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On 4/12/2002 1:15:55 AM
Hi All,
I have been keeping a panda red in a planyed tank for almost 6 months. Now I'm setting up a 5ft planted and this round, I'm a bit more siow.....I'm intending to put 2 aro in it. Ok, here are some tips for those interested, you may not like the idea, but it works for me:
Tips
1)Choose those fast swimmer eg cardinal tetras, pencil fish, SAE, etc BUT prepare to lose about 10 to 20% of these to the aro. Some are fast but stupid.
2)You must have lots of "sleeping" place for your small fishes. I have almost a third of my tank grown with cork-screw glass. ( Sorry, I'm quite bad with plant names), A thick portion wth MM, other than that, you can plant ricca, anything you like. 1 observation - during the daytime, all the fishes will be swimming around asking you for food, wch is normal, once it it dark (even if you switch on your aquarium lights) the tank is like a ghost town with only the aro patrolling up and down.
3)The planted tank must be setup with all the small fishes first, let them and the plants "settle" in before introducing the aro. This process is about 4 months.
4)DO NOT intoduce any small fish after the aro is in...They are sure GONER.
5)Make sure the small fish is well fed twice a day so that at night they go and hide or "sleep" instead of swimming around.
I have a piece of drift to keep my 200 malayan shrimps. I also have 5 puffers to slow down the snails from increasing.
Lastly, you might think that I feed my aro with dry food, NO. I feed it with frogs, mkt prawns, aquaone, beef, chicken and pork. No joke, I really feed all my aro with these and I feed only on alternate day.
I have 2 DIY co2 supplying co2 to the plants 24hrs a day. No problem to all my fishes and aro. Lighting is pure sunlight as the tank is in the balcony. Filter is a simple DIY powerhead into a overhead ticker system.
Well, some of my setups are against the planted rules but......everybody is happy. I will try to ask a friend to take some pics for me, a picture paints a thousand words.
Cheers
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