84L Amazon Biotope

Been some years since I kept tropical fish but now the kids are a bit older (and less likely to disrupt my tank!), I have started a 84 L tank to get me back in the swing of things.

The tanks been running for a couple of months now. Started with 4 platys to get the tank established with the intention of moving them to my 6 ft tank when I get it out of storage and setup. Lost a platy a couple of weeks later, never figured out why (I'd been testing regularly and keeping a very close eye on the tank as it was a new setup). The store replaced her with another platy. No further incidents so maybe the platy just died of natural causes.

Then I added six neon tetra to get the amazon biotope kickstarted. A week later I notice one of the platies has given birth (to my sons joy). A few weeks later I realize I appear to be missing 2 of the neons. When cleaning I find what is left of one of them (looks like the platies had been eating the corpse). Never did find a trace of the other one. I was a little concerned about the loss of the neons but haven't had any more losses since so just hoping it was a fluke.

The neons seem quite happy at the moment and are shoaling with the baby platies (who are fast approaching the size of the neons). Not sure about the exact count on the platies but think I have around 15 babies, which should give me a good start on the 6 ft tank when I get that started.

Planning on adding some more neons at the end of the month to get their numbers to a nice little group where they will be more happy.

Looking into adding corydoras in the future, but I am looking at changing my substrate from gravel to sand first. Don't think my gravel would be an issue with them as it is smooth and quite small, but want the sand because I believe they would be happier with sand. If anyone has any ideas of the best way to do this it would be greatly appreciated. Also the sand seems really overpriced from the aquatic store, heard that childrens play sand can be used and is very cheap. Looking into this.

When I finally have my substrate sorted I will be planting the tank with maybe some cabomba and some amazon sword. Still researching this because I have never ventured into planted tanks before, but I'm really excited to getting into this part of the hobby.

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Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 2, 2013 at 10:04am: Well I went with sand for this tank. Think I may have a go with dirt it the larger tank when I have seen how this one progresses. Going to select some plants this week and get them started.

Sand in started adding the water.

Tank topped up and fish back in a couple of hours later.

The following morning the water is crystal clear and looking great.Can't wait to get the plants selected and in the tank now.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 3, 2013 at 10:46am: Added some plants today. A couple of medium sized broad leaf amazon sword, a load of anacaris. Also some cryptocoryne wendtii and cryptocoryne beckettii which I split into smaller plants and planted around the front. I had a load of anacaris over so I've just left it to float on the top of the tank for the time being, it'll probably end up in the other tank.

Probably going to rearrange the planting again til I get something that works in the tank. It doesn't look to bad as my first attempt but I'm a perfectionist. I know it is going to have to grow in and it will look better then, so I may just leave it for a while.

In the end I've gone away from the amazon biotope with a couple of these plants, but loved the look of them. I've also added some peppered corydoras who have settled right in and love the sand. The other fish are loving the plants now as well.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 3, 2013 at 5:31pm

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 3, 2013 at 5:56pm: Update: Forgot to mention that while doing my water change yesterday I spotted some new platy fry. Only 2 at the moment but early days so looks like it will be a while before all the platies get moved now.

The older fry (now around 12 weeks old) will be moved into the bigger tank sometime next week. I counted 19 young when I changed my substrate, hopefully a friend will be taking some of these off my hands.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 4, 2013 at 4:26pm: Rescaped the anacaris so it's all planted. Bundled into 2's and 3's with a little bit of thread and trimmed the last inch off, then planted.

Think it looks better now, so I'll let it grow for a few weeks and see what it looks like then before making any more alterations.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 18, 2013 at 8:44am: Update 16th November: Fed my fish late evening to find I've lost one of my baby platies. Kept all 19 that were born alive up to this point so was pretty annoyed. Checked water with my test kit and all is good and did a water change as well for good measure. No idea why I lost the little guy but all seems good otherwise.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 18, 2013 at 8:57am: The plants are looking a lot better now the anacaris has grown some.

Most of the crypt looking great too.

That said some of it's not looking that good.

One of my Amazon Swords leafs looking like this for some reason. Any idea what could be causing this? It's only one leaf should I just remove it?

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 19, 2013 at 2:03am: Well while I was doing my water change earlier on I decided to make some changes to the plants and have a little rearrange. I trimmed the damaged leaf from the back amazon sword and moved them both a bit more forward. Removed all the crypt and trimmed any leaves that looked bad and replanted on the left front. The drift wood then was moved to the right next to the swords. Just waiting for the water to clear for a little bit then I'll take some new photos.

Curious as to why the sword started degrading like it did on just the one leaf. Started going transparent first then looks like the fish have been eating it as well.

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 19, 2013 at 2:41am: This is what the tank looks like now. Picture quality not great because I couldn't find my good camera (The wife probably lost it somewhere again).

Comment by Kenneth Philabaum on November 29, 2013 at 10:54am: Well had a great month up to this point then today I got back from a shopping trip to find one of my female platies dead. I suspect she is the one that has recently been having babies and think that maybe the stress has got to her or maybe complications have arisen. Anyone know if this could possibly be why I lost her? Tests say everything normal, I'm just going to do a water change to be on the safe side.

Notice near the anal fin. I'd be interested in what you folks think.