10g tank

[HaiWolfe]

10gal tank

Lighting: Two 15w 120v aquarium light bulbs
Filtration: AquaClear Mini Power Filter
Heating: No heater, but water is steady at 71ºF

Substrate: 5 lbs. Estes Nutmeg Pebbles
Decor: Rocks, seashells, plastic plant, glass candle holders and marbles (those green and orange balls are outside the tank)

Inhabitants: One blue gourami, two crayfish

The tank is set in an opening in a wall between two rooms. That's Kaiser climbing the side on the left, Switz swimming around, and Bismarck on the bottom in front of the plastic plant.

Kudos to anyone who knows the historical signficance behind their names.

[Edited for typos]

 

[420Loach]

hey nice tank! i think i remember hearing them as names of German warships? at least bismark.

 

[lilsilkk1112]

I'd add more water (up past the black line at the top) but thats just personal preference. It looks better than having water droplets and eventually white deposits on your walls.

I'd also add more plants and a heater... 71F is pushing it for that Gourami. Its probably stressing him out and he will be more succeptable to disease/death. If you DO get a heater (you can get one for about 8-10 bucks) raise the temp slowly. If you aren't, I'd return the blue gour and get goldfish as they dont need a heater...

 

[Jawz]

i dunno if u accimilate it right i think 71 degrees isnt too bad, general ranges are 72-80 for most tanks, i keep mine at 79. But yeh id raise water level and stick a couple plants in the back, and another small one up front

 

[HaiWolfe]

Thanks for all your comments.

I can't "return" anyone, since I'm only taking care of them for the summer. I'll get a heater if it's a big issue, though. Read that the temperature range for blue gouramis is 72-82ºF, so I thought 1º difference wouldn't harm it too much.

I'll add more water to it, sure. Didn't know what the standard is.

Don't really want to put plants in the back, since the tank is supposed to be viewable from both sides. What if I made it a line of plants across the center?

 

[Angelfish]

If you want the tank to be viewable from both sides (great idea) I'd leave out the plants, maybe if you got a few short ones and put them all over it would be cool though =) What are the glassy, crystal ball looking things in there?

 

[HaiWolfe]

Hmm... good idea about the short plants. I'll try to find some.

The glassy things are holders for floating candles that have been converted into toys for the crayfish.

 

[luvmygobies]

Here're some short/medium sized plants that you could try:

Indian water star (dwarf hygrophila)
Riccia (Marchantiidae)
Compacta sword (Echinodorus paniculatis)
Glosso (Glossostigma elatinoides)

The riccia and glosso are good carpet plants (the riccia might be hard to do because you really need to work on anchoring it) and the sword and water star are good mids. Hope that starts your search.

 

[ferkix]

Nice looking tank. Keep an eye on those crayfish though. I had put one in a tank a couple of years ago, and the next thing I knew the little bugger was beating the tar out of my fish. It would hide and wait for a fish to swim by, then clamp on and go for a ride. It was sorta funny (in a demented sort of way) at first, but it was tearing the fish up pretty good. Had to get rid of it.