My ~15 gallon fish tank project

[Byron]

Any Corydoras cat fish are not suitable here, because of the substrate. It must be soft sand, for primarily bacterial reasons, and so the cories can properly filter feed.

 

[Mr_Harrys]

The gravel is between 0.1 to a bit above 0.3 mm. In the photos , for some reason it looks larger. And like 80% of it it's rounded with no hard edges.
And under it is this fertile substrate (while the container is black, the substrate has mostly a sand color adn texture with some larger black stuff):
https://dennerle.com/en/products/substrate/nutrient-substrate/deponit-mix-black-10in1/

I had no clue about the nerite eggs problem. So this changes things a bit. My fish list now looks like this (also sorry for all the questions, i'm trying to minimize potential issues as much as possible).

2 White Wizard Snail (such a fascinating creature)
4 Neocaridina Blue Aura
8 Corydoras Habrosus
10 Neon Tetra
2 honey Gourami

 

[Byron]

The gravel is between 0.1 to a bit above 0.3 mm. In the photos , for some reason it looks larger. And like 80% of it it's rounded with no hard edges.

It is too large, sorry. The sharpness can be an issue, but not the only or major one. Gravel allows food to get down, the cories dig to get at it, and this causes erosion of the barbels because they are built to sift through soft sand. The bacterial issues are worse than just roughness. And C. habrosus being one of the dwarf species will have even more problems.

 

[Mr_Harrys]

So what fish should i get for the lower part of the tank?

 

[Byron]

So what fish should i get for the lower part of the tank?

This is not easy to answer, because most substrate fish have a close tie to the substrate itself. Cories and loaches are out (the smaller loach species will have problems too). There are some loricariids (pleco, whiptail--but only the vry small species, some get huge) perhaps.

 

[Mr_Harrys]

Otocinclus maybe?

 

[BettaFishGirl]

Shrimp are great scavengers, Neocaridina Blue Aura and cherry the together could look really cool.

 

[Mr_Harrys]

loaches are out (the smaller loach species will have problems too)

not even sumo loach?

 

[Kolykaf]

It is true that ideally you want a softer, sandy substrate for corys. If you’ve ever seen them dig through it searching for food, you’ll understand why and never want to deprive them of that. It’s second only to their wiggling when it comes to their cute behaviors…With regard to the honey gourami and small shrimp: it may work, but it may not. Make sure there’s plenty of cover. I know some who’ve kept them together with little problems and some who’ve had their gourami eat the shrimp. I used to have a pair of blue rams that peacefully coexisted with cherry shrimp, until I added another pair of rams which apparently taught the first pair that they were food…Another suggestion would be a dozen neons, a honey gourami and some amano shrimp- they’re too big for the gourami to mess with. Otos would work too.

 

[Byron]

not even sumo loach?

No. Have a read of the profile here; it needs fast flowing water, a longer tank, and gourami are not suitable in these conditions.

Schistura cf. balteata – Sumo Loach II — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[Mr_Harrys]

Black foil is here

It's a generic self adhesive foil from BricoDepot. Also the rocks in the tank are green slate, got'em for free from a local quarry.

And here's the tank with foil on the back and sides

 

[Mr_Harrys]

Did another total water change, and it seems that the tannins are all gone. I'll let it in for 2 or 3 days after which I'll do another change and after that I'll let the water in until 22 september, when the plants will arrive (i'll take all the water out before planting).

At each water change I also added some bacterias and 3 tsp of baking soda. According to all youtube videos there should be a white fungus film on my driftwood. There's nothing like that on mine. But on the other hand, the only moments the light is on, are when i do the said water change.

I've also pimped my filter. As i said previously it's a Marina Jet 80 internal filter that comes with a sponge and activated carbon. So I've added ceramic rings over the carbon (the filters comes with a plastic grate that goes above the carbon sack) and above the rigns I've placed some Perlon Cotton.

 

[Mr_Harrys]

Any idea what this weird

foam is?

 

[Byron]

Any idea what this weirdView attachment 326097 foam is?

Do you mean the bubbles around the perimeter of the tank? Or the blotches that I cannot tell if they are reflections or something else?

At each water change I also added some bacterias and 3 tsp of baking soda.

Why baking soda?

According to all youtube videos there should be a white fungus film on my driftwood.

Don't understand this. Is the type of wood one that has fungus? It is not common on all wood.

 

[Essjay]

I also added some bacterias and 3 tsp of baking soda

The only reason to add baking soda is to prevent a pH crash during fishless cycling if, and only if, KH is very very low. It should not be added at any other time.