Here are a few pictures of the two tanks I have. I would post more pictures but I'm going to do that once I get my hands on a better camera.
Tank 1
This here was my first shot the planted tank. It’s where made most of my mistakes and “learned the ropes” of caring for plants and seeing the big picture really. I know dwarf puffers like lots of plants and for their environment to be interesting so I tried my best to accomplish the dense jungle river look where there would be lots of plants growing from run-off and whatnot. The driftwood provides a nice place for privacy while to the right is where retreating fish can run to, and in the middle an open patch that the puffers use sort of as a hunting ground when looking for snails and worms. The tank has been running for a few months well with no major problems. The puffers have probably been in there for a month +, and the plants have all found their way in their over time. It took some time before the tank could really settle in, and took quite a bit of work to get everything right. When I originally got the ghost shrimp there were two of them, a male and a pregnant female. The male died somehow but the female lived on to release her eggs. Last week for the first time I noticed a little tiny shrimp scaffolding up the driftwood and was shocked. I assumed that the puffers had eaten all the babies up but I was clearly wrong. What is even more surprising is that today I took a look at my main shrimp to see her pregnant... again.
Inhabitants
3 dwarf puffers – 1 male, 2 female
1 otocinclus
2 ghost shrimp
Plants
Narrow leaf java fern
Sword plant – echinodorus bleheri
X-mas moss
Java fern (regular)
Crypt balansae
Brown crypt
Green crypt
Dwarf sagittaria
Narrow leaf pygmy chain sword
Lilaepsis mauritiana (small patch)
Substrate
Black fluorite and white sand (2 types)
Tank 2
I just redid this tank this yesterday; I use it to breed pest snails for my dwarf puffers and thought I would turn into a low-tech planted tank. To my knowledge none of the plants in there really need additional CO2, and since these are the only plants in there I think they should be fine. I might decide later to start dosing it with excel but I’m going to let it be for now. I like to think of this tank as my lake tank - where there’s more open water, fewer plants and a rocky bottom.
Inhabitants
Pest snails (food for puffers)
Looking into either getting a small school of cherry barbs or harlequin rasboras
Plants
Java fern
Java moss
Anubias nana
Marimo moss (in pieces)
Substrate
White silica sand
Rocks, pebbles, and some gravel
questions or comments are welcome
Tank 1
This here was my first shot the planted tank. It’s where made most of my mistakes and “learned the ropes” of caring for plants and seeing the big picture really. I know dwarf puffers like lots of plants and for their environment to be interesting so I tried my best to accomplish the dense jungle river look where there would be lots of plants growing from run-off and whatnot. The driftwood provides a nice place for privacy while to the right is where retreating fish can run to, and in the middle an open patch that the puffers use sort of as a hunting ground when looking for snails and worms. The tank has been running for a few months well with no major problems. The puffers have probably been in there for a month +, and the plants have all found their way in their over time. It took some time before the tank could really settle in, and took quite a bit of work to get everything right. When I originally got the ghost shrimp there were two of them, a male and a pregnant female. The male died somehow but the female lived on to release her eggs. Last week for the first time I noticed a little tiny shrimp scaffolding up the driftwood and was shocked. I assumed that the puffers had eaten all the babies up but I was clearly wrong. What is even more surprising is that today I took a look at my main shrimp to see her pregnant... again.
Inhabitants
3 dwarf puffers – 1 male, 2 female
1 otocinclus
2 ghost shrimp
Plants
Narrow leaf java fern
Sword plant – echinodorus bleheri
X-mas moss
Java fern (regular)
Crypt balansae
Brown crypt
Green crypt
Dwarf sagittaria
Narrow leaf pygmy chain sword
Lilaepsis mauritiana (small patch)
Substrate
Black fluorite and white sand (2 types)
Tank 2
I just redid this tank this yesterday; I use it to breed pest snails for my dwarf puffers and thought I would turn into a low-tech planted tank. To my knowledge none of the plants in there really need additional CO2, and since these are the only plants in there I think they should be fine. I might decide later to start dosing it with excel but I’m going to let it be for now. I like to think of this tank as my lake tank - where there’s more open water, fewer plants and a rocky bottom.
Inhabitants
Pest snails (food for puffers)
Looking into either getting a small school of cherry barbs or harlequin rasboras
Plants
Java fern
Java moss
Anubias nana
Marimo moss (in pieces)
Substrate
White silica sand
Rocks, pebbles, and some gravel
questions or comments are welcome
Last edited: