New 6 ft Planted Arowana Tank

[mordrake]

hi guys

finally shifted house and setup my new 6ft tank with sump
it's a low maintenance non-co2 planted setup for my aro.

for your review and feedback please, thanks

6x2x2.5ft ht with 4x1.5x1.5ft sump
eheim 1262 return pump
lights using 3x80W T5 HO (8 hrs)
36W coralife UV sterilizer
seachem onyx sand

plants list:

Blyxa japonica
Blyxa aubertii
Cryptocoryne lutea
Cryptocoryne lucen
Cryptocoryne walkeri
Cryptocoryne wendtii Tall Green
Echinodorus red rubin
Sagittaria subulata
Java fern
Java fern Narrow leaf
Java fern Tropica
Anubias barteri broad leaf
Anubias barteri nana
Cryptocoryne wendtii Green
Echinodorus ozelot Green
Echinodorus tenellus
Vallisneria spiralis
Java fern windelov

fishes: (to be added)

1 aro
20+ cories
100 cardinals
1 bristlenose
2 kribs
20+ otos
10 SAEs
10 redline torpedos
6 discus (maybe)

[richietay]

Initial scape is nice, must be very tiring to set up.

What arowana you intend to keep? Just got one recently.

[mordrake]

quite tiring, especially with the house moving too.
will be transferring my 15inch xback over from my old tank this couple of days.

[Repz]

Very very beautiful scape, can't wait to see the xback in it.

[Aquaculture]

Nice scape. Haven't have the experience of keeping an aro before. Would it disturb the scape that you created, especially during feeding?

[bryan]

Arowanas are top feeders by nature. I guess Mordrake keeps his well fed so it doesn't feel a need to go to the bottom to visit it's tankmates.

[Shaihulud]

Wouldn't the arowanna prey on the smaller inhabitants? I have a 4x2x2ft tank with 3 endlicheri bichirs, so sedentary but they ate eveything small that i tried big congo tetras, cheap white mountain minnows even the fast swimming zebra danio. Surprisingly 2 convict cichlid managed to evade the massacre, dunno how they managed it when over 3 mnths 18 of their bro n sis were eaten.

[mordrake]

the aro was bought at 4inches and grew up amongst cardinals and a whole lot of smaller fishes in my old 6ft. the diet has always been grey market prawns and superworms. doesn't eat small fishes... well except for some male betta that took to wriggling their tails in the aro's face.

any other plants i can add to the scape?

[collina]

Wow!!! Very nice.

thanks for sharing

[benny]

Very nice!

But I would avoid putting corydoras with the arowana. In the unlikely event that the become arowana food, their dorsal and pectoral fins can give the arowana grief. These bottom feeders do go up to the water surface for air now and then.

Cheers,

[mordrake]

thanks Benny

i have a whole lot of cories in the tank. my aro tried and found out quite long ago that cories aren't very tasty and chewable. the lazy fella prefers to wait for SW and MP

[valice]

Melvin, do update on the growth of the Blyxa species. There are some complaints from past users that Blyxa just can't seem to grow in Onyx. Hope your success can dispel this myth/believe.

[Jungle-mania]

In case, you want to get exotic with your fish food, C328 and Y618 are selling bags of 50 odd small tetras like bleeding heart, coffee bean, glowlight at a ridiculous price of way less than $$. Your aro will be pleased with the more colourful sacrifices.

[mordrake]

Melvin, do update on the growth of the Blyxa species. There are some complaints from past users that Blyxa just can't seem to grow in Onyx. Hope your success can dispel this myth/believe.

the auberti is doing fine but the japonica have all melted.
going to get my co2 to boost things a little

[mordrake]

In case, you want to get exotic with your fish food, C328 and Y618 are selling bags of 50 odd small tetras like bleeding heart, coffee bean, glowlight at a ridiculous price of way less than $$. Your aro will be pleased with the more colourful sacrifices.

not sure if your comments are well intended but no thanks, i only feed SW and MP to my aro. any "sacrifices" by the small fishes are not on purpose.
i can only reduce the risk by keeping my aro well fed.

[herosipet]

Mordrake,
That is A very impressive setup. I am also doing a planted arowana. I hope you wont mind if I will make your setup as my ideal and copy some of your setup.

[New_garden]

hi mordrake, any updates on your tank? cos i'm thinking of setting up a planted setup, wondering if t5s are enough for 2.5ft height?