My First Planted Tank Ever

[AshGillott]

Hi Guys
 
This is my first go at planting a tank and my first tank since I quit fish keeping about 10 years ago.
 
Ask me what the plants are and I would look at you smiling like a goofball and say ummm green and red ones??, though I know that the grass at the front is grass stuff and the moss glued to the wood is moss. 
 
Plants were bought from ebay £11 for 50 and some others were from a shop 15 miles away.
 
I know the fish though, cardinals, platies, guppies, a BN plec, couple o' cherry shimps and Jaws 2 a rainbow shark (so called because I had one years ago called Jaws)
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[NickAu]

Nice tank that will look cool when the plants grow in a bit
 

rainbow shark

I dont know if thats such a great choice, Wont it harass/eat  the guppies  and shrimp?

 

[gmc1]

Looks good.Would look great with a black background.

 

[Akasha72]

some of the plants I recognise there are Amazon Sword (middle back) the red one looks like Altnanthera. The thin plant looks like Vallis and the grass 'stuff' looks like it could be lilaopsis. I'm a bit concerned that you've got some Hygrophila there are the front ... if it is you might need to move it as it grows like a weed ... gets really big. 
 
I'd also agree that it'd look great with a black background ... it'd make the colours pop.
 
As to the fish ... well cardinals and the plec do best in soft water but platies and guppies do best in hard and the shark will soon outgrow this tank .... which of course gives you an excuse to look out for a bigger one  

 

[thrujenseyes]

I agree on the black back drop!  I too had come back to fish keeping after about 10 years.  You just can't stay away once you've done it

 

[AshGillott]

Nice tank that will look cool when the plants grow in a bit
 

rainbow shark

I dont know if thats such a great choice, Wont it harass/eat  the guppies  and shrimp?

I have read up today on this and the biggest problem could be the shrimps though no one seems to have had any problems from what I could see.. Time will tell I guess but on the plus side Jaws 2 pays them no attention, he is mardy though and doesnt like the guppies very much.
 
 

Looks good.Would look great with a black background.

 

I'm a bit concerned that you've got some Hygrophila there are the front ... if it is you might need to move it as it grows like a weed ... gets really big. 
 
I'd also agree that it'd look great with a black background ... it'd make the colours pop.

 

I agree on the black back drop!  I too had come back to fish keeping after about 10 years.  You just can't stay away once you've done it

 
I have tried a black background and it looks good, needs replacing with a proper one as I just tried a cut up bin bag.
 
My other hobby was building scale models which I started and stopped after the fish keeping.. I need to stop with the hobbies lol
 
Thanks for the input guys

 

[AshGillott]

With a black background and the weedy plants moved to the rear
 

 
 
 

 

[Akasha72]

better ... much better

 

[gmc1]

 

[fishmad135]

Your tank looks lovely, what an assortment of plants!! 

 I like your Vallisneria americana, I've never seen such thick strands. 
The black background makes the colours pop, what are your next plans for the tank then? Excited to see how it grows!

 

[Brilly91]

Its a nice start. My first planted tank started out with a mixed pack on ebay. I found it was a really good way for me to see what plants i liked and what ones i didn't.

It looks alot better with the black background on it.

Looking forward to seeing it progress.

 

[thrujenseyes]

oh heck yes!!  Looks great!

 

[AshGillott]

Your tank looks lovely, what an assortment of plants!! 

 I like your Vallisneria americana, I've never seen such thick strands. 
The black background makes the colours pop, what are your next plans for the tank then? Excited to see how it grows!

 
Thank you very much, I dont actually have any plans tbh, I just wanted a tank with real plants and some fish, (though I really wanted a marine tank and decided its too mush hassle) I'm hoping that the grass stuff covers the front and the bush things bush and the fish dont die, should all that happen I will be happy 

 
Thanks people!!

 

[Akasha72]

Ash ... get yourself some liquid co2 and a decent fert and the plants will be growing thick and lush in no time.
 
I myself use Easylife Profito and Easycarbo. I've divided the Profito's weekly dose by 7 and I add a very small dose daily instead. My amazon swords are currently on their 3rd round of flowering ... one plant has three flower stalks as I type. The last flower provided over 20 new 'plantlets'. I can highly recommend this fert and liquid co2

 

[AshGillott]

I was thinking about the CO2 thing earlier as when I went to the shop to enquire about planting a tank he mentioned it but I didnt buy any at the time I just took the soil stuff (JBL aquabasis + and JBL Manadu) and some sand and left.
 
Wont have time to get any tomorrow as got a really busy day at work but will find the time to get some before the weekend.
 
Southlincs Aquatics, they are massive and less than 2 minutes from my house, but I set off at about 6:30am usually and dont get back till around 7