Function over form: the hospital/heirs and spares tank

[megwattscreative]

Hi all, hope you're well. This tank is my second "aquascape", if you can call it that, and a bit of a diversion from my lovingly designed 100L riverbank paludarium. (first journal here, if you're interested!). This tank is intended to be completely taken down very quickly with minimal fuss. Nothing is attached to anything; there's basically 2 sticks and a solid mass of moss and leaf litter occupying the back half. Ada winner, I know.

THE DETAILS
This tank is:

1. Intended to house fish for quarantine before they go into the big tank
2. House sickly fish in times of strife
3. And most pressingly, I'm shaping it up to be my pygmy Cory fry tank.

My Corys are breeding like mad, but I'm pretty sure they're just whiskered snack dispensers for all the other micro predators at the moment. I'm intending to transfer eggs across today or tomorrow, based on whether I actually catch the Corys in the act in their fave mossy corner. I need a tank I can quickly remove bits from in order to find the baby Corys once it's time to head for the big tank.

WATER
I have incredibly soft water (<2dGh) with a pH of about 6. I use tap water with conditioner for both tanks and add ferts to my main tank, however probably won't add ferts with this little one. It's run fine without so far, but will adjust if needs be.

SET-UP

• It's a 30L dennerle nano cube I bought when I was 16 for my art GCSE (for mossy timelapses). It's had various owners, so I can't really take credit for anything in it, but has gone from me -> my dad -> my brother -> my dad etc. it is very cycled.
• The filter is a trickle filter with clay balls using a mini air pump - unsure on make, @dw1305 may know.
• The light is a nicrew slim LED "plants light" - cheap and cheerful, but it has a day and night setting and timer.
• The heater is a hitop hp-608 aquarium heater, 25w. Again, cheap and cheerful, but does the job. Temp is currently at 22°c - need to get a proper thermometer to confirm this long term, but can check with the main tanks thermometer for now.
• The background is a piece of lino I had lying around (may replace with something less hospitaly).

THE "SCAPE"
Substrate - no idea. River sand(?) and mulm.
Plant life - no idea. Lots of mosses, 2 anubias, red root floater, water lettuce, salvinia, Amazon frogbit and a syngonium I chucked in above the rim. In terms of what mosses, I'm clueless. There's some nice wood and river pebbles in there too, although again, I've no idea what the wood is other than "a fine vintage".

CURRENT INHABITANTS
Lots and lots and lots of crangonyx. Possibly a snail eating leech. Lots of worms. Some calcium deficient ramshorn snails, bladder snails and a few trumpet snails. All harmless, all chugging along. I feed the crangonyx a pea a day and they are delighted. Hopefully soon I will have a lovely Cory update for you all! Any advice on raising fry welcome 🙂

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[dw1305]

Hi all,

The filter is a trickle filter with clay balls using a mini air pump - unsure on make, @dw1305 may know.

They are Eheim "coco-pops" <"EHEIM SUBSTRATpro 180g">, originally it had a foam cartridge, but I never tried that.

cheers Darrel

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Looks like an ideal shrimp tank to me.

 

[megwattscreative]

A little update! The 10 year old airpump gave up the ghost, so I bought a tetra Tec aps 50 airpump secondhand off eBay. I don't know when the pump gave out as I've been away for a week, but everything seems to be ticking along fine. I've also turned the heater off for now as there's no need for it. All the plants are doing well without.

Looks like an ideal shrimp tank to me.

Although I'd love this, my water is far too soft! My brother kept RCS in Sheffield water but they had a lot of issues with moulting. My water is softer, so it's a no go for me.

Some pics and the great daily crangonyx pea struggle below 🙂

1 minute of pea frenzy - watch

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

and the great daily crangonyx pea struggle below

They love a pea.

cheers Darrel

 

[bazz]

Although I'd love this, my water is far too soft!

Are Caridina not an option, The Tangerine Tigers I have are thriving in 4 dGH 0.3 dKH?

 

[megwattscreative]

Are Caridina not an option, The Tangerine Tigers I have are thriving in 4 dGH 0.3 dKH?

These are gorgeous! I will refrain for now as the idea is for this tank to be a hospital/quarantine tank. I don't want to add medication that may affect the shrimp (although the crangonyx were unbothered by Esha 4000). I also may be adding some centre-piece carnivores to my main tank a some point, which I imagine will go down poorly if I introduce them to an unregulated shrimp buffet. It's not off the cards though! I do love shrimp but don't want to introduce them to the thunderdome.

 

[simon_the_plant_nerd]

Although I'd love this, my water is far too soft!

I don’t think this will be a problem. I’m willing to bet my tap water is as soft if not softer and I keep Cardina and Neocardina in my tank and they both breed. I’ll post a photo tomorrow. I top off with rainwater (your dad’s recommendation) but water changes are tap water.

 

[ElleDee]

Baby pygmy cories are infinitely more exciting than shrimp! And I imagine if you are wildly successful and end up with too many they are incredibly easy to unload.

 

[megwattscreative]

IT BEGINS

after watching the tetras spawn camping the breeding Corys today, I scooped out the mossy spawning mop and scooched it over to the nursery tank. After some close inspection I think I have found 2/3 cory eggs! Sorry for terrible phone quality.


I've added some leaf litter and there's plenty of mulm so there should be lots of biofilmy bits, but I have a microworm culture too I can feed them up on. I've got the spare tank running at 22°c - same as the main tank. Any advice welcome re raising the fry as I've never done this myself.

I've popped a new mossy spawn mop in the main tank so if there are more eggs I can transfer them. Fingers crossed this works out!

Edited for spelling 🙂