Ok, so i've done a lot of reading and have come up with a few more specific ideas, and would like opinions on them, please.

First of all, in browsing around here i discovered dwarf puffers and (with fond but tragic memories of my Amazon Puffers), decided i'll have to set up at two (well, three- one for snails) new 10 gallon tanks - one at home and one at work . Now the conundrum is to decide which to keep at work. Here are the two tanks as i currently have them planned out:

1. The S. American elegance tank:
   • Eco complete substrate
   • Eclipse 1 double tube hood (i haven't seen a lot of mention of Eclipse setups here; is there something inherently bad about these?) for 30W light and nice filtration in an attractive package
   • 1 pair of Rams
   • 3 Rummy nose Tetras
   • 1-2 Otos
   • Small cories?
   • Which plants?
2. The SE Asia jungle tank:
   
   • Profile (arcilite) substrate (mixed with fluorite?) to simulate DP habitat
   • Duetto filter with DIY CO2 feed
   • Lighting ideas?
   • 3-5 dwarf puffers
   • 1-2 Otos (I know, not Asian)
   • Danios
   • Shrimp for cleanup... and perhaps snacks (hmmm... other suggestions?)
   • Hygros
   • Crypts
   • Java ferns
   • Vals

ok 2 things, it must've been mislabeled, it aint no figure 8 it aint black enough? or does that matter! oh and i have it light brackish, only 1 tbsp of salt, instead of 2 for brackish, oh and it says for freshwater fish! it is that AP aquarium salt it says for freshwater, oh and i have been really cosidering an eclipse 1 double,! i got a thread, anyway, from what i hear they are great for "show" tanks,
i will prob, make this 10 w/ the puffer a species tank, and i have another ten i can use 4 the tets, but is the corys and ottos good? cant be all bad, heard good things, oh and my puffer seems soo inquisisive!, he dont follow me like a puppy that i heard they do, yet, yust got him yesterday!

Eclipse tanks are generally not used because of the amount of water disturbance the make, thus filter out alot of the co2 in the water. I have an eclipse system 1 single strip, on a 12 gallon, and I love it. I think they make great hoods. My tank is planted, with crypts, hygro, java fern, and salvinia, all of which seems to be doing fine. The filter, you might find to be a little powerful, if your using stem plants, but up the water level a bit more, and it should take care of your problem. The biowheels can also cause a little excess noise, but they aren't required. I use mine, just for kicks and giggles, and have had great success with them.

For Cories, if you can find pygmy cories, I recommend a nice school of those. There more active then the larger species, and tend to swim more in midwater, then lower levels. If not, I'm rather partial to juliis, or pandas, but both can be pricey.

For plants, amazon swords, bacopa lanigera, bacopa monnieri, Eichhornia heterosperma, Eleocharis acicularis, Gymnocornis spilanthoides, Heteranthera zosterifolia, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, lilaeopsis carolinensis, ludwigia inclinata, Mayaca fluviatilis, Myrophyllum aquaticum, Najas guadalupensis, najas conferta, Nymphaea glandulifera, Nymphaea rudgeana, Ottelia brasiliensis, Phyllanthus fluitans, Potamogeton gayi, Sagittaria subulata, Sagittaria platyphylla, and Salvinia. I'm sure there are others, but thats what I can find aftr a 5 minute flip through my book. I haven't heard of half of them, good luck finding them!

Good luck with the tank!

Dont forget a heater...Rams like it upwards of 90 degrees, which is alittle hot for alot of plants. Plus they like really low pH water. Rams are great...but generally weak non hardy fish. I wouldnt get them for a small tank which will have on off water para fluctuations cause of size. Get some tetras or a small school of Barbs and leave it at that..with some nice plants to.

90*F!!

I didn't realize that! Well, i guess i'll have to change my plans, then. Are there any plants or other fish than can be kept in those conditions?

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My coworkers are amazed. I've got a 2.5 gallon tank with pink pebbles at the bottom in my cube. No heater. No filter. no light. No cover. no air pump. Air temp is about 72.
My guppies just mated. I've got 9 little ones. One black molly who nibbles the green algae off the sides. I haven't cleaned the tank in almost 2 months (which means siphoning the bottom until 1/4 full, then adding a gallon of tap water that's been sitting for 1 day). My Egeria Densa grows like crazy. i've given away quite a bit. my Cabomba Caroliniana grows much slower. but still doing good. The PH and ammonia are just perfect.
i feed them the pink betta food. just a sprinkle.
fish are very active and happy. the more vegetation it has grown, the more active i think they have become.

I don't see why you need all the extra equipment.

Are you going to post some photos?
I'm interested!

My tank at work is an Eclipse 3. I have a Red Flourite substrate and I dropped a couple of aruba shells into it for the shrimp. I have red cacomba, Water Wisteria, Ricca, green foxtail looking weed, One center dwarf sword and Java Fern. The predominant piece is a piece of driftwood, I chopped off from a large piece of African something or other but it was too wide for my 55 at home. It's Denizens are one male guppy (Dang he is old, I figured he would have bit the dust by now, going on 4 years old), 3 cherry shrimp, 2 cory haphesteus.
The shrimp are by far the most active in the tank. The guppy i had rescued from a feeder guppy tank, when I saw his tail and realized it was a culled fancy guppy. The two cories follow the guppy around on occassion but mostly I just see them looking for scraps. They are the true pygmy cories and I may pick up at least one more. (They were a trio but one didn't make the trip to the office). I had figured the guppy was not gonna make it much longer but he is proving me wrong. My plans are to perhaps another cory, and pygmy rasboras. I find that smaller fish tend to really make the tank look a lot bigger. The other choice may be true dwarf puffers, but I wanted easy maintaince and no special foods. I feed my other puffers, live foods and frozen.


I do weekly water changes, 1 gallon at a time. about 2 times a year, I do about a 90 percent water change. Change the filter about once a quarter. Change the light bulb about once every 9 months. No heater in the summer but I do put one in for the winter. I have a fan blowing across the back of it for evaporitve cooling on the weekends since they turn the air off here on the weekends.

I find that smaller more active fish tend to be more relaxing, and gives you a large tank feel with smaller tanks. Also I think some fish like SA cichlids like larger tanks. MY apistos do so well in 55 gal tanks.

Ray