Staffylovers Rift Lake Tank(s)

[fr499y]

Your just showing off now

[Martinspuddle]

Your just showing off now

Your only jealous because her aquarium deeper than yours.

[fr499y]

I prefer them shallow

[DuzMano]

like this one

[Staffylover]

It's been sunny today and in those few hours the algae has started, I will get most of it out manually tomorrow, definitely need the floating plants until I get enough will have to fashion some kind of sun guard for the front of the tank, parasol perhaps?! On the plus side got a pot of Tripatita Japan from LFS so have added that in hopefully it will be ok on the surface, ran out of time to get the light set up but did manage to get the fish in, it's been lovely watching them, the male has been checking every shell and starting to dig a pit in the corner, the female follows him about watching mostly, but every so often wanders off on her own looking unimpressed!

Sorry about how dark they are it was about dusk, so not much light and I couldn't get right up to the tank without spooking them, but they have been out and about a fair bit

[Staffylover]

Floating plants have been added..


The view underneath before (note the hair algae on the sand it was also on the rocks but you can't make it out)


After - note the satisfying lack of algae! more on that in a minute..


pics of the actual fish



I managed to get some wild type swordtail, I got 2 pairs but in QT they seemed a bit weak, I lost 1 female the first day or so to bloat, the 2 males spent a lot of time sitting on the base of the tank, I put them in here just temporary to see how they got on with more space, very well is the answer so they must just have been stressed, I took the extra male out (he's in the big tank) within a couple of days as they were constantly sparring nice for me to watch but was winding the shellies up, since then it's been working well, the swords stick mostly to the top and they have done a fantastic job removing the hair algae even from the sand which I don't know how they manage as it's well protected! I have also been covering the centre bit of the top with tin foil but that only helps so much, no decent pics yet as really the light is very dim but here is the only one that I have of the male.

[fr499y]

Is that a fluval prism you got in there?

[Staffylover]

@fr499y yes! version 2 I think it is, thought it might be nice to try something different since I am not trying to grow any plants, it's a nice effect but not very powerful, I don't think it shows the colours on the fish very well, something I didn't consider, at least with the light evenings I can see them well enough in daylight, I might change it when winter rolls around again,
As I was sat typing up the post yesterday I heard something a bit like scratching, I thought perhaps I had a mouse in the cavity wall again I was so relieved when I realised it was the male, throwing the small shells up against the glass (the sofa is directly opposite tank)

[fr499y]

Haha. They’re little JCB’s