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xenxes's Aqueon 20L - "Bamboo Jungle" + Otos/CPDs/Pygm, PFR/CBS/OEBT/Cardinal/BluBees

74K views 488 replies 68 participants last post by  h4n 
#1 · (Edited)
Current Status (7/30/12)

No longer a forest, turned into a jungle (inside and outside the tank). Testing out a new grow light I just setup on 2/10. Established & stable, only maintenance is water top offs and sporadic feeding.

Tank Progression Pics

Latest FTS:


Tank Pics:













Current Equipment:

- 20L tank from Petco ($20)
- Recycled light & filter from broken EHEIM Aquastyle
- AquaClear 20 Power Filter, and AquaClear 50 Power Filter with Edge Pre-Filter Sponge
- Hydrofarm Grow Light System - single T5 54w
- Black Krylon Paint background

Current Fauna:

- 4 Panda Platies + unknown # of fry
- 6 Otocinclus
- 9 Corydoras Habrosus
- 11 Corydoras Pygmaeus
- 50+ Red Cherry Shrimps
- 4 Nerite Snails
- ?? Malaysian Trumpet, Ramshorn, Pond Snails
- ?? Copepods, Amphipods, Ostracods, Cladoceras

Current Flora:

Honestly have no idea, I got 4 plant packages from members here and planted them all, lol.

From: snailer
- [strike]Crypt Willisi[/strike] Blyxa Japonica
- Ludwigia Grandulosa
- Lobelia Cardinalis
- Crypt Wendt Red
- ???

From haterr:
- Sagittaria Subulata
- Lindernia Parviflora Var 'Variegated'
- Vallisneria Americana Gigantea
- Hydocotyle Leucocephyala
- Nuphar Lutea V. 'Cape Fear'

From dewalltheway:
- Ludwigia Arcuata
- Limnophila Veitnam Mini
- Narrow Leaf Java Fern
- Fissidens

From thefisherman:
- Limnophila Aromatica
- Limnophila Repens Mini
- Star Repens
- Hygrophila Polysperma
- Green Cabomba
- Hygrophila Pinnatifida
- Rotala Macrandra

Others:
- Lucky Bamboo (Draceana) emerged
- Xmas Moss
- HC
- Marsilea Minuta
- Amazon Micro Sword
- Assorted Crypts
- Frogbits
- Red Root Floaters
- Rotala Indica



Redacted Original Post:
-------------------------------
Picked this up @ Petco's $1/g sale for $20.

Substrate:
1" of dirt, 1" of Fluval Plant Stratum, 1-2" of Tahitian moon sand, aquarium gravel, river rocks & pebbles

Some pics (water is still slightly muddy from some recent planting)


Full Scape, plants look miserable as a lot were planted yesterday after being in the mail for 3 days. I've actually added more since this pic :icon_twis


Testing a terrestrial moss growth on a frogbit
 
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15
#2 ·
Subbing to each of your tanks. Shoulda' let me know you started another one :p.

Did you get all that bamboo from Petco? I like the bamboo forest look :)! Wonder how well that bamboo will grow for you. Any idea how to propagate it?

That red moss looks great too, hope it doesn't fall off the frogbit.

As for the bamboo shrine, you could use some fishing line? Those are nearly invisible!
 
#5 ·
+1 for fishing line. Go to a fishing store and by fluorocarbon freshwater tippet line. It will truly be invisible I use to catch trout in local rivers(trust me they never see it).
TY, why didn't I think of fishing line :D just ordered some. Red club moss would look amazing in water, but it'll probably suffocate. I'm experimenting with a little bit on the bottom though, maybe an air stone?

Got the bamboo from Walmart (Petco was expensive and short), one of those circle bunched ones for $16 (about 20+ stems). I took it apart and only kept the inner circle together. Planted other stems separately. Didn't start this tank until a week ago. Not sure about propagation (I think you just cut long top stalks off), I had 3 thicker stems from years ago and planted those also.

That is fun!

You might be aware of this, but that "bamboo" is not really bamboo. It is Draceana sanderiana, also known as lucky bamboo.

Have you considered a black background? I think it will improve with a black background.
Right lucky bamboo (name slipped my mind), they will last a few months-a year if fully submersed because they're hardy, but I have all the leaves out of the water.

Would like to add a black background (the green/black contrast would be great), what do people use? Just black wallpaper? What about adhesive? Tape the sides?
 
#9 · (Edited)
The smaller Oto kicked the bucket this morning :( I noticed it flipping upside down @ the surface last night, moved it to a quarantine tank w/ some stress coat, didn't help. Its buldgy little stomach turned a yellow-ish hue (was white).

Had a nitrite spike yesterday (7.2pH/0 Ammonia/2ppm Nitrite/20ppm Nitrate). I did a 10% water change yesterday and a 25% today, added some more Nutrafin Cycle. I don't know what caused it, perhaps I left the piece of ketapang (almond) leaf rotting @ the bottom too long?

Any idea what caused the Oto to die, is it the nitrite? The other fish and inverts are all fine.

Some new pics (Day +1):


Did some more trimming, water cleared up nicely


Started growing a moss wall for my 9g


The evil ghost shrimp from my Spec, couldn't bring myself to flush it


RIP :( of course it had to be my favorite fish
 
#10 ·
I doubt it's the IAL cause you can leave those for weeks without any issues. People with shrimp tanks leave them until they turn into skeletons.

