JeffK
Member
I didn't experience aggression between males, but I did keep them in a slightly bigger footprint. It's always better to stay on the safe side of things to prevent disappointment.
-
You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
Very first tank (planted, low tech)
- Thread starter megwattscreative
- Start date
hydrophyte
Member
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 1,070
Hi all, not much to update on other than everything is growing well. I've been dosing with small amounts of chelated iron + solufeed 2:1:4.
Aquatic plants are growing well, bladder snails, daphnea and asellus are flourishing, moulding on the moss wall is dying down a little. I think I'm just going to wait for the terrestrial moss to slowly spreadI think I will drain the tank a little at some point to spread java moss across the aquatic moss wall section. You can't really see the capillary fabric in person what with the floaters and tannins, but I know it's there and would definitely like to hide it.
The asparagus fern experiment failed (welp) but I'm not really surprised- I'm terrible with them. The cyperus is growing out of the top of the tank which is quite excellent - I think I'll keep it for as long as possible before it outgrows my living room! I also really like that the syngonium roots are rooting into the bark.
I've also added some airtube circles to let light in, as the floaters have been growing like crazy.
I'm thinking about adding fish next month after my travels! Have been reminded of how much I like sparkling gouramis, but I know it's difficult to find females... We'll see.
View attachment 218574
Happy plants in there! You know what might look really nice would be a Lagenandra meeboldii positioned at the waterline along the back with foliage up in the air. This plant would normally prefer to be rooted in a soil substrate, but so long as you maintain fertilization it will root OK on the background. Various rheophytic Aroids would be other nice companions planted like that and so would Microsorum and Bolbitis. With the tank mostly enclosed as it is there should be adequate humidity for these.
Last edited:
megwattscreative
Member
Hi all, it's fish day!
Yesterday I added my first fish:
8 × sundadanio axelrodi/ neon blue rasbora
8 × Boraras brigittae/ chili rasbora
8 × Paracheirodon simulans/ green neon tetra
they are all from Abyss Aquatics in Stockport and are settling in nicely. I slightly overfed them with ground up bug bites today (didn't realise quite how tiny the rasbora's mouths are!), so I'm thinking I'll leave off feeding them tomorrow.
they seem to be traversing every inch of the tank and are enjoying the shade underneath the driftwood, as well as the dense planting and open space at the front. (Video here)
I opted for green neons instead of green kubotai as I've seen kubotai's "cohabiting" with chilis in a LFS, and the chili's seemed pretty terrified of all the movement.
they're very small and not at all coloured up atm, but that will come with time. I've got access to my neighbours water butts and @dw1305 is sending me a micro worm culture (thanks dad!!), so there will be plenty of live food.
now all I can think about is how amazing the tank will look with twice as many in the shoals 😂
I'm planning on adding some pygmy Corys when I can get my hands on them, and think I will leave off a centerpiece fish for now. I'm really just enjoying the nano fish in my 100L(ish).
now how do I get a good photo!?!?
Yesterday I added my first fish:
8 × sundadanio axelrodi/ neon blue rasbora
8 × Boraras brigittae/ chili rasbora
8 × Paracheirodon simulans/ green neon tetra
they are all from Abyss Aquatics in Stockport and are settling in nicely. I slightly overfed them with ground up bug bites today (didn't realise quite how tiny the rasbora's mouths are!), so I'm thinking I'll leave off feeding them tomorrow.
they seem to be traversing every inch of the tank and are enjoying the shade underneath the driftwood, as well as the dense planting and open space at the front. (Video here)
I opted for green neons instead of green kubotai as I've seen kubotai's "cohabiting" with chilis in a LFS, and the chili's seemed pretty terrified of all the movement.
they're very small and not at all coloured up atm, but that will come with time. I've got access to my neighbours water butts and @dw1305 is sending me a micro worm culture (thanks dad!!), so there will be plenty of live food.
now all I can think about is how amazing the tank will look with twice as many in the shoals 😂
I'm planning on adding some pygmy Corys when I can get my hands on them, and think I will leave off a centerpiece fish for now. I'm really just enjoying the nano fish in my 100L(ish).
now how do I get a good photo!?!?
simon_the_plant_nerd
Member
I have 18 of these in my tank. They are truly beautiful, hardy little fish. An excellent choice.
