Is this better?
***To me it's a cool photo you cannot improve or spoil.
...the priority is giving the fish a fun and safe habitat, not winning an aquascaping award.
***You are funny with a right touch of sarcasm as always
Plants have been a tough one. I'm using only sand, no soil, which is a no-go for a lot of plants, and I'm told my pH is also a potential problem. A girl at the LFS tried to get me to buy stuff to lower my pH and vet some plants she likes, but... no. Right now I have a total of 209 gallons to manage (between the 3 tanks) and I am saving a HUGE amount of time and headache by working with the water I've got (just gonna gloat again that I can refill my tanks with the garden hose, no treatments - might have to limit that to smaller water changes in the winter, but in the summer my well water comes out of the hose tank safe and 78°).
***That's right. Do NOT mess with artificially maintaining pH, I'd say.
Plus even when a plant seems like it's doing okay, the fish are pretty hard on them. I'm having some luck with my dwarf tiger lotus (which is now 3 dwarf tiger lotuses) and corkscrew val - if that's all I can grow with the water and fish I have, that's fine. Plus I have the plants above the water with just the roots in for nitrate assistance - right now it's garlic, sweet potato, and basil.
***I am not a plant guy whatsoever. I love your use of vegetables and herbs though, I hope it works indeed. Have you proven it to yourself with the API tests?
I moved the 3 eBay MLs to the 125 immediately after saying I didn't want to/couldn't catch them. I simply placed a black plastic garden pot in the tank, waited for a fish to use it as a cave, scooped it up, and poured the fish into a bowl. Easy. And as each fish left, the next claimed the pot within moments.
***Good resourcefulness (another one of your strong suits) and kinda funny too how eager the little silly buggers are to outdo each other.
It's been almost a week, so far so good. Actually I think the fish are doing a little better with this arrangement (at least for now) - the sun cats in particular seem less henpecked. The rts's eye is still fine but he's got a bit of nibbling on his fins - but that dude's a jerk, I'd nibble his fins too.
***ROFL...
I attribute the relative peace to several factors:
***Great analytics. You'll be one of the best keepers on our forum soon.
... it's really interesting - the rts will start in on a sun cat, and a ML will come over and start on the rts, and then another ML comes and starts on the first one - by which time the sun cat and the rts have simply left.
***Wonderful and useful detective work.
... and Mr. Heck wanted him, so now he's growing out in the "empty emergency tank/plant growing station."
***Ooooogh! Nice work, Agent Heck! It's spreading in the desired direction.
This is altogether Too Many Fish, even though it's peaceful enough at the moment - I'm thinking I'll give the sun cats back soon. I've seen varying reports about their potential adult size, and if they were to reach 18" my tank would be a sad little jail for them. Even if they don't get that big, they're kind of boring.
***Yes, they do not interact with a keeper and often hide a lot. Our ten-pack reached 14"-18" tip to tip but it took 10-20 years, very large tanks, and all you can eat fish and pellets.
Predatory Fins has baby eupterus with marbled coloring - like, regular eupterus with albino spots, or maybe albino eupterus with regular colored spots. I want one DESPERATELY
***ROFL...
but can't see spending that much on a fish - especially at the moment. Sigh.
***They are striking and first of their kind. The price will come down if more come to the market but it may take year(s). IDK how they are produced... and if it involves manmade manipulations, one would be wise to know of what kind these manipulations are, so they do not accidentally support what they consider cruel practices. Just my 2 cents.