my 24 gallon

[kevin007]

u got fotm noms..do u want totm noms? if u do, u got one

 

[konrad05]

wow, that's one beautiful tank definately

 

[Aussie_Star]

nice, i love the piece of bogwood in there

 

[Sorrell]

I'll second that TOTM Looks great, I love the sand and the plants

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

aww thanks for the noms

nitro - my bnose is a little girl

sasha - i'm not too sure on the plants. i have a couple of amazon swords and the plants on the driftwood are anubis but i am not sure what the rest are

 

[Ava_Banana]

Catfish................how do you know she is a female..........she still looks so little.

I have three.......but have no idea of their Sex..........

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

shes about 5cm
if she was a male she would probably have bristles by now
also she is very wide at the head, rather than narrow like a male would be

 

[Ava_Banana]

Aha..........mine are only a few centimetres no bristles, but they have different shapes to them........

I shall have to examine them.........

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

yeah the fat wide ones are females and the slimmer ones with longer noses are males

 

[tear-scar]

What are you doing to prevent compaction?

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

What are you doing to prevent compaction?

what do you mean?

 

[cutechic]

Gorgeous tank. Your tank will actually go under the "STOTM" category, as it is under 30g. I love that sand- did you get it at the lfs or a hardware store?

 

[tear-scar]

What are you doing to prevent compaction?

what do you mean?

compaction is something that happens with very fine substrate like sand. It's only a problem if the fine substrate is being used as the planting media-- as you have done. Gravity pulls the sand down, and over time the sand becomes dense and "compacted." This can cut off water flow to the roots and damage them as well.

Sand has to be disturbed every once in a while to avoid compaction-- you could just get a very long stick and poke it all over the place every once in a while. Or . . . you could have a whole bunch of cories/loaches. Even if you have fish to do the job for you, you still have to do it every once in a while to make sure it gets done and that you can break up clumps that are deeper than they can reach.

 

[Ben]

i third all the noms

awsome tank

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

cutechic - i got the sand at a place that supplies gravel and stuff for gardens or whatever. its really good sand. wasnt hard to clean at all and its very soft and fine.

tear-scar - thanks for the advice! i didnt know about that.
i did have five cories but they died for some unknown reason . the sand does get moved around quite a bit though when i shift plants or accidently put the siphon into it. but i will take your advice and poke a stick into it every once in a while
i am also considering getting some kuhli loaches. would they help preventing it from becoming compacted?


thanks again for the noms!