My 26 Gal Bowfront "Practice tank"

[Ladykatze]

In the last 2 weeks, my 2.5 betta tank turned into a 26 euro bowfront. Pictures are up, but I’m a rotten photographer. I’ll try to get better ones soon

My husband was watching me feed the fish one morning, and asked why the betta and his pleco were being "punished" and if they were being bad, and that's why they had to live in the tiny tank. This was after listening to me explain why I had to replace the filtration system in the 5G hex, and after looking over some of the books I brought home about planted freshwater aquariums. I knew that I could move the filter and hardware from the 2.5 to the 5 hex, so off I went, "pre-shopping" for a replacement for the hex. After spending hours making the rounds of the LFS' in the area, I came up with a couple of affordable ideas, 20G or less, so all I would need to buy for hardware was a different heater.

The next day, I showed him what I found. He saw one he liked at the first LFS then we made it to the 3rd choice store. He didn't like the one I showed him (20G), but wanted the one 10 feet away. (He didn't like the pine stand). He also wanted some Dalmatian Mollies, because they were "cute". This is the first time he's shown any real interest in my aquariums, so I indulged him.

So - now I have a whole new "mid-size" tank. I'm calling it the practice tank. Edit: It's a practice tank for the 75 G that I still have to get set up one of these days. This is the most live plants I've ever had in an aquarium.

I wasn't going to go with a big piece of wood, until I saw the one that is now in the tank. But I saw it and couldn't help myself. It screamed "take me home!".

Plants -
crypts
anubias nano
assorted "mystery bulbs" that are still getting ready to sprout
huge driftwood with java moss, Windelov Java Fern and java fern
mopani wood log with java moss and java fern

Substrate - flourite

Livestock
4 otos
3 Dalmatian mollies
2 angelfish
3 peppered corys
7 Serpae tetras
1 common (I think) pleco

Hardware
150 watt heater
Fluval 3+ filter
18", 15W, 35 Lux fluorescent light w/ 18K Hagen "Aqua-Glo" tube (Can be changed easily if this is too many Kelvin)
Coralife Light from the 2.5 G nano (over the big driftwood corner)

In the process, Midnite the Betta moved to the 5 gallon hex and got a small piece of driftwood with java moss, a Java fern, flourite substrate, and finally, 2 Honey Gouramis and 3 Otos. That tank has a compact fluorescent bulb, a Fluval 1+ filter and a small tank heater. The pleco did not survive the move, his funeral has been appropriately held.

Here are a couple of (admittedly not so great), pictures:
First the 26 Bowfront and then the hex.

[Ladykatze]

I am giving serious thought to replacing the light with a 24" Freshwater Aqualight 2-65W 6700K (Coralife). I found it on line at Web Aquatics. If someone has a suggestion for a similar product, I'm willing to take it under advisement. I want to try and stay low tech with no CO2, minimal if any ferts.

[Ladykatze]

So I moved some stuff around, and I like it better. I replaced the lighting that came with the tank with a 24" Coralife FW PC 1x65. I kind of like the little mini-LEDs - I can almost see the pleco tonight.

So, here's some pics of the new setup.

The rock needs to go. I just haven't figured out what kind of plant(s) to put there yet. It's a placeholder. I could use some ideas/suggestions for foreground plants. I'd like to keep it something low tech and low in height. I want to keep an open space in the front for the corys to play in, and so I can see the pleco once in a while.

I'm still overfiltering the tank, since I was messing around in the flourite. I have both the Fluval 3+ and a Penguin 100 in there right now. The Penguin will probably come out once I get done planting for a while.

Ferts - using Kents FW Plant liquid once a week, as recomended by the LFS.

So, any suggestions?

[Oscar17]

"I just haven't figured out what kind of plant(s) to put there yet. It's a placeholder. I could use some ideas/suggestions for foreground plants. I'd like to keep it something low tech and low in height."

Try looking for some "Pogostemon helferi" (little star)... but I don't know if you will be able to find it in your area. The best thing to do, is to find out from your LFS when the new plants arrive and keep checking. Unless of course you can order by mail... good luck there I haven't mail orderd yet.

Also: I'm going on one year now with my 30 gallon and just recently started using "EasyCarbo", (CO2 alternative in liquid form) and I've noticed better, cleaner (by cleaner I mean less algae) growth. I believe the equivalent in the US is "Flourish Excel by Seachem"

Best of luck and remember to have patience.

[Ladykatze]

Thank you for the suggestion. Are you suggesting this as a foreground plant? Or to replace the rock? Either way it sounds like a nice plant.. Hopefully my LFS can get it in, or someone here has some for sale. I think something tall to replace the rock and camoflage the heater better???? I tried putting the heater more behind the large wood, but I didn't care for the way the tank looked with the wood forward. The wood is interesting, it has all kinds of caves and pass troughs for the fish to explore, that may not show up well in the pictures.

[Ladykatze]

I finally got around to taking some more photos, this is what we've evolved to. The fish are growing - especially the angels. The crypts seem to be turning a redish-brown, which is what they are supposed to do. Some of the "mystery bulbs" have grown also. So far I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

I haven't put in any foreground plants yet. The ones that I want - either Downoi or Anubias Nana Petite - I would have to get online, and we had 9 inches of snow again on the 19th. I'm just not willing to take that risk yet, so I'll keep waiting.

Anyway, here is a photo from yesterday.

[Reddog80p]

NIce growth

[JustOneMore21]

I personally wouldn't put Angels in a 26g....especially 2 of them. It might work if they were the only fish in the tank and they were a breeding pair. Also, watch the Serpaes with the Angels (if you leave them). Serpaes are really nippy and when your Angels grow nice long fins, Serpaes will shred them.

[Ladykatze]

Thanks for the thoughts - so far most everyone is getting along just great. The only real problem is with the largest female Dalmation Molly - she's a bully. The Serpaes don't really bother any of the other fish so far, and if they start to bother the Angels I'll move the Serpaes to another tank. I've swapped out enough tanks now that there's room for them somewhere else.

Again - I appreciate your thoughtful advice!

[demosthenes]

how is this tank doing now? there has got to be some new growth in the past 7 months! haha, it looked so good in april, its got to look awesome now