Pseudotropheus saulosi fry

I have left few times the fry in the common tank to the natural selection of "survival of the fittest", but I decided to raise one generation in a seperate tank.

Here are the small Ps. saulosi 3-4 months old:

Lake Malawi biotope

I chose the smallest african cichlids and I made this lake Malawi tank:

85х45х50см, 190l. 
Fish: 10 Ps. demasoni и 14 Ps. Saulosi


July 2011: 

 

Soon the Ps. Saulosi started breeding:
October-November 2011:

December 2011:

And shortly later the Ps. Demasoni bread as well: 

February 2012

At present I have 3 Ps. Demasoni adn 3 Ps. Saulosi, that survived in the common tank.

A have separated as well few dozen fry.

January 2013: 

 

Mizube biotope / aquascape

Maybe my favorite aquarium was a "mizubee" style aquascape - biotope that I tried in few different ways.
55x25x40cm / 50l.

It started as a Black water peat creek in Borneo for Betta rutilians:

 

 

Later I moved the idea in the nano, added a sump in the back on that aquarium and made a new setup:

Mamberama river, Papua New Guinea:

55x35x30cm+5cm sump

Live stock: Melanotaenia praecox, Pseudomugil Furcatus, Taterundina occilicauda, Amano shrimp

Plants: Marsilea hirsuta, Еleoharis sp., Valisneria nana, Nymphea sp.

 

It didn't last for long due to my neglecting.

At the end I gave up the idea of a real biotope and made an only aquascape aquarium:

Live stock: Red guppy, Red cherry shrimps;

Plants: Echinodorus tenellus, Lileopsis brasiliensis, Staurogyne, Java moss, Valisneria nana, Nymphea sp.

April 2012

 September 2012:

28 October 2012.
I changed the lightening with 4x spotlight 4w LED.

Nano biotope aquariums

I had a few nano aquariums, also biotops. They do not exist any more:

Black water peat creek in Malaysia:

15l, 38x18x24cm.
Fish: Boraras maculatus. Plants: Microsorum Pterosus "Windenow":

 

  

 

Black water peat creek in Borneo:
35x30x21cm + 5cm sump in the back.
Fish: a pair of Betta rutilians; Boraras brigitae. Plants: Cryptocoryne:

 

Here was its place:

In Summer it got overheated unfortunately and was lost.

"Manacapuru" anglefish videos

Some clips, that I made yesterday:

Lago "Manacapuru" - Black water Amazon biotope

My second project was a black water Amazon theme tank.
I started with a 270l aquarium / 115х40х60sm, that i made by myself. It didn't leak.
Fish - 7 Pterophyllum scalare "Manacapuru", 13 Hemigrammus rhodostomus, 2 Mikrogeophagus Ramirezi, 11 Corydoras paleatus, 5 Ancistrus Dolichopterus.
Decoration - roots only:

 

Then I added an elevated sump/plant filter. (The water from the tank runs through a container with ceramsit potted plants as a filtration):

I had some disease, that i couldn't treat and most of the anglefish died.

So I did a restart with the same roots and sand, the plants filtration system remained the same. I ordered a bit bigger aquarium (115x55x60h / 380l), Serpa tetras, Corydoras Panda, the old ancystrus and new and better "Manacapuru" scalare:

March 2012:

So far the aquariums runs fine and the angelfish turned out great:

December 2012:

 

And the "lians" above:

 The Anglefish:

A withe water river in Thailand - biotope aquarium.

I am fond of aquariums and in particular biotope tanks. I am trying to recreate the habitat of the fish. I am not  too strictly following the habitat, but I am trying to select fish and plants that are found in similar region (not obligatory the same stream)

The first aquarium was a South East Asia biotope - white water river in Thailand. It started like this:

Plants: Rotala indica, Lymnophila sessilifolia, Hygrophila siamensis "small", Hygrophila angustifolia, Hygrophila difformis, Microsorium pteropus, Cryptocoryne wendtii brown, Cryptocoryne Lutea, Cryptocoryne cordate, Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia.
Fish: 11 Puntius tetrazona, 11 Trigonostigma espei, 5 Crossocheilus siamensis, 5 Pangio kuhlii.

March 2009:

Then I removed most of the fast growing plants and it became like this:

December 2009

In March 2011 I moved to a bigger tank - 330l / 146x5x50h. I kept the same idea of the aquarium, the fish, the plants and roots and added some more. It is a typical "slow" aquarium.

Plants: Microsorium pterosus normal, narrow and needle, Cryptocoryne wendtii brown, Cryptocoryne Lutea, Cryptocoryne cordate, Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia, Cyperus Helferi.

Fish: 25 Puntius tetrazona, 25Trigonostigma espei, 7 Crossocheilus siamensis, 2 Gyrinocheilus aymonieri, 10 Pangio kuhlii.

June 2011:

  

December 2011:

July 2012:

I still have some problems with the plants, especially the Microsorum and Cyperus Helferi

That aquarium is situated in our bedroom: