# Japes' Peaceful SA Display Tank Updates: April 1, 2009



## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

Hey guys and girls,

Most of you have probably seen this thread on other forums. Over the last few months I've been reworking my 5' living room display and have sunk plenty of time and dollars into stocking it. My 4' Eartheater display has been upscaled, downscaled, and upscaled again, and now it's on the way back down for good.

This threads essentially a quick rundown on those out there who are interested in what I've been doing in the hobby for the last few months.

If the details are too much for you I apologise, just skip to the photos. I'm a thorough nerd when it comes to my tanks and describing them. Will hopefully appeal to those with similar tastes.

*140G 4x2x28" Eartheater Display*

- 20G Wet/Dry Sump, 10L Matrix, 300gm Seachen Purigen, 200+ BioBalls, Pentair QuietOne3000, Airstone setup within sump to pass air past media.
- 4x54W 10000K T5HO, only really run 2 tubes.
- 300W Jager (Warranty claim underway, it exploded on me, cheapy 300W at the moment)

What's changed?

Have just sold my colony of 4 _Acarichthys heckelii_ to QueenslandeR, including the fish that won February POTM on MFK. Have my _Geophagus altifrons_ "Tocantins" male for sale searching for a pre-existing colony for him to join and hopefully breed within. Important word of advice for those keeping_ Acarichthys heckelii_ in multiple numbers. Have a tank larger than 4x2 footprint - if one male decides he doesn't like the others, which is certainly possible and has happened to me multiple times now, they have nowhere to go. This was my reason for selling. I'll get back into them when I have room for an 8x3' or possibly a 6x3' footprint, but until then they'll still be one of my most loved fish - in memory.

Sold my two male _Heros efasciatus_ and my _Hypselecara temporalis_ about a month ago

Current stocking and future plans are as follows:

1x _Geophagus altifrons_ "Tocantins" (Rehome)
9x _Satanoperca leucosticta_ (Growing out to form a colony, plan to keep 5-8)
8x _Corydoras panda_
2x _Panaque maccus_ "L104"










Obligatory full tank shot.



















Dominant Male _Satanoperca leucosticta_. Pretty big size difference between him and the next largest..










All 9 of them.

Back to growout stages after having grown out a handful of fish over the period of about 18 months.

*75G 5x15x20" Eastern Amazonas Biotope*

Biotopes have always been a plan of mine, but I just can't help straying a little off track. Most of the species in this tank originate from the Rio Araguaia and Rio Tapajos in Northern Brasil, so I've just branded it as an Eastern Amazonas biotope, but there's a few slightly strayed species that have snuck their way in - it's still very themed and I'm very happy with the display, as it's very public in my well used living room and everyones a fan of it.

- Eheim Classic 2215 and 2217 with EHFI Mech and Substrat Pro, as well as JBL Micromec, 200gm Seachem Purigen.
- 2x54W T5HO, 10000K and 8500K (Sylvania Grolux)
- 250W Jager

Whats changed?

Well, The only fish in this tank that was also present at the start of the year is a large male Common Bristlenose (_Ancistrus sp._) and a few of his fry.

Sold off a large shoal of Rummynose, _G. balzanii_, Bolivian Rams, Angels, SAE's - basically this tank was an oddball community that the family stocked. I paid for it, I do the maintenance, I stock it, so everything slowly went.

The intention of the tank was to always base it around Geophagus, but keep it a community tank so there is always plenty of movement in all viewing levels. The species I chose was the now quite popular Orange Head, _Geophagus_ sp. "Araguaia Orange Head", which meant I could easily steal *Peter's* previous research and essentially mimic his old display. This wasn't the plan from the start, but it ended up panning out that way. I must say that myself and *Peter* have very similar tastes in fish.

I'm still a huge newbie/beginner with this sort of thing, so unfortunately I got slightly side tracked, but after walloping out over a few hundred bucks on fish I'm quite happy with the results.

Current stocking and future plans are as follows:

7x _Geophagus_ sp. "Araguaia Orange Head" (Final colony of 5)
4x F0 (Wild Caught) _Laetacara dorsigera_ (Hoping to keep a pair)
4x _Apistogramma agassizii_
8x _Corydoras julii_
4x _Ancistrus_ cf. _cirrhosus_
2x _Sturisoma panamense_ "Royal Whiptails"
3x _Otocinclus hoppei_
8x _Nannostomus beckfordi_ "Golden Pencilfish"
14x _Thayeria boehlkei _"Blackline Penguin Tetra"
21x _Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis_ "Lemon Tetra"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uu6YRgmM24

Please watch in High Quality.










Full tank photograph from today.




























Full tank and room photographs from March 20, 2009.










Laetacara dorsigera and her favourite rock, trying to court males - at least it appears that way.










One of my smaller Orange Heads with nice colouration already.



















More Geophagus sp. "Araguaia Orange Head".

While they're still quite small they are the most personable and active fish I have ever kept, if they see anyone they are at the front glass near the surface begging for food, and nibble your fingers constantly when cleaning the tank. I've even caught them in the cup I used to presink and thaw out frozen and dry foods, because they swim right into it.

