# my 29 gallon



## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

this is my 29 gallon i have no clue what I'm doing please tell me what you think 
























and this is how it looked the very first day i got any plants


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I think you have a good start here. If you're using a stock hood, that comes with the tank you don't have much light. You could grow some different types of Java ferns and anubias. There are several types and sizes. Mosses would be a nice addition. Some mosses grow up, some out, some weep. 

I do believe your sword will get big. Very few stay small. I can't tell what kind you have.


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

You're certainly improving as you go along. This is a nice start but you could use more in the way of a mid-ground on the right. Java fern windelov or narrow leaf, some of the various Anubias (minima, nana, nana petite), and shorter Cryptocorynes (especially bronze or red wendtii) would work nicely. Having layers of plants helps make the tank look deeper and creates more interest.

I like the looks of your fish, what all do you have?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

tex gal my hood isn't stock just looks I'm still working on it here is an up to date pic 









and cs gardner i have one kenyi one electric blue johanni my electric blue and kenyi breed so i have two mix and the gold one is a gold malawi and i have one african rope fish who hides in the skull he is 14 and a half inches long


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

added some red wendtii will see what else i can add when the all mighty pay check clears


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## bigstick120 (Mar 8, 2005)

The tank is coming along. I would get rid of the skull. Also you are going to need a bigger tank for those cichlids. Do you see a lot of aggression?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

believe it or not the only time the fish are aggressive is when i move to many plants around the skull is home to a 14 inch african rope fish who i was told was an aggressive fish to later find out hes not so even though I'm not a fan of the skull until i come up with something better it has to stay


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Great job with your light!!! I'm impressed!! You are doing a great job there. I gotta say I thought the same thing about the skull. LOL - a skull with a "snake" in it. How appropriate! Maybe you could tie moss on it so it looks like a mound bush. Maybe your rope fish wouldn't mind. 

(Just don't think I could stick my hand in a tank with a 14" rope fish in there. I've had dreams where I had fish tanks with big gross eels in there, afraid to do maintenance! LOL)


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

thanks for the compliments i was wondering what kinda moss would you suggest texgal cause the only one my lfs every carries in java moss and I'm not a huge fan of it plus its a very small handful for 13 bucks and not worth it


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

I like the contrast the wendtii brings to your tank. Now they just need to fill in. Your fish are looking great and I hope they will continue to show minimal aggression. 

I've become a fan of flame moss, it grows quite easily and has a fairly neat upright growth habit. I got mine on the FS/T forum here and it was a decent price and generous quantity. I also have Taiwan moss and it looks good when it's happy but it has a tendency to try an spread into places where I don't want it.

If you wanted to do something instead of the skull it's easy to silicon some inert rocks together to make a cave. I'm not certain what a rope fish looks for in a home but you could build to suit and then attach ferns, anubias, or moss to it. I collected some local rocks, checked with acid to make certain they wouldn't change my water quality, and then played around with them until I got the size and shapes I wanted to make multiple caves for my kribs.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

update with a couple of new plants still got the skull no moss


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## kiwik (Apr 3, 2007)

i also think you should get a bigger tank for the cichlids. Unless you dont have any breeding pairs, they're going to get aggressive. They'll also uproot your plants when they dig holes to lay eggs.

reflectors would be nice in your hood. reflective mylar also works.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

money is to tight for a bigger tank the aggression is very very minimal there is a breeding pair in the tank and they stay to the right side in the little rock setup i have over there i added the reflector over the weekend using flashing that is commonly used for siding houses and it seems to be working very well within a half hour after adding it i noticed the plants began to pearl and pearl all day long


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

rescaped my twenty nine any comments are appreciated plus don't mind the skull the wife likes it and it wont be moved any time soon


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## Th4nhPh0ng (May 12, 2008)

How come it looks a lot smaller than other 29G tank


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

quick new pic of the twenty nine and the progress of growth 









thank you for looking


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Wow, that sword got big in a hurry. What happened to the stem plants in the back toward the right? I liked how they filled in that area.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

i went through a bad bba break out it got so bad i couldn't save the hornwort. i have some growing in my ten gallon waiting till it gets nice and bushy befor i put it in the twenty nine i should also be setting up my 55 within a week so i gotta get something growing nice for that the sword is definitely gonna get moved to that hopefully i will have enough hornwort at that point to redo the twenty nine


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

I have to admit, I like the skull. It would look cool with some Flame moss coming out the eye sockets (maybe tie some to a couple large pebbles or small chips of driftwood that would fit into the sockets) . :-k I would totally hook you up with Flame Moss, but you'd be on your own to find something to tie it to. 