Scaperinc
Member
I have 10 neon green and my little one has scared them they never come out until I put feeding tube thing and some food
Courtneybst
Member
Lovely to see fish in the tank Meg! I'm sure they're gonna love it.
megwattscreative
Member
Hello all! Not much to update on other than tank is doing well having some yellowing of leaves (thinking this is due to low iron). I haven't changed doses, however I have been changing the water more often due to the fish - so I think I just need to dose more regularly. It may also be the emergent plants hogging the light, so I'll see if removing some of the floating plants helps too.
The fish that I do see are fat and happy - I've only seen 3/8 chillis and 5/8 axelrodi since the 2nd or 3rd day, so either they're in there or they've spontaneously disappeared. I was feeling quite terrible about this, but I know I'm doing everything right food and water wise - hopefully if I bulk up the rasbora numbers the secretive ones will come out of hiding (or the remaining ones will feel a bit safer).
I'm planning on adding some pygmy Corys and more rasboras this week or next.
I also built a drip wall today (don't recommend doing this after setup!) using some 12mm tubing and an API flow 400 water pump. It's all running smoothly, but the filter is a bit overpowered for my purposes - I went for this one as a cheap option that would clear the vertical head height I needed, but I definitely could have gone for a weaker one that may have been quieter. We live and learn! This will hopefully replenish my moss wall, as I think it was too dry at the top near the lights.
Any tips on quietening filters or reducing duck weed highly welcome
A little video here
having some yellowing of leaves (thinking this is due to low iron). I haven't changed doses, however I have been changing the water more often due to the fish - so I think I just need to dose more regularly. It may also be the emergent plants hogging the light, so I'll see if removing some of the floating plants helps too. The fish that I do see are fat and happy - I've only seen 3/8 chillis and 5/8 axelrodi since the 2nd or 3rd day, so either they're in there or they've spontaneously disappeared. I was feeling quite terrible about this, but I know I'm doing everything right food and water wise - hopefully if I bulk up the rasbora numbers the secretive ones will come out of hiding (or the remaining ones will feel a bit safer).
I'm planning on adding some pygmy Corys and more rasboras this week or next.
I also built a drip wall today (don't recommend doing this after setup!) using some 12mm tubing and an API flow 400 water pump. It's all running smoothly, but the filter is a bit overpowered for my purposes - I went for this one as a cheap option that would clear the vertical head height I needed, but I definitely could have gone for a weaker one that may have been quieter. We live and learn! This will hopefully replenish my moss wall, as I think it was too dry at the top near the lights.
Any tips on quietening filters or reducing duck weed highly welcome
A little video here
Attachments
Onoma1
Member
I love your set up. It is fantastic and is clearly going to be amazing.
I had the same issue with duckweed. I manually removed it and then pounced (metaphorically) on any leaf that emerged. The issue for me was it tangling in the moss and roots on the wall. This was impossible to remove and I had an enduring issue with duckweed.
However, after the plants on the wall developed it seemed that the duckweed stopped thriving and it simply disappeared. Other floating plants continue to reproduce, however, the pace of growth is slower and the size of leaf is much reduced.
Others with greater wisdom and plant knowledge may be able to explain this phenomenon.
There is, however, hope...
I had the same issue with duckweed. I manually removed it and then pounced (metaphorically) on any leaf that emerged. The issue for me was it tangling in the moss and roots on the wall. This was impossible to remove and I had an enduring issue with duckweed.
However, after the plants on the wall developed it seemed that the duckweed stopped thriving and it simply disappeared. Other floating plants continue to reproduce, however, the pace of growth is slower and the size of leaf is much reduced.
