I love this wood. This would look great as a blackwater tank!

 

Wonderful job on the hardscape- lots of interest here in a small space.
I think it would look good as a backwater tank as well @shattersea. With a pair or Apisto's and 15 Tucano Tetras.

 

With a pair or Apisto's and 15 Tucano Tetras.

I like the color choice of Tucano. I wanted to get Rummynose Tetras but I think the tank is too small for them.

Its not going to be a blackwater, Diorama scape with mostly epiphytes. Not sure about what to do with the back, left a space and didn't build the slope, I still might do that.

 

I dont have my Tucano's in black-water. Here is a video of mine- I have them in a 30 gallon.

 

I dont have my Tucano's in black-water. Here is a video of mine- I have them in a 30 gallon.

https://vimeo.com/300886832

I don't have a vimeo account, it says private video.

 

Yeah cool fish. A tetra that gaurds its eggs who would have guessed.

Never scene them in any stores before.

 

I haven't seen them in stores either. Got them from Wetspot. I think all the ones you do see on vendors list are all wild- must be difficult to spawn in aquarium.
Yes! they are one of the only tetras that guard their eggs- very rare.
They are more difficult to acclimate. The first 24 hours is kinda hard for them- but, after that they are extremely hardy.

 

Nice work getting it to look natural. I have a question - have you formed a plan yet for letting the moss grow over the rock versus trying to keep it confined to the wood? Subscribing to your thread to see how this grows out (and one vote for lots of moss, all over everything).

 

 

About 9 days after planting, everything is starting to grow in nice and slow.

The transition for most of the TC plants has been painless except some clumps of H. Pinnatafida have not grown new leaves and the old leaves have melted.

Some Ludwugia Palustrus has broken free from the wood, it may not be easy to 'train' it to stay on top of the wood. I put the extra stems in the substrate for now and will try to reglue several clumps on my next water change.

I only turned on CO2 3 days ago to give time for the baceteria to colonize first, next time I will try turning on CO2 right after planting it might help with the transition.

I had a lot of spderwood tree fungus a few days ago but after introducing Otos, Amanos and a nano Pleco it has just about all been eaten.

 

Wow! have had some great growth

The Neons works perfect in there. Is that a Harlequin Rasbora as well?

 

Wow! have had some great growth

Yes, too quickly, some of the Buces are already getting too big and I'll have to consider splitting them in a few weeks.

The Neons works perfect in there. Is that a Harlequin Rasbora as well?

Its a small school of Espei Rasboras(Trigonostigma Espei) or Labchop Rasbora, smaller cousin of Harlequins. I might get a few more after my trip to bring them up to 10 or so as they school tightly with numbers. But I wanted to get Mosquito Rasboras as well so I'll have to decide one or the other.

 

Look like lambchops to me (ofcourse could be totally wrong), had wanted some of those but they never show up locally.

 

 

The workhorse duo of my tank a spotted nano pleco and otocinclus.

 

the workhorse duo of my tank a spotted nano pleco and otocinclus.

l471?

 

And now I've added a fish to my wishlist. That is the cutest pleco ever.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

The tank has been growing in nicely. Rotala Rotundifolia and Pogostemon Erectus beginning to color up as they reach the top of the tank. Spiky Moss has become darker, more dense, and is slowly creeping along the spider wood. S. Repens is maintaining large leaves and showing more vertical growth. Bucephalandra are coloring up nicely and at higher light I am seeing more bluish tones. Hygrophila Pinnatafida is finally showing faster growth.

Things I am working on:

Ludwigia Palustris is coloring up and growing quickly but the emersed growth is melting at the bottom of the stems and the increased height is causing the stems to detach from the spiderwood. I will need to get guidance on how to attach the stems more robustly at the top of the spider wood. I will soon need to top the ludwigia into shorter pieces and reattach it to the spiderwood.

I need to get more types of moss possibly to put on the spderwood thinking about weeping or Christmas but trying to keep things really low maintenance so I don't want moss that gets messy when you trim it any suggestions?

 

Beautiful little tank, nicely done!

 

 

 

Reaching my goals for plant health has been challenging lately. I don't think I can get 100% healthy plants with my tap water anymore and am considering remineralized RO. There seems to be too many variables with my tap water and the plants just aren't as healthy as I would like.

The Pogostemon Erectus is very fussy and even slight changes to Micros seem to trigger branching.
The Rotala Rotundifolia also branch by themself in areas without it being trimmed.
Staurogyne Repens was growing too big and overpowering the scape so I removed all the larger older leaves.
Hygrophila Pinnatafida is growing large leaves reaching the surface so I had remove the largest leaves.

Ludwigia Repens is a brownish red or pinkish instead of the nice wine red I had earlier and I am not sure I can improve it without creating conditions where algae is a risk. (Higher Ferts + Higher Light)

The light was too high(up to 130par) and/or the dosing too lean with Tropica Specialized so K an P deficiencies started to appear particularly in Ludwigia Palustris.

I reduced light and switched to PPS-PRO dosing (with half Urea/ Half KNO3 for N source) which has removed the deficiencies in new leaves but I see a little bit of GDA on rocks now and a few old leaves are getting fuzz algae which I promptly remove with diligent pruning. I had to reduce to half PPS- PRO and reduce photoperiod, to prevent further algae, it seems under control now and I am no longer getting GSA on plants or glass.

 

Simply gorgeous. Add some ferts and when those plants grow, it will be even more breathtaking.

 

 

I got tired of having two tanks one just for my Betta and he was a bit neglected so I decided to put him in my main tank temporarily(and watch closely) until I give away my old tank to friends.

I thought there was a risk he would harass or scare the 10 RCS I have in the tank or even worse try to eat them.

Not only are they not scared but since I added him they seem more bold, hide less, and are more visible than ever before. I even saw a berried female yesterday which is the first time I've seen berried RCS in this tank.

The Betta stays mostly at the top, flashing me and begging for food, he doesn't bother anyone and has a very mild temperment, the Neons and Rasboras are a lot more agressive for food than this Crowntail, I am pleasantly surprised .

 

 

That looks great! It looks like woods and undergrowth.

 

 

No BBA in that tank
Beautiful as always.

 

That is looking fantastic!

 

Well I tried out a new shrimp food today. It is fun putting a shrimp pellet in the tank and watching the whole tank come alive, the amanos end up with the pellet but the RCS, neons, and even the betta get into the action. The shrimp went crazy for it, and I saw baby RCS and juvenile RCS shrimp that I had never seen before.

I now know why my shrimp population while growing is not exploding. My usually upper water column inhabiting, food begging, docile Betta sprung into action and was hunting shrimp agressively pushing others out of his way.

I had wondered before why he looked so much more healthy, agressive, and lively since the introduction of RCS and now I know why. He loves hunting the RCS babies. While I haven't seen him catch or bite any shrimp I bet you he has caught some which has made him much more healthy and even if he can't catch them the excitement and excercise is great for his health.