In a few months they are going to look fantastic and the tank will be much more filled out - which will probably be about the time I look at moving to a 5x2x18" or 5x2x2.

Anyway, this thread has probably stretched on long enough so I'll leave it at that. Will probably have some professional level DSLR shots up within the next fortnight or so, so stay tuned.

Cheers,
japes.


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Man your tanks are so beautiful. Can we get some shots of the agassizi?


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

I'll get some for you shortly. Introduced a definite male yesterday and he's a bit beaten up from his previous tank.

Should be able to get reasonably glimpses of them in the YouTube video, and in the first OrangeHead photograph you can see the male in the top right.


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

_A. agassizii_ male. Was only picked up yesterday - nicest one they had at the store, but he was copping a bit of aggression in the small tank. Australian bred in Melbourne apparently. Not overly impressed with the majority of them, and this male is a replacement to another I purchased that ended up having a deformed mouth.










Possible male. Approximately 3cm TL.



















Female, have another definite female as well but they tend to lurk around the back.










A new _S. leucosticta_ shot to finish.


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

very cool fish and tanks...well done :thumb:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Both tanks look awesome Ryan. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

That's some awesome driftwood in the araguaia tank. Love the stock lists*. Agassizii look nice to.

*funny that huh...


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

DeadFishFloating said:


> Love the stock lists*
> 
> *funny that huh...


 You got some credit in that wall of text at least :lol:


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## DiscusQueen (Jul 16, 2007)

Hi there... As I've said before... absolutely beautiful... love the 75 gallon... :drooling: :drooling: 
Good luck with the tanks.. Wish I could learn to take photos as well as you... they are awesome.. :thumb: 
Take care Sue


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Not cool bro, you're making me want a bunch of Geo's..... :lol:

Beautifully clean tank, nice simple but effective aquascape that does what it needs to and helps keep the attention on the excellent fish specimens. I look forward to some high quality shots. (Who are you on APF? I don't remember you saying.) Oh and what's the tune on the vid?

:thumb:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

Hey *Blair*,

I'm japes on APF, I rarely post there. These are all just quick snaps with the Fuji P&S, I'll get some shots with the 400D next week (I don't always have access to it).

Song on the video is Staind - It's been a while.


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Thanks for the shots of the agassizi. The female looks especially nice :thumb:


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

:thumb:

(I didn't mean to imply that these shots weren't quality either bud, just re-read it and realised it could be taken the wrong way).


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Wow,.....great looking tanks and fantastic fish!!! :thumb: I particular like the 75 gallon, the aquascape and love the wood and all it's tangles providing shelter! I remember your heckelii and they were stunning! I have had same type of issues with my Brasiliensis Bahia Red and since they I have chosen the peaceful fish and skip the temperament once. Your curent set-ups and stock lists look realy interesting and wonderful choices! Love the tank love the fish and hope you share more of it. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

blairo1 said:


> :thumb:
> 
> (I didn't mean to imply that these shots weren't quality either bud, just re-read it and realised it could be taken the wrong way).


Wasn't taken that way, I just thought I'd mention it as I somewhat pride the quality of my photography and these aren't A1 examples :thumb:


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## Hubbynz (May 10, 2008)

Absolutely stunning fish and tanks mate.


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

Japes do you grind your pelets for your fish with that pepper grinder? If so why? I've never seen or heard that before...


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Gut analysis of both _Satanoperca_ and _Geophagus_ show that they eat tiny food particles realitive to their size. A lot of hard core Geo/Satano keepers will crush up even the 1mm sized pellets.

Not that I'm speaking for *japes* but that would be my guess. :thumb:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

I used to, it gets clogged way too easily. Feeds the Tetra at the same time which is also good.

I just use a Mortar and Pestle to crush anything bigger than 1mm Spectrum pellets.


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## Philg (May 14, 2007)

great looking tanks- what lighting are you using?


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## Philg (May 14, 2007)

I meant to ask- what lighting are you using for those beautiful photos, and if you dont mind, what lenses?
Thanks
Phil


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

Tank lighting is in the original post.

2x 54W T5HO (1x 8500K Sylvania Grolux, 1x 10000K) on the 5'.
4x 54W T5HO (4x10000K) on the 4'.

Camera for these shots is just a Fuji S6500FD which has a standard non-interchangable 28-300mm.


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## bayoucichlids (May 19, 2006)

Your tanks look so awesome! I'm curious what you are using for substrate. What kind of sand is that? What is your PH and how often do you change water? Thanks for all the pics and the detail posts.

I am wanting to start a SA tank myself and am just into the research phase. I like your stock list too. I will probably go with a 55 Gal to start with. Since I already have a 75G, 20G african tank and a 10G guppy tank. Gotta keep the wifey happy. 

What is the other forum you refer to? Thanks!


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

The substrate is just cheap play sand. pH is 7.1, Weekly or Twice-Weekly 40-45% changes.

Other forum I refer to is MFK. Good example of a forum with quantity over quality.










