Alex's Hillstream tank

[Jacko]

I've been lazy and never got around to posting this...
I started my 29 gallon tank about a year ago hoping for a wild betta/asian biotope, difficulty of getting bettas and general discontent with the other fish led me to slowly dissassemble that idea. Here it was when it last was the asian styled tank.
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/P4055707.jpg

After that it went through changes nearly weekly, couldn't quite decide on what to do with it, here it was before the big change.
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC287706.jpg

And here's the process of me undoing all my hard work of a year.
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC277691.jpg
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC287692.jpg

[Jacko]

Took out all the stuff:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287773.jpg
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287774.jpg

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287779.jpg

and I'll get the rest up shortly, being kicked off momentarily...:22:

[Ellen4God]

Geez! What a tease! lol Can't wait to see the rest!

[Jacko]

lol, thanks... to carry on:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287780.jpg
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287785.jpg

The redecorating process...
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287787.jpg
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/29%20gallon%20revamp/PC287788.jpg

[Jacko]

And here's the fish and WCMM floating in the tank:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297811.jpg

Ze WCMM
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297805.jpg

Ze hillies:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297806.jpg

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297830.jpg
^Gastromyzon ctenocephalus

[Jacko]

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297832.jpg
^A. molobrion

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297836.jpg
^This is how the tail usually looks, it's hard to get a picture of though since they seem only to flare when arguing or swimming.

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297835.jpg
^Hypergastromyzon humilis

http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/PC297839.jpg
^G. sp. unknown 3

[Jacko]

And here are the last few pics...

A couple weeks ago:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/P1107964.jpg

A few days ago:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/P3158264.jpg

And some fish pics:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/P3168288.jpg
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/P2138060.jpg

[Ellen4God]

Very nice!! What's the piping for under the substrate?

Very interesting fish! I like them a lot. :)

[Deleted User]

Great Job Alex & very nice fish. I have never seen a hilstream loach with such a blue tail. thumbs2:

[AABatteries]

Awesome.

An Ellen, the piping is for the flow in the tank, I'm pretty sure.

[HomaridNoob6]

Honestly I liked the look of it in the first pic, although I could say it seemed that the decorations were a bit "clumped together" but nice looking nonetheless. I was thinking, why the heck you gonna change that? Then we scroll down to the final result and I understand, that is a very nice looking tank. I'd like to get some of those loaches, but they are next to impossible to find around here, not to mention I don't at the moment have a setup for them. Nice tank, cool fish, I'm jealous.

[KingFisher]

Looks great Alex, that's quite a nice collection of Hillies you've got there! thumbs2:thumbs2:thumbs2:thumbs2:

[Wiggs]

I LOVE the rock scaping, very nice indeed :)

[Jacko]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, the piping is for the flow and a bit of extra filtration, not much but it helps. It's 1" pvc tubing attached to the 360 GPH powerhead and a sponge.

I agree with you lobster, I did love the first set up but it was alot more work than the current one, the only work with plants so far I've had to do regularly is thin the salvinia and duckweed.
WAY easier:hmm3grin2orange:

Celtic Fins... spiny head hillstreams (G. ctenocephalus) are my third favorite hillstream loach because of their tails, my first favorite being Leptobotia elongata but I doubt I'll ever have a tank big enough for a school of them.:scry:

[mac]

Loverly job mate. It looks awesome. I am planning to redo my hill-stream tank and set one up more tastefully. Thanks for the ideas mate. Hope you don't mind???

Your fish look great, and the Hill-Stream Loaches look very nice and in great condition.

mac

[Jacko]

Never updated this... rather bad journal skills lol

So here's the tank as of a week ago:
http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp174/awise13/IMGP6958.jpg

Lots of growth, added a couple other fish (stiphodon elegans trio, paradisefish and a lizard loach)

try to keep this more updated now...

[promise]

that is a beautiful tank mate i have tank envy!
hmmmmm i may now have to go away and re-think my tank now!!!
whats the substrate in the bottom, how many layers of it???

[Pleco380]

I love the plants growing in the rocks. Very cool.

[Ashley]

that tank is so beautiful!! I just love it!!!