Others with greater wisdom and plant knowledge may be able to explain this phenomenon.
There is, however, hope...
megwattscreative
Member
megwattscreative
Member
Edit: I've added wider tubing to widen the gap and all is restored. I see the fish in here occasionally but the novelty seems to have worn off!
Hi all,
Hope you're well!
I noticed this morning that at least 1 chili rasbora and 1 pygmy corydoras had made their way behind the matten filter! There are tiny gaps on the sides that they must have slipped through. I'm totally ok with them hiding in there if they choose too, but I want to make sure they can get back into the main tank / are getting enough food. For now I've used some airline tubing wedged between the side of the tank and the egg crate/sponge to widen the gap a little
bit.
Hi all,
Hope you're well!
I noticed this morning that at least 1 chili rasbora and 1 pygmy corydoras had made their way behind the matten filter! There are tiny gaps on the sides that they must have slipped through. I'm totally ok with them hiding in there if they choose too, but I want to make sure they can get back into the main tank / are getting enough food. For now I've used some airline tubing wedged between the side of the tank and the egg crate/sponge to widen the gap a little
bit.
Last edited:
megwattscreative
Member
FIN NIPPING OR FIN ROT? A DISASTROUS UPDATE
Hi all,
I've been monitoring the fish since adding more rasboras and pygmy corys, and I've noticed that my green neons (and possibly the odd cardinal that slipped in) are extremely aggressive with each other. I've gone from seeing 8 tetras regularly to only 6, and they are hounding each other around the tank. The neons look paler than normal too, so I'm guessing they're stressing each other. I have a well planted tank, but apparently not well enough!?
I've also noticed they are particularly picking on the pygmy corys, to the point where the fin loss on the smallest one is extremely noticeable. Poor thing is missing the bottom half of his tail fin and almost all his dorsal fin
^the severely finless Cory ^
As I was watching, 2 of the tetras stopped chasing each-other and went for the cory. I know there's one other cory with raggedy damage to his tail, however I assumed this was from the store and was monitoring.
^ the raggedy Cory^
The other corys look totally fine and healthy.
^ a healthy Cory!^
The corys are all feeding and swimming, resting on leaves together/separately etc, but I do feel they might be hiding from the tetras. The one with severely missing fins is also swimming and feeding, although with some clear effort. The tetras are bothering the rasboras too, but the rasboras are better at evading them than the corys.
This behaviour would point to fin nipping. However from looking at pictures, I'm wondering if fin rot is affecting the corys?
The neons do have some small white marks on their fins, which could be ich.
^very hard to photograph but you can see the white spots^
Here's a video to make it a bit easier. Green neons ich?
I have a feeling its probably from bites, however I can treat with esha exit just in case. I'm reluctant to do this until I work out what's happening. All of the rasboras are completely devoid of white marks and aren't showing any signs of fin damage. In fact, they're fat, brightly coloured and healthy!
1 cory arrived from the store with a pale mark on its back, however I've been monitoring this one and it's the biggest and healthiest. The pale mark has not grown/expanded.
^ Pale marked Cory in front^
I do have a lot of mulm at the bottom of my tank and have noticed some algae recently, however I'm assuming that's because the tank is getting more natural sunlight - I'm upping frequency of water changes just in case.
I feel like the tetra's feistiness is more noticeable at night/after the lights are off? I'm unsure if this means anything. I don't have a quarantine tank, however I could set one up pretty swiftly to separate out the neons- it's definitely not a long term solution though, I don't have the space. I feel like the result is going to be that I give the green neons to someone else, or back to the LFS. Can I even do this!? gutted tbh, I really don't want to create a stressful environment for my fish! This is definitely not ideal.
any advice for what to do?