And I heard otto's are super sensitive so it's very possible the nitrate spike caused it to die. I wouldn't go overboard on the nutrafin cycle though. Not sure how well that actually works.
 
#11 ·
Hrmm I just added recommended dosage. It works the same way as getting substrate from an established tank does. Still takes about a week to cycle (much faster than without though). I waited for the spike to go up then goto 0 before introducing fish. I guess I put in too much fish at once. 3 blue platys one day, then 3 pandas the next, and 2 otos after that. Going to hold off on replacing the oto until it stabilizes.

Picked up 3 small ebony rock pieces for $5 (ripoff lol) earlier today and threw them in the tank. I saw maybe 2 RCS while rescaping, some might have gotten eaten off. It's okay, some actually started breeding in my 1/2 gal ;)

Pics (Day +2)


added some rocks, think I muddied the waters again just after it cleared :(


left side, angled for hiding


right side


rcs hiding


feeding on somewhatshock's veggie stick, even the betta nibbles on it


evil "ghost" shrimp approaching 2" I believe, turning gold?
 
#13 ·
Pics (Day +3)


replaced white mesh & green ring w/ fish lines


I found a couple fish fry in the tank! Not sure what they are or where they came from. Can't catch them they swim into the substrate, hope they survive


I know it eats veggies


what manner of creature is this?


oto getting an algae-shell snack


ordered some malaysian trumpets that came in today from HK, largest one is around 2"! is that right?
 
#16 ·
All the snails from the LFS come laded with algae :D?

Leave some small ones as well with the big ones in case they die off. I'd assume those are near the end of their lifetimes.
 
#17 ·
Removed blue platys + swordtail, took them back to the LFS, just didn't fit with the theme.

Have the female betta in a quarantine container, she's pretty aggressive, might have to get a separate tank for her, lol :(

Pic (Day +4)


Added the black bg, will look better when I remove the moss wall... but the sticky side of the contact paper isn't really "black," it's more of a patterned look. Ohwell.
 
#19 ·
I thought about getting a long light but I kinda like the day/night look (the pic was taken at night). I have lower light plants on the right side. The window area gets maybe 8 hours of indirect and 2 hours of direct light each day. The fish also love to hang out in the darker section.
 
#20 ·
I also like the light/dark difference :p. I feel like you should make the dark area floor covered in some moss. Make it look even more eerie! And maybe add a path in the light area :p?
 
#21 · (Edited)
Lol a path would be neat, there's once underneath the IAL from the front going to the bamboo-shrine. Added an airpump & airstone on the right side to help move the water.

Pics look better w/o flash I think (Day +5):


Night


Day

I do have a bit of moss on the right side too, I should move more to the foreground. Those Hydocotyle Leucocephyala get really big and climb and block everything.


Panda sleeping on a draecaena leaf


Sleeping panda fry


Exploring
 
#22 ·
Night looks WAYYYY better :)! I still want the right side to look more eerie! Needs like mist or something haha.

Aw.. sleeping fishys! Cute fry as well. Not like my tadpole swarm.
 
#27 ·
We'll see, they could still all die off tomorrow :/


Not sure if the otos are eating the zucchini or just resting on it, they love the Topfin Feeder blocks, but not much else. I wish I had more algae.


More panda platy babies popped out: "[f]irst broods are small of about ten offspring. Brood size increases in numbers with each successive brood and to number up to seventy-five to eighty per brood as the female grows larger... Females kept alone, after being bred once, will continue to have successive broods of offspring without having to mate again." Awesome, panda farm! :O


Finally found a RCS, the ones I introduced on day 1 when I had the female betta in the tank are still hiding. The 6 I threw in the other day roam around.


I made a make-shift veggie clip, it's gigantic. The white thing on the IAL is a 3-day feeder block from Petsmart, anyone have any experience with them? White chalk can't be that healthy, and the copper proteinate might mess with the shrimp... but it's an easy and constant food supply
 
#28 ·
Make sure there's no metals in that clip! You might be better off just resting a fork on the veggie.

Um... I know the 3-day food supplies aren't great for shrimp. And as you said I expect it can't be too good for ottos as they prefer primarily veggie matter like shrimp. I wouldn't feed that more than once a week.
 
#29 ·
The large oto disappeared today :(

Woke up and found my cat uprooted half of the dracaena and chewed some branches off, including the bundle. Cursed a lot and replanted, noticed the oto was missing. Searched all around the tank, under the IAL and under the filter. Thought I buried it under the circle, uprooted, searched, nothing. Did a 50% wc but still back to muddy waters for a while. Checked the area around the tank, under the couch, no fish.

I doubt the cat could catch a bottom dwelling fish and he hates water. Nothing in the tank is big enough to eat the oto (even if dead). Puzzled.
 
#31 ·
Ugh, not sure if cat saliva is bad for fish. Did you wash down all the bamboo well before replanting? Time for a lid :X

Grrr, he got stuck behind the mesh wall. Got in and couldn't get out. Alive but still very thin.
Yea fish are pretty bad about that. They have to turn around in order to swim backwards. Had the same problem, only when I found out the tetra was already dead. Shrimp can easily crawl backwards, or do their darting thing to get out.
 
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