Matt's 220 Litre Aquaoak

Beautiful. 

I've been really pleased with my lily as well.

Its propogation is a little more prolific than I expected. In less than a year I've gone from one decent plant to 2 decent plants, a healthy looking small plant and several tiny plantlets that get "lost" in routine maintenance.

(Was it you @Matt. That couldn't get partner approval for red plants? If so, you've done well with the lily!)

(Was it you @Matt. That couldn't get partner approval for red plants? If so, you've done well with the lily!)

It was indeed! Mrs Matt loves it too!! 

Ive got eggs in a cave under this moss.... I'm in full aggressive breeding colours mode and the dad knows it! It won't come to anything in this tank full of shrimp and sneaky Corydoras etc but I keep trying my bestest!

Love the tank (even if it's not up to your high standards) - and great to see your inhabitants. 

Thanks both. I know I can improve it and that’s all that keep going through my mind... with Baby Matt now getting a bit more reliable with his sleep I have the opportunity to do things like this again for the first time in 8 months. Might still take me a few weekends before I get the right opportunity though!!

I need to do an updated photo of this tank after adding the hardscape from the recently taken down dwarf puffer tank... hoping this post acts as a reminder for me!!!

The puffers are still doing really well in here, the pest snail population has reduced to basically zero and the shrimp population boomed as a result, I’m so happy to see my shrimp again!! The goldeneye cichlids do not seem to be successfully catching them either which is a huge bonus and dwarf cichlids have a bit of a reputation in this regard and to be honest I’d always blamed them for the shrimps demise in numbers... turns out it was the snails eating all the algae/biofilm etc and not leaving any for the shrimp!!

I still have an ich to do a minor rescape of this tank... maybe the opportunity is here with everything else going on in the world...

Tanks looks great. Well done. 

As for the ludwigia, both Aquarium Gardens & Aqua Essentials are still trading online. They both have the plant you want in stock, but both sites note that they are experiencing high demand so orders aren't arriving as quickly as they normally do.

Beautiful tank and fish.

From a practical point of view, I'm always intrigued by / envious of others who don't have to remove every single piece of decor/planting during maintenance. This wouldn't work in my tank because (i) I can't access the full substrate during siphoning without my hand ending up underneath and upturning the wood, plants, etc, and (ii) there are too any pieces of fungused pellets, other food morsels and snail poo on the substrate. Do you think you have unretrieved food morsels among the foliage and, if so, are you happy to leave them be?

Thanks both

Do you think you have unretrieved food morsels among the foliage and, if so, are you happy to leave them be?

Yes and yes! With lots of shrimp and corys, plus plants to use up anything that makes it down into the aquasoil I’m more than happy not to go searching for every last piece of food as I know others will do it for me.