Update on tank progression:
I ended up not doign the EBJD's due to price and health issues with the fish that I didn't want to get in to and put the time in to. I ended up getting some 4 carpintis escondido, 2 thor meeki F1 subin, 1 GT, 8 striata, and 4 plecos (1 white king tiger, 1 spotted medusa, 1 peppermint, 1 clown).
When I got the escondido they were about 1-1.5". This was about a month ago. The largest one is now pushing 3.5" and the other 3 are about 2.0-3.0". The GT is around 4-5". The meeki's are about 2.0". I plan on ending up with 1 escondido, 1 GT, 1 meeki for bigger fish and then my plecs and loaches.
The striata are just flat out awesome. They are pushing 3" themselves now as well.. they were about 2" when I got them. 8 of them right now and planning on going and picking up 4 more of them. The ones they got in 2 weeks ago are a little bigger than the guys I have now so that works out great. 5 of them seem to have formed their own clique and allow the other 3 to fill in a 6th slot 1 at a time every so often but never more than 6 to the group. They are growing pretty well too. 2 of them have some odd markings which I think are going to look really cool when they grow out some more. I want to get more but at $9.99 and already close to a full tank footprint I think I'm gonna hold off on going passed 12. They eay like pigs and the largest escondido seems to baby the whole bunch of them. The light is really bright where I feed at so they don't come right away to eat.. they generally wait for the current to push it over to them then they swarm like piranhas. if it takes too long, the escondido will take a few pellets or bloodworms and spit it out in to their pile so they can have some grub to snack on. It's simply hilarious.
I ended up getting the tank planted with a ton of anubias, ferns, and moss with some frogbit for cover. I also got a bunch of smaller driftwood pieces and positioned them quite nicely between the main driftwood pile and the rockpile. It's coming along nicely as far as that is concerned. I think the loaches dig the plants the most. The escondido will hide under anubias leaves underneath the eheim spraybar where the current is strongest. They'll hide their to get a break from the current when they are playing. The loaches on the other hand will sit right on top of the driftwood, in 2 single file lines as if they were getting ready to take off in a nascar race. The main driftwood pile is 3 quite large pieces and the top piece goes across longways giving them a bit of an airport strip to land and take-off from. Here there are some anubias as well and sometimes you can catch one parked on the leaf, handing on to the end of it with his barbs on his mouth as if he is playing and waiting for the right time to let go and let the spraybar push him around to the other side before coming back to do it again.
I'm definitely loving these guys and hoping they will all school around a bit more when I get the next 4. I thought 8 would be decent but I guess the 5 that are 'the clique' don't approve
I'll definitely update with quality pics in the enxt few weeks. Getting my first dslr in the next week or two and will be having a blast learning how to operate it.
