Mr Chubs' 20g Planted Setup

[kaiofcanada]

Here is my new setup for my 20g planted tank. The first resident was a rescued Orange Von Rio Tetra named Mr Chubs because of his enormous pooh-belly.

Temp 82F, pH 7.1, 0 NH4, 0 NH2-, 10ppm NH3-, w/ aquarium salt
3.5wpg 10k/7600
Aquaclear 70 HOB filtration
Flourite substrate supplemented with root tabs, Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish trace
Mopani driftwood, mopani worm wood, picture jasper cave, riverstