[Couesfanatic]

I have a 10 gallon tank that I am setting up for Elassoma Gilberti most likely. Will a Eheim 2213 be too much flow for these fish? I have heard they like low flow. I already have the 2213, but I could sell it and throw a hob on there also.

The plans include:

collected substrate from a local river
collected fanwort and any other plants I can find from a local pond
no heater.
Glass lid with Beamswork 18-21 inch LED 300 Lumen light.
Eheim 2213?
Rotifers, Detritus worms, frozen blood worms and brine shrimp, live bloodworms and brine shrimp and bugs that I can find around local ponds. I have some tiny worms I found that live under a moss growing by my house. I hope they will eat them because I have a huge source of them by my house.
I plan on planting it very heavy and hoping for fry
Paint the background black or not?

 

[Bryanmc1988]

the canister filter will be to strong for them... i would stick with a sponge filter as its low flow and i would plaint the tank black on all 3 sides to give it more of a dark area for the fish... this is what i see on my friends tank to help the fish come out a bit more as they are very VERY shy

 

[Betta132]

Put some dead oak leaves in there. They'll release tannins and darken the water, which most fish love. They also grow microfauna.
Gather random dry oak leaves from a place that doesn't have pesticides spread around, then give them a good rinse in warm (not hot) water and put them in the tank. Don't boil them or anything, just rinse them off.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

why oak leaf when you can just buy IAL which does the same thing for like a few cents each which does the same thing...

 

[Couesfanatic]

the canister filter will be to strong for them... i would stick with a sponge filter as its low flow and i would plaint the tank black on all 3 sides to give it more of a dark area for the fish... this is what i see on my friends tank to help the fish come out a bit more as they are very VERY shy

I thought about doing a sponge filter but I'm trying to avoid the noise as this tank will be in my bedroom. I had the filter on a 5.5 gallon and it was strong at full bore, but I figure with the 10 gallon it might be slower. I can also slow it down with the disconnect. I am thinking that I will use a foam pre filter and the spray bar along the back pointed upward. I have been thinking about doing a hob filter, but those are generally louder than a canister. Any thoughts?

As far as gathering sticks and things, I plan to. I hope to use only things found locally. I want to fill this tank with loads of microfauna.
I plan on gathering jars of bug filled water and trying to identify the edible kinds and then releasing them into my tank.

 

[Monster Fish]

Quarantine those plants if you collect them. You don't want damselfly/dragonfly nymphs in your tank. Otherwise your tank setup looks solid. Just add some more mosses and use a HOB with a prefilter sponge to reduce the flow. Try to pick up a starter culture of microworms so that the baby sunfish have something to pick on in the substrate.

 

[Betta132]

why oak leaf when you can just buy IAL which does the same thing for like a few cents each which does the same thing...

Valid point. I do think oak leaves might work a bit better for hidey-holes, since their shape makes them stack with loads of holes if you put them in a little pile. They're also free and easy to get, which is a bonus. I haven't tried Indian almond leaves, so I can't really contrast them with oak leaves. I know IAL tend to be fairly large, though, which could be a problem in smaller tanks.

 

[Couesfanatic]

I plan on cycling the tank for a couple weeks with these collected pants so hopefully the tank can cycle, any bugs that I don't want can be captured and the plants that are going to grow can fill in. I really like the idea that everything is collected locally.

I found some moss growing locally and I put it in a jar to see if it will live underwater. Hopefully it will convert and I can throw a bunch of it in the tank.

 

[Betta132]

Where are you collecting wild pants? You could make a fortune selling ready-made pants!
Watch really closely for bugs... If I was you, I'd put something reasonably large in there after the tank is cycled, maybe borrow somebody's smallish goldfish, then give him a few days to clean out the bugs.
Land moss can't survive underwater. 'Star moss' is an example; it'll last for a couple of months, but then it dies.

 

[Couesfanatic]

There is a local pond by my house that has some form of cabomba and elodea. The cabomba turns red in the summer. There are a bunch of native aquatic plants all over the country that can be collected.

If the moss doesn't convert, at least I have a source for live food. There is tons of tiny worms that live under the moss. I'll have to search them out and find out what they are. They have been living in my temporary moss jar for a week now underwater.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

what you can do is getting the sponge filter and connecting that to the outlet of your canister filter that wasy its not filtering but pushing water out of it in al different ways and it should give you a LOW !!!! flow that even if you can see the flow... its good for a small 10 gallon tank as it spreads out the water on one side and the other is the intake which should give u a circulation of the whole tank... correct me if i am wrong here but this way it should give u a good slow fine flow though out the tank

also IAL are not always flat once they are water log sort of speak as they tend to bow a bit once soaked in water... which is fine as the baby are small enough to go under it even if its flat.



i can tell you that these fish hates the strong flow in the water... their more in a slow river s less flow the better...


not sure how BBA will do tho with this kinda setup but you can always try

 

[Couesfanatic]

here is the worm I found locally:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmtJe3dGFw8

 

[Monster Fish]

Is it terrestrial or aquatic? My only concern is that those worms might be hosts for certain parasites.

 

[Couesfanatic]

I thought it was terrestrial but they have been underwater for 7-10 days now.


The parasite and fungus stuff makes me think that I should just use some aqua soil/moss and easy plants like usual. The nice thing about collecting is that it's free.

Edit: looks similar to a fungus gnat larvae? not sure yet.

 

[Couesfanatic]

Check out this video of some scarlet badis I had in the past. I really liked these scarlets and I'm tempted to try to breed them. I think these pygmy sunfish are very similar though. Do pygmy's ever act like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKi7qbPrWqk

 

[Couesfanatic]

anyone have pygmy sunfish and scarlets? differences? It seems the scarlets are more entertaining.

 

[Monster Fish]

I thought it was terrestrial but they have been underwater for 7-10 days now.


The parasite and fungus stuff makes me think that I should just use some aqua soil/moss and easy plants like usual. The nice thing about collecting is that it's free.

Edit: looks similar to a fungus gnat larvae? not sure yet.

See if they will morph. Though microworms are easier to culture and very nutritious. You can go with dirt capped with sand and fill it up with low tech plants and mosses. My Badis badis setup is like this.

 

[Wy Renegade]

You want lots of plants and you want them established before the sunfish arrive. You might want to start a colony of Grindal worms as well, as the adult sunfish will eat only live foods.

 

[Bryanmc1988]

i recommend not getting the fish yet till you have a good running tank for them other wise you'll kill them before you even start... its like trying to run when your first born and learning to pick your self up after, it doesnt work that way and i'm sure it will hurt more then it would if you took your time

 

[Couesfanatic]

thanks guys, I've set up over 30 tanks previously with this obsession. I'm familiar with the cycle and I have a test kit.

I have access to live blackworms and brine shrimp. I may order grindals, but I don't want to deal with the culture if I can get away with it. I also have local mosquito larvae and lots of unidentified microbugs to eat. I plan to stock the tank with blackworms, scuds and rotifers. I also have frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I figure that I will run this tank for a few weeks and let things settle before I order the fish in.

I fish at local ponds and rivers all the time, so I figure I will take my glass jar and capture some water with small creatures to add to my tank for potential food.

I also intend to plant the tank very dense for hiding locations and flow reduction. I am going to try to not worry about BBA or other algae. This will be a tank for the fish and not a tank for the plants. I have been OCD with algae in the past, tearing down tanks because of it, so this will be a inner struggle. I do want some form of a scape, but most the tank will just be full of cabomba. Hopefully I can collect something that is shorter than I throw in the mix.