-Dave


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

davemonkey said:


> I have to admit, I like the skull. It would look cool with some Flame moss coming out the eye sockets (maybe tie some to a couple large pebbles or small chips of driftwood that would fit into the sockets) . :-k I would totally hook you up with Flame Moss, but you'd be on your own to find something to tie it to.
> 
> -Dave


Dave i live in the in the sticks i got streams and a rock query around the corner from me I'm sure i could find something in a heart beat. The idea of flame moss coming out of the eyes sounds real good. I picked up a bunch of hygro sunset tonight off of jimbo205. I am gonna use it to replace the sword when i move it to the fifty five.


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## gravy9 (Aug 28, 2008)

Good work there, grim. I love the way the Sword shot up. What changed?

Also, can you please share how you constructed the light. It was a fluorescent fixture, I assume. I have a 36" twin fluorescent fixture that I'd like to convert to a CFL fixture.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

here is the link for the lights. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ects/45208-diy-mod-perfecto-10-gal-light.html I have noticed that everyone has different results with the lights. The only thing that changed from the last picture was my photo period. It used to be almost 16 hours cause i would turn the lights on when i got up then shut em off when i went to bed. Now there on no longer than nine hours on a timer. So I'm going to assume the longer rest period helped with the growth. The only thing i did different from hoppy was i used flashing that i cut into strips then used a high strength heat resistant glue to attach it to the fixture.


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## fishfan (Feb 19, 2006)

I like the skull too. Usually I am not into aquarium statues/figurines as decoration but the skull seems to fit well with the tank.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

fishfan said:


> I like the skull too. Usually I am not into aquarium statues/figurines as decoration but the skull seems to fit well with the tank.


Thanks fishfan soon there will be flame moss coming out of the eyes thanks to davemonkey so we will see how that goes. The next pic will be completely different since i removed the sword today.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Davemonkey thank you for the moss and you were right it does suck attaching it to the skull but it is done and here are some pics and thank you very very much for the extra bonus of blyxa japonica


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## gravy9 (Aug 28, 2008)

Hey grim,
Can't wait to see the skull in a month.:hippie: Let's see what type of hair he grow. 

regards,
Ravi


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

I like him with the moss. Looks clothed!


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Thank you for the comments gravy and tex gal. Hope fully it will grow. The blyxa has started to grow very very slightly but the color is returning and it is doing something so that is a plus.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

You DID IT!!!! That's gonna look so cool!  I can't wait to see how it looks after the moss starts growing up.

Good luck with the blyxa. When I first got it, it went through a melty phase, but then started growing very well. I'm not certain what changed in my tank, but it suddenly stopped growing and just dividing itself into smaller portions without growing at all. I think my water is just too hard right now. Once I get moved to Houston I'll try again.

-Dave


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

OK well its about time to update this i have been having some personal issues so the tanks were neglected for almost two months i have however had some excellent growth on a few plants the moss on the skull has been a little trickier considering the cichlids like to tear the moss apart but the moss is growing fairly fast so that is a plus when i took the pictures the cichlids has knocked over my piece of driftwood so please excuse the mess in the tank soon i will be able to get fully back into trying to grow plants thanks again for looking


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## chagovatoloco (Nov 17, 2007)

I have always been a fan of huge Anubias.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

chagovatoloco said:


> I have always been a fan of huge Anubias.


Yeah, it won't be long before that thing is crawling out of the tank.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

grim, it is looking good. 

Hey Buddy, thanks for sticking around. 

