Thoughts on my new scape?

2951 Views 25 Replies 11 Participants Last post by psalm18.2, May 30, 2014

Kehy

Discussion Starter · May 12, 2014

I just removed the dirt from my formerly dirted 5 gallon, which gave me a chance to do a much needed rescape. C. Balanese in back left corner, behind the wood, C. Green Gecko (?) in front of the wood, and C. Lucens just behind the largest rock.
The gravel is a lot more white in person, but it's hard to get a good pic of that.

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Solcielo lawrencia

· #2 · May 12, 2014

I'm not sure what the goal of this tank is. It doesn't have fish in it.
The gravel is distracting. The rocks on the right and wood on the left looks odd.
The plants could fill in a lot more.

2/10

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 12, 2014

Solcielo lawrencia said:
I'm not sure what the goal of this tank is. It doesn't have fish in it.
The gravel is distracting. The rocks on the right and wood on the left looks odd.
The plants could fill in a lot more.

2/10

Actually it has 10+ livebearers in it, you can see a few in this pic. They just happen to be tiny and non-obtrusive. I can get away with having 10+ because again, tiny. The largest female is just over 1". There's also a number of red rili shrimp in the tank as well.

I also just planted it, so yeah, plants would not have had a chance to fill in.

Gravel is what it is. I'm broke and am reusing some. I don't mind it. It's also freshly cleaned (washed dirt out of it) so it's quite bright and reflective.

Will work on the balance, but again, will look different with filled in plants. I just wanted to see if hardscape needed changed before the crypts filled in, so they wouldn't be melting twice.

HUNTER

· #4 · May 12, 2014

Rocks are too big, it could do better without rocks. You could do small plants in place of rocks, and it will highlight the driftwood.

Aplomado

· #5 · May 12, 2014

Maybe get some more "branchy" driftwood?

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 12, 2014 (Edited)

LOL, personally, I can't stand the wood, but I love the rocks. I admit they could be improved, but it's very restful to look at them. I'm only using the wood because I completely removed the bacteria and biofilm from the rocks and gravel, but saved those on the wood. The wood itself is 3 different pieces, and none will stand up straighter than this.

I'd love to get other wood or rocks even, but I'm broke and the LPS is horribly overpriced and has extremely limited selection. The rocks are free from my backyard.

Edit: I should also add that I view the tank from the right-looking-left angle, so for me, it actually looks like this. Maybe the same problems, but you can see more depth.

tomfromstlouis

· #7 · May 12, 2014 (Edited)

Crypt balansae will get way too tall for a 5g tank. It will reach the top and circle around the top multiple times until it owns the tank. I love the plant but it isn't right for a tank this size. I find it almost too big for my 75g.

cjstl

· #8 · May 12, 2014

tomfromstlouis said:
Crypt balansae will get way too tall for a 5g tank. It will reach the top and circle around the top multiple times until it owns the tank. I love the plant but it isn't right for a tank this size. I find it almost too big for my 75g.

Sounds like what I need for my Fluval Edge 12. I keep looking for a tall, grassy plant. I have jungle vals currently, but they aren't getting tall enough and keep getting covered with BBA.

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 12, 2014

I've had vals in the tank, and to be honest, I wasn't impressed. The crypts will eventually be rehomed into a container pond later on, but I'm hoping they'll give the scape a little hight. Any other suggestions for background crypts that wouldn't outgrow the 5? I've already got C. Lucens and Green Gecko in the tank.

tomfromstlouis

· #10 · May 21, 2014

I've had luck with Echinodorus Vesuvius. With CO2 mine gets 10" or more, has an awesome curly leaf, and sends runners out frequently. Okay, that's not a crypt. Tennelus is mid height too, right?

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #11 · May 21, 2014

tomfromstlouis said:
I've had luck with Echinodorus Vesuvius. With CO2 mine gets 10" or more, has an awesome curly leaf, and sends runners out frequently. Okay, that's not a crypt. Tennelus is mid height too, right?

That's a good suggestion, I should have thought of that. Not really a huge fan of spreading plants (other than crypts) at the moment right now, I'm still annoyed with the vals.

Here's an update pic, ignore the messy moss and almost floating anubias. In the back, I replaced the C. Balanese with a small C. Undulata that should fill in. Eventually. The C. Lucens is already growing and doing well, not much happening with the C. Green Gecko on the left side, unfortunately.

I split up two of the anubias that were in the tank, hoping this looks a little bit less awkward. At some point I also plan on getting rid of all the java fern and the subwassertang on the farthest back piece of wood. Unless of course, the subwassertang is magically the perfect moss for this tank, but I'm not betting on that. I also added a couple more rocks , mostly under the wood that I'm hoping help tie things together.

