Rio Motagua biotope

Hi there, just thought I would share some pictures from a tank I just rescaped. Water is still a little cloudy, and I'm no photographer, but you can get a good feel for it anyway. For some reason I struggle when I scape these 150s, I have 2 of them, and I always find scaping them to be a challenge. They are just too tall and narrow for my likeing, I would much rather scape 125s because there isent as much "dead" space on the top. Not like I'm some profesional aquascaper or anything, I do try to make my tanks looks nice though
Anyone who knows me and has seen posts of my tanks before knows that I like setting up biotope tanks, and this one was no exception. It started with me getting my hands on some (at the time) very uncommon fish. Chuco micropthalmus, I got my hands on a trio, 1 is a for sure male, 1 is a for sure female, and the other is very submisive to the larger two. I researched and was lead to looking up info on the Rio Motagua. Obviously a great tankmate would be Parachromis motaguense. So began the search for some high quality motas. I am fortunate enough to live close to a lot of central american keepers (close is a loose term here). I decided to go with some fry from Justins' (JK47) unrelated F1 pair. I aquired 20 fry, they were very small only 3 weeks old when I got them. Of the 20 , 16 to survived to the current 1"-2" size. I got them back in August, putting them at about 5 months old now.
I grew them to this size and made the decision to put them in the 150 with the micros. The micros are 10" for the big male, 8" for the big female, and about 6" for the unsexed one. So the motas spend a fair amount of time hiding, but I really enjoy seeing them dart here and there, poking their little heads out from crevises and what not. It really gives a "wild" impresion, and I'm confident the micros wont eat them, because chuco have smaller mouths and aren't very preditorial. Also with the small size of motas, they pose no threat to micros, so are ignored. But dont tell the motas that, as I enjoy their antics.
Alright, enough of me typing, time for some pictures. Again, please dont hate to much on my lack of photographing skills, I'm a fish keeper, not a photographer

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Well thats it, i have a few more pics and may post them tomorrow...... I'm tierd.

After seeing how crappy my pictures were... as I said not a photographer, I decided to take a few more shots, really showcase this male micro. I hope that you will be able to see the big diference and just have the knowlage that the other fish look much better then originaly shown. I'm tierd and was just kinda throwing it together, so please allow me to redeem myself.
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btw meeki are not part of the biotope, temp housing.

I totally agree about the challenge of tall tanks. I love the way they look but there is always that upper section that just does not look right. Thankfully I have my school of silver dollars that swim in that area so it draws away from the aquascape.

I liked your pictures, even the first ones. I like the full tank shot with the rocks. Are those real rocks or the type made by design by nature? I would love some large rocks but there is always the fear of the rock piles crashing down or breaking the bottom out. And of course the skull shot... cant forget about that. Most importantly the fish, they look good! Keep up the good work!

Thanks D. Yes the rocks are from designs by nature, they're great, I really like them. Thanks for the kind words, im super stoked to grow out these rtms, should be fun.

Yeah, this is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I've never heard of Designs by Nature Thanks for the lead

That male micro is a stud.

My Micros and Godmanni are aggressive little fish. Must be the tank they are in.

Looking good as always.

Thanks guys. And Madness, my intermedium are very active, just like the micros. I think it has to be a chuco thing. Although, I haven't noticed any serious aggression.

I think the tank looks very good and beautiful fish.

One thing I've seen in tall tanks that helps with the "height" issue is to get some fake silk plants that can be attached at the top of the tank and let them kinda float and "hang" in the water from the top. It helps to add some filler to the top part of the tank and looks awesome. Or get some tall vals and have them in a corner and let them overhang the surface.

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Just a video I did last night

those two Thorichthys meeki are HUGE!!! I hope that mine ends up that size and with that much red. stunning fish.

Thank you.. and they are big. Male is 6 1/2". They are 7 years old I believe.

awesome looking tank AND fish

Thanks hobby

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So thats what I woke up to this mourning.

great video! I love those spawning colors...

Great video! Good to hear of your success with the micro's

sooo forgive me if im mistaken (ca/sa arent my thing) but arent those the super rare w.e's that u got from kevin but never bred for u? and werent we just talking about this o idk like a day ago ? nice timing right? must be something from my house lol

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