(Edited to add photos and fin rot query)
Hi all,
I've been monitoring the fish since adding more rasboras and pygmy corys, and I've noticed that my green neons (and possibly the odd cardinal that slipped in) are extremely aggressive with each other. I've gone from seeing 8 tetras regularly to only 6, and they are hounding each other around the tank. The neons look paler than normal too, so I'm guessing they're stressing each other. I have a well planted tank, but apparently not well enough!?
I've also noticed they are particularly picking on the pygmy corys, to the point where the fin loss on the smallest one is extremely noticeable. Poor thing is missing the bottom half of his tail fin and almost all his dorsal fin
^the severely finless Cory ^
As I was watching, 2 of the tetras stopped chasing each-other and went for the cory. I know there's one other cory with raggedy damage to his tail, however I assumed this was from the store and was monitoring.
^ the raggedy Cory^
The other corys look totally fine and healthy.
^ a healthy Cory!^
The corys are all feeding and swimming, resting on leaves together/separately etc, but I do feel they might be hiding from the tetras. The one with severely missing fins is also swimming and feeding, although with some clear effort. The tetras are bothering the rasboras too, but the rasboras are better at evading them than the corys.
This behaviour would point to fin nipping. However from looking at pictures, I'm wondering if fin rot is affecting the corys?
The neons do have some small white marks on their fins, which could be ich.
^very hard to photograph but you can see the white spots^
Here's a video to make it a bit easier. Green neons ich?
I have a feeling its probably from bites, however I can treat with esha exit just in case. I'm reluctant to do this until I work out what's happening. All of the rasboras are completely devoid of white marks and aren't showing any signs of fin damage. In fact, they're fat, brightly coloured and healthy!
1 cory arrived from the store with a pale mark on its back, however I've been monitoring this one and it's the biggest and healthiest. The pale mark has not grown/expanded.
^ Pale marked Cory in front^
I do have a lot of mulm at the bottom of my tank and have noticed some algae recently, however I'm assuming that's because the tank is getting more natural sunlight - I'm upping frequency of water changes just in case.
I feel like the tetra's feistiness is more noticeable at night/after the lights are off? I'm unsure if this means anything. I don't have a quarantine tank, however I could set one up pretty swiftly to separate out the neons- it's definitely not a long term solution though, I don't have the space. I feel like the result is going to be that I give the green neons to someone else, or back to the LFS. Can I even do this!? gutted tbh, I really don't want to create a stressful environment for my fish! This is definitely not ideal.
any advice for what to do?
(Edited to add photos and fin rot query)
Attachments
Last edited:
PARAGUAY
Member
Be a shame to not have them, maybe increase numbers if you can, the greater the numbers the better if you have room, MD Fish Tanks set up a large Amazon themed aquarium ,very heavily planted and many shoals of tetras, behaviour kept in check by the addition ofa few Columbian Tetras their bigger size sort of keeps the smaller sizegroups in check just by their presence.
Of course this would be just a see how it goes and what the aquarium can accommodate, arrange to return to the shop if it didn't work out Also increase dense planting ,try to break up lines of sight with stem plants. Fish do take on a pale appearance in darkness so that might not be much of a worry.
Of course this would be just a see how it goes and what the aquarium can accommodate, arrange to return to the shop if it didn't work out Also increase dense planting ,try to break up lines of sight with stem plants. Fish do take on a pale appearance in darkness so that might not be much of a worry.
megwattscreative
Member
PARAGUAY
Member
Using medications is a last resort but esha exit and esha 2000 are a good combination. I would do water change and maintenance session first. Follow the instructions to the letter, fin damage will repair but finrot will spread to the body if not treated. Mention the problem to Abbys see if any issues they may have had(doubtful). It's always distressing when this happens
Bradders
Member
Hello @megwattscreative - sorry to hear about the problems. I hate it when this happens.
I think it's always a problem when performing diagnosis by wire, but I'll throw a few things in based on the pictures you can use to further your thoughts and perhaps give the community a chance to reflect, too:
I think it's always a problem when performing diagnosis by wire, but I'll throw a few things in based on the pictures you can use to further your thoughts and perhaps give the community a chance to reflect, too:
- If you took pictures of neons at night, then they do go very translucent and colourless. My cardinals do exactly the same thing. Are they back to colour in the light today?
