# A. Hogaboomorum Tank



## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

first off, mad thanks to [email protected] massive aggression. dude knows how to take care of his fish, and has some awesome rares. he's in the business for the love of the hobby, and it shows in his fish.

secondly, i owe MEGA thanks out to FEEFA, joedizzle, and a few others out there...joe, goddamn dude, you know your plants. and FEEFA, coming in clutch with all the FH, trimac, and cichlid advice. this is my first tank in about 3-4 years, and i never pictured it being as nice as it's turning out to be because of all your guys advice.

the tannins in the wood are still seeping out, so the tinge is not exactly where i want it to be right now, but the nitrates are under 5ppm (plants), all the other params are excellent. im thinking in 1 month this is going to be a sweet C/A, S/A cichlid setup. i'll be sure to post update pictures for a few months while i grow this tank out.

couple more tidbits on info...the tank is running off of a single rena xp2 currently. i realize this is insufficient, so im ordering an xp3 tomorrow from bigals. im also ordering a dual strip T5 light to streamline the planted aspect of the tank. if anyone remembers when i first posted about this tank, it's got a line of etched glass through the middle of the tank, and there are still some small etches around the tank. for that reason, i dont expect pictures to be impeccable. however, this coming summer, i hope to grab a new tank, and transfer everything so it looks as good as possible.

anyway, currently the fish have been floating for about 45 minutes...im gonna give them 15 more minutes to acclimate and then cut them free...pics to follow. gimme an hour.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

Can't wait to see pics man


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

this is (i believe) an L052 "butterfly" pleco. i know there are two different "butterfly" pleco's, but due to the patterning, i think this is the L052. i fell in love with it as soon as i saw it, and im not sure if it's hard to find or what, but it's not something i've ever seen before. WICKED cool looking. sorry for such a crappy photo, this pleco looks a MILLION times better out of the bag. i was actually stunned at how awesome this things colors were when i cut it free...look forward to more photo's of this guy.








here's the 5" guy swimming in the bag...by the 1/2 hour mark he was brutally pissed off trying to GTFO. haha. currently he's checking out the 'scape.








here's the best shot i could get in the first few minutes of the hog swimming around. once he colors up and gets used to the tank, im going to take some nicer shots with the lumix.








here's the tank 'scape. there's wendtii on the left of the wood, two java ferns on top, anubias off to the rear near the filter, and the one in front i can't remember the name...either way i think they set the tank off extremely well compared with the plastic plants. the difference is actually staggering and im not sure i'll ever have plastic plants again. (btw you can clearly see the etching in the glass right along the center...ARG...it pisses me off, im definitely getting a new glass cage this summer)


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## sapir (Jun 20, 2008)

congrats bro, nice pick ups for sure.
you must update with pics when he colors up, any chance of adding a female in that tank?


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

probably no to the female...i feel like 75g is already pretty small to begin with for this fish and a pleco...hopefully down the road i'll be able to grab a 125 or 150 and then a female may be in order. can't wait to see what he turns into though with a bit more age.


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## [email protected]° (Jun 16, 2004)

Looking good!!

Awesome Pleco, they are pretty rare and beautiful. Make sure you have a place to put him if the trimac decides not to play nice. It would be a shame to lose him...


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

lesson learned...when you see a good deal, order right away. big als is OOS on XP3's, and XP4's...gotta go with another XP2. i think it'll still be sufficient for this tank, although i was really hoping for the 3. oh well.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Congrats Rider! The tank looks great and I'm loving the Hog, it has great shape and I'm sure it will be even more of a stunner once he colors up. They are not to common so def a cool cichlid to own.

And you're right Joe is def the man when it comes to plants, he's helped me tonnes.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

When do we get to see some new pics? can't wait to see how the hog develops.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

ok, you inspired me to pick up the camera...here's some really piss poor quality shots, i did break out the flashlight for some background lighting on two of them...i'll get a few lamps up some saturday and give it a good effort, but these should suffice for now. enjoy. BTW, xp2, coralife dual t5 strip and spectrum cichlid pellets shipped today!

here he is dodging the camera. he's still a bit skittish, isn't sure what to make of the setup right now...he came out of a 180 with a bunch of aggressive ampho's and flowerhorns, so being there with just a pleco in this 75 im sure is a bit to adjust to...








tried to get a good one, but i quickly grabbed the camera for shits and giggles. this thing spent all damn day digging a huge hole out underneath the wood...that's his new spot. there's a good pile of sand behind the wood, and in front of the wood as well, he's also started digging out near where the pleco is hiding out as well...hopefully he's no overly aggressive.








showing the front ridge of the hole he's dug out. he also decided that he hated my gardening, so he ripped apart the two java ferns on the wood, and destroyed the plant off to the front right of the wood. oh well, im going to make plants work, he's just gonna have to live with it. haha.








this thing is scary gorgeous...im soooooooooooooooooooo pumped that i decided to pick this thing up on a whim. i can't wait for it to get a few more inches and come out of hiding. such a gorgeous pleco.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

That pleco is amazing... I need to get one.

