Tweet
Hello, everyone! I've been in the Houston area for several years now and have been in the hobby for just slightly longer than that.
Prior to the move, I had a happy, South American themed planted (20 gallon) tank with some happily breeding albino corydoras catfish (and silver hatchetfish and some ottos). Everything survived the move well, but snails soon became a rampant problem in my tank. I naively added clown loaches to deal with the problem, and eventually they succeeded. With the snails gone, algae took over. Eventually the last of my cories died, my plants failed, and things generally were bad. I was too depressed about the tank to do anything other than maintain the loaches, and even after a terrible mishap with my old heater, I did nothing other than add in some new loaches.
A few months ago, I decided to get serious about things again. I began to read more about planted tanks and the hobby in general and eventually felt comfortable jumping back into it. Though I absolutely loved my cories and ultimately want to keep a breeding pair of Apistos, I wasn't willing to part ways with my clown loaches. I decided to shift gears and attempt an Asian themed tank.
The plants immediately took off, and I was greatly pleased with my success. I soon began looking at adding fish to occupy the mid to upper levels of the tank but at first was disappointed in the selection of Asian species. After a while, however, I had explored enough into the world of gouramis, bettas, barbs, rasboras, and danios to where I had a difficult time choosing. I've recently added 3 dwarf gouramis to the tank (all male... I had my reservations but was absolutely assured that they'd do fine... still, I'm keeping my eye on them.) Several cherry shrimp were a welcome gift, and despite my hungry loaches, a few are thriving in the tank (for now).
That pretty much sums things up to the present. Below are some pics that I snapped of my tank tonight. I'll put specs down below, but of note, algae is still a problem as you can see. To some degree it looks good, but to some degree it gets excessive and harrasses my plants, particularly the HC in which it clumps up.
Hardware and Equipment
20 gallon glass tank
Play sand substrate
Fluval 105 (standard sponge, carbon, biofilter setup)
DIY CO2 setup (yeast + sugar + water + 2L bottle + airline tubing)
Red Sea CO2 Reactor 200
AH Supply retrofitted balast w/ 55W 6700K bulb
Rena Cal Top Light Excel heater
Flora
Hemianthus callitrichoides - Dwarf Baby Tears or "HC"
Cryptocoryne wendtii (green)
Nymphoides aquatica - banana plant
Egeria densa - Anachris
Ludwigia repens x arcuata - Narrow Leaf Ludwigia (not Asian, but shhhhh... it looks good)
Fauna
Neocaridina heteropoda - 3? cherry shrimp
Chromobotia macracanthus - 4 clown loaches
Colisa lalia - 3 dwarf gouramis (2 flame, 1 blue)
?Gyrinocheilus aymonieri - 1 "algae eater" (probably Chinese)
I'll be more than happy to answer any questions (to the best of my ability) that anyone has about my tank or my experience. I'd be even happier to receive, tips, comments, feedback, pointers, etc. Specifically, any recommendations for fertilization (of which I know very little) and further algae control would be appreciated.
Also, I just dug this 1.5 gallon hexagonal tank out of storage. I picked it up from a garage sale probably 10 years ago and am only now trying to do something with it. I know it's not an ideal environment for any fish, but if anyone wants to help me figure out what to do with this, that'd be great. (The undergravel filter works fine, and I just added a fresh layer of black gravel to the bottom.)
I look forward to becoming an active member of these forums (I've been lurking for a little while now).
Prior to the move, I had a happy, South American themed planted (20 gallon) tank with some happily breeding albino corydoras catfish (and silver hatchetfish and some ottos). Everything survived the move well, but snails soon became a rampant problem in my tank. I naively added clown loaches to deal with the problem, and eventually they succeeded. With the snails gone, algae took over. Eventually the last of my cories died, my plants failed, and things generally were bad. I was too depressed about the tank to do anything other than maintain the loaches, and even after a terrible mishap with my old heater, I did nothing other than add in some new loaches.
A few months ago, I decided to get serious about things again. I began to read more about planted tanks and the hobby in general and eventually felt comfortable jumping back into it. Though I absolutely loved my cories and ultimately want to keep a breeding pair of Apistos, I wasn't willing to part ways with my clown loaches. I decided to shift gears and attempt an Asian themed tank.
The plants immediately took off, and I was greatly pleased with my success. I soon began looking at adding fish to occupy the mid to upper levels of the tank but at first was disappointed in the selection of Asian species. After a while, however, I had explored enough into the world of gouramis, bettas, barbs, rasboras, and danios to where I had a difficult time choosing. I've recently added 3 dwarf gouramis to the tank (all male... I had my reservations but was absolutely assured that they'd do fine... still, I'm keeping my eye on them.) Several cherry shrimp were a welcome gift, and despite my hungry loaches, a few are thriving in the tank (for now).
That pretty much sums things up to the present. Below are some pics that I snapped of my tank tonight. I'll put specs down below, but of note, algae is still a problem as you can see. To some degree it looks good, but to some degree it gets excessive and harrasses my plants, particularly the HC in which it clumps up.
Hardware and Equipment
20 gallon glass tank
Play sand substrate
Fluval 105 (standard sponge, carbon, biofilter setup)
DIY CO2 setup (yeast + sugar + water + 2L bottle + airline tubing)
Red Sea CO2 Reactor 200
AH Supply retrofitted balast w/ 55W 6700K bulb
Rena Cal Top Light Excel heater
Flora
Hemianthus callitrichoides - Dwarf Baby Tears or "HC"
Cryptocoryne wendtii (green)
Nymphoides aquatica - banana plant
Egeria densa - Anachris
Ludwigia repens x arcuata - Narrow Leaf Ludwigia (not Asian, but shhhhh... it looks good)
Fauna
Neocaridina heteropoda - 3? cherry shrimp
Chromobotia macracanthus - 4 clown loaches
Colisa lalia - 3 dwarf gouramis (2 flame, 1 blue)
?Gyrinocheilus aymonieri - 1 "algae eater" (probably Chinese)
I'll be more than happy to answer any questions (to the best of my ability) that anyone has about my tank or my experience. I'd be even happier to receive, tips, comments, feedback, pointers, etc. Specifically, any recommendations for fertilization (of which I know very little) and further algae control would be appreciated.
Also, I just dug this 1.5 gallon hexagonal tank out of storage. I picked it up from a garage sale probably 10 years ago and am only now trying to do something with it. I know it's not an ideal environment for any fish, but if anyone wants to help me figure out what to do with this, that'd be great. (The undergravel filter works fine, and I just added a fresh layer of black gravel to the bottom.)
I look forward to becoming an active member of these forums (I've been lurking for a little while now).
nice tank! welcome to the box..
Comment