It is you and the really cool people on APC that make this hobby what it should be. 

I can't wait someday to see your aquariums and auto shop someday. 

I am glad to know that your shoulder is doing better.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

grim, how do we get you a p3t nowadays? 

When I see a hungry one, I feed them ice cream. 

Now back to Aquatic Plants. :smile:


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

You have 4 Cichlids in your tank?

I am amazed, for I have been told I can't have cichlids in a planted tank. Do they ever did up your plants?

What plants do you have?


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## chagovatoloco (Nov 17, 2007)

The anubias should be ok, as for the others.................he will learn. I had to learn the hard way hahahahha.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

there is five cichlids and they only dig under the rocks they make there own caves its nice the only plants they mess with is moss don't know why its only the moss but that is the only plant i am constantly tying down as for plants i got one crypt that i cant id i cant get a pic of it now as i am in NC but when i get home ill post it i got red crypt wendentii the giant anubias dwarf sag flame moss provided by davemonkey something that was sold to my as crypt spirals a ruffle sword and java moss as i said they don't tear up to much they arnt that aggressive in my tank sometimes they get going and break a couple of stems but i kinda expect that i have had cichlids for many many years this tank has been going for over a year now with the same fish so honestly i don't expect much to go wrong


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Could it be that, as with Betta fish, that some Cichlids are temperamental and tear up plants and some don't?

What do you do with your tank when you go on vacation? 

When I go on vacation I come back to algae bloom or dead fish. So if this happens again I am going to thin my tank out and do something like you have.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

the cichlids that i chose are not as aggressive as say a convict if you notice the first pic i have when the tank first started you'll see two convicts they didn't last long in the tank they were so aggressive i thought i was going to have to trade them in but in the end they both ended up messing with the gold Malawi and well that was there demise the gold Malawi is the queen of the tank always has been always will be when i go on vaca like i am on now i have my father come over and feed the fish all ferts stop the lights are on a timer so he only has to put in a few pellets into the tank and yes i always have alage currently it will be two months before my tanks get touched by me so im expecting chaos when i get back i wasn't able to use my left arm for a month and now i am on vaca for a month so we will see what happens as of right now i got a thread going its called how much algae can you grow it'll show you what is going on in the fifty five gallon i got set up in our spare bedroom honestly algae is a part of my life i don't mind fighting it and i think its part of healthy growth of a tank the amount i have may be an eyesore but its not like its going to kill everything in my tank it might hurt some of the plants but in the end they will come back when i get back from vaca i should have full use of my arm so i will be able to handle everything then


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

OK so i got a new cam its a cannon g10 so far i have very basic things figured out so i figured i would post some of the pics of the fish in my 29 gallon i hope you all enjoy 
this pic is of my kenyi johanni mix








this pic is of my kenyi hes a little shy








and this is the pic of the gold malawi that i have named retard i mean just look at him








this is the only pic i could get of my electric blue johanni she is very very shy 








and this is the giant Anubias that has flowered twice in my tank


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

more pics added some hygro sunset and wisteria


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Your tank has really filled in since last pics. It's looking good. What is the green plant in either front corner (a sword? ) ?

-Dave


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Your tank is looking very nice. It's filled in well and has a good mix of plants.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

davemonkey said:


> Your tank has really filled in since last pics. It's looking good. What is the green plant in either front corner (a sword? ) ?
> 
> -Dave


the right front corner is a ruffle sword and there is actualy two plants on the left front they were sold to me as dwarf sag that is as high as they get from what i have seen if you want one dave i would be more than willing to send you one of the sags since you sent me some flame moss which has exploded and is now in three of my four tanks



cs_gardener said:


> Your tank is looking very nice. It's filled in well and has a good mix of plants.


thank you very much for the compliment cs


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

grim said:


> the right front corner is a ruffle sword and there is actualy two plants on the left front they were sold to me as dwarf sag that is as high as they get from what i have seen if you want one dave i would be more than willing to send you one of the sags since you sent me some flame moss which has exploded and is now in three of my four tanks


I'm glad the Flame Moss has done well for you!  I must be doing something wrong, because everyone I send moss to has it growing by the ton while mine has been slow (I'm sure it's ferts... ) 

Anyhow, hang on to the Dwarf Sag. I'm interested in trying some, but not until I get another tank or do a re-scape. Either of those could be a LONG while. I'm gonna have to actually thin some plants out soon just to make growing room.

