thought i'd show off how my 2 big tanks are looking just now. i am pretty pleased with them at the moment.

the Jewel Rio 180 i've had for about 17 months now. it has seen quite a few changes, the latest being that i tried to build up a terrace with a few bits of stone and bogwood. if u look carefully u can just see it in the middle of the tank, shaded by java fern. it's maybe not quite as good as i would have liked but saying that i am quite happy with it for now. it's been like this for a few weeks now and so far the corys havnt managed to flatten it , partly as i used crypts to block up the holes between the rocks and keep the gravel in place. at present this is a non co2 tank and seems to be doing fine. the plants are java fern, java moss, a little bit of twisted vallis, crypts and a bit of wisteria.

the other tank is one i got for £12 of a guy on ebay. it holds just over 40 gallon. i've had it about 6 months now, i think. i took my time adding plants (cuttings mostly) and a few bits of wood. it is now filling up nicely and i am pretty happy with the way it is going. this tank has added co2. the plants in this one are java fern, amazon swords, hygrophilia, wisteria, crypts, a bit of baby tears, a bit of cardamine lyrata and some giant and twisted vallis.

the fish in the tanks are as it says in my signature with a minor change or 2 that i've not updated yet.

rio 180 ...



40 gal (co2 tank) ...


oh n forgive me if the pics are a bit off, too bright perhaps, my monitor is needing replaced

That's excellant! Your Java Fern tank has really come along well. Those Cory's there, having a SE Asian holiday?

Your 40 gal, I'm sure mine actually looks like that under all the Red Algae! Is that the tank you earlier said was an odd shape? And who's moving out first, the Angels, or the Neons?

yup @ odd shape. it measures 79x53x47cms (31"x21"x18.5").
i like it tho, i have it set up in the middle of my living room and means it can be viewed from 3 sides. at 21 inches high, it's a tall tank. the biggest amazon sword has leaves that almost hit the top tho and the giant vallis constantly needing trimmed. i've had leaves 4 foot long.

i vaguely remember looking at one of ur angel pics and thinking it looked a bit like my black and silver one. i believe in the wild they are normaly black on silver with 5 bars. mine is more 2 thick black stripes and 2 thin ones. and altho this guy was the shy one of the two initialy it is now the dominant one. the marbel one stands up for itself tho

i know it's not advised to have angels and neons but im i'm hopeing that having bought the angels young and by keeping them well fed they just wont associate the neons as food. it's hard to count the neons as they never sit still and there is too many plants, but as far as i can tell none have been eaten so far. if i think it's gonna be a problem i'll probably swap the neons at my LFS for something bigger.

i always used to think angels were more style than content but since i got them i really like them. they are way more agile and active than i imagined and full of personality

oh and btw, i posted some quite nice pics of the angels in the chiclid section if u'd like a closer look.

I reckon the deep tank would really suit the Angels.

I like the natural Angel coloring, it's very 'balanced'. I had one once, where the middle black lines where broken and distorted. There was a very clear and readable number "13" on the one side. Of course it was named 'Lucky'! I must dig out my old 'film' photos, and Post that one...

You've seen our 'Silver Wing', which one fishkeeper friend of mine calles 'the Beast', 'cos he's a fair size. Well, our youngster, 'Charcoal', has half the body height, but the finnage far exceeds that of 'silverwing'. He's gunna be a monster fish when he grows up! And he's so 'regal', but the bastards near black, and so hard to get a decnt pic.

I won't bother recommending any other Tetra, for if the Neons become lunch. There's so many to choose from, there's bound to be something to suit taste, and 'mouth size'.

Only 1 word.....WOW. Beautiful tanks! I'm going to try and get the 135 looking like that one day.

WOW they are excellent tanks, good job