First off, the shop is fan-bloody-tastic. Both Nicole and James are so spontaneously generous and helpful and won't sell fish just for the sake of it. They know my own tapwater is really hard (well was, as it changed a fortnight ago) so when I asked about certain shrimp I was told NO. They won't thrive in my local water.
I've never walked into any other shop like this that has had the owner offer me a cuppa. You can sit on the sofas in the tank room and just watch all the goings on. So relaxing.
As for this new tank, I'm following my past experience of growing the plants. I first reid just planting in the first tank while it was filled with water. What a mess. They all just drifted to the top.
Next I did a dry plant, which is what I'm doing now, but didn't leave the tank long enough even though most plants stayed put when water was added. The result of that was that the Panda Corys snuffled about on the bottom and they all got disturbed and floated to the top again.
What I find is that the
Tropica Aqua soil is loose and doesn't pack down like gravel or sand. So the plants need to grow the roots down into the bottom layer of
Lava soil to give them some strength.
The tank is wet but only minimally. There shouldn't be free water at the bottom as it could cause mold or rot the roots. Just a spray on all the plants to keep them moist then cover the tank with clingfilm and give as much light as possible to get strong growth. A dry start is great for most plants but not all as some take their nutrients out of the water.
It's great fun though and I'd recommend getting a nano tank such as this, a Waterbox 6 at only 36cm wide, and giving it a go yourself.
Also I'd recommend that if you do go ahead then contact Nicole or James.
I have price checked their stuff from time to time and they aren't over the top.
Oh, Essjay - I believe that James has been known to collect incoming customers at Darlington Station.
