Stream(ish) project

[plaalye]

I keep mine at 76-78 also. I've lowered the temp but the fish are visibly less active at lower temps so I've decided to keep it there.
I have an AC 70 powerhead on a manifold and AC 50 & 70 HOBs on my 20 long rivertank so there's plenty of turbulence.
As far as I know all mine are wildcaught.

[Barnsten]

Do you know about how old they are? And the sexes? I have 4 males and 2 females, from what I can tell. The females seem to be bigger than the males that I have, but they will fight over "their" spots on rocks or certain places on the back of the tank. As soon as they see another one nearby they will work to chase him or her away as quickly as possible, then go back to grazing, LOL. I love watching them have their little scuffles.
From what I can tell mine are probably less than a year old, so still pretty young and most of them are still pretty small. Perhaps they were still in more sheltered areas when they were caught in the wild? So they never learned to play in the current. Just a thought.

[hx]

Out of curiosity are your guys' hillstream loaches wild caught or tank bred?

I don't know the origin of my adult Sewellia pair. But the 25mm juveniles

about ten of them in this tank, are tank bred by the pair.


Gastromyzons' origins are unknown.

Anyone an opinion on the species?


G. scitulus?

[plaalye]

Probably g scitulus. Compare with g ctenocphalus when the fins are displayed. There are comparison pics in the species index.

[newshound]

i love what you have done and can't wait to see images of the loaches in action.
you should remove the rounded stones and replace them with something that matches the awesome background that you built.

[hx]

Thanks for the thumbs-up and thanks for the critique.
I know the round stones look a bit unnatural in there. I just wanted unicolored dark stones. If I find a supply for rougher stones that are dark grey/black, I'll propably go for them.

But first I gotta get the riverbank done (with maybe a small waterfall?) and experiment with root-like wood sticking into water from it. I might go for synthetic wood, the sort I made for this piece:

[newshound]

wow that is the bomb!!!!!!

[Barnsten]

Thanks for the thumbs-up and thanks for the critique.
I know the round stones look a bit unnatural in there. I just wanted unicolored dark stones. If I find a supply for rougher stones that are dark grey/black, I'll propably go for them.

But first I gotta get the riverbank done (with maybe a small waterfall?) and experiment with root-like wood sticking into water from it. I might go for synthetic wood, the sort I made for this piece:

Okay I have to know how you made that wood piece, it looks very real to me. I have a piece of dead branches from a tree that looks like roots that I'm going to soak until it sinks, but that is not a short time to wait

[Martin Thoene]

That's amazing hx. Very "Lord of The Rings" looking

Martin.

[andyroo]

Very cool. For a Mekong theme one could start with a stone Buddha (face?) and have the Ficus/tree roots draping down/over. Full of possibilities.

[NancyD]

Very cool, now we need a how to make thread please.

[hx]

Very "Lord of The Rings" looking

Martin.

Sorta Harrypotterian, yes.

Thanks for the kind words, again. I'll try to knit together a tiny explanation of how I sculpt the scaping... if I get over my acute spinelessness and get around to document it phase by phase.

[hx]

Finally got around to starting to make the rest of the paludarium, i.e. the river bank above the waterline.

A couple of teasers of progress so far:

Fake stone and the box for the streambank



Fitting some fake tree stump and rooting



Two stages of making the roots



Another layer done. A bit of shading and highlighting to go, after they dry/harden for a couple of days.


More in a couple of days or so.

[janma]

Magic.

[chefkeith]

That's incredible. Is that styrofoam you carved them with? What did you paint the roots with?