- From what I can see, the spots could be ich - but it's hard to tell. Ich can be a secondary issue which means there might be another problem, ie bacteria infection.
- There is a layer of Mulm in your tank, which I assume the Cory's come into contact with, and possibly the neons. Mulm can contain bacteria that are bad for fish that come into contact with it. In Cory's, that infection will result in fin and barbel issues. My rasboras are very mid to top range of the tank, and my cardinals and Mollys are commonly seen around the bottom. Do you witness the same behaviour?
- I think the primacy challenge here is to understand whether the environment is a primary issue leading to secondary problems like ich and fin degradation. Otherwise, we could be treating the symptom (which is also a current problem), and the circular notion would continue.
megwattscreative
Member
Thank you @Bradders the tetras are back to their usual colour now, so I think Paraguay was right about the lights. Another newbie note!
I've ordered some more plants, as it can't hurt to break up the sightlines a bit and I'd like more in the foreground.
The tetras spend most of their time in the middle/at the top but come down to the bottom and root around for any sinking bugbites. The rasboras are normally middle/lower, and the Corys spend most of their time down at the bottom.
I've been changing the water (30%-40%) once a week. I think I will start doing daily water changes for the moment to see if that helps. Thinking 15-20%.
There is some evaporation so I do top the tank off too. Wondering if the evaporation is part of the issue? @dw1305 did say this could effect water quality.
I've double checked today and 2 Corys have raggedy fins, 1 has notable fin loss. I will see if I can get better photos and add them to my original post.
the tetras are back to their usual colour now, so I think Paraguay was right about the lights. Another newbie note!I've ordered some more plants, as it can't hurt to break up the sightlines a bit and I'd like more in the foreground.
The tetras spend most of their time in the middle/at the top but come down to the bottom and root around for any sinking bugbites. The rasboras are normally middle/lower, and the Corys spend most of their time down at the bottom.
I've been changing the water (30%-40%) once a week. I think I will start doing daily water changes for the moment to see if that helps. Thinking 15-20%.
There is some evaporation so I do top the tank off too. Wondering if the evaporation is part of the issue? @dw1305 did say this could effect water quality.
I've double checked today and 2 Corys have raggedy fins, 1 has notable fin loss. I will see if I can get better photos and add them to my original post.
Bradders
Member
No problem - I'll help where I can.
Another part of me thinks that not thoroughly cleaning any filtration at the moment might be a good option. i.e. trying to keep any beneficial bacteria where it is. Water changes fine, thorough cleaning of filter media should be avoided.
This would be good, although it might be hard to separate fin nipping from bacterial degradation.
If, and it's a big if, it's a bacterial issue living in the water column, then water changes help, but only to a certain degree. If you had 10 billion bacteria and did a 50% water change, then you still have 5 billion left—which is still a lot. (I know that is a rubbish example!!) That is why I suggested we keep an open mind to the environment so we can see if we can understand and stop at the source.
Another part of me thinks that not thoroughly cleaning any filtration at the moment might be a good option. i.e. trying to keep any beneficial bacteria where it is. Water changes fine, thorough cleaning of filter media should be avoided.
megwattscreative
Member
Absolutely, i have a matten filter so will not be cleaning it regularly! It just doesn't need it. I've noticed the finless Cory is now quite lethargic after feeding - I will monitor today, although unsure if I can do anything. I really don't want to stress it.
Andy Pierce
Member
Life is difficult for smaller fish. I had rummy-nose tetras (with some help from 5-banded barbs) essentially wipe out the chili rasbora population. They also ate all the cherry shrimp. So much for "peaceful community tank". Circle of life thing... not much to be done other than get species that don't aggress on each other. I replaced the chilis with the slightly larger ember tetras and that's been all good.
