FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I currently have five planted tanks and one reef tank that I have taken many photos of, so here is some of my favorites of fish, plants, etc from various tanks. Honestly, my main focus is more on growing many different plants and mosses (many successfully, and some that just hated my tanks).

Painted fire red shrimp on Fissidens sp. (not F. fontanus)
IMG_5712 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Tonina fluviatilis 'lotus blossom'
DSC_0038 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Aqueon evolve 8
DSC_1078 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Phyllanthus fluitans
IMG_5330 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Corydoras habrosus by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

20 gallon long reef tank
DSC_1000 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

DSC_0426 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

One of my first snowflake clownfish. One decided to jump at night without any water quality issues, and the other was stung and eaten by a maxi mini carpet anemone (just bad luck all around).
DSC_0442 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Yellow assessor basslet
DSC_0978 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Old 29 gallon planted tank that was converted to a pygmy sunfish breeding tank.
DSC_0015 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

55 gallon planted tank (it doesn't look as nice now due to some algae issues that I am getting back under control)
DSC_0635 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Anomalochromis thomasi
DSC_0750.. by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Honeycomb catfish
DSC_0259 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Dwarf chain loach
DSC_0363 by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

One of the male pygmy sunfish (Elassoma evergladei)
DSC_0594. by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Really beautiful aquariums! I really like the red shrimp with the white legs!

MrsMuscipula wrote:Really beautiful aquariums! I really like the red shrimp with the white legs!

Thank you! That is my favorite shrimp actually. Anytime I am working on the reef tank it has to pick at my hand (that's my own fault since I hand feed it since it lives behind the rocks ).

Love!!! So beautiful! I want so badly to assemble a planted aquarium. I have a 40 gallon just sitting in my basement empty.

Wow! I'm always amused by planted tanks. They look so impossible to do lol. You seem to have a knack for it chevy. Thanks for the pics.

Beautiful plants and fish, love how clear your photos are!

Wow, chevy! I have always been astonished by how people get their aquariums looking so good, where do you get your plants? Locally or online? And do they arrive in good condition if online? Sorry for the questions but I am blown away by the beautiful aquarium photos on the net and now have someone to ask!

SEWinans wrote:Love!!! So beautiful! I want so badly to assemble a planted aquarium. I have a 40 gallon just sitting in my basement empty.

That is a nice size tank to work with for a planted tank, especially if it is a 40 breeder. The dimensions of the 40 breeder work nicely for a smaller dutch aquascape and many other aquascape layouts. If you ever decide to set up a planted tank let me know and I can see what I have to spare that you could have (if you are within the U.S. of course).

Dionae wrote:Wow! I'm always amused by planted tanks. They look so impossible to do lol. You seem to have a knack for it chevy. Thanks for the pics.

They take a bit more work than fish only tanks, but it gets easier as time goes on and the tank gets established. Plus it pays off when you see what all the work turns into. Then again I am always in awe over your collection of Sarracenia and couldn't begin to imagine taking care of all of them.

Matt wrote:Absolutely gorgeous! I had lots of aquariums full of fish when I was a kid and young adult, but never had live plants nor anything that looked anywhere close to as beautiful as your tanks. Well done!

Thanks, what kind of fish did you keep?

bvalente wrote:Beautiful plants and fish, love how clear your photos are!

Thank you!

katya_dog1 wrote:Wow, chevy! I have always been astonished by how people get their aquariums looking so good, where do you get your plants? Locally or online? And do they arrive in good condition if online? Sorry for the questions but I am blown away by the beautiful aquarium photos on the net and now have someone to ask!

I don't mind the questions at all, I enjoy talking about aquariums and plants in general . When I first started out I went with whatever plants I could get locally, which wasn't much. I could get some plants ordered from places like Florida Aquatic Nurseries, but the price was high and the plants were so-so. Then I moved to buying some plants from aquabid (there are a few good sellers), but was cautious about it like Ebay. Now I just buy/trade from other hobbyists to support their hobby, plus I am far more likely to get quality plants for a lower price. I do also trade with one local person (their tank makes mine look terrible), which I have been doing for a couple years now.

As long as the person shipping the plants knows how to package them properly, they generally arrive looking like they were not in the mail for a couple days. The plants I got as part of a group import of tissue cultured plants didn't turn out so well, but it was a very sensitive hybrid. I agree, there are many amazing aquariums out there and some very unique ones as well.

Alright, thank you very much!

Matt wrote: I actually would keep native fish (sometimes illegal) from the creek near my house. Because of their intense and bright coloration, my favorites were Long-ear sunfish:

They were like a colorful ocean fish, but found in Missouri streams!

I would also keep small-mouth and large-mouth bass and many other native fish.

I did have a few non-native fish like Oscars, Piranhas and some others, but I preferred the fish I could observe in their natural habitat.

That is pretty cool! They are really nice looking fish. You must have had a pretty good sized aquarium running for those fish. Keeping bigger fish would be neat, let alone keeping native fish. The pygmy sunfish is the closest I have got to keeping native fish, and were one of the first that made me realize that they are some really beautiful freshwater fish in the U.S.

I ended up getting some new plants from my friend a few days ago that I thought were pretty cool. One is a Cryptocoryne nurii var. "Pahang mutated" that I have had in the past, but his ended up growing a spathe submerged (apparently the third time for this plant specifically, but not the first time out of his crypt collection). I probably won't have this happen for me, so I wanted to get some pictures before the spathe died off or I cut it off to look at it under the microscope. The other is a type of floating moss that just looks neat all together. Supposedly it is some sort of Selaginella sp., but bryophyte identification is something I am terrible with; so unless someone identifies it and I come across the link I won't know what it is.

Cryptocoryne nurii var. "Pahang mutated" Spathe by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

My scarlet badis apparently wanted to be the center of the picture.
Cryptocoryne nurii var. "Pahang mutated" Spathe by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

Floating moss (Selaginella sp.) surrounded by Ricciocarpus natans by chevyguy8893, on Flickr

woah, you are one heck of a hobbiest

ps3isawesome wrote:woah, you are one heck of a hobbiest

It is one of those hobbies that became more of an obsession . Too bad I will be shutting down a bunch of the tanks next year .