The Planted Tank Forum banner

My office bowl (Updated Pics 10/22)

23K views 65 replies 22 participants last post by  AquaAurora 
#1 · (Edited)
Last one, I swear. This is in my office. I need to get a taller lamp for it and i'll try to get a better picture when the bubbles go away.

Light 9watt 6500k CFL
Substrate 1" MGO potting soil, .5" sand, .5" gravel.
Flora Cryptocoryne wendtii, Ammania gracilis, and Rotala Indica.













 
See less See more
7
#38 ·
I'm intrigued, I know you denounced animal research as evil, but where are the studies providing the data for this stunting theory of yours(and don't give me some gold fish paper because goldfish are not paradise fish, they probably diverged 15 million years ago so they are not same). Why would the skeleton, muscles and epithelium cease growing, but the organs continue growing? That doesn't make any sense. And if your just going off of, oh I see deformed fish in small tanks, well, there are so many factors that cause skeletal deformity in fish it's impossible to just declare one thing as the culprit accurately. It could very well be genetic, temperature, viral, bacterial, pH, nutritional, physical trauma-all well documented causes of skeletal deformity, but it's the tank that is 3 body lengths in diameter?

I agree with you that it's probably not the best choice in stocking a 4 gallon bowl, as you have a lot less margin for error with a fish that will basically max out your carrying cap when fully grown (maybe in a year or 2.....c'mon man the average lifespan of a tank now a days is probably 3 months...sad I know). But keep an open mind, you might learn something about balancing a heavily stocked, low tech planted bowl tank at your office! Just because some one else does something diffrently than you doesn't automatically make them wrong. I know no body is trying to attack the OP as a person, but you have effectively hijacked their tank journal, and told them to get rid of their fish, or stop posting here. What is wrong with you guys. If you really want to do something about the abuse of aquarium fish, you should be protesting out side the pet shops selling these things to whoever shows up with 6 dollars, or telling the breeders who puts thousands of them on the market each month to stop producing them.

I look forward to the next update, I hope all the BS doesn't discourage you from participating in this forum in the future. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.
 
#39 ·
Entirely unscientific but I made a mistake with an over large batch of paradise fish fry when I was new to the hobby myself. Paradise fish grow very fast in good conditions and should be ready to breed within a year so your suggestion that the OPs should reach adult size in a year or two is ridiculous. I'm not suggesting the OP discard his fish, merely upgrade its tank but I think you already knew that.
 
#40 ·
I too keep blue paradise fish. I have a pair (male/female) and a few platys in a 150 gallon tank. Yes, they move around alot, but about every two weeks or so they spawn and the male barely moves at all since he's guarding the nest.. perhaps in a 15 cm radius. Their natural habitat is overgrown backwaters where there is no open water and they sit around waiting for pray or poke around to find things to eat while roaming slowly..

I think bigger is better with these fish, but I also think they'r one of few fish that wont really care about small tanks, as long as its vegitated.

As for stunting, if Im not totally off, it happens because the water gets saturated with hormones. Regular waterchanges should do fine to prevent it
 
#41 ·
For most fish, they don't max out for a few years. they could mature in say 4-5 months of age true, but most fish keep growing throughout life. To me I guess I'm mostly concerned more with water quality and agression management than tank dimensions. I've kept dozens of sub-adult Apistograms-together in 5 gallons of water, without any harm to the fish. Of course they were on a much larger recirculation system with their waste products constantly being flushed away, but the point is they didn't have much space but they never developed any deformities. I agree it's a dicey move to select a fish of this size for a 4 gallon tank, but by the OP's restraint in just adding the one fish (any others would probably be killed by it) and clearly their ability to maintain a lushly planted aquarium, all looks fine to me. And like Soil mentioned, this species is probably one of the few of this size that could work in this setting. Had they selected a 4" rift lake cichlid it would end horribly, a 4" angel fish-horribly, a 4" goldfish-horribly.
 
#42 ·
Thanks for the kind words james, I had sort of stopped looking here but I can post another update :)

Here it is in its current state, upgraded the hardware a bit courtesy of my local goodwill. Sorry about the pictures, I need to bring something better then my cellphone camera to work.







edit: Here it is from the other day before the water change so no micro bubbles everywhere.

 
#52 ·
Might as well do an update while I'm at it. Growth is good. I've been aggressively trimming the tiger lotus to keep its growth more compact. And the fish is fine ;)



Looks like the ludwigia is getting too much light? Regardless I love the color of the new growth. This ludwigia is amazingly adaptive plant. I transplanted some in my PAR38 bowl and it is a deep red all over with very waxy leaves.

 
#58 ·
I have purchased a cylinder vase for a walstad bowl but i am still planning what plants to get. Any tips? ;)
As far as plants go you could do like a jungle look land fill em with dwarf sag. With a vase a single tiger lotus would look cool, maybe with some micro swords as an easy carpet? Its going to be hard to trim the bottom of the vase so you may want to stick with stems that you can top.

I seriously love that ludwigia. Looks awesome!
Thanks!
 
#66 ·
I've enjoyed watching the progress if this ecosystem especislly with the plant growth coming out of the bowl! How is it doing now? A photo update would be nice ^^
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top