Thanks Brucki, using plastic bucket is good idea. Regarding the use of slate plate, I have seen a picture in www.snakehead.org that one auranti is digging the cave. Do you think it is better to let them dig the cave for themselves or just place a ready-to-hide cave?
Snakehead Tank Setup
- Thread starter NitroK
- Start date
"Natural filtration, best filtration"... that's what I say!Brucki, do the plants set up like that have any effect on water quality, or
more specifically, your filtration?
I feel like all those plants make
your tank look more like a swamp than a tropical tank
jk, but does it mess with your filtration?
Hi guys,
@Richard: let the aurantis dig themselves, when they have "some work to do" they may stay more peacful ;-)
@parkjehhyun:
The plants can not mess with the filtration, cause there are no turbes that can be stuffed by sucking plants into them. With these setups my filters run for several years without any maintainance, and the water parameters are great.
Cheers
@Richard: let the aurantis dig themselves, when they have "some work to do" they may stay more peacful ;-)
@parkjehhyun:
Yes the plant setup has an effect on the water quality, I do not fertilize the plants so they have to take all they need out of the water. The use of floating plants or normally nonaquatic plants that have their roots in the water cleans trhe tank from lots of ammonia/nitrates (natural filtration) and it supports my matt filtration, which also digests a lot of ammonia/nitrates.
Thats not right, I think it looks more like the real habitat of the fish, and thats what I want to have. Cause this makes the fish feel secure and gets them in breeding mood. Which results in six species bred by me so far, and there are more to come for sure.I feel like all those plants make your tank look more like a swamp than a tropical tank
The plants can not mess with the filtration, cause there are no turbes that can be stuffed by sucking plants into them. With these setups my filters run for several years without any maintainance, and the water parameters are great.
Cheers
Hi Brucki, sorry one more question, so for your such densely planted tank, how you could clean the substrate after every 3 or 6 months? I don't have much expereince on snakehead, but like the tank with substrate, normally I have to resetup the tank once a year and clean the substrate. I am considering to setup a under-gravel filter system for my snakehead tank.
And have you posted any breeding reports I can reference for the speciese you had success? I am quite interested. Great thanks.
And have you posted any breeding reports I can reference for the speciese you had success? I am quite interested. Great thanks.
Hi there,
heres a pic of my Channa sp. redfin tank above water level, you can see various plants growing outside and in the back on the left side, there is the filter chamber. The tube comes out there.
And here you can see my "normal" variant I discribed above, here newly setup.
This filtration runs for years without any maintainance. In one or two tanks I recently took out the matt and squeezed it a bit in a bucket with fresh water, and aftr then I put the matt back in place and the filtration runs on. The usefull bacteria are still in the matt and the Level of Ammonia /Nitrate etc does not increase after such action.
BTW the mentioned two matts were in use for more than three years without doing anything !
-Channa stewartii sp."himalaya"
-Channa sp. "Assam" (often called "blue bleheri")
-Channa orientalis "Kottawa Forrest A" variant
-Channa pulchra
-Channa asiatica
-Channa lucia
dont mind asking more than one, no problem m8.
I never clean the substrate, and I never do resetups ! Thats the worst thing you could do to the aquariumbiotope ! Lots of usefull bacteria house on and in the substrate, and the plants wont appreciate such action, too. Its on old aquaristic myth that is has to be done reguarly, but when done the result is not as good as it was before. I do not recommend undergravel filters, just by the reason that when something is wrong wioth the filter, you have to tear the whole tank apart and have to cycle it again. In most of my tanks I use matt filtration, normally I just cut a piece of filter matt a little buit bigger than the glass of the aquarium side and put the matt into the tank. Then I take a small pump (mostly Eheim compact 300 up tp 1000) stick a piece of PVC tubing on it and put it behind the matt. The pump sucks the "dirty" water through the matt where the usefull bacteria have looots of room to settle and digest Ammonia/Nitrates/Nitrite. In some tanks there is a clued in filterchamber, but in general the filtration there ist the same method just a bit more luxurous ;-)
heres a pic of my Channa sp. redfin tank above water level, you can see various plants growing outside and in the back on the left side, there is the filter chamber. The tube comes out there.
And here you can see my "normal" variant I discribed above, here newly setup.
This filtration runs for years without any maintainance. In one or two tanks I recently took out the matt and squeezed it a bit in a bucket with fresh water, and aftr then I put the matt back in place and the filtration runs on. The usefull bacteria are still in the matt and the Level of Ammonia /Nitrate etc does not increase after such action.
BTW the mentioned two matts were in use for more than three years without doing anything !
I think there are pics from a few breedings online. I have bred (until today) :
-Channa stewartii sp."himalaya"
-Channa sp. "Assam" (often called "blue bleheri")
-Channa orientalis "Kottawa Forrest A" variant
-Channa pulchra
-Channa asiatica
-Channa lucia
That's the coolest filter I have ever seen. Why waste money on expensive filters? They cost a lot, and are a pain to clean. I use sponge filters on my tanks. Yours have more room to house bacteria, and I can understand why you use them. I've got to try that on my next setup. Cheap, effecient, effective.Hi there,
dont mind asking more than one, no problem m8.
I never clean the substrate, and I never do resetups ! Thats the worst thing you could do to the aquariumbiotope ! Lots of usefull bacteria house on and in the substrate, and the plants wont appreciate such action, too. Its on old aquaristic myth that is has to be done reguarly, but when done the result is not as good as it was before. I do not recommend undergravel filters, just by the reason that when something is wrong wioth the filter, you have to tear the whole tank apart and have to cycle it again. In most of my tanks I use matt filtration, normally I just cut a piece of filter matt a little buit bigger than the glass of the aquarium side and put the matt into the tank. Then I take a small pump (mostly Eheim compact 300 up tp 1000) stick a piece of PVC tubing on it and put it behind the matt. The pump sucks the "dirty" water through the matt where the usefull bacteria have looots of room to settle and digest Ammonia/Nitrates/Nitrite. In some tanks there is a clued in filterchamber, but in general the filtration there ist the same method just a bit more luxurous ;-)
heres a pic of my Channa sp. redfin tank above water level, you can see various plants growing outside and in the back on the left side, there is the filter chamber. The tube comes out there.
And here you can see my "normal" variant I discribed above, here newly setup.
This filtration runs for years without any maintainance. In one or two tanks I recently took out the matt and squeezed it a bit in a bucket with fresh water, and aftr then I put the matt back in place and the filtration runs on. The usefull bacteria are still in the matt and the Level of Ammonia /Nitrate etc does not increase after such action.
BTW the mentioned two matts were in use for more than three years without doing anything !
I think there are pics from a few breedings online. I have bred (until today) :
-Channa stewartii sp."himalaya"
-Channa sp. "Assam" (often called "blue bleheri")
-Channa orientalis "Kottawa Forrest A" variant
-Channa pulchra
-Channa asiatica
-Channa lucia
