My First Tank

and dont i wish i could start again! especially without the boyfriends input of unasked for fish and dumping gravel all down the front lol

And there was me thinking it looked really good. I like it, looks very natural.

Whats the stocking?

ah thanks, its hard work when the other half keeps coming home and dumping in new things. hes banned from buying stuff now. the stocking is a mix up of the odd things he's bought like 2 albino corys, 4 peppered corys, 5 black loaches (only ever seen one) 2 snowball plecos (if thats what they are) all sorts of tetras (neon, cardinal, serpae, glowlight, black) and one molly which is left over from when he brought home a breeding pair. that was horrendous and after two months all the molllys and babies were sent back to the shop! i plan for a second 30 gallon, split the plecos, have one type of cory on each and add so theres about 6 of each. have cardinals in one tank and serpae in the other. just got to save up for another external filter now. plus ive got a new kitchen tank cycling to have thai micro crabs in

Fantastic, and it seems you are like minded with fish. By that i mean wanting more of less species in a tank, which IMO looks far more natural and easy going to watch. I hate seeing blurred bunch of one of each fish darting around. Besides, its stressfull for them to not be with their own kind.

Yes, i've seen some of these Thai Micro crabs lately myself. They do seem rather expensive for what they are, and you just KNOW fish such as tetras WILL no doubt nibble at them and eat them, so they are quite limiting what you can keep with them. Interesting little invertebrae though! I'd love to try them myself one day.

a lovely looking natural set-up.

thanks its nice to get good comments its an expensive hobby im finding and needs constant monitoring but i can just watch them all for ages. the crabs are going in a 30l biorb which i wouldnt put fish in. the man in the shop said it would be good for newts but maybe he was pulling my leg? he had never heard of thai micro crabs. ive found them on ebay for £3 each. i think i would get 3 at first... or 5... im stil researching them. appears no one can get the babies to live past 9 days old so if i dont find other info it might be a bit cruel to keep making young that are going to die? otherwise i guess i'll bootsale the biorb and plan something else

Have you not seen them in person then. When they say something is small, its well - small. When they call these Micro, they are to say, erm....micro. As in minute. you could fit 3 or 4 of them easily on your finger nail alone and still have room for more. So £3 a pop for one, in a 30L BiOrb, i'd say your going to struggle to see them still.

Very interesting little crabs as i've said, but certainly more than 3, else your going to be looking for a needle in a haystack every time you want to view one!

haha! ive skimmed what ive read so far as the tank wont be ready for another month or so... ah well, back to the drawing board... scrap the biorb will prob be best bet

i must say that is lovely looked alot better then my 1st tank

I like it! Can any one ID the plant in the middle? Been looking everywhere for the name of it

no idea but im going to the store tomorrow so i'll check. so far ive found two dragonfly nymphs in it lol they are now in the rainbutt outside. this plant was a great find because it grows like wildfire and i really wanted to get some shade from the lights to help my tetras come up a bit higher

Loving the kind of 'shore' look at the front of the tank. Stocking is a little off, but maybe now you can work on things since you have 'banned' him. Advertise some of your less favourite fish on here for rehoming then re-stock with what you want to up the numbers of.

I think that plant is water wisteria, sometimes called Indian fern.

Nice tank, btw