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Plants for shell dweller tank

14K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  EndlerGame 
#1 ·
I am setting up a 20 long for tanganyika shell dwellers. It will be mostly open sand and snail shells, with one large stone in the middle for a built in territory break. I would like to have some plants, but they will be somewhat sparse since these fish utilize open sand. I was thinking of a clump of valisneria on one end to obscure the filter intakes and the heater, some claudophora algae on the rock in the middle of the tank, and some floating plants.

My pH is above 8.4 (test kit gets hard to judge up that high), KH < 15, GH < 11, temp ~ 78°F. Filtration is two aquaclear 20 powerfilters on one end of the tank with two sponges and a little crushed aragonite in each. Light is a dual T5 NO 28 watt fixture.

Bioload will be low in the tank since I probably will only end up with two pairs of shell dwellers (2" fish) or one pair and one stragler, and 5 or 6 danios for the top portion of the tank.

Does my plan sound reasonable?
Should I expect that I will need to dose ferts?
I know vals like hard alkaline water, how about claudophora, and are there some floating plants to consider especially, or avoid especially?
 
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#5 ·
That's a good plan with the rocks. I have sand in mine and regardless of where the shells are everything gets dug up. I could just be "lucky" and have really dig happy shellies though. lol

Also I totally missed your question about floating plants, I have duckweed in mine and yes, it gets everywhere but it is doing really well.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, java fern, with a bunch of anubias nana and nana "petite" looks great and is vdery durable. A tank full of anubias can be particularly beautiful when they flower...
 
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