Finnex 4 gallon

[pcgeek42]

Hi all! I just joined the forum today and wanted to share my progress with my little 4 gallon tank. I've only been experimenting with planted tanks for about 4 months so I'm open to any and all suggestions you may have!

Here is the tank just after adding the substrate and driftwood:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

Then I added 2 Red Tiger Lotus bulbs, 3 Aquatic Bananas, and some Dwarf Baby-Tears:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

I used a plastic bag when filling it to avoid disrupting the substrate. I've seen it done before and it looked like a pretty good idea.


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

About a week later I added a few Amano Shrimp from my other tank:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

I added a few small fish (No idea what species, like I said I've never really done this before) and disaster struck and my Baby Tears took over and died:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

So I had to remove all the dead plants that were clogging my filter and clouding up my water. The lotus and banana plants were fine, but they stayed small like this for about 3 weeks:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

I eventually moved the tank to a dedicated tank stand in the living room. I also saw some growth from my plants:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-22

I took the following pictures this morning. The plants are thriving, but I'm still stuck with a boring open area to the left of the tank:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-24


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-24


By pcgeek42 at 2012-02-24

That's it so far. Any comments you all have will be greatly appreciated! Also if anyone can suggest some plant ideas I'm all ears. Thanks for looking!

[AquaKai]

The tank looks awesome! Also you have either lyretail guppies or endlers livebearers. Both great fish! I love my endlers. Beautiful driftwood and great growth on the banana plant as well!!!

[Kevyg]

Looks good, makin great progress. Suggestion though, if you rotate your light so the cord is coming off of the other side you will have more direct light coverage onto your light hungry HC looks good though!

[pcgeek42]

Thanks for the feedback! You know, I never thought to rotate the light that's actually a great idea. I know the lotus and bananas aren't quite as light hungry as the HC so I'll have to try it. Although, I was thinking about using glossostigma (SP?) instead... are there any big pros or cons for either?

[xenxes]

Nice rock placement! Those lillies will quickly outgrow the tank I think.

[acitydweller]

consider planting some stem plants. they would be hardier than the hc for sure....

[scags]

As was said before your fish look to be endlers. They are hardy fish and will make babies fast if you have any females.

Too bad about your HC, it's not the easiest plant to grow. If I may make a recommendation maybe try some Bacopa. It's a stem plant, but it grows very fast and is nearly impossible to kill. Another good one that looks cool and will literally grow out of the tank and onto your countertops is brazilian pennywort. Both Bacopa and Brasil Pennywort are very easy and will grow like crazy in almost any conditions, even emersed.

Good luck with your tank and I hope to see some more updates!

[pcgeek42]

Awesome thanks for the feedback everyone! I've got a friend who is growing a lot of glossostigma and he's going to be throwing some my way. I figure I'll give it a shot seeing as it is free and has the potential to really look great.

I'll hopefully get it planted by this weekend, but who knows real life gets in the way sometimes

[pcgeek42]

New Update:

The lotus has really taken off, I actually had to trim it. Yesterday I added some hairgrass and 10 red cherry shrimp.


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06

It was hard to photograph the shrimp. They move around so fast!


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06

And a couple extras:


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06


By pcgeek42 at 2012-03-06

I like the way the hairgrass looks and hopefully it will fill in a little bit. I decided to go with hairgrass rather than HC or glosso because I found out I have baby shrimp! The hairgrass seems like it will give them a place to hide from any hungry fish. Any feedback is appreciated!

[EnigmaticGuppy92]

looking good and i like those loach i have 2

[tenzero1]

I would spread out the hairgrass into smaller clusters, that should help it spread out faster. You are off to a good start!