# my 5x2x2 south american setup



## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Heres my 150 gallon tank that I've had running for a few years now. This tank is really all about the fish. It is fairly heavily stocked and heavily filtered with large frequent water changes. Its a really interesting tank to watch when I have time, plenty going on in there! Possibly looks a bit small and overstocked in the pics but is quite different in person. The discus are huge at well over 7 inch and the angels are fully grown and pretty large also.

pics



















Hope you liked


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## Cooder (Jul 19, 2011)

VERY NICE!!! this is the sort of thing i wanna have, with geos angels and such like, but it does look a bit over stocked. maybe a little less drift wood and/or rocks would make it look more open, less full if you know what i mean.
Wood seems to fill up your feild of view for some reason, i have no idea why but it does...


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## Adrian101 (Jan 24, 2011)

What filtration are you using on the tank?just interested for my own 150. Thanks


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Cooder said:


> VERY NICE!!! this is the sort of thing i wanna have, with geos angels and such like, but it does look a bit over stocked. maybe a little less drift wood and/or rocks would make it look more open, less full if you know what i mean.
> Wood seems to fill up your feild of view for some reason, i have no idea why but it does...


Cheers mate. The angle of the shot makes it look pretty cramped, it is a lot more open than appears in the pic, remember its 2 foot back to front. It is heavily stocked but it works pretty well the different species generally don't bother oneanother but there is plenty of inter species disputes which is fun to watch and generally good for their overall wellbeing imo and keeps them mentally stimulated.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Adrian101 said:


> What filtration are you using on the tank?just interested for my own 150. Thanks


Have a eheim pro 3 cannister and a very big huey hung sponge filter inside the tank with plenty of air going through it.


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## jbr230 (Sep 23, 2007)

great tank! those discus are really something!
what kind of light are you using?


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## DempseyDude (Apr 4, 2005)

Beautiful!


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

sweet setup


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## Adrian101 (Jan 24, 2011)

It is stunning. What is your stocklist?


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *blue acara*,

Well done; great driftwood/decorations; great discus; great angles.

Where did you get the drift wood? What type?

If are able to get some close up shots of some of the fish (including the Geos as we can not see them that well from the tank shot) it would be much appreciated.

Thank you for sharing; you have an amazing tank.

Thanks,
Matt


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## Chubbs the Jellybean (Jun 16, 2009)

Absolutely stunning tank! I think the stocking works wonderfully with the fish you have chosen. Clearly you are doing a fantastic job if the discus are full grown, healthy, and alive, let alone thriving in the community!

Again, bravo =D>


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

some more pics for u guys

more pics  



























The fish are expecting food here 














































55 imperial gallon tank full of red head geophagus youngsters. These are difficualt to get a good individual shot of but are starting to mature and looking fantastic. All are for sale im located in radlett, hertfordshire, UK. pm me if you can want any and can collect.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

a pair of the red head geophagus spawned earlier. They want their picture taken obviously :nod:

female fanning eggs today









male fish from another pair which will soon spawn...



















The redhead geophagus tapajos are now one of my all time favourite species of fish to keep without a doubt. Beautiful looking, lots of personality, hardy, easy to breed and feed and are a nice size maxing out at about 6-7 inches.


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *blue acara*,

Are the breeding redheads in your 150g community tank?

Thank you for shaing all the pictures. I particularly like your Satanoperca daemon.

Thanks,
Matt


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

jbr230 said:


> great tank! those discus are really something!
> what kind of light are you using?


thankyou. the lights are just fluorescent tubes. I only have 1 55 watt t5 tube on normally for the whole tank. (i did have more light but they broke and I never replaced)

For these pics I borrowed 2 old tubes from another tank to improve lighting levels.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Adrian101 said:


> It is stunning. What is your stocklist?


thanks for the comment heres the stocklist.

6 wild peruvian scalare
3 domestic discus
6 satanoperca acuticeps
8 red head tapajos geophagus- still breeding like rabbits and I have fry available
12 corydoras sterbai- these are spawning but eggs always get eaten quickly after being laid by the Sterbai themselvs...
15 ish rummy nose tetra- used to have 50 but over the years their numbers have gone down.
1 green phantom pleco
3-4 otos
1 common hatchetfish- again used to have 12 but this is the only survivor <3. Most died through jumping out of the tank and drying up.
3 corydoras adolfoi and 2 bronze corys.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

mlancaster said:


> Hi *blue acara*,
> 
> Well done; great driftwood/decorations; great discus; great angles.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind comment. The wood was from a couple of lfs. Some of it is called sumatra driftwood some is from a company called unipac and there is a nice shaped big bit of standard bogwood in there as well.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Chubbs the Jellybean said:


> Absolutely stunning tank! I think the stocking works wonderfully with the fish you have chosen. Clearly you are doing a fantastic job if the discus are full grown, healthy, and alive, let alone thriving in the community!
> 
> Again, bravo =D>


cheers for the post, the fish do get on fairly well together and make for an interesting spectacle. The discus were not grown in this tank though, I recently added them from a bare bottom discus setup. They have done really well in there so far. The discus are so large that every other fish has respect for them even during feeding.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

mlancaster said:


> Hi *blue acara*,
> 
> Are the breeding redheads in your 150g community tank?
> 
> ...


thanks again Matt. Yes the redheads are breeding in the community tank, no fry survive unless I put them in a grow tank soon after parents spit them out though

they are satanoperca acuticeps mate. Wild caught. Sometimes they colour up like there about to breed but no luck yet.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

thanks to everyone else who commented.

One thing i will say that may suprise is that the tank water is nowhere near amazon conditions. Its hard and alkaline from my taps and thats what the fish get after my ro unit packed up. Fish health and behaviours are still excellent though and its been like that for over 8 months.


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## monicawells (Sep 14, 2011)

Amazing setup--gorgeous fish! How did you prepare your driftwood? Going to go the 180 route and would love to have some large pieces, but nervous about tannins discoloring the water. I know you can boil the wood to remove most of the tannins, but what if the piece is huge? Also, does the filter help any at all with tannin discoloration? You seem to have avoided discoloration at all--great tank!


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

monicawells said:


> Also, does the filter help any at all with tannin discoloration?


The filter can help with the discoloration if you use carbon in your filter. A filter with just mechanical media (i.e. sponges/ filter floss) and bio media (i.e. ceramic rings/ bio balls) will not do much for removing discolored water.

Hopefully blue acara can give you some insight on how he prepared his driftwood for his tank and how he keeps such clear water.

Thanks,
Matt


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

Most of the wood in my tank is the thin branchy type which as far as I remember released slim to none amounts of tannins, they do float for a week or so in the tank. Bog wood particually big thick pieces in large amounts will give out some tannin which isn't really a bad thing, its very natural... many south americans fish come from dark stained waters, rio ***** for example.

If your tank water becomes stained do a large waterchange. As already said carbon will help but I never use the stuff. Boil the bogwood before adding it- a lot of tannins come out that way.


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## blue acara (Aug 8, 2006)

If the bogwood pieces you buy are huge put them in a bucket and pour over the boiling water and into the bucket. This will require a lot of kettle usage though! After this you can add very hot tap water a few times. Each time you add hot water let thew wood soak init until the water gets cold.

Try to source some of the branchy type wood (redmoor wood/sumatra driftwood is excellent) it will release basically no tannins and looks better than chunky pieces of bogwood(although bogwood setups can look great if done well)

Its worth the work in the end as good looking large pieces of wood looks excellent and quite natural in a south american setup. Good luck


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## monicawells (Sep 14, 2011)

Thanks! :thumb:


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