5' Community at 10mm. Was just mucking around with the lens.










Start off easy. _Panaque maccus_ L104.










_Geophagus altifrons_ "Tocantins"





































_Satanoperca leucosticta_, building up to my favourite shot from the session..










Couple in that series of sub-dominants as well - moving away from only photographing my dominant males. Very happy with the quality of these fish.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Nice pics bro, you must have really bright lights - f2.8, 1/60 @ ISO 200 for me would look pitch black!

Hmm, makes me think I need more light over my tanks - I assume of course these weren't using a flash, if they were then kudos, you nailed it with no visible shadows which is very hard to do! :thumb:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

4x54W, has trouble even growing plants on a 28" deep tank .

No flash of course, you really can't get accurate representations of fish with anything but well setup remote flashes, and even then it's a little 'fake'.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

japes said:


> 4x54W, has trouble even growing plants on a 28" deep tank .


Ah you'll be alright, if you're stuck on easy plants to grow check out my tanks (button) - I have a good list of plants that grew well under 2x30W over 20" depth, both with and without CO2 (28 _is_ pretty deep though, get wet armpits often!?) I don't know what you've tried in the way of plants...?

Hey, but isn't the challenge when using flash, to avoid that fake appearance - it's what makes it so enjoyable, I know that it's what drives me. Mind you if I could take pics at the sort of settings I like to use (f11, ISO100) without a flash I'd be much happier (and better off!) Heck if I were in your shoes I wouldn't see a need for flash either, you get excellent pics and probably less frustration (a little less anyway)! I might juice up the tank lighting before I consider buying the flash I want, it'd probably save me a couple of hundred notes too. What sort of cost are you looking at with your hood, was it fabricated or store bought?

:thumb:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

I took the super cheap route. AUD$125 plus postage for the housing and bulbs.

Wish I spent the extra and got a nice Hagen setup though looking back on it.

As for plants, I've tried Swords and Chain Swords - they didn't die but they never grew either, with a 10 hour full light period. Might try some Anubis I guess, I'd do Valisneria except it would eventually run a muck with my overflow, and it would look awkward in such a high, short tank.

S. leucosticta enjoy lower light conditions though, so short of Valisneria covering the surface, or lillies, I think I'm better off just running less tubes unless I'm taking photos.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Well mate I think cheap and cheerful is sometimes the way to go, you've convinced me from the quality of your shots to upgrade my tank lighting first and worry about OH flashes later on (not that I'm implying the quality of your shots is solely due to your lighting, :lol. Come rebate time I should have enough for the 6fter and a nice lighting rig, for not much more than the flash set-up I was after - definitely the way to go.

Thanks for the inspiration bro!

EDIT - chain swords I had no problems with, in fact they spread the entire length of the tank, but yeah, regular swords do grow pretty darn slowly, I found anubias to be the better option for that. Are you running a solid on/off block light cycle or do you break it up? I ran a longer light cycle than you do, but broke up the periods into 4-5hours on, 30 mins off to combat algae, whilst allowing enough time for the plants to photosynthesise efficiently - I found this to be an extremely effective light cycle.


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

Just looking at those photographs, the stomachs appear almost awkwardly flat.

Maybe Ed can chime in whether that looks right, or whether I should up the feeding.


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## klumsyninja (Aug 14, 2008)

most hygrophila will grow like, well like weeds in that depth and lighting. I highly recommend it. I like the 'ceylon' and 'sunset' ones personally. Nice tall plants with broad thin leaves... very pretty. Couple root tabs underneath and your laughing. I have them growing healthy in my 30" tank with reg hood lights, no problem... slow for first 6 inches then they reach for the sky, fast.


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## Sulander (May 31, 2005)

Really really like your Eastern Amazon tank. Absolutely awesome mate.

Its motivated me to make my setup a true biotype setup rather than the chop shop I've got at present. Really hate my tank now :lol:


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## japes (Jan 10, 2008)

Sulander said:


> Really really like your Eastern Amazon tank. Absolutely awesome mate.
> 
> Its motivated me to make my setup a true biotype setup rather than the chop shop I've got at present. Really hate my tank now :lol:


Thanks *Sulander*. I was completely the same after *Peter* had been pushing me when I was first really getting into the hobby to setup a Biotope, but I continued to half-ass around with my tanks keeping them SA only etc. - my excuse from the start was that I couldn't afford it, but I finally decided to fork out the cash because I knew I'd never be happy with the tank knowing that I could have gone all the way and made a semi-accurate Biotope, and I didn't. Unfortunately I got slightly sidetracked with a few species, but I'm still very happy with the results and will continue to pawn it off as a Biotope 

Took a saw to the wood and changed the right side around a little bit, also added a little more sand.










140G










75G





































_Geophagus_ sp. "Araguaia Orange Head"









_
Laetacara dorsigera_


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

Your tanks are stunning. I love the simplicity of them. I think that the main mistake that I make when I aquascape tanks is that I try to cram to many plants, pieces of driftwood, etc into them and it ends up looking chaotic. I will definetly use your tanks as a future model


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