# First shoot in the new tank



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

The driftwood is causing some tea coloring of the water, but to be perfectly honest, I really like the effect. I think it gives it a very natural feel. Played around a bit with the lighting to cast some shadows and used a shallow DOF for the shots to kind of emphasize the fish coming out of the murkyness. Anyway, I'll be doubling the lighting on the weekend for the plants, but should give me more options for shots as well.









1/45s f/3.5 at 51.0mm









1/60s f/3.5 at 38.0mm









1/45s f/3.5 at 70.0mm


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## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

beautiful photos... I definitly see some POTM wins coming soon!!


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## mori0174 (Mar 31, 2004)

very nice pics twitch.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks lwrlevel, I'm not too worried about POTM. I just enter it to show my photos and I enjoy the process of saying "THIS, is the best one I took this month" to showcase. I'm loving the natural look in this tank as opposed to that awful blue tint in the previous one. Can't wait to get both light strips going, 3 watts per gallon


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## stingray (Apr 2, 2004)

Holy shittt , this are great pictures man







, you can beat Yorkshire whit this









Look at your rhom red eyes , simply beautiful snapshots


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## Joga Bonito (Oct 30, 2004)

nice pics


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## nomaddan (Nov 26, 2004)

Nice pics!









The pic mongers on this site should get together and work on a book. Its hard t find good P books with good pics. If anyone knows of one please let me know.


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## Fresh2salt (Jul 16, 2004)

looks good. sweet rhom.


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## skelator (Sep 12, 2004)

I've always been a big fan of the wide open f-stop close-ups, looking good, particularly #3


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## William's (Aug 23, 2004)

amazing sharp pictures

greetz

William


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## PacmanXSA (Nov 15, 2004)

As always, very nice Mr. Twitcho.

Question for ya: What kind of crypt is that in the first pic?

Also, with the black gravel, have you found that the color of your fish has darkened significantly? Yours looks very dark and I'm assuming it is because of the substrate!

Let me know baby!

Pac


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

Twitch, the first shot was totally amazing!
definitley let us vote for potm 
Great Work


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

stingray said:


> Look at your rhom red eyes , simply beautiful snapshots
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It is a nice shade of red, almost looks like cranberry juice











nomaddan said:


> Nice pics!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've thought of putting together something like a comprehensive guide to piranha keeping and doing some research, I've done something kind of along that vein with p-fury that you guys should be seeing in the near future.



skelator said:


> I've always been a big fan of the wide open f-stop close-ups, looking good, particularly #3
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks dude, me too although I like the first best. With just the right depth it can put all the emphasis on the face, which makes an interesting effect.



PacmanXSA said:


> As always, very nice Mr. Twitcho.
> 
> Question for ya: What kind of crypt is that in the first pic?
> 
> ...


The gravel I don't know for sure, he's always been on black gravel







I assume it helps a little, but can't really say how much.

The crypt is a cryptocorne wendtii, tropica I believe. I'm a little worried about crypt rot since it's doing so well now, and I'll be doubling the lighting in the future which I've heard a change in parameters can lead to rot. It's a really great looking plant, so I'll probably make another 2 hour round trip to get another if it dies off.



Sheppard said:


> Twitch, the first shot was totally amazing!
> definitley let us vote for potm
> Great Work
> 
> ...


Thank you dude, that's my favorite as well.

Thanks everyone else, comments are much appreciated.


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## PacmanXSA (Nov 15, 2004)

> The crypt is a cryptocorne wendtii, tropica I believe. I'm a little worried about crypt rot since it's doing so well now, and I'll be doubling the lighting in the future which I've heard a change in parameters can lead to rot. It's a really great looking plant, so I'll probably make another 2 hour round trip to get another if it dies off.


Crypt rot? Is that a specific term or are you just talking about the plant dying off. I have some wendtii as well, however it doesn't come in that full and the newer leaves look very brown/purple. The established growth that I do have on it looks very healthy and all and they're growing like mad, but it just seems that they look a little TOO brown, if you know what I mean







How much light are yours getting?

Thanks baby,

Pac


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Yeah crypt rot is a real term



> The problem with Crypts are they are susceptible to what is called Crypt Rot. Some people describe this as a quick "melting down" of the plant. There is much speculation as to the exact cause of this phenomena:
> 
> 1. Change in lighting parameters;
> 2. Change in temperature;
> ...


from http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_lowlight.php

The crypt has only been in the tank for a week, so we'll see how it turns out. It came from the store looking that way

Currently it's only getting 2 wpg, but I'm bumping that to 3 probably on the weekend.


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## shoe997bed263 (Oct 15, 2004)

looks great. always enjoy your pics. i was wondering where your rhom is from and what kind it is? the close up pic is great


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

shoe997bed263 said:


> looks great. always enjoy your pics. i was wondering where your rhom is from and what kind it is? the close up pic is great
> [snapback]897885[/snapback]​


It's an lfs find, so who knows









looks to be a black diamond but that's all speculation


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## Lyle (Jan 29, 2003)

Nice pics, appreciate the shot info you included


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## Cobra (Sep 25, 2004)

Nice new set up.............good thing u stuck with the black gravel.