-Dave


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Grim, photos look great!

(How long did it take you to upload your whole memory chip to photobucket and paste here? I am sure it takes longer depending on how many photos you have on the chip.)

Grim, if the signature/thread feature still works here on APC like it used to - I look forward to a bunch of threads on all your tanks soon. :smile:


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## PLANT^NUT (May 1, 2007)

Great looking tank !!! :clap2::supz::supz::supz: Are you using any co2 ? Is that a plecostomus I see?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

i am using diy co2 sugar/yeast mix and yes that is a common pleco when he gets bigger he will be moved to my 55 gallon then when he out grows that he will go to my buddies 150 gal and so on. and thank you for the compliments plant^nut


thank you for the compliments as well jim since my comp is fairly fast it only takes a min or two to load pics i think the longest it took was 3 and a half minutes at 1000 pics


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your tank is looking good. Saw the blooms on your anubias. So neat! I like your skull so much better with the moss on it. Is your snake still in there?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Tex Gal said:


> Your tank is looking good. Saw the blooms on your anubias. So neat! I like your skull so much better with the moss on it. Is your snake still in there?


thank you tex gal for the compliment sadly the rope fish jumped ship and my wife found her in the bathroom coiled up on the floor she screamed rather loud i wont lie it was funny but i am currently looking for another one to see if it will live in skull as of now the current resident of the skull is the johanii i also lost the kenyi yesterday she had spooked herself one morning and slammed into the the glass she wasn't swimming to well i moved her to my ten gallon to see if she would recover and in about three days she stopped eating and then died i was even trying to get her to eat frozen food with a small eye dropper


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Boy what a time you have had. So sorry. :sorry: They become pets to us, especially when you have just a few very unique fish. Hope you are able to find what you want out there.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

grim said:


> since my comp is fairly fast it only takes a min or two to load pics i think the longest it took was 3 and a half minutes at 1000 pics


Okay. I guess I just have to give this a shot again and see how long it takes me. 
I never used to think about it. 
I just assumed that since maintaining my tanks takes most of my Saturday that taking more time on the computer would, well - take more time.

I'll give it a shot.

You know that means you will have to come over again so we can learn together all the cool settings on these cool digital cameras to take the best picture. :wink:


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## dawntwister (Sep 29, 2007)

Some cameras don't need any adjusting to get a good picture. What camera are you using? To learn more about it you can google it.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Jim is using a Fuji something or other and i am using a cannon g10 which i love auto mode dosent take that great of pics of the tanks but Manuel mode is amazing


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

Tex gal i spent five hours in front of the fifty five tonight waiting for a special fish that you might like to come out and finally before i packed up the cam he came out even got a pic of the females nose waiting for a small guppy to swim by so even though this isn't in my 29 i still got a breading pair in my house lol up first will be the female 








and now for the male 
























they are both peacock eels and as of right now they are 8 and a half inches long i have owned them for about nine months


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

What neat fish!! That yellow stripe is so cool. I'm not sure I could stick my hand in the tank with two 8" eels! 

Do you breed them? I'd love to hear about that! SO COOL!!!


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## cclansman (Jan 29, 2007)

nice shots grim. I have the g9 and love it as well. For better shots if you stick it in auto mode and turn on flourecent or fish tank mode and then play with the ap and focal lengths you can snap some amazing shots.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

some new growth nothing major just figured i haven't posted anything in awhile


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Wonderful growth! I love the pearling. It's like you have an airstone in there.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

First i would like to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I would also like to say sorry for how long it has been since i posted on the site. I was in a car accident and unable to do much of anything so my tanks suffered significantly but i am back and my tanks are recovering. 
















and a close up of some of the algae i am dealing with.








