The 20g Shrimptopolis begins.. (need background plant suggestions!)

[dragonsong93]

3/25 Update


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After a while of planning this project is finally started, turning my boring, empty 20g Long into a Shrimptopolis in which they will breed and scuttle around plants and do whatever shrimp do. Yep, fun stuff. Future inhabitants include S+ grade CRS and maaaaaybe some painted fire-red cherries. Maybe.

Plant list (so far)
Creeping jenny (far right corner)
Rotala (unknown species, in between the two rocks)
Wild Rotala-like plant found in a river (on the right of the big rock)
Mysterious plant noone can identify, which has a thread here http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/pl...h-looking.html and is in the middle of the tank, towards the right of the rocks)
Anubias nana "mini"
Anacharis (far left)
Red ludwiga (behind the rocks, you can't see it yet)
Cryptocoryne Spiralis (far right)
Riccia fluitans (on slate)
Some random little plants as well...

Black sand came in the mail today and it was actually REALLY clean! I didn't need to wash it or anything.


The current state after a while planting/ My diy CO2 generator is actually working! I feel so proud


Again that sand was rediculously clean, the water isn't even cloudy.



Lots of growing-in to do, but hopefully by the time I have enough baby CRS to populate it, it will look awesome and forest-y and there will be max. space for them to roam. Better pix to come! As soon as all the bubbles go away

[HolyAngel]

Looks good! What kind of sand is that?

[biogenetic40379]

interested to know what sand you used too. Looks good too, can't wait to see a jungle

[dragonsong93]

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by HolyAngel

Looks good! What kind of sand is that?

The name was 'Black Beauty' sand, got it off Ebay for a pretty good price. Time will tell if it does anything strange to the water.

[dragonsong93]

Little update, got some dwarf hairgrass and lots of riccia. Also the rotala look-alike is growing SUPER fast, its really dense in that corner already.

But I need something for the very back of the tank, something that'd compliment the other plants once they all grow in. Any suggestions? Nothing too hard and nothing that will die once I put the shrimp in and remove the CO2..

[dragonsong93]

NEW LIGHT! Still need a background plant... but the others are growing nice.


I'm pretty sure I've ID'd this plant as stargrass...am I right?

[dragonsong93]

Update...plants are growing, added a saggitarus plant in the back...still looking for some nice red background plants..
Decided I'm going to go ahead and get some yellow shrimp soon, they don't interbreed with CRS, right?




That stargrass stuff grows REALLY fast, I have to trim it every couple of days so it doesn't take over!

[@marko@]

looks more like a rotala, rotala green perhaps, than stargrass. stargrass has much larger leaves comparing to the stem, and the leaves end in a sharp point, not a rounded edge.

[dragonsong93]

Originally Posted by @marko@

looks more like a rotala, rotala green perhaps, than stargrass. stargrass has much larger leaves comparing to the stem, and the leaves end in a sharp point, not a rounded edge.

I have some rotala though and there's a very slight difference in appearance, and this plant grows about 10x faster. I looked it up again and it looks like there's a few kinds of stargrass...the one I guessed it was is "Heteranthera zosterifolia"

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by dragonsong93

I have some rotala though and there's a very slight difference in appearance, and this plant grows about 10x faster. I looked it up again and it looks like there's a few kinds of stargrass...the one I guessed it was is "Heteranthera zosterifolia"

there are also different species of rotala, and different varieties of different species. i kept h. zosterifolia. here is what mine looked like:

its the one in the center. r. macrandra on the left, r. wallichi (i believe, its an old pic) on the right. see how the stargrass's leaves are longer and shaped differently?

im telling you, you have a rotala, my guess is garden-variety rotundifolia (if its getting med-lowish light), or r. 'green' if its staying bright green in high light

[diwu13]

Hm.. didn't notice this journal before. Gonna sub' to it as well! Those one of the standard racks you find at like Sams Club or something? Did you put plywood over the bottom or anything for even weight distribution under the tank?