My Small Tank And 1St Try At Real Plants

[loraxchick]

dont throw away your moss ball. just pull off the brown bits and make sure you rotate it every once in a while so every surface gets some light from time to time.
tank looks great!
cheers

 

[RadaR]

Their called hillstream loaches or their also known as butterfly loaches. unfortunately i would have loved to have had these in my tropical tank but they dont like warm waters and as their the next best thing to stingrays i had to have a tank just for them... lol
Ive only ever come across one place that sold these loaches. i brought them from MA in Oxford.

I plan to dose the tank with an API product called Leaf zone which i will dose once a week. im hoping that it would be sufficent enough. the lights on in the tank for about 7 hours a day

What wattage is the bulb?
Leaf zone contains trace elements, mostly high in iron.
Depending on how much light there is (intensity, not duration), the fish may not be able to produce enough N+P for the plants, in which case you'll need a fert that contains these.

 

[superman1]

ahhh ok. The light is 11w, it gives plenty of light but is pretty low wattage.
would you be able to recommend something that is good enough for these. ive noticed slight yellowing of the leafs on the plants at the front but the ones at the back seem perfect.

dont throw away your moss ball. just pull off the brown bits and make sure you rotate it every once in a while so every surface gets some light from time to time.
tank looks great!
cheers

thanks. i shall do that now.

yeh think i may add more WCM.. very active fish. think i may move the Betta. Have never really been fans of them. Hes pretty aggressive too.

Betta's are not for me either....I don't like Betta, Guppy, Gourami...too fancy and not a "real enough for me" fish if you know what I mean

i am just the same. not fans of bettas, guppys, gouramis or platys or common livebearers. what do you stock. have been looking into firemouth cichlids. really like the look of them. saw some today at the LFS for £3 although they were only about an inch.

 

[kaivalagi]

i am just the same. not fans of bettas, guppys, gouramis or platys or common livebearers. what do you stock. have been looking into firemouth cichlids. really like the look of them. saw some today at the LFS for £3 although they were only about an inch.

See my sig for details and links

Just be cautious with what type of cichlid based on tank size, water parameters etc, all the usual stuff...you can get some real nice dwarf cichlids which would go into a reletively small tank, say 20-30USG, or even shelldwellers (very small Tanganyikan cichlids) that are okay in 10USG

 

[RadaR]

The ones at the front are probably getting used to being submerged and coming out of their emersed form.
11W is fine. Personally I would place some Tropica nutrient capsules under each plant to provide them with nutrients.

 

[bubble87]

nice natural looking tank
great job

 

[superman1]

i am just the same. not fans of bettas, guppys, gouramis or platys or common livebearers. what do you stock. have been looking into firemouth cichlids. really like the look of them. saw some today at the LFS for £3 although they were only about an inch.

See my sig for details and links

Just be cautious with what type of cichlid based on tank size, water parameters etc, all the usual stuff...you can get some real nice dwarf cichlids which would go into a reletively small tank, say 20-30USG, or even shelldwellers (very small Tanganyikan cichlids) that are okay in 10USG

oh sorry. i meant the firemouth for my 5ft 400L tank

 

[kaivalagi]

oh sorry. i meant the firemouth for my 5ft 400L tank

Oooo, 400L!!! In that case forget a firemouth, get Severums and Geophagus! Or if you want more aggression you could always go for Green Terror and/or Jack Dempsey...but you have to what the stocking even in a 400L then.

I've got a left over firemouth, my first ever cichlid, he's a bit of a bad boy but I can't let him go....he's what got me into cichlids
My 5ft is moving closer to where I want it, Rotkeil Severums are next on the list to add, as well as a female BN Plec...taking my time to let the little Tapajos grow a bit first.

With a 400L tank you have so many options with Cichlids though, you could go SA (South American) as I've done or CA (central American) as I did do initially, mix those two up (wouldn't recommend it, I learnt the hard way), African i.e. Lake Tangayika, Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi. And they are so much more interesting than community fish to be fair, they're smarter, have interesting behaviour, breed and look after their young...etc etc

What do you have in your 400L at present, best factor in what would work, I got all excited for you then

 

[superman1]

Well i have a red spotted sev in their and he/she is about 3-4"
i have 5 BN plecs which are all small. im waiting on being able to sex them before i split them up. i want a M and F.
i have 6 bosemani rainbows, 4 angels, about 7 cories and 5 loaches. 1 flying fox. and about 25-30 tetras. i was origionally going to make it an mbuna tank but at the time of setting it up i didnt have enough money so just went with the tropicals.

but i maybe tempted down the line to stick to what i wanted origionally.

the tanks been set up for a few months now but would like a fish with character. you dont really get that with traditional tropicals.

 

[kaivalagi]

Sorry, didn't appreciate what you've already been through so I am sure you've read up on all the stuff I mentioned...

I would go with the Severum theme and maybe get something else from South America, could you fit a group of 4 Tapajos in there (http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX5YDfCNoYg&NR=1), geophagus/eartheaters are very interesting...or a solitary fish from SA such as an Acara maybe? I would personally lose the Angels too for more space for a different species of Severum, but that's me.

 

[The Haunt]

That's a cute tank! :] Nice Betta. I like it. ^^ My sister once had a tank with plastic plants in it. They grow algae really fast, and they also look tacky. :[ Then she got live plants, but they died. I hope you can keep your alive!

 

[superman1]

Sorry, didn't appreciate what you've already been through so I am sure you've read up on all the stuff I mentioned...

I would go with the Severum theme and maybe get something else from South America, could you fit a group of 4 Tapajos in there (http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX5YDfCNoYg&NR=1), geophagus/eartheaters are very interesting...or a solitary fish from SA such as an Acara maybe? I would personally lose the Angels too for more space for a different species of Severum, but that's me.

Oh i like that.. they look nice.. weird thing is i brought 2 black angels and both were the same size. after a few months one is double the size and the other is still the same size..

anyway i like the geos. there very nice. might look into them.

That's a cute tank! :] Nice Betta. I like it. ^^ My sister once had a tank with plastic plants in it. They grow algae really fast, and they also look tacky. :[ Then she got live plants, but they died. I hope you can keep your alive!

Thanks..

well i hope so. its my first attempt. i should have chosen real plants ages ago. they look so much better,