talldutchies 33 gallon semi-biotope

[Carapar56]

I live in New Jersey.. If I did that I'd most likely end up with mutated fish. Doesn't help that I live across from a water treatment plant XD

[steeler1]

I live in the clean mountains of California but I would not chance it either because the San Joaquin valley is on the other side.

[CrunchyLeaf]

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of lights are you using on this tank?

[talldutchie]

The dual t5 that it came with. One's a 6500k daylight, the other is one of those fancy good for plants greenish ones.

[talldutchie]

OK, everyone loves Hikari sinking wafers.


Everybody loves hikari by j_wijnands, on Flickr

My old sera wafers were never this popular.
These guys respond rather strongly to fresh soft water.


Trigonostigma espei by j_wijnands, on Flickr


This old lady is the last survivor of a school I bought early 2006.


gold tetra by j_wijnands, on Flickr

[~firefly~]

Awesome photos as usual. The colour in that harly is great.

That's a very elderly silvertip! Good work.

[talldutchie]

Thanks mate! Gold tetra actually. Amazing fish, had them not quite a year I think when fish TB wiped out most of the tank. This fish has never been ill at all. Despite the age she (don't know why, always think of her as a she) still bosses the rasboras around.

[Carapar56]

Omg your lambchop is beautiful. I'll definitely be getting a school of those for my future 20 gallon.

[talldutchie]

Soft, clean water is the trick between decent lambchops and stunning ones. At least, with these.

[ameliaaahx]

Absolutely stunning tank, Dutchie. It's truly an inspiration for the Juwel 240 planted tank I'm planning at the moment. Those Lambchops are simply gorgeous -- when I ordered my school of Harlequins a group of Lambchops turned up and I ended up sending them back. Makes me kinda wish I'd kept them!

I know I brought this up in another thread but specifically, what kind of leaves are those? Do you replace them every few weeks or do they just stay that way? And I assume they have to be dried out when you add them to the tank.

After seeing your success I'll definitely be going with those JBL balls, I'm ordering some today. Did you use any other kind of fert or additives in the substrate when you were setting up and do you dose the tank now? Sorry if you mentioned and I missed it. And sorry for ambushing you with questions.