My messy overgrown aro tank

[chaq]

Hi

Here are some pics i took recently luan qi ba zao with e.quadricostratus taking control over the tank. To all that think its a small plant, it can actually reach a height of 1.5 feet ... my java moss on driftwood (if you can find it) and e tenellus cant be seen anymore. I have removed most of h.polyspema to increase swimming space for my aro. Any suggestions to improve my tank? thanks.

[vinz]

And I thought my E. quads were tall.

I only have one suggestion now... thin out the E. quad. Other than aesthetics, the arowana will appreciate more swimming space. After that make sure you siphon out as much of the uprooted debris as possible. Can't say much since E.quad is all I can see.

That's very healthy growth... what fertilisers are you using and what's the dosing routine?

The aro is looking great. How big is it now?

[tawauboy]

is low light causing the e. quads to grow so tall?
what is the lighting level of your tank?
they grow to a height of 10-15cm typically and need quite a lot of light.

[juggler]

Me too. I thought my EQ reaching 3/4 ft is too much for a foreground. So I rip it out recently.

With the overgrown EQ, almost can't differentiate from your other Sword plants.

BTW - I like it. Reminds me of mythical Chinese dragons flying over the grassy lands.

[geoffrey]

Wah, mystical dragon flying over.... Sound like Jin Yong or Gu Long.

[chaq]

I trim the EQ every week when i do water change but seems like im not doing enough to match their growth rate Vinz, I need a bigger tank like yours!

Im using dennerle E15, V30, S7 <- are they ferts?

Lighting is about 2+ watts per galon.

There are actually some bba when you take a closer look so its not so lush green as what you all see in the pic.

The aro is about 12 inches in length now.

[Vican]

I'm considering revamping my aro tank to a tank of foreground plants like dwarf swords etc. Reason being the stem plants are growing very fast and my aro needs the space to swim.

My CR is currently 15". Vinz, how big is your RTG now?

[chaq]

Hi Vican, i roughly know what i want when i get bigger tank.

EQ for background (of course this time i will partition before they run wild).
Blyxa for midground.
E.tenellus for foreground.
A few stem plants plus a moss wall kekeke ...

Hows your aro doing? Wouldnt it be difficult to rescape with the aro swimming around?

[anarchy]

i like all those tanks covered with foreground carpet plants with discus grazing. but discus need cover. tetras would be a better choice. like amano's tanks but of course, he is the Master. my 4 footer also like that. i use e. tenellus for the foregound and sagittaria subulata for the mid and background. also got java and windelov ferns at the side plus diftwood covered in xmas moss. i have about twenty mixed tetras, twenty yamatoes and 2 SAEs.

[Vican]

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On 6/25/2003 4:12:36 PM

Hi Vican, i roughly know what i want when i get bigger tank.

EQ for background (of course this time i will partition before they run wild).
Blyxa for midground.
E.tenellus for foreground.
A few stem plants plus a moss wall kekeke ...

Hows your aro doing? Wouldnt it be difficult to rescape with the aro swimming around?
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Just some comments

Blyxa is nice as a midground plant, but you'd need to propagate it as it doesn't creep like the others. I noticed that some mighty swish of the aro's tail will dislodge them from the gravel as their roots don't run deep in my tank. However, it seems to keep itself free from bba

E. Tennellus is nice if well grown, but with it, comes the problem of trapping dirt. It's a dirt magnet. Lots of dirt gets accumulated over time and will get dislodged when the aro swims fast, making my tank looking particle filled. Also, some of them tend to get bba in the areas with lots of direct light.

Probably the same for a moss wall...heheh.


If I were to rescape, probably just start to grow the dwarf swords in a corner and let them over run the tank. Then remove the plants I don't want...

[vinz]

We need to get rosha into this discussion. He has an aro in a 5 footer with altums and cardinal or neon tetras.

Vican, good to hear that your red is eating better now and showing colour. Interesting that your blyxa gets dislodged so easily... mine roots fairly deeply. Or maybe I'm just under-estimating the power of an arowana's swish.

Chaq, E15 and V30 are ferts, S7 is mainly vitamins for both fish and plants. Rescaping with our arowanas should be ok... they're used to us sticking our arms in already.

