As I said in my intro and asking for nano plant ideas, I've downsized from a Fluval Osaka 155 to a (literally) desktop Fluval Spec 19L to give a home to our last remaining fish - 2 corys (rescued from my daughter's tank collapse) and 2 cardinal tetra (I did have 2 pencil fish as well, but as I suspected, they didn't survive the move to the temporary tank 🙁 ). I would really like to add a few chili rasbora once the tank is established.
While I like a planted tank, I'm not worried about speed of growth on this one and wanted a light substrate to make it brighter and hopefully appear a little larger; also something gentle on the corys. I had red Flourite in the old tank, for pretty much opposite reasons! So I have gone with a light, fine gravel this time around (which turns out to be quite difficult to plant into... heigh ho).
This tank will be viewed from both long sides, and I'd like to give the corys maximum swimming length, so I have chosen scaping that allows full use of the length each side, and to get around each end, while visually splitting the tank vertically down the middle a bit.
I am also aware of the small volume overall, so I've mostly gone with plants that are thin rather than bushy. (I may revisit this depending how things work out...)
The planting list is:
Juncus Repens
Cryptocoryne x willisii 'lucens'
Microsorum Trident Fern
Eleocharis montevidensis
Eleocharis Pusilla
Ranunculus Inundatus
Phyllanthus fluitans
The J Repens and microsorum (attached to the rock) should both give some height to the back of the tank; the E montevidensis is planted along one side of the wood and will hopefully grow up to emphasise the vertical split while the E Pusilla (again hopefully) provides similar low growth, to carpet eventually, in front. I rather like the gentle umbrella leaves (but overall narrow stem-ness) of the R Inundatus which I'm planning to let fill the other long edge. The Crypt is to give a bit of varied interest in the middle - and I do like Crypts in general - and finally the P Fluitans is there for all the stuff a bit of floating does.
Despite soaking for 2 weeks or so, I had to add a little ballast and gravel-loading to the bog wood first, then everything else went in...
The E montevidensis isn't significantly higher than the E Pusilla at the moment but obviously that should change with time. They can get very tall (for this tank), and I read after ordering them they don't like being trimmed either, so Just have to see how they go.. or if they go. The fern can get a lot bigger, but slowly and I'd quite like that to come up and over a bit anyway. The R Inundatus seemed rather tub-bound when it arrived but hopefully (I'm using that word a lot!) will straighten itself out.
I'm dosing gently to start with with fertilizer and liquid CO2 while everything gets established...
...and I am worried about the corys quite possibly digging everything up when they are put in! But I'll cross that bridge (most likely with weights) when I come to it.
Anyhow, with everything (except the fish) in and the light on, here is the tank day 1:
While I like a planted tank, I'm not worried about speed of growth on this one and wanted a light substrate to make it brighter and hopefully appear a little larger; also something gentle on the corys. I had red Flourite in the old tank, for pretty much opposite reasons! So I have gone with a light, fine gravel this time around (which turns out to be quite difficult to plant into... heigh ho).
This tank will be viewed from both long sides, and I'd like to give the corys maximum swimming length, so I have chosen scaping that allows full use of the length each side, and to get around each end, while visually splitting the tank vertically down the middle a bit.
I am also aware of the small volume overall, so I've mostly gone with plants that are thin rather than bushy. (I may revisit this depending how things work out...)
The planting list is:
Juncus Repens
Cryptocoryne x willisii 'lucens'
Microsorum Trident Fern
Eleocharis montevidensis
Eleocharis Pusilla
Ranunculus Inundatus
Phyllanthus fluitans
The J Repens and microsorum (attached to the rock) should both give some height to the back of the tank; the E montevidensis is planted along one side of the wood and will hopefully grow up to emphasise the vertical split while the E Pusilla (again hopefully) provides similar low growth, to carpet eventually, in front. I rather like the gentle umbrella leaves (but overall narrow stem-ness) of the R Inundatus which I'm planning to let fill the other long edge. The Crypt is to give a bit of varied interest in the middle - and I do like Crypts in general - and finally the P Fluitans is there for all the stuff a bit of floating does.
Despite soaking for 2 weeks or so, I had to add a little ballast and gravel-loading to the bog wood first, then everything else went in...
The E montevidensis isn't significantly higher than the E Pusilla at the moment but obviously that should change with time. They can get very tall (for this tank), and I read after ordering them they don't like being trimmed either, so Just have to see how they go.. or if they go. The fern can get a lot bigger, but slowly and I'd quite like that to come up and over a bit anyway. The R Inundatus seemed rather tub-bound when it arrived but hopefully (I'm using that word a lot!) will straighten itself out.
I'm dosing gently to start with with fertilizer and liquid CO2 while everything gets established...
...and I am worried about the corys quite possibly digging everything up when they are put in! But I'll cross that bridge (most likely with weights) when I come to it.
Anyhow, with everything (except the fish) in and the light on, here is the tank day 1:
