Staffylovers Asia river tank

[Staffylover]

I currently have a 180l small fish community plus 2 larger tanks, the smaller tank has it's own thread

350 tank came about as I had my eye on Blue Rainbows for some time, and to a lesser extent Scissortails, also had (could create) some space along the back wall opposite the French doors,

I went for a Jewel Rio 350l it's 'only' 4ft long but is quite deep, I have to say I was a bit concerned about reaching the bottom but now the substrate is in I can just about manage if I stand on a dining room chair, luckily I don't need to very often, it's a bit cold at the moment to be up to my armpits in a tank! Especially as I run mine sub tropical at about 22c, this wasn't something originally planned on, rather I ended up with this temperature by simple trial and error over a period of time, it seemed to work well for me so I have stuck with it,

I have to say despite my initial worries over lack of time for maintenance of a big tank, that on the whole looking after it has been a breeze, it takes no more of my time than the smaller one, although it takes longer to change the water I don't have the same problems with algae or not to the same extent so that saves time, and if I need to I can leave this one longer between water changes,

The wall it's on is actually 5ft but couldn't use all of the space due to practicalities like getting to plug sockets and opening the lounge door, it's a little different to the other tank which is nice, also like that as I walk into the lounge I can see down the length of the tank through the short side

[Staffylover]

I've had the 350 tank now for just over 2years, was 2 years in January, gradually as the blue rainbows matured I became concerned that they were unable to swim much, as they like to do lengths and do not use the width or depth of the tank much so plans were hatched for a 6ft long tank, but it could not be very wide due to available space,
Jewel did not make a tank of this size so I went for an Aqua Oak 6ft tank it holds 420l, it's a lovely piece of furniture but it's a bit of a bank breaker

Back to the 350, it looks a bit bare at the moment as have taken out all the excess grass plus some fish have been moved out, here is a couple of recent pics from the side and from the front

[Staffylover]

The 6ft tank has only been set up and running a couple of weeks, I was able to take some plants, wood, and filter media from the 350 to help with setting it up, it did take some time as I also had an external filter to get to grips with Totally worth it though, it gets more of my attention than the other 2 tanks as I have to walk past it on the way to the sofa so that's a definite plus

However a couple of things I failed to consider, 1 - the filter can be heard when there is no other noise it's a constant low hum expect I will get used to it 2- the lid is made of solid oak it's very heavy I can't lift it by myself with the current restrictions BF is unable to visit so it is currently residing on dining table! It doesn't matter as maintenance is better with it off but at some point it will be nice to get the lid on,

have transferred the first of the fish, so currently in there I have all my Lake Kubutu rainbows, 2 of the scissortails, my 1 remaining pearl danio, and the female Boesmans, the male got returned to the 180 for being excessively bossy!
Here are some pics of it's progress before any water got added,

[Staffylover]

*short break needed dogs getting pestery, back shortly..

[Staffylover]

Idea for this tank was to have it looking like a clear water stream, so transferred the tall grasses from the other tank plus Sessiliflora for at the back, then for between the pebbles went for the following
Water sprite
Crypt Balansae
Crypt Wendii brown
Monte Carlow
Hydrocotyle Tripartita Japan,

There is a lot of die back happening at the moment as they adjust to the planting shock, hopefully they will start to bounce back soon
Here is a pic shortly after water went in

[Martinspuddle]

Here is a pic shortly after water went in

Seeing how you know how to fill a aquarium @Staffylover , do us a faver, show these two how it's done.

I got this far then stopped.

Don't tell me, I've got to teach you same thing as @Andys temperate tank ...how to use a domestic tap?!

[Staffylover]

The 350 will be getting a revamp soon, not sure I can do it in one day so have ordered a small tank to use for holding, then eventually it can be quarantine tank, it should be here this week, after I have this will get on with my plant order,

The idea for the 350 is to get it heavily planted bit of a jungle effect, the grass will come out will go for dark green/ red colours only, nothing too bright, would be nice to go for spotlights as the standard Jewel ones are fairy harsh but not looked into that yet, might not be possible,
Gravel will have to stay, plants like it and it's too much hassle and expense to change for sand,

Fish that are in there at the moment but I don't plan on keeping are
Bronze cory
Black Ruby Barbs
BN catfish 1 adult male 3 babies (might keep 1 or 2 babies)
red whiptail

To transfer to new tank are the remaining scissortails, the simulatus cory, and the single lake inle danio

That will leave me with
Tiger Barbs,
2 Black Widow Tetra
The emperor tetras
African glass cats
polka dot loach
brown whiptail
dwarf chain loach
Synodontis petricola
2 x large SAEs

I would like a few more of most of the fish I am keeping, plus will move some out of the 180, then will see if I have any space left, not much probably, the point of this is not really to get more fish but more just to redo it, think it needs it now after over 2years plus have stolen most of the décor for the new tank

[Staffylover]

Martin, it did take me some time to fill mine as well so I can't say anything, shop caught me out with delivery within a week, so it ended up waiting empty for a couple of weeks while I got things organised, also these are big decisions - wood on the right side or left side etc, took me ages anyway

[Martinspuddle]

Martin, it did take me some time to fill mine as well so I can't say anything, shop caught me out with delivery within a week, so it ended up waiting empty for a couple of weeks while I got things organised, also these are big decisions - wood on the right side or left side etc, took me ages anyway

You could still show them.

Anyway, I'll rehome a BN catfish as well as the barbs if you like. I mean't to ask any of those BRB males?

[Staffylover]

To bring this thread up to date here are a couple of pics of new tank I took yesterday
Now all I have to do is see if I can turn off the original thread although I suppose if I don't post on it then it will disappear slowly through the pages by itself..