Anarchy, any chance of seeing photos of your tank?

My RTG is about 13 inches now. I've replaced the H. polysperma with H. corymbosa so there's much more space now. In fact, the RTG looks a tad bit smaller with the extra space.

[chaq]

Just some comments

Blyxa is nice as a midground plant, but you'd need to propagate it as it doesn't creep like the others. I noticed that some mighty swish of the aro's tail will dislodge them from the gravel as their roots don't run deep in my tank. However, it seems to keep itself free from bba

E. Tennellus is nice if well grown, but with it, comes the problem of trapping dirt. It's a dirt magnet. Lots of dirt gets accumulated over time and will get dislodged when the aro swims fast, making my tank looking particle filled. Also, some of them tend to get bba in the areas with lots of direct light.

Probably the same for a moss wall...heheh.


If I were to rescape, probably just start to grow the dwarf swords in a corner and let them over run the tank. Then remove the plants I don't want...

My Chilli red is 15" now, eating a bullfrog, 1 Market prawn and some superworms daily. Seems to be less picky in it's diet. But has grown more aggressive and I've seen it attacking my distychodus because it's large and colorful. Color is developing on some scales. Finally, after nearly a year of TLC
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Ok, i think i will consult you guys as to what plants to get when i have a bigger tank. What are dwarf swords? any scientific names?

Yeah, i see some color tint on the scales of your aro leow.

[chaq]

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On 6/26/2003 12:30:41 AM

We need to get rosha into this discussion. He has an aro in a 5 footer with altums and cardinal or neon tetras.

Wow, my dream combo ... how big is rosha's aro?

[vinz]

Bigger then ours... about 1.5 ft already if I remember correctly. You should discuss with him what issues he has with that combo of fishes.

BTW, I asked the guy's at Sam's Pet's showroom in Joo Chiat whether the red there tries to eat the cardinals tetras in its tank. Apparently, it does, when it gets hungry enough. The tetras are pretty fast too, so they don't get caught easily. However, the population of tetras do look a lot less then when I first saw the tanks a few months ago.

[Vican]

The only thing that I worry about when there cardinals or neons in the tank is that neons carry the dreaded neon tetra disease and if they will affect the aro if eaten and gets accumulated in the aro.


Most cardinals are wild caught and thus carry fish TB. They don't show any signs at all till they are old and dropsy will set in. This makes them especially vulnerable to be come aro food and again, I worry that if accumulated in the aro, might lead it to even develop dropsy.


I don't know about other aros, but I'm quite sure that my red would love to eat cardinals and neons because they are colorful. It's more interested in the colorful fishes when compared to the drab otos and SAEs. That's why they're still safe in my tank. My small clownloaches hide pretty well and the distychodus is large enough to survive an attack by my aro. Plus the fact that there are lots of hiding places in a planted tank. This has kept them safe thus far.

Even in my RTG bare tank, the rest of the fishes hide within a driftwood of java ferns and under the powerhead. If there weren't such hiding places, I'm sure that they'll be attacked much more often.

[vinz]

I've got 3 Tiger barbs in there now. Until recently, it was 4, but I have no idea what happened to it. I found 2 dead coolie loaches (bodies intact, undamaged, definitely not due to aro attack) not too long ago, so I can't tell if its disease or the aro that got the barb.

Had 25 of them in there once, but that made the RTG edgy. So I removed as much as I could, leaving 4. Found that the RTG was in a better mood so I didn't bother to remove them. They also solved my planaria problem so I figured leave them there as control crew.

The bards are very fast, much more so then the SAEs. They frequently dart around the RTG grabbing whatever crumbs they can while staying out of the danger zone... i.e. the front of the RTG.

He goes after the otos and SAEs. Otos are really slow, but from the numerous bite marks on the lotus leaves, I realised he's been going after them when they stop on the leaves.

The SAEs stay out of sight when he's cruising, but they come out to graze on algae when he rests. While cautious, they are not as panicky as they used to be.

[Vican]

Actually, the aro chomp marks on the leaves doesn't mean that it has gone after your otos.

I've seen my aro mistake the lily for food and bit a chunk off...
I've also see it going after bits of leaves floating around because they look like food to it.