Ten Gallons of Water, Some Plants, a Few Fish, and Shrimp

[Ugly Genius]

The tank's forty days old. I'm thinking I need a red plant in there, a crypt, perhaps.

Lemme know what you think.



Click here for tank progression pictures, specs, and a larger image:
http://www.freewebs.com/uglygenius/tengallon.htm.

[jread]

Looks great!!

I also have a 10-gallon with Florabase substrate, however I could not get my glosso to take root. I don't know how in the hell you guys do it! My glosso was also "tall" when I got it. Where do you get it with the short stems like yours?

[Wasserpest]

Very nice start, I like how you arranged the rocks.

I would add more plants. The Glosso seems to grow well, but IMO you should get more plant mass. Especially in the left corner. The Cabomba looks awesome, but the Anubias looks a little lost and lonely.

Your fish choices... I think rather than one of each, you should get more of one. Like EITHER 6 Neons OR 5 to 6 Harlequins or... Cause of Rummy Nose deaths -- tank not cycled/established yet, killed by NH3/NO2 spike? Maybe?

A red plant would probably look great with all the Glosso. Maybe a Rotala?

[Ugly Genius]

Thanks, jread. Actually I noticed from a post of yours here at plantedtank.net that our tanks have number of similarities: Amano shrimp, Dwarf Puffers, Flora Base, et cetera.

Regarding the Glosso, when I bought it, it was like yours: tall. To get it to carpet, I needed to, one, let it transfer from emersed form to submersed from and, two, subject it to at least 2.8 WPG. The trick for me was not not dose any nutrients for the first four weeks. This gave the Glosso time to adjust and prevented algae from forming on the leaves. After four weeks, I started nutrient dosing in earnest (Micro, Fe, and K) and upped the total wattage to 4.3 WPG. From that poing, plant growth exploded and the only algae control I perform is scraping the front and sides once a week. (Of course it helps that I have 17 shrimp, 2 Ottos, and 2 SAE's in there. )

[Ugly Genius]

Wasserpest,

Now that you mention it, I see that you are right. The left corner is very empty. Heck, it's downright boring. Any suggestions as to what plant would compliment the Anubias?

I also agree with your observation regarding the fish population. My position is completely indefensible and will be fixed. The Rummy Nose Tetras cause of death was a CO2 faux pas. Completely my fault and I still carry the burden of guilt regarding that.

[Wasserpest]

I think a Rotala rotundifolia would give a nice contrast to the Anubias, due to its leave shape and nice salmon coloring. They are not very demanding plants either.

[jread]

Originally Posted by Ugly Genius

Dwarf Puffers

Hmmmm.... nope... I don't see you in the member list

Get to it: http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/forum

[Tonyd]

Looks good. I think it has a nice sense of scale, especially for a small tank. Those rocks are really arranged well. I agree that something growing out of that corner would look nice. How about some Heteranthera zosterifolia? I think that would look really nice grown taller in that back corner and layered out shorter between the rocks as you come forward.

Tony

[Ugly Genius]

Originally Posted by jread

Hmmmm.... nope... I don't see you in the member list

Get to it: http://www.dwarfpuffers.com/forum

jread,
Done. Signed up.
Nice site, BTW. Got some really cute pictures of DP's up there too.

Thanks, Tonyd.
Your suggestion for heteranthera zosterifilia is a good one and one that I had not considered until you mentioned it. I'm going to see if I can find some of that at my LFS.

Thanks again.