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Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 2:08 am
by cider
I was ''surfing'' last week , and I came upon your entire journal from the start of your trial smaller setup to this magnificent piece of jungle in your house. I was blown away ! What an awesome job you did , and wow , you certainly dream BIG , and seems like you not only had the dream, you actually did it ... :D you should be proud ...not many can say they did something like this in their house , in their lifetime ! I'm sure your inhabitants must be very happy and feel truly ''at home'' .
Great job :wink: G

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 5:01 am
by wimvanvelzen
Whow, thank you all for the kind words. Yes, I have to admit I am rather proud :D But even more moved by the beauty and in some fraility of all those small plants and animals.

And the room acts as some sort of retreat for the family members after a busy day!

Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2010 9:33 am
by starsplitter7
What an incredible retreat for your family. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for posting your amazing pictures.

Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:16 am
by wimvanvelzen
Nothing special to tell, apart from the arrival of a beautiful new inhabitant!

Since a couple of weeks I have 3.3 Nomoramphus liemi, a half beak fish from the

fast waters of Sulawesi.


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Males are evidently smaller and like to swim just behind and below the females:
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This species loves to 'hang' in the flow, near cover and just below the water

surface:

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More waterlife:

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Pogomeston helferi, emers:

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More emers grow:

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Begonia schultzei hanging:

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Two weeks later:
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Mannophryne trinitatis
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The area around the waterfall on the left handside grows nicely:
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Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:49 am
by Keith Wolcott
Very, very nice!

Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:55 am
by Hokum
This setup is more impresive each time I look at it!

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 3:24 pm
by wimvanvelzen
Not much loach news here, but you might find this update of interest...

Since last November I have been on a kind of forum leave. Probably posted to much and needed some rehab ;-) Nevertheless, apologies and all that and an update!
The tank is doing fine. Technically all works as planned, although I had some moisture problems in the room in the cold months. Have better ventilation installed now. The idea of getting some rain drops with the Gardena system didn't work out. No problem though, as I mist by hand.

The Mannophrynes are thriving, as do the Hyloxalus azureiventris. Unfortunately the group of Hyperolius withered completely. I have no plans for other tree- or reed frogs.
The Nomorhamphus liemi are grown up now. I have to suspect the ladies though of taking the smaller fish for a costly snack... Not much of the smaller fish are left. Therefor I introduced a larger group fish: twelve Rasbora kalochroma, now about 5 cm (2" for the metrically impaired) and growing to about 10 cm / 4"max. They love the fast flowing stream!
A few young Rhinogobius sp. crawl over the floor - apparently there are enough hiding places to grow up.


Today I removed a lot of leafs and litter and cleaned the windows. Making photographs wasn't particularly easy with all the reflections, but I hope the pictures give you an idea how things do at the moment!


Some wide shots of the entire tank:
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Some images of the interior:

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Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 3:25 pm
by wimvanvelzen
Some inhabitants:


The newly introduced Rasbora kalochroma - very fast and there for hard to capture:
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Een jonge Rhinogobius:
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In case you missed the frogs: they have some sort of automatic 'camera detection system'. The only one I could get in front of the lens is this young trinitatis male, making lots of noise. And when they sing, they turn all black. Kind of Johnny Cash...
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Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 4:58 pm
by Keith Wolcott
Very very nice! You have really captured a natural look. Well done. Thank you for posting.

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 5:29 pm
by Matt
It looks amazing Wim. :-)

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 5:06 pm
by NancyD
Awesome set up! I really like the new rasboras, I've never seen them before.

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 3:56 am
by cider
again, totally blown away, and to think of all the life that has begun in there ,whoahh, very cool. Bet the TV in your house dosen't get used much :D
thanks for sharing !
G

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 11:58 am
by wimvanvelzen
hi all,

Thanks for the nice words! You encourage me to show another series of photos, even if there is nothing 'fishy' in it... :D


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Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 2:08 am
by raedeon
your set up there is just amazing! love the pictures

Re: my hillstream viv journal

Posted: Sun May 15, 2011 7:43 am
by wimvanvelzen
I took some more froggie pics last week. They tend to hide in dark places, so I had to use flash a couple of times. Nevertheless a nice addition to the larger update, I hope.

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