[leodeal384]

Well, I have been without a planted tank for a while now, and decided to start up a little low maintenence tank. I have had an eclipse 1 hood sitting around and figured I would finally use it. It is silent, looks nice and I shouldn't have to do much to keep it going.

Instead of purchasing all kinds of plants and fish like I had done before, I figured I would go native. I have been kayaking at a few new spots lately and found some nice plants. A bucket and dip net later, I also had my fish from the same place. I have not spent anything on this so far, everything was either found or given to me.

Here are the details-

Equipment-
Eclipse 1 Hood with 15w single T8
Bio-wheel replaced with filter floss
No heater-Natives!

Substrate-
El Natural style
1" Topsoil
1" Pool Filter Sand

Flora-
Hygrophila polysperma
Bacopa monnieri
Cabomba caroliniana
Ceratophyllum submersum
Egeria densa
Java Moss

Fauna-
~20 Least Killifish
~10 Ghost Shrimp
Few different snail species

Pictures-

1 WEEK UPDATE-

​

 

[invert1]

Very very nice. Snap us some nice shots of the fauna as well

I'm hopeful to do the same with Cambarellus Diminutus which we have quite abundantly locally but I'm not sure of collecting spots + we have a few species of local crays so learning to identify will be a necessary skill.

 

[Church]

Cool tank! I like how it's a Florida ditch biotope, so that way you can get away with using non-native plants like polysperma. :biggrin:

(Don't you just love kayaking/canoeing through our waterways?)

 

[Green Leaf Aquariums]

Very COOL!!!

 

[leodeal384]

I haven't taken any good pictures of the fish yet because they are so small and stay in motion. When they grow a little I am going to downsize to around 10 or so...Maybe then it will be easier.

If you look in the close up picture of the hygro, you can spot a few of the killies. They blend in very well!

Yeah, I love kayaking...I have a few more spots to hit before the tank is done, but I figured I would load it up with stem plants for the initial month or so.

I figured a Florida ditch biotope was an appropriate name because even if I buy fish and plants later, I can still keep the name!
I have found all kinds of weird things around here...not really a good thing, but it makes me feel better about collecting stuff that is exotic or abundant.

 

[demonbreedr16]

It's amazing at the fish you can find too! I've gotten a few mollies as well!! As well as a MILLION others!

All of my native fish, reside in my 250gal Pond...with some native plants, Koi & Goldfish.

I'm really tempted to turn my 1.5 native & have a small colony of Het. Formosa...you could fit like 15 in there! lol [I'm only going to have 3-5]

 

[Ariel301]

Are those killies still fry, or is that their full size?

 

[leodeal384]

Some of them are adults, most are juvenile. Full grown males are under an inch, females are slightly over an inch.
Supposedly the smallest freshwater fish in North America.

 

[leodeal384]

Time for a little update...It's only been a little over a week now, but things are moving along nicely!
I have taken out a few male killies because I don't need as many males as females...These guys aren't true killies, they are livebearers.
I also added a clump of mixed mosses from my other tanks to help with nutrient uptake for the next few weeks. The hygro is just about ready to be trimmed, so it should be looking more like a bush in the next few weeks. Let me know what you think!

 

[RipariumGuy]

Great idea! My only suggestion would be to add some sort of hardscape. Cool looking tank BTW!