Davemonky this is your flame moss its the only thing that wasn't affected by my accident and i trimmed a good size handful of it.


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## Veloth (Jun 25, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your accident and the algae. Glad to have you back and good luck with your tank.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Welcome back Grim! The moss looks THICK, but it looks like I may have mixed some Taiwan moss into it and that has taken over. I don't see much actual Flame Moss anymore. Heck, I'd send you some more but I've stopped keeping mosses anymore.

So, are you fully recovered yet? Or are you just back to where you can get around?

-Dave


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

I'm currently stuck in a wheel chair but that hasn't slowed me down much. Still going out and fishing. The docs say my left leg has around three more months before i can start putting my weight on it and my right leg is almost ready to come out of the cast. We are still debating if the car fared worse than me or not but its close.

July 4th weekend


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Glad you are healing. Your tank will give you something to do so you don't get bored!  Everytime you feel like you are too sick you can look at your algae and realize you are not that bad! LOL

Actually I'm sure you'll get you tank back in shape in no time! Best wishes!

BTW- that's some fish!! Did you eat him or throw him back?


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

She was a late bloomer and still full of eggs. So she went back. I keep very little of what i catch believe it or not. Oh and the algae how i hate it but hey it does give me something to do as you said.


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

The towing company that towed the civic sent me a pic of the car. So here you all go. I wrecked on the track at 168 mph.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

:jaw: DUDE!! You're lucky to have survived that! I'm glad you made it through with just your legs getting smashed up. It's good to hear you are healing well.

-Dave


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

When i woke in the hospy my best friend looked at me and all he said was "fun times huh" all i could do was laugh at him. I don't remember the actual accident but my buddy walked me through it. All i know is when i got out the hospy and saw that car behind the shop i was impressed i was alive. The roll cage failed terribly which upsets me since i had actually pulled the one i made out and put a roll cage the track officials said i needed in the car. I think had mine been in there i don't think it would have been as bad as it was.


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## Travis.808 (Apr 2, 2009)

:scared: 

:jawaaaang! If it weren't for the front bumper remnants with the left headlight housing, there was no way I would've even recognized what kind of car that was. You are unbelievably lucky my friend.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

That's INCREDIBLE!! You must have quite a purpose to fulfill on this earth! There's no question that you fared better than the car!!

NOTE TO SELF: No more race car driving!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wow man. Glad to hear that you made it out of that crash and alive and without more serious injuries.

And that's a nice smallmouth.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Grim, you are the best. Thanks for getting the old guy out of the house and into the real world of 'fishing'. Had a great time. 

Let me know how the tanks work out. 

Tell John N. it is all thanks to him. Even the magazines have caught on to 'Endlers'. 

Tell everyone on APC I said hi. 

Rainer, I am going to buy you a 'Rescue Hero' and make you put it on the Dashboard of your car. 

You are the best. 

P.S. The tank by my computer looks great. Especially at 2:20 am. Man Endler's rock in planted tanks!

Tell Charlie El Excorcisto and Urkevitz I said hi.

Jimbo205


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## grim (Mar 13, 2008)

The tank has been updated and rearranged. The anubis has been moved to the fifty five gallon and i sold my last cichlid. They were replaced with a ton of endlers thanks to jimbo205 my two blue gouramis from my fifty five some Pristella Tetra and a bunch of cherry shrimp also thanks to jimbo205. The cherries from jim are all clear but in time me and charlie both noticed that they changed color from clear to red. I think it was due to lack of light but hey I am not an expert. So i do not have a full tank shot since my water level is low and it is embarrassing. The reason the water is low is because the gouramis have breed and i didn't want to disturb his bubble nest but the few pics i did take i will post

Rubber lip pleco








One of many shrimp








The gouramis and his proud nest









When the fry hatch i will add water and then give a full tank shot


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

That's great that you're about to have babies! I can't wait to see them.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

Update please. 

Sometime, I will need a cichlid to eat my 'culls'. 

Of course I will another tank for that...

Maybe a Yellow Cichlid!

I look forward to the photos.


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

Bump! Does this tank get a redo like your 55 just did?


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