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## Gordeez (Sep 21, 2003)

That first shot takes the Cake, IMO.
I know how hard it to try and Focus on something as Skinny as a Fish face, And you did a Damn good Job of doing it!
Thats an Incredible Rhom! Red Eyes


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## jackburton (Nov 25, 2003)

sh*t hot el nice work on the new look


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## b_ack51 (Feb 11, 2003)

Nice pics elTwitcho.


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## traumatic (Jan 29, 2003)

pretty nice!

did you find another fish to eat the algea?


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## 204CORD (Oct 18, 2004)

nice pics.. i like the last one


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Beautiful pics, man








Your Rhom is definitely something else









How about a full tank shot?


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## Atlanta Braves Baby! (Mar 12, 2003)

Wow those are some excellent pics bro. You guys sure can produce some great stuff.


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## MR.FREEZ (Jan 26, 2004)

i love the quaility of your shots man and wish i could understand the photo technical

jargan to appreciate it more cause its gotta be some work to get them to look that good.


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Cobra said:


> Nice new set up.............good thing u stuck with the black gravel.
> [snapback]897953[/snapback]​


Yeah it was iffy for a bit, but I'm definately glad I did now. It gives it a unique look and yet somehow still looks natural despite being a fairly unatural color.



Gordeez said:


> That first shot takes the Cake, IMO.
> I know how hard it to try and Focus on something as Skinny as a Fish face, And you did a Damn good Job of doing it!
> Thats an Incredible Rhom! Red Eyes
> 
> ...


Yeah aint it fun going back and forth on the manual focus ring and going "so... was that sharper or... yeah... no wait... here it is... maybe... f*ck HE MOVED!!!"











traumatic said:


> pretty nice!
> 
> did you find another fish to eat the algea?
> [snapback]898350[/snapback]​


Yeah his algae eating snack is gonna be a couple of Siamese Algae Eaters. If they survive for a while, I'll put em in the red belly tank (not to have them get eaten or anything like that, my reds are pretty docile and aren't fed live foods so I HOPE they survive) and put in a bushynose pleco for a bit. To be honest Judazz's tank was my inspiration to consider trying a nice pleco because while I'm sure it won't survive forever, I'm happy with a couple of months. The pleco will get to live better than alot of other people's tanks and when it gets eaten, well it's eaten and can't reflect on it's misfortune and say "damn, I was really enjoying that tank, and that f*cking red eyed bastard had to go and bite my head, I'm really pissed about that".



Judazzz said:


> Beautiful pics, man
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sure thing Judazz, I'm going to reorganize it a little bit, but this is the basic idea. This was taken the day after he was put in so the tannins hadn't had time to turn the water darker, and the fish was still in stress colors. He adjusted pretty quickly anyway










Thanks for the compliment too, I can't get enough of this rhom. Completely turned me around from "why would you put just one fish in a tank? That's stupid" to admitting I was very, very, very wrong.



MR.FREEZ said:


> i love the quaility of your shots man and wish i could understand the photo technical
> 
> jargan to appreciate it more cause its gotta be some work to get them to look that good.
> [snapback]898595[/snapback]​


It is a good amount of work hombre, but it's all the more satisfying when they turn out. It's been a long process to get to this point, and it's rewarding to be able to take a set of shots and have it be noticeably better than the last set. Thanks for the compliments man.

Lyle - No problem man, besides I like sharing some of those settings, who else can get a shot that clear at 70mm using 1/45 shutter speed without tripod? I got rock solid hands, hehehe









And thank you to everyone else as well,


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## HOLLYWOOD (Feb 6, 2003)

Sweet setup Richard! Love it!


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## janus (Oct 28, 2004)

Nice dark color!


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## Ries (Mar 20, 2004)

verry nice fich


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

1st class pics as always Twitch









Are those without flash? 
Tried similar settings on mine (without flash) and they are all way to dark. (im only using iso100 as any higher and theres to much noise)

I'm Just gonna have to upgrade to a DSLR one day.








Time to start saving my pennies :laugh:

And the new setup looks wicked, your rhom is sure to apreciate his new home :nod:


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Yeah they're all without flash, ISO 400 however, which is 2 stops brighter than 100. There is a bit of noise in them, however when I resize down to web size it gets pretty much cancelled out.

Thanks for the compliments, he seems to do well in his new home. He spends alot of time slowly stalking through the rows of plants so at first glance you almost can't tell where he is until he creeps out into the open to greet you. It's a really cool effect, I think we're both pretty happy with his new home


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## fishofury (May 10, 2003)

That's a nice looking rhom!!!
Great shots man


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## marky (Sep 4, 2004)

nice pics


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Well, it remains to be seen whether these guys will be cleanup crew or lunch crew, but I've got my fingers crossed.










Picked up 4 and we'll see how it goes. The rhom has been hanging out in his usual side of the tank and as of yet hasn't bothered him but he also has as of yet refused to eat. I've got a strong suspicion that when he gets hungry these guys might feel the brunt of that. They've been getting ridiculously close to him too which is cause for concern, but we'll see how it goes really.


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## TheSaint (Apr 15, 2004)

Nice bad boy you got there!! how big is the tank ? I read the whole post but couldnt see it anywhere!!


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## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

I probably missed posting that.

It's a 40 gallon breeder. 36 x 18 x 15(or something, not sure about height because I don't care much). In my opinion it's by far the best tank dimensions under a 75 gallon


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## BUBBA (Sep 4, 2003)

nice setup


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## bmpower007 (Feb 11, 2005)

wrong post Sorry


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