OP
OP
Yes, I just started the C02 and fertilizer tonight. It should perk up. It was already looking like that in the store so I knew it would need something soon.
6 Gallon Sanzon Iwagumi
- Thread starter Chad
- Start date
OP
OP
Well word of advice for anyone who has not used the Fluval micro C02 kit...don't play around with it. The valve is really sensitive and in a moment I pretty much emptied the little canister...doh! This is the first time I've used it and didn't know that even a tiny turn on the valve is more thanenough to fill the two chambers with Co2.
OP
OP
Plants have already perked up with the addition of the C02 and fertilizer. I didn't get to plant them yet though, just didn't have time. 
I'm still torn on the fish though. The more I ponder the more I keep changing my mind. I'm thinking now that I will do the pygmy cory and 1 or 3 dwarf puffers. But...I really want to do cherry shrimp. I've kept the puffers with them before and they left the adults alone but they tore through the fry and I'm not sure I want that. I kind of like to grow them to adult hood. But my family really want the puffers.
Then I think no fish at all and just shrimp...it's driving me mad! Fortunately the tank is still cycling and I have time.
I'm still torn on the fish though. The more I ponder the more I keep changing my mind. I'm thinking now that I will do the pygmy cory and 1 or 3 dwarf puffers. But...I really want to do cherry shrimp. I've kept the puffers with them before and they left the adults alone but they tore through the fry and I'm not sure I want that. I kind of like to grow them to adult hood. But my family really want the puffers.
Then I think no fish at all and just shrimp...it's driving me mad! Fortunately the tank is still cycling and I have time.
OP
OP
The last of my plants came in at the store today. I got two pots of dwarf hair grass and a red dwarf cardinal. I also got 5 ghost shrimp to hang out in the tank.
The tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrates are around 20ppm.
The tank has 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and nitrates are around 20ppm.
crazyforcordoras
CLASH OF CLANS!!!!
Looking forward to this! Good luck!
OP
OP
I'm pretty settled on 6 pygmy cory and 1 male with 2 female dwarf puffers as the fish. If they are too young to sex then just one. I don't want to end up with two males in that small of a tank so won't take a chance unless I can sex them.
I only have the dwarf hair grass left to plant. I hate planting it! After that's done, which should be tomorrow night I will post photos of it all. Since my fert came in the mail and the C02 unit got hooked up the plants are very green! That makes me happy.
I cut a little piece of drift wood off a large piece I've hung onto for years. It's a some ADA Texas Select I picked up at a local store probably 8 years ago. I have a small piece I put the anubias nana on and another small piece I will try to place just for looks.
The ghost shrimp are enjoying themselves and caught my daughter by surprise, "Oh, there's shrimp!".
I only have the dwarf hair grass left to plant. I hate planting it! After that's done, which should be tomorrow night I will post photos of it all. Since my fert came in the mail and the C02 unit got hooked up the plants are very green! That makes me happy.
I cut a little piece of drift wood off a large piece I've hung onto for years. It's a some ADA Texas Select I picked up at a local store probably 8 years ago. I have a small piece I put the anubias nana on and another small piece I will try to place just for looks.
The ghost shrimp are enjoying themselves and caught my daughter by surprise, "Oh, there's shrimp!".
OP
OP
I hate the internal filter on this tank! I'm trying to find a tiny external filter or a way to create my own. I'm even desperate enough to put a 5.5 gallon sump on it if I could find a hang on overflow that small. The tetra filter just takes up too much room in the tank. I like them as filters and they have good surface area for aerobic bacteria but in my tank? Really...?
All the plants are planted. I have to clean up the mess then I will post photos.
I am still undecided as to the fish for the tank.
All the plants are planted. I have to clean up the mess then I will post photos.
I am still undecided as to the fish for the tank.
OP
OP
I think that's the route I'm going. I have an extra little pump I could use and all I need is a little tank. A 2.5 gallon would actually be enough. I was thinking 5.5 so I could divide it in half and use one half for filtration and the other half for ATO.
OP
OP
I got rid of the internal filter and got a nano-canister. The ZooMed 501. I have to say, I love it. It's so quite and allows me to pick the media that goes into it. Also, having the extra room in the tank is nice. I planted a crypt where the filter was.
I still have some cleaning up to do on the tank but here it is with all the plants in place finally.
I still have some cleaning up to do on the tank but here it is with all the plants in place finally.
The first thing I was going to tell you after having read the thread was to lose the canister. Man, does it take up real estate!
If I could quibble at anything, it's the planting methods. Eleocharis and Hemianthus really do best when planted in much smaller clumps. Yep, a huge, tedious chore to do, but yielding much better results with regard to growth and spread. This is why I often scape with a glass of wine or a bottle of beer very nearby. Sorry to those who are underage.
Oh and another quibble, Iwagumis really only have a max of 2-3 plant species, especially in small layouts. You have too many. I'd lose the stems. Leaves are too big. The anubia is even pushing it. The idea is to create scale and balance. The deception of a larger tank size.
