a video showing everything and showcasing the fish:

 

[tlindsey]

Time for an update. As you might suspect with a new tank, I had an algae invasion, or outbreak, or whatever it's called. It wasn't unexpected, especially given the high bioload. About two weeks ago, I also cleaned the algae off of the wall, roots and rocks, in addition to a large water change that I'll mention again below. I also cleaned the canister filter, being careful as to not hurt the biological filtering ability of the system. As you can see, it's back.

To combat the algae, I'll be performing another large water change this weekend, complete with more physical removal of the algae. I also planted Vallisneria americana to try and out compete the algae for nutrients. I think that will help, assuming the plants take to the tank. The lighting is adequate (Fluval planted light), along with plenty of nutrients with the heavy bioload, which should help the plants grow and thrive.

I lost a few fish since I stocked the tank, mostly some of the smaller blunt nosed minnows, although one hung in there and is growing. All of the adult fish, except for one black nosed dace, are doing fine. I had to battle ich, and that was the main reason for the fish deaths (4 total fish died). I treated them for three weeks with aquarium salt by raising the SG to 1.003. The ich seems gone and hasn't returned since I stopped treatment by making a 90% water change. The fish still scratch occasionally. I may try a treatment of Prazipro, thinking that they might have flukes that survived the salt treatment, or some sort of other unseen parasite. This leads me to a question...do fish still scratch at times when they are parasite free? Are they really ever parasite free?

Now for some pics followed by another video...

Full tank shot:

Left side, showing the faux roots and current sources (spray bar top left, and circulation pump located behind the roots):

Right side, showing the newly planted Vallisneria americana:

And, finally, a video showing everything and showcasing the fish:

Very nice native setup. Is the aquarium in the basement?

 

[BIG-G]

Fish will scratch from time to time just like any other animal, they get an itch.
Considering you just finished a treatment for ich though I would say that the two are definitely related.
How long did you keep up treatment?
ideally you want to continue treating for at least two weeks. I will usually treat for two weeks after I’ve seen the last white spot on any fish.
With a cold water setup those times should be extended, because it take the ich longer to complete its life cycle.

Sounds like you have a plan For the algae.
You may also consider feeding less, reduce lighting (either intensity or duration or both).

How do you feel about having rooted plants hanging down? You may consider pothos vines.
I use them in a few of my tanks and they can really make a difference relatively fast.

Beautiful tank love the scape!