malabarpuffer
Seedling
- Joined
- 20 Feb 2014
- Messages
- 7
I will start my journal with a misinformed confession; I never thought I would go down the freshwater route as I thought it was boring. I can hear booing and hissing from the seats in the back. 😉
I was a marine girl through and through. My saltwater aquarium was my pride and joy, I had LPS, a beautiful malu anemone and was a big wrasse fan. There was something about having a slice of the Indonesian ocean in your house that made me incredibly happy. What didn't make me happy was the fact the closest shop worth visiting was 40 miles away, the water changes that took 3 hours out of my busy work week and the stress of potentially losing a lot of stock if something went belly-up while I was asleep. I closed my tank down, promising myself I would set it up again when I had the time and money to dedicate to a reef again. A few years have gone by and I found myself wishing I could get going, but in that time I have realised that it just wasn't practical to set up a tank that costs me more in a month than my horse does!
I popped into a Maidenhead Aquatics while I was in the area just to have a nose around and my partner, who is a fan of freshwater, dragged me over to the side I would always ignore. There I saw malabar puffers and they piqued my interest, as I love all puffer fish. I then began researching them and came across many blogs with beautiful planted tanks that looked so harmonious. They were nothing like the tropical tanks that looked like they had been picked up from Pets at Home with fluorescent gravel and a bubble chest I had seen in the past. Maybe I had underestimated what could be done with water sans salt?
After much research (I read up for 8 months before water even touched the sides with my marine projects), I decided that malabars probably weren't the ideal candidate for me to set up my first freshwater tank, due to their diet and waste issues. But I still wanted to give planted aquariums a go.
So I got out my former quarantine tank and gave it a wash. I set it up 4 days ago and considering how it used to look...
I am pretty pleased with my first foray into the freshwater world:
The plants are eleocharis acicularis, alternanthera cardinalis, gymnocoronis spilanthoides, lobelia cardinalis and cryptocoryne moehlmannii. They were a random selection from AE and I'm very pleased with the quality of them and how easy it was to separate stems to be able to spread them out. The gymnocoronis, lobelia and alternanthera have settled in great and look healthy. The other two either need more time or tweaking.
It is only a 35l so I'm a bit limited by size in regards to fish, but at the moment I plan to keep a male betta when the tank is mature and I've got the plants and coverage I'm hoping for. The equipment is nothing fancy but was bought to accommodate the betta's needs. If I plant right, the little guy is going to be in a mansion - quite a difference to how they're kept in pet stores! 😡
I am concerned a small singular fish will be hard to see once I've stocked the tank further, so for that reason I'm open to suggestions for fish. As I cut my teeth in the salt water world, I want something with a little colour. I'm a fan of the gouramis but I know the tank would be too small for the typical types available in stores. Any ideas, folks?
With my marine tank, I was always poking about doing maintenance or scaping and I imagine this tank won't be any different in that aspect. When I've done further research and thought more about flora stock, I'm hoping to get a carpet plant.
I'm looking forward to progressing with this tank and learning from it. I've got a 120l and 190l in storage, waiting until we move. I imagine if this project goes well, those will be set up as planted aquariums in time as well.
After droning on, I'll be surprised if anyone has actually read this as I'm hardly covering new ground. But keeping a marine journal was pretty fun, so I thought I'd start one with my new adventure, too.
I was a marine girl through and through. My saltwater aquarium was my pride and joy, I had LPS, a beautiful malu anemone and was a big wrasse fan. There was something about having a slice of the Indonesian ocean in your house that made me incredibly happy. What didn't make me happy was the fact the closest shop worth visiting was 40 miles away, the water changes that took 3 hours out of my busy work week and the stress of potentially losing a lot of stock if something went belly-up while I was asleep. I closed my tank down, promising myself I would set it up again when I had the time and money to dedicate to a reef again. A few years have gone by and I found myself wishing I could get going, but in that time I have realised that it just wasn't practical to set up a tank that costs me more in a month than my horse does!
I popped into a Maidenhead Aquatics while I was in the area just to have a nose around and my partner, who is a fan of freshwater, dragged me over to the side I would always ignore. There I saw malabar puffers and they piqued my interest, as I love all puffer fish. I then began researching them and came across many blogs with beautiful planted tanks that looked so harmonious. They were nothing like the tropical tanks that looked like they had been picked up from Pets at Home with fluorescent gravel and a bubble chest I had seen in the past. Maybe I had underestimated what could be done with water sans salt?
After much research (I read up for 8 months before water even touched the sides with my marine projects), I decided that malabars probably weren't the ideal candidate for me to set up my first freshwater tank, due to their diet and waste issues. But I still wanted to give planted aquariums a go.
So I got out my former quarantine tank and gave it a wash. I set it up 4 days ago and considering how it used to look...
I am pretty pleased with my first foray into the freshwater world:
The plants are eleocharis acicularis, alternanthera cardinalis, gymnocoronis spilanthoides, lobelia cardinalis and cryptocoryne moehlmannii. They were a random selection from AE and I'm very pleased with the quality of them and how easy it was to separate stems to be able to spread them out. The gymnocoronis, lobelia and alternanthera have settled in great and look healthy. The other two either need more time or tweaking.
It is only a 35l so I'm a bit limited by size in regards to fish, but at the moment I plan to keep a male betta when the tank is mature and I've got the plants and coverage I'm hoping for. The equipment is nothing fancy but was bought to accommodate the betta's needs. If I plant right, the little guy is going to be in a mansion - quite a difference to how they're kept in pet stores! 😡
I am concerned a small singular fish will be hard to see once I've stocked the tank further, so for that reason I'm open to suggestions for fish. As I cut my teeth in the salt water world, I want something with a little colour. I'm a fan of the gouramis but I know the tank would be too small for the typical types available in stores. Any ideas, folks?
With my marine tank, I was always poking about doing maintenance or scaping and I imagine this tank won't be any different in that aspect. When I've done further research and thought more about flora stock, I'm hoping to get a carpet plant.
I'm looking forward to progressing with this tank and learning from it. I've got a 120l and 190l in storage, waiting until we move. I imagine if this project goes well, those will be set up as planted aquariums in time as well.
After droning on, I'll be surprised if anyone has actually read this as I'm hardly covering new ground. But keeping a marine journal was pretty fun, so I thought I'd start one with my new adventure, too.
