Newbie: My Plans/Tank Build

[StewRat]

Your tank looks awesome
What else is left to do on your list, if anything?

Since the pics above I have added all the plants I had on standby and realise they aren't enough to achieve "densely planted" status in the relevant areas. So I either need to get more or work on pruning/propagation.

But they are enough I guess to start the whole tank "living".

So the next steps are:

Establish a base point for water quality

Add creatures - prob guppies or shrimp - and ideally establish them breeding. May or may not be achievable.

Once nitorogen cycled, add axolotls

I estimate that will be about 10 weeks after first getting the tank. May yet be longer ...

 

[Blaze]

Hairgrass is another awesome plant that copes well in low level lighting and cool water.
The tank looks amazing and I love the yellow sand

 

[totallyrad]

yeah i almost bought some dward hairgrass tonight but then I pictured my axolotl eating it lol.
he loves to eat plants, and if I don't feed him every night around the same time he starts chompin
the plants. I think he knows if he does this he'll get a fat worm

anyway, the tank looks great so far, can't wait to see the progress ahead. I grow a lot of aponogeton (from bulbs) in my tank, they look nice when clustered together and eventually will flower but have read to pluck the flower off because then the plant starts to die. dunno if this is true or not lol.
Have some hornwort on the way (can't wait for that) and also some java moss in the mail soon.

I also have some "banana plants" that seem to be doing alright, not spectacular but they have a lot of character. although depends on how long you're going to leave your light on. and also have Cryptocoryne wendtii that is doing good.

also did you mean to sculpt your tree root into a person? haha, all I can see when I look at it is arms and legs. it turned out great though. I'm incapable of doing something like that, I'd just mess it up ha.
can't wait for more pix of the progress.

 

[totallyrad]

almost forgot, i absolutely love "water wisteria" i highly recommend it.
you can leave it floating or plant it, it grows like a weed, and the easiest plant
I've used to propagate. it's very feathery and looks fern-ish. love this plant.

 

[StewRat]

also did you mean to sculpt your tree root into a person?

Not really - but once I had the ones that look like arms and legs on, I THEN had the ide to put the "cups" in, otherwise there would have been a couple more roots attached.

You should try sitting right in front of it as I am now - it looks the Return of the Mummy's Curse is lumbering towards me, or an Ent from Lord Of The Rings.

 

[StewRat]

I have a few more plants in now ...

And a few guppies to cycle, and hopefully breed.

Suspect more plants will be needed to provide cover for them and their fry however. Unless the Salvina Natans roots grow super-fast, as they and the java moss will be ideal.

 

[StewRat]

It has been a while since I updated this thread - mainly because things have not gone so well.

But it's important in these forums to record the bad along with the good if we are all going to learn from others' experience - and things are getting back on track - so here goes ...

3 weeks after last post, the guppies started to die from white spot. I got a treatment but it was too late.

What I have learned since:

1) White spot has a 3 week incubation period, so they probably had it when I bought them.
2) It can be induced by stress - of which there are two main possibilities. One is they didn't like temperate temperatures (the tank is fairly constant 20*C). The other is "see below"
3) Guppies are not at all hardy. Inbreeding.

As for plants, the Indian Fern started to die almost immediately. The Salvina Natans died - but much, much more slowly. The last of them only went fully brown a couple of weeks ago. Very annoying as they were looking like great fry cover.

Plant survivors - Anubius, Java Fern and Java Moss are all doing well.

All in all, I became very concerned that there was something untoward in the tank - although the full range of API tests were all in range.

When I finally took the "root" out - it smelled of sealant! In spite of originally being aired, soaked, aired etc before it went in. That rocked my confidence in all the stuff I had made. Did it kill the guppies? Did it kill the plants?

I have gone back to some kind of basics since then. Everything drained and stripped out.

What I have learned since:

1) Look in the cichlid forums - Drylok is the sealant of choice over polystyrene for decor. And assume you have to massively silicon it to the tank due to buoyancy.

I've replaced the "root" with some standard black rocks arranged over and around a PVC (?) pipe cave.

Similarly, the "rock" formations on the right have been replaced by regular black rocks.

The Java Moss is in a couple of places and the Java Fern as before. I've ordered x3 more Java Fern.

As of the weekend, 10 White Cloud Mountain Minnow (I KNOW they are temperate!) and 6 Cherry Shrimp took up residence. So far, they all seem happy, natural - and at least one of the shrimp has moulted and is carrying eggs.

I hope to get both of these to establish and breed before adding an Axolotl. I reckon the shrimp are quite defensive, but the WCMM are not following the "swim in the upper water column" plan so are going to be vulnerable unless they become self-prepetuating.

Pics of v2 will follow when I can get some decent ones or transfer the poor ones from my phone.