Emmanuel's Tanks Journals

[emmanuelchavez]

Sorry for another one of my threads w/my plans/journals.. I figured i'd have one post w/all tanks and all plans...

I did away with all the 1 gallons. Well, they're all still there... my 2 1-gallon fishbowls will be used to acclimate new fish... while the other one with the light, filter and airstone will be used as an emergency hospital tank...

This is my 15 gallon. Currently holds 6 White Clouds. They are in QT. Future fish are 5 Pygmy Cories (in QT in 5 gallon), and Clyde (currently in other 5 gallon). Water Sprite seems to have grown a little bit in the past couple of days. I'll probably leave as is as far as aquascaping, unless someone has some suggestions.



This is the 10 gallon. Currently is has 5 adult guppies, 1 juvenile guppy, TONS of fry, 1 Oto, a few ghost shrimp. As soon as the guppies are old enough to sex, I'll be getting rid of all females. The hornwort has grown out of control! It looks like a jungle in there. I'm probably going to do away with the hornwort. I'll be taking out all plastic plants as well. The aponogetons (sp) I'll more than likely put into the 5 gallon Clyde is currently in. I'm thinking of putting some dwarf baby tears or dwarf hair grass toward the front, java moss on the driftwood, and something leafy around the back and sides. Any suggestions as to what I can put, something rather easy to take care of, low-moderate light. I wont start re-scaping anything here till after spring break.



This is one of my 5 gallons. I have 5 Pygmies in here in QT that will be going into the 15 gallon. After they're in their new home, I was considering getting 3 Pygmies and either 2 female bettas or 1 male betta. If anyone has any suggestions as to what else could go in here instead, i'm free for suggestions.



Another 5 gallon. Currently has Clyde, he seems to love it compared to the 1 gallon fishbowl. You can see him swimming through the decoration in there. He was actually hiding in there, until he saw me w/the camera, and then came out and just started swimming everywhere.... It's like he likes getting pictures taken. lol. After he goes into the 15 gallon, I'm not sure what to put in here... Considering going the 3 pygmies and 1 male betta route... suggestions?



Finally, my 2.5 gallon. Bonnie seems much happier in here, she swims a lot more than she did in the 1 gallon. In that one, she seemed to just sit on the gravel. Not sure how to improve this one, aquascapingwise... She seems so lonely in there, I don't really think there's anything I can put in there w/her though...




Any feedback, positive or negative is appreciated!

[ishar]

EDIT: MAN!!! @$$%@#!! I just wrote this big post with advice for each tank then accidentally opened another site in this window to give you links for help but the post disappeared!! Frustrating lol. I will reproduce it the best I can.

Ideas:
Tank pic #1: I would leave your water sprite where it is, but I would say it could use some mid and foreground plants. I would tie some anubias or java ferns to your ornament at all levels of the ornament. It is a nice ornament, but it might be to short. Not saying get rid of it but I would try to fix that. With it being only half as deep as the tank, which is already looking deep, it makes that space above it even more empty. However with some java fern tied to the top and once your watersprite grows in it should fill out the top . I think this will help the tank fill out. For the foreground I would say you could use a moss mat, or maybe some anubias.

Tank pic #2: Busy busy busy! hehe This tank looks a little unkempt . It is hard to make any suggestions as it is hard to see what is in there and where, but the grassy stuff up front along with the crypts on the front left look quite good where they are. Once you move some stuff out it'd be easier to help out with it .

Tank pic #3: I like it a lot! The grassy stuff up front looks really good, and hopefully the swords fil in the back and top and then it will look really good, with some open front-row center swimming space. Fair warning though- those swords will get bigger than your tank if left to grow :P. Be sure you keep it trimmed back if it gets to that point or it will smother your fish.

Tank pic #4: I think your stocking plan sounds good enough- but I don't have much experience with stocking small tanks- sorry. Plant-wise, if you wanted to get rid of those plastic plants too you could use some of the stuff you trim from Tank #2 and put them in- I know my betta loved the live plants I had.

Tank pic #5: Well you could put some cories in with her if you wanted. I think that'd be a good move on many levels- clean up, having motion on the bottom, having something cute to look at. Aquasaping-wise I would add some plants that will grow to about half the total height on the right and left- two different species. Some bigger crypts would look good IMO. Then in front of the sword I'd put some java fern or something else- something that won't grow very tall so the sword gets shown off, not it's stems. Then you could us a moss mat or maybe some of your grass *gasp* that's what you could do. Use some of the same grass from Tank #3 and put it on the bottom in front of the sword and java fern or whatever goes to cover up the sword stems.