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Art by Stef*

· #12 · May 21, 2014

I think your redo looks much better.
If it was my tank, I'd ditch the moss, and center the background plants to form a pyramid type look, but that's just me. And add guppies

-Stef*

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #13 · May 21, 2014 (Edited)

Art by Stef* said:
And add guppies

-Stef*

Let's not talk about guppies right now... Out of 8 of them I got for my pond of Friday, I now have 2. Both feeder males with great colors and absolutely healthy, but seriously, 2 out of 8, after I've been giving them the best care I can. AND included in the dead are a couple fancies that likely weren't chucked in a cesspool to breed. Arrrrrgh. All I wanted were some large, hardy gups to put in my pond. EDIT: gups have been living in a quarentine tank, since I wanted to fatten 'em up before I sent them out in the pond.

Rant over.

I do have Het Formosas in there, so it's kiiiiinda like guppies. Kinda.
Good call on the moss though, it's just not working here, and I've never been able to grow moss well in this tank.

Art by Stef*

· #14 · May 22, 2014

Kehy said:
Let's not talk about guppies right now... Out of 8 of them I got for my pond of Friday, I now have 2. Both feeder males with great colors and absolutely healthy, but seriously, 2 out of 8, after I've been giving them the best care I can. AND included in the dead are a couple fancies that likely weren't chucked in a cesspool to breed. Arrrrrgh. All I wanted were some large, hardy gups to put in my pond. EDIT: gups have been living in a quarentine tank, since I wanted to fatten 'em up before I sent them out in the pond.

Rant over.

I do have Het Formosas in there, so it's kiiiiinda like guppies. Kinda.
Good call on the moss though, it's just not working here, and I've never been able to grow moss well in this tank.

If you were closer, I'd give you a few. If the fancies you had were of imported bloodlines, they are very touchy and not so hardy for the great outdoors, unless you're in Thailand. Mosses never grew well for me in any CO2 infused tanks. In a bowl of water on a window sill it grows like mad. Never seems to grow where you want it to-feast or famine. Grows so fast in shrimp tanks, I can't find the shrimp and afraid to prune for fear of hurting shrimp. I try to keep in mind to use plants that did well in previous tanks for the conditions of a new scaped tank. Saves a lot of aggravation.
-Stef*

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #15 · May 23, 2014

I tried to rescape again, but realized there's only a limited number of ways I can put the hardscape stuff that I have. Did try to make it a bit more centered, with eventually crypts wrapping around both sides. The C. Undulata that used to be in the back has been moved to behind/between the two pieces of wood in the back. I also ended up gluing the petite anubias to a rock because they were making me mad. That may have been a mistake, lol

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Art by Stef*

· #16 · May 23, 2014

Hmmm. I'd have to see it grown out more. I'm sorta favoring the other pic. Everything looks like it's "hugging each other" too much. Or a pile of laundry. Things can change with a little grow out, though.

-Stef*

someoldguy

· #17 · May 26, 2014

Kehy said:
I tried to rescape again, but realized there's only a limited number of ways I can put the hardscape stuff that I have. Did try to make it a bit more centered, with eventually crypts wrapping around both sides. The C. Undulata that used to be in the back has been moved to behind/between the two pieces of wood in the back. I also ended up gluing the petite anubias to a rock because they were making me mad. That may have been a mistake, lol

Actually, I like this one best . Maybe some more anubias or something else on the wood , maybe some moss on the stones . Leave the gravel bare , dark background , and let it grow out . Give it a few months to get there though...

Steve002

· #18 · May 27, 2014

I don't really like any of the pics. The wood seems not to have any particularly interesting features, at least none that are showing. The rocks look like uninteresting lumps and the big one looks to big for the tank. I'd spend some more time outside looking for more interesting pieces if I were you. Sorry I don't mean to be so negative.

Kehy

Discussion Starter · #19 · May 28, 2014

Steve002 said:
I don't really like any of the pics. The wood seems not to have any particularly interesting features, at least none that are showing. The rocks look like uninteresting lumps and the big one looks to big for the tank. I'd spend some more time outside looking for more interesting pieces if I were you. Sorry I don't mean to be so negative.

It's fine, we just have different tastes. The wood is actually quite interesting in person, but because it's so dark, it doesn't show up. I'm using mopani here.

Also, your description of my rocks made it sound like they were potatoes. I can deal with staring at potatoes, LOL. But now I'm hungry...

Art by Stef*

· #20 · May 28, 2014

Kehy said:
It's fine, we just have different tastes. The wood is actually quite interesting in person, but because it's so dark, it doesn't show up. I'm using mopani here.

Also, your description of my rocks made it sound like they were potatoes. I can deal with staring at potatoes, LOL. But now I'm hungry...

Hahaha, potatoes! All you need are some nerites to give them eyes

I still think it will look better with some grow in. One's eye gets pulled to the big round potato that is bull's eye dead in the center, is all.

-Stef*

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