My 75g Boesemani Rainbowfish Tank

[Roan Art]

Date Tank Setup: December 25, 2005

[Roan Art]

Date Tank Setup: December 25, 2005

Fauna:

• 14 Boesemani rainbowfish (Melanotaenia boesemani) -- 6 males, 7 females and one unsexed fry
• 8+ (actual number unknown) Goo obo gudgeons (Allomogurnda nesolepis). If you look at the coconut shell at the left of the pix, you can see one of my male Goo obos guarding his hut. He has fry inside.
• 2 Siamese Algae Eaters (Crossocheilus siamensis)
• 1 Candy Striped Pleco L015 (Peckoltia vittata), who is never seen
• 4 Amano Shrimp

Flora (95% of the Plants are New Guinea in Origin):

• Purple Cabomba (Cabomba pulcherrima)
• Asian ambulia (Limnophila sessiflora)
• Hornwort (Ceratophyllum submersum) great spawning plant
• Rotalla wallichii
• Myriophyllum tuberculum
• Glosso (Glossostigma elatinoides)
• Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus)
• Java Fern (Microsorium brasii), Narrow Leaf. Very common in PNG
• Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides)
• Bolbitus (Bolbitus heudelotii)
• Monoselenium tenerum (formerly known as pelia)
• Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana) (was inadvertedly introduced with some pelia and has grow into the pelia all over the tank. Looks kinda cool.)
• Blyxa japonica
• Cyperus helferi
• Limnophila aromatica
• Vallisneria Americana var natans (broad leaf, almost like Jungle vals)

Equipment:

• Eheim Professional 2026
• Emperor 400, being replaced by another Eheim 2026 when I get time to remove the old one
• Current USA Orbit CP 4 x 65w 6700K, 4 Moonlights, for 3.5 wpg (Currently running with only 1 bank of lights and there is *no way* that this light puts out 3.5 wpg with 2 banks on. With one bank all my high light plants are doing fine. Glosso is smack with the substrate, so it has to be close to 3wpg per bank)
• 2 x 150w Stealth heaters
• CO2 Injection: 20# tank, Milwaukee Regulator, MidPoint Controller, Glass flower diffuser. CO2 25ppm day, off at night.

Algae:

• Cyanobacteria from letting the nitrates bottom out. It's in the substrate at front of tank. You can see the dark areas right behind the glass in the picture. That's BGA. The SAEs keep it from getting above the substrate
• Some hair algae here and there that disappears if I don't dose Fe

Roan

[krisw]

This is a really nice looking tank. I like how you've built up the hardscape, and then planted on top and around it. Once the foreground fills in, I think it'll really look stellar. The boesemani's look very bright and healthy too!

Oh, and I have to say that you're the first post I've seen that has listed types of algae present. Most folks do their hardest to cover it up in their pictures, let alone mention and categorize it!

[Roan Art]

This is a really nice looking tank. I like how you've built up the hardscape, and then planted on top and around it. Once the foreground fills in, I think it'll really look stellar. The boesemani's look very bright and healthy too!

Thanks, Kris!

I feed my rainbows foods from Brine Shrimp Direct that contain Naturose, lots of veggies and live brine shrimp and bloodworms. The Naturose really brings out the red spectrum colors.

Oh, and I have to say that you're the first post I've seen that has listed types of algae present. Most folks do their hardest to cover it up in their pictures, let alone mention and categorize it!

Well, after battling and battling it, I'm now of the mind that algae is a fact of life. You can either spend all your time trying to eradicate it, or accept that some algae is okay and even desirable. Kept under control, I think it makes for a more natural-looking tank.

Psst, between you and me: I think the BGA has a kinda cool color to it

Roan

[krisw]

Psst, between you and me: I think the BGA has a kinda cool color to it

Yeah, and you've got to love the smell. Of course, I recently noticed that on the label of one of my favorite fruit smoothy drinks - Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness, one of the ingredients is BGA! There might be reason to farm it after all.

http://www.bolthouse.com/html/cs_green_juice_n.html

[Aaron]

Those are some nice rainbows you have there. Your plants are quite healthy as well.

[Roan Art]

Maybe I'll start a BGA farm. I'm certainly good at growing it

My daughter loves Green Goodness. My favorite is Perfectly Protein. We always grab some when we go shopping at Giant.

Roan

[krisw]

My favorite is Perfectly Protein

This is my wife's favorite as well..

In anycase, for BGA, the fail-safe recipe for more is "lower CO2, decrease circulation," and boom, instant BGA!

[Roan Art]

In anycase, for BGA, the fail-safe recipe for more is "lower CO2, decrease circulation," and boom, instant BGA!

My favorite recipe is "high light, low CO2"

Roan