Aquascaping Advice: For taller tanks such as your hexes and the first tank, you want to make it look a 'normal' height. So tall stem plants like rotalas, bacopas, hygros, along with other tall plants like swords and vals go a long way in making it look shorter. Crypts do well for midground plants as well. With your rectangular one, it is too hard to see what is going on lol. There is so much in there and the plastic ones are hard to tell from the live ones, so it is hard to give any hints on it until some plants get taken out. You have a lot of hornwort that could be trimmed though.

The best thing to do IMO would be to look at other peoples' tanks that are similar to the size of yours and see what they have done. This should help you get an idea of what can go where and look good to you. Here is a link that I use a lot to see what people have done with tanks like mine: Plantedtank.net: Tank Gallery. It is hard to 'scape small tanks such as these, so I would advise just looking around and getting ideas from others.

Now don't let me give you the wrong idea lol. I just realized I gave a lot of suggestions and ideas to you. I do not mean to say that you are doing anything wrong. Your Tank #2 could use a little TLC, but other than that everything is looking fine

[emmanuelchavez]

lol. You can see the difference with tank 2 from just 6 days ago.

Then:



Now:



I'm going to take out most of the hornwort, all plastic plants (except maybe the grassy stuff), and then take a picture.

Thanks for all your suggestions! I've never really been very good with aquascaping, so all suggestions are really appreciated. I especially like the one for Tank 1! I didn't know how else I could fill up the top. I'm sure the water sprite will touch the top within a few of months, but it sure does look empty up there.

[ishar]

wow that hornwort grew quickly!! That's crazy lol. You should see if anyone here on MFT would like to pay you a few bucks for a bunch of it before you throw it out.

Also, be sure that whatever you throw out is thrown out to die- meaning don't flush it or run it down the sink, put it in the garbage or compost. Especially hardy species such as hornwort. They could be very invasive.

[ishar]

Oh I forgot to mention. If you want some specific advice, a good description of your substrate, fertilizer routine and lighting (both spectrum and WPG are useful) would go a long way in helping people to give suggestions of what to put in your tank.

For example, I only suggested plants like java fern, java moss and anubias because they are basically invincible and are a good and safe bet in any aquarium. If I knew your lighting situation and fertilizers used and your substrate I could suggest some more beautiful options and plants that might suit your current plant themes.

[emmanuelchavez]

Originally Posted by ishar

wow that hornwort grew quickly!! That's crazy lol. You should see if anyone here on MFT would like to pay you a few bucks for a bunch of it before you throw it out.

Also, be sure that whatever you throw out is thrown out to die- meaning don't flush it or run it down the sink, put it in the garbage or compost. Especially hardy species such as hornwort. They could be very invasive.

lol. I'm not sure how to send it out, or how much it would cost to ship... but I'd send it to free to whomever wants it, just so long as they pay for shipping. I'm going to throw out the brown parts, and probably keep the green/flourishing parts for a while. I'm sure that after spring break, I'm going to be broke for a while. lol.

I read all about hornwort, and duckweed(which I was considering getting as a floater...). They're definitely not going down a drain, etc... The only thing I've let go down the drain is a pond snail that was in the water when I did a water change.... it drained too fast for me to get out... hopefully they don't multiply in the sewers.... and mutate. lol.

All but the 15 gallon have the bulbs they came with. All I know is that they're 15 watt incandescent bulbs. If I manage to find the time, I'm going to get some 15 watt flourescent bulbs, if I can find any... I've found some 25w, but I think 15w is all my hoods can handle. Just to make sure... Flourescent give a bluer (brighter, more natural IMO) tint, and incandescent have the more yellow light, right?

[emmanuelchavez]

Just some updates on my 15 and 10 gallon tanks.
I redid the aquascaping in both.

The 15 gallon now has 6 white clouds, 4 pygmy cories, and 1 male betta. I'm probably going to add some more pygmy cories later on, but that's all I really plan on doing for this one.

Before:



Now:




For the 10 gallon:
I removed all the hornwort, it's sitting in a container in my room. I'm probably just going to throw it away (in the trashcan), unless someone wants it...
All the plants are plastic. I may add some live plants later on, once I decide what I want to do with this. Chances are that I'll just give my guppies to a LFS, add lots more plants, remove the driftwood and add caves and get a dwarf puffer, and a couple of otos. Or maybe a Powder Blue Gourami with my 2 peppered cories (will that work?).

Before:



Now:

[emmanuelchavez]

Picture of my Pygmy Cories!

[ishar]

your tanks look MUCH better emmanuel The backgrounds did wonders for helping the look, and the rescaping you did looks fantastic. Me likey

[FreshwaterJeff]

Yeah, great work so far -- and those pygmy cories are awesome.