Layout is a matter of personal taste. How many stones (petrified wood) do you have? I personally find that your Fukuishi & Soeishi stones are a bit too on top of your Oyaishi. I'd like to see more of a gap between the Fukuishi and the Oyaishi for you to get a true sense of Iwagumi. Perhaps it is indeed placed that way, but the plant species obscure it.
Sorry if I'm being critical. It's what I do. I will say that it's a nice little start and enjoy your little tank. I often find myself putting together little tanks with spare equipment. That being said, you should look into the Spec V, a much prettier tank, IMO, for this sort of thing. I have a planted Spec 2 and a Marine version, and it's just so much more aesthetic. Here's mine, but it's not an Iwagumi. Just a bunch of plants I threw together with leftover bits of wood.
Regarding stocking, I think embers, while lovely, are a bit too fat-bodied for a tank this size and will throw off scale. Pygmies are a great choice, but they are not bottom-dwellers, unless you are talking C. habrosus. There are three main pygmy corydoras species, C. habrosus, C. hastatus, and C. pygmeaus. C. pygmeaus & hastatus, are more mid-level dwellers and perchers, and don't always behave in the typical "bottom-dwelling" cory fashion. If you want a pygmy that'll behave like a typical cory, get C. habrosus. Another species to consider are boraras species. I've kept boraras and pygmies very successfully in a 2.5g planted tank. There is so much more to consider than inch per gallon when stocking a tank. There is a website that specializes in nano fish that has some excellent selection.
Ok, now I think I've had way too much coffee.
L
If I could quibble at anything, it's the planting methods. Eleocharis and Hemianthus really do best when planted in much smaller clumps. Yep, a huge, tedious chore to do, but yielding much better results with regard to growth and spread. This is why I often scape with a glass of wine or a bottle of beer very nearby. Sorry to those who are underage.
Oh and another quibble, Iwagumis really only have a max of 2-3 plant species, especially in small layouts. You have too many.
I'd lose the stems. Leaves are too big. The anubia is even pushing it. The idea is to create scale and balance. The deception of a larger tank size. Layout is a matter of personal taste. How many stones (petrified wood) do you have? I personally find that your Fukuishi & Soeishi stones are a bit too on top of your Oyaishi. I'd like to see more of a gap between the Fukuishi and the Oyaishi for you to get a true sense of Iwagumi. Perhaps it is indeed placed that way, but the plant species obscure it.
Sorry if I'm being critical. It's what I do. I will say that it's a nice little start and enjoy your little tank. I often find myself putting together little tanks with spare equipment. That being said, you should look into the Spec V, a much prettier tank, IMO, for this sort of thing. I have a planted Spec 2 and a Marine version, and it's just so much more aesthetic. Here's mine, but it's not an Iwagumi. Just a bunch of plants I threw together with leftover bits of wood.
Regarding stocking, I think embers, while lovely, are a bit too fat-bodied for a tank this size and will throw off scale. Pygmies are a great choice, but they are not bottom-dwellers, unless you are talking C. habrosus. There are three main pygmy corydoras species, C. habrosus, C. hastatus, and C. pygmeaus. C. pygmeaus & hastatus, are more mid-level dwellers and perchers, and don't always behave in the typical "bottom-dwelling" cory fashion. If you want a pygmy that'll behave like a typical cory, get C. habrosus. Another species to consider are boraras species. I've kept boraras and pygmies very successfully in a 2.5g planted tank. There is so much more to consider than inch per gallon when stocking a tank. There is a website that specializes in nano fish that has some excellent selection.
Ok, now I think I've had way too much coffee.
L
OP
OP
WAY too much!
Maybe I should change my journal title to neo-classical-Americanized-Sanzon Iwagumi...
WAY too much!
Maybe I should change my journal title to neo-classical-Americanized-Sanzon Iwagumi...
Now I think you're the one who's had too much coffee.
OP
OP
I don't drink coffee so I'm just crazy!But to actually address what you wrote...you are right and I just claim artistic license for my choices. I will explain a little.
While I know there are nicer tanks, this is the one I had and didn't want to purchase a new one so I went with it.
I hated the filter inside the tank, it was driving me nuts! I was so happy to get rid of it.
The dwarf hair grass was planted in such a way as to resemble terrestrial grass that grows up around a rock. This is a bit of an Arizona flair as this is a common sight in the deserts where few plants grow well. Grass tends to grow around rocks as they provide shade and moisture in the arid climate. I wanted that particular look around the rocks. It is meant to convey the illusion they have been sitting there for quite some time.
Sort of like this...
There are three stones.
The notion is that the oyaishi is weak, or weeping. It has been resting in the grass and is attempting to arise. The fukuishi is supporting it in the hour of need. The fukuishi is using the drift wood to brace himself against. All this while the soeishi has fallen at its feet unable to cope. I used more plants with the intention of closing in this scene as if the viewer were seeing something private and that it was happening in the shelter of a tree.
The dwarf baby tears are like a soft bed the ailing oyaishi was resting on before he tried to arise.
The three moss balls represent the spirits of the three stones released from the pain and care they are under. I wanted something round to literally represent a separate sphere of existence.
So, rather than use the golden ratio or rule of thirds (or two thirds if you rather) I chose to symbolize a particular scene that might be toward the end of the Oyaishi's life if it were living.
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