My Planted Nano

[Sibelius]

I'm hoping that in ages, my ammania and helsine will carpet. This will take an age, but it's my plan. I've previously failed with hairgrass in my water, so I might try it at some point, but not immidiately. Anyway, give me a year and that helsine should carpet the whole front. (Do I do this by taking cuttings, or will it send out runners itself?)

 

[Sibelius]

Rotala Rotundifolia is on order, as are some more ammania and helsine to help speed up the carpetting now that my tank has settled a little, I've also ordered some Ammania Gracilis, which apparently is slightly taller and bushier, more for the midground.

 

[Sibelius]

I decided, perhaps quite foolishly, to start again. Not completely, I wanted a similar idea and liked my design, but my new plants had arrived, everything needed a bit of a trim, and I fancied getting stuck in! So, yesterday went like this:
50% of the water came out, (refining my sand vacuuming technique!) I then trimmed all of my plants, as well as removing any dead leaves (most of which I'm blaming on the week when there wasn't any CO2.) Then I washed and trimmed my new plants from Greenline (more ammania mini, more helsine as well as some ammania gracilis and rotala) in the old tank water (which was by now EXTREMELY dirty! I put my wood back in in a very similar way, although just making minor adjustments to each of them that I had been considering, I'm now much happier with the positioning. With the extra ammania and helsine, both look more full and "tank-worthy" although they'll both need a chance to take hold. (I'm hoping the Helsine will!)

Then, today I got 6 Endler's Livebearers (3 males 3 females) and fortunately no sign of aggresion whatsoever. I also got a nice Limnophila sessiliflora from my LFS (it's a Tropica plant, the only plant in the tank that isn't from Greenline, let's see in a few weeks if there's any difference in quality!!!!) Anyway, I hope you like the photos.

The Whole tank:

View from tank right:

View from tank left:

The two Ammanias:

My best Endler pics so far.

What do you think???

 

[Sibelius]

Quick update, all endler's have settled well except for one of the male's who seems to enjoy the deeper areas of the tanks, whilst the rest are normally at the surface, still he's showing no signs of stress. I think the lights, having just gone out for the first time are causing a bit of trouble for them as they blunder their way around the tank in the dark, still, all is well.

Water quality:
Temp: 25
Ammonia: 0
pH: 7
GH: 16
KH: 3 (is it bizzare that the GH is so high whilst the KH is so low?)
Nitrate: 40
Nitrite: 0.4ish

 

[Dave Spencer]

Sibelius,

I have about eight or nine stems of very healthy Ammania that is being overrun by my Echinodorus Tennellus. You can have them if you want, bearing in mind we both know that they are crappy travellers, and I bear no responsibility for possible failure.

 

[Sibelius]

I've PM'd you, thanks for the offer.

 

[Sibelius]

Tomorrow, when I first feed the endlers, would they prefer frozen bloodworm, or flake? Is it ok for me to mix and match for variety, or is there anything else that they vitally need in their diets?

 

[Daz CPFC]

Cant help with the above question but like to say think the new look is great. Good to see the Frogbit coming on!

 

[Sibelius]

Thanks! The frogbit's done me proud. I'm hoping it'll keep nitrates and phosphates down to help the filter cope with the new fish. Not that this'll cause any problems, it'll just add to the biological filtration. very handy. Thanks again for your encouragment.

 

[Daz CPFC]

Thanks! The frogbit's done me proud. I'm hoping it'll keep nitrates and phosphates down to help the filter cope with the new fish. Not that this'll cause any problems, it'll just add to the biological filtration. very handy. Thanks again for your encouragment.

Your welcome its made me want some

 

[lljdma06]

Tomorrow, when I first feed the endlers, would they prefer frozen bloodworm, or flake? Is it ok for me to mix and match for variety, or is there anything else that they vitally need in their diets?

Hmmm, if I had a choice between frozen bloodworm and a flake, I'd take frozen bloodworm anyday. Not that I particularly enjoy bloodworms, I'm actually quite allergic to them and it is quite a sacrifice on my part to give them to my fish (eyes water, I get hives, I sneeze). But, I have found that is best to offer the worst food first. No sense in spoiling them with the best and then they won't eat your worst. Give them the flake. In addition, once in a while, my livebearers, at least, relish shelled peas. Most of the common livebearers, endler's included, need greens in their diet. Crushed up pleco wafers are great for that too.

Very pretty tank, by the way. I'm a bit concerned about the very fast addition of livestock, but as I tend to overstock, I'm one to talk. Endlers are messy little fish, and soon, with that bioload, you may want to consider adjusting your dosing regimen accordingly. My tank is a low-light tank, and I don't dose ferts at all, my dwarf platies produce so much waste.

llj

 

[Sibelius]

Thanks for your comments. I did try to stock slowly! My otos and shrimp went in within about a week of the tank having plants, and I did wait I think over 2 weeks until adding the endler's by which time my waters tests were reading ok. I hope I don't get any spikes, and I don't see why I would, with such a high turn over and treating with stress zyme and stress coat. I'll wait at least another fortnight, or until the nitrite and ammonia are both at 0 constantly before I add the corys.

I agree with your advice about the ferts, I probably won't need anything except the very occasionally addition of trace elements like Fe or K, and thanks for your help with food, good point.

 

[Sibelius]

Yet another surprise. My endler's have been in my tank for a total of 23 hours, and just as my tank lights come on after the siesta, guess what I see, 4 fry bobbing around and I can see four, so I imagine that there's more than that, hiding aroud the place!

 

[Daz CPFC]

Yet another surprise. My endler's have been in my tank for a total of 23 hours, and just as my tank lights come on after the siesta, guess what I see, 4 fry bobbing around and I can see four, so I imagine that there's more than that, hiding aroud the place!

Awsome

Im sure they will have a great chance of surviving in the tank A little less tinkering from now on i guess.

 

[Sibelius]

hmm, I'll try, but still, If something needs changing, I'll dive in and change it. To update, I think I've found 9 Endler's so far, and I'm sure all three of the females are carrying fry. (the black rear ends indicate this?)