Lookin good man, if the fish keeps being a jerk and moving the plants around, you might wanna look into some crypts or something -- something with a good root system that can withstand his attempts at landscaping.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

joe you should see it from above, it's got a very wide body, but it's flatter than a normal pleco as well, so it looks awesome from above, almost like a stingray, since the eyes stick up...once again, the pictures do these fish no justice, especially the pleco.


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## FEEFA (Nov 19, 2007)

Great looking pleco rider, love the markings on it


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

joe, contact me about that moss you have...i'd love to get some off your hands. he hasn't been able to budge the wendtii, and that's the only potted plant. it's still in it's bundle under the sand, he just can't move the entire mass, and hasn't ripped the stems apart like the other plant. im going to try and tie some moss down to the wood with some fishing line...and if he keeps killing the plants, im going to poke them through egg cartons and cover the carton with sand.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

You can just PM me your address, I'll be mailing out some portions probably next week. For payment, you can send me that pleco...


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

ha haaaaaaaaaaa...listen, talk to [email protected] he told me he's going to be getting some more in. mine was a medium and i grabbed it for 25 bucks.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

As much as I'd love to have one, I don't have a tank for it right now -- it would get eaten in my serra tanks and it would eat everything in my RCS tank. You'll just have to post plenty of pics so we can see what it looks like when it's settled in.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

did a bit more research on the pleco species...turns out it likes to hide in logs, driftwood...etc...in high current areas, doesn't like to be out in the open...hmmm. once it grows a bit it'll have no choice but to be seen







. i may end up adding a small powerhead directed under the wood, just to give the pleco a more natural feeling under there.

as for the hog, he's still pretty shy, setting his tank up the way he wants it. he's dug down to the glass under the wood, and the entire length of it...just a massive pit for privacy. he'll come out every once in a while, but generally stays there. it's weird, i'll come over to the tank and sometimes he'll approach the glass, not very interactive, but a lot of times he'll also retreat to his hiding spot at the glimpse of me. i know it's only day 4, i imagine a month from now he'll be fully accustomed to his own tank.

further, the hog is just starting to get some coloration going on. he's developing some light bars at the top of his back, and around his face is getting slightly pink...he seems a lot more comfortable than when he was first put in (obviously)...

ALSO, big thumbsup to bigals. ridiculous fast shipping. i got the coralife dual T5 strip...it already looks better, and it's got an actintic and a 10k light...which i think im going to replace the blue light with a 6500k or so, since this isn't a reef tank. also got the new filter (xp2) up and running...tank is looking sweet.

im gonna continue to update this as the tank progresses. im very hopeful that the hogaboom will come out of his shell and have the personality of an outgoing SA cichlid that im used to owning. anyway, stay tuned for more pics in the next few days.


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

just a quick update...the A.Hogaboomorum has completely dug out the underneath of the log down to the glass. the java fern's and whatever that front plant were are gone, ripped to shreds. the wendtii and anubias are still standing, although i think the pleco has been munching on the wendtii a bit.

the pleco is uber nocturnal. it sits upside down in a little crevace in the wood until 1 hour after lights off. i snuck up on the tank last night with my cell phone to shine some light on it and there he was, on the back glass of the tank.

the hog is starting to show some more colors overall, although they are faint. a bit of orange-pinkish on it's sides. the bars are less noticeable and the spots on the side are becoming more independent of themselves, although not as bright. the fins are looking even better than when i picked him up...not that there was anything wrong with them in the first place...he's just more comfortable overall. i've been feeding new life spectrum sinking pellets that supposedly promote colors...he seems to like it, and the pleco picks up the scraps after lights out.


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## scent troll (Apr 4, 2005)

The tank and pleco look amazing! Really an awesome fish! Those marking are really great looking


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## r1dermon (Mar 9, 2005)

thanks...i snapped some new photos...uber low quality...no conversion necessary. lol. uploading shortly.

yeah i was excited tonight because the pleco came out with the lights on...damn thing never does that. usually he's 100% nocturnal...lately he's been getting a bit better about it though. but today out of nowhere, lights are bright, and the damn thing comes out and sticks to the glass...i was like, oh sh*t, gotta grab the cam!


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