Ishar's 20GH Planted tank

[ishar]

Time for an Update I think . I borrowed my housemate's digicam, which worked a lot better. I still got a lot of blurry pics (as everyone does). I did quite a bit of reorganizing and such since last post, and definitely since the first one lol.

So all things plastic are out of the tank other than the carpet type plastic plants I tied to the tank cover to give the fry some top cover. They are temporary and are only there when guppy fry are as well. I added 6 neon tetras today, and they love to school- which I love . Also, I moved the windelov around, and the anubias is flourishing, sprouting 3 leaves in the past two weeks!

Anyways, hare are some pictures. I hope you forgive any blurriness :P. There are also more pictures following these links but they are the crappy blurry ones for the most part :P. There are a lot of my colourful male guppy but all are blurry .

Here's a fairly decent FTS to start


Another FTS (oops flash :P) You can see the fish better in this one, and can see my one assumed sick neon (the lonely one)


Right Half of the Tank


Left Half of the Tank


Through Left Pane (my bed side)


Through Right Pane (showing anubias nana and fishies)


Last but not Least a half decent shot of Cosmo, my betta.


So let me know what you guys think- good or bad, no worries. Thanks for havin' a look and for any input given.

[Big Vine]

Plants are looking really good.
If it were me I'd leave the floating plant in there...even though it's fake and all. Actually, if you want some live floating plants, hornwort might be your best bet. Just be prepared to do lots of trimming if you put some in there, lol.

BV

[ishar]

you think I should have some stuff floating eh? I have never been one to like that look, but I shall consider it. I believe Cabomba is actually a floating plant as well, so maybe next time I get some longish trimmings I will just float them instead of plant them. I can't wait for my plants to fill in more though .

[ishar]

does no one else like my tank? :P

[ishar]

Well BV I put some floating plants in there- a lily-looking plant. Not sure if it will last though- apparently they need a LOT of light. But we'll see.

[ishar]

Well not that I was really worried or anything, but I checked my water today for the first time and the results were as follows:
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 10ppm

Is the 10ppm too high? I think I read that 20ppm is the upper limit for nitrate right?

[ishar]

Update: I haven't changed my plants, but my cabomba is not fairing well- it has turned pale, and its stem is pretty pale too, and it seems to be losing leaves. No idea why- anyone have any suggestion?

Also, because my betta Cosmo died, I thought I woul dput in a new centerpiece, and settled with a Sunset Dwarf Gourami. I made that sound like it was a bad thing lol. I love him. He looks so cool . Here is a link for what he looks like, but it is not him obviously:
Dwarf gourami, Colisa lalia | Practical Fishkeeping magazine

Also, I have two fry that are over 1cm long and are swimming freely with the adults without fear of being eaten, and I have three other fry that seem to be hiding well and might grow up as well. I finally got the fry growing up like I wanted and have no room for any of them!! lol.

[Big Vine]

Sorry about the betta, but congrats on the gourami.
Oh...and congrats on those fry too. Sounds like at least some of them will make it through to adulthood, as you pointed out. I'm not too sure about why your cabomba isn't thriving. Perhaps someone in the plants section will have some ideas if you've posted about it there.

And of course you do realize that we're gonna need to see some more pics, right...
BV

[ishar]

hahaha of course BV- gotta keep you interested lol. I will get some soon enough- once Cosmo Mark II gets unstreased, settled in, and colourful .

[ishar]

Well I am pretty happy with my tank. I did some rescaping of the gravel, adding a slope from the front up to the back. I also added some new plants and a shrimp. I added a flower shrimp, some bacopa caroliniana, and some Anubias Barteri- the normal kind I think. It looks killer!

Here are some laptop pics . They don't show much of the grade of the gravel, but the back left corner is high, as well as the rest of the back for the most part.