Beautiful tank.View attachment 110748
This is my first foray into properly planted tanks, in the past I've kept to many diggers, herbivores and just descructive fish to succeed. But now with a smaller tank and wanting to focus on something new here we are! I've been posting a few WIP posts about this tank so I wanted to consolidate them all into once place as it develops over time.
I'm facing a couple of challenges so far with the Co2, its not dipping down over night, I think this is because the plants are not using enough of it through the light period so hopefully this will get resolved. I will not be adding fish to the tank until this is stable and I feel more confident in using Co2 injection.
Planting has gone quite well, I got a set of cheap aquascaping tools from Amazon which have really helped. There are a couple of plants I just cant get to plant fully but hoping over time they will take root and burrow down into the substrate. I have seen some pearling though so thats quite cool!
Next step is waiting on a delivery of some Bucephalandra, Mini Bolbitis and one more type of crypt for the back right corner.
Man, I'm sorry about your puffer, @Wills
Don't beat yourself up too much, they're tricky fish to keep and can imagine how nerve wracking the idea is of trimming their beak yourself would be! Really scary to have to do that. But sounds as though you have a well thought out plan for how to catch and prevent anything similar happening in the future.
Good to hear that the fish store/their supplier seems to have improved their fish health game! Especially since they've stocked the species you're after. Did you ask if they're planning to order more in the future? Worth checking I'd think, especially if you can find out what day they'd be available for sale (like my store wouldn't sell new fish for the first few days after arrival, to give them time to settle and calm), so you can nab down there and be the first to grab any females that look good
Did they have any nice Nicaraguans?
I've come across a plant called Hottonia Palustris which is an easy plant on the Tropica site
Haha, fair enough! I can see the appeal of "the thrill of the hunt", and definitely see the logic about not wanting to place an order since yeah, you're kinda committed then to taking those fish, even if they're not the best ones out there... too awkward not to, really!I don't like to order fish in as a bit of a rule, few reasons really, I like the thrill of the hunt and ordering is easy mode haha! Also don't like the obligation to buy them if you order - which often isn't an official rule but kind of polite isn't it haha.
Ah thats interesting! You'll have to let me know how you get on!You have excellent taste in plants...
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Guess what I got in my last plant order?
Extra proof that it's sitting in my pygmy/baby bronze cory tank!
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Haha, fair enough! I can see the appeal of "the thrill of the hunt", and definitely see the logic about not wanting to place an order since yeah, you're kinda committed then to taking those fish, even if they're not the best ones out there... too awkward not to, really!
I really really like the scape you have now, and like the way the plants look against the rocks, but completely understand the desire to rescape, since you have to take it down to move it anyway. No matter how lovely the scape, we always want to change and improve something, right? And since the dwarf sag got eaten... (man that sucks! It was looking great in the previous photo) So might as well since you have to move it anyway! Make sure to show us what you wind up doing!
Sorry about your plantsI bought Hottonia, twice. I have stiphodons and they loved nothing more than cleaning the stems which then parted in the middle so I was left with a stump rooted in the substrate and a stem with leaves floating on the surface with the floating plants. The ends were all ragged so I cut them cleanly and tried planting the top halves but they never rooted, just died. Maybe it wasn't the stiphodons damaging the stems, it may have been my lack of green fingers, but watch out for that.
It's such a lovely plant that I tried it twice hoping that the first one was just a bad batch but no, the second went the same way as the first
Thats interesting I think I have Atropurpeus (think thats it) but not 100% could be Semoni like you, out of breeding colours it comes down to the fins as to if they are shaded or not. Mine have never gone for plants so far as I know, though some of my Limnophilla does sometimes fade for no obvious reason then only to come back stronger? I have always really like them but mine just hide all the time and are the biggest fish in my tank.I shouldn't really have bought these fish, they do need faster flow than in my tank. But they don't seem to be distressed.
Stiphodons are quite often mislabelled in shops. I got mine from Maidenhead Aquatics, they were in a tank labelled 'cobalt blue goby', which is supposed to be Stiphodon semoni. Mine all look like females, though they could be stressed males despite me saying they don't look stressed.
My L.sessiliflora does this sometimes too, I did tend to put down to the fact I tend to forget about ferts for long stretches, or it getting uprooted now and then when I have to catch fish. But perhaps it's cyclical, like seasonal changes for non-aquatic plants? Byron suggested that my water lettuce going through phases of dying back, growing better again, buying back etc might be something like this once I think.though some of my Limnophilla does sometimes fade for no obvious reason then only to come back stronger?
My L.sessiliflora does this sometimes too, I did tend to put down to the fact I tend to forget about ferts for long stretches, or it getting uprooted now and then when I have to catch fish. But perhaps it's cyclical, like seasonal changes for non-aquatic plants? Byron suggested that my water lettuce going through phases of dying back, growing better again, buying back etc might be something like this once I think.
only a hypothesis, not sure how a fully aquatic plant would notice a change in seasons when kept in an aquarium at the same time/same lighting period, but maybe variations in the amount of daylight contributes, who knows?
Or mine might be because of inadequate ferts/unrooted too often, while yours gets nommed by gobies, lol
For sure. And many plant species in gardens anyway need those growth and dormant periods. Not many things can grow, grow grow without rest and reset periods. Definitely Something we tend to overlook, but I can imagine the hobby looking very different again in another 30-40 years. Interesting to ponder, for sure!I actually think that seasons are something we miss/ignore a bit too much in the hobby. It must play a part in everything in our tanks, just think about how different countries look through the cycle of the year, even in the warmest of countries there are peaks and lows that happen naturally. We know that some species like Gymnogeophagus just can't cope without seasonal variance in temperature and we know the effect of keeping fish too warm or too cold but it just can't be right that they are the only points - eg low light, shorter days or food availability/scarcity etc. I'm not saying I do any of this but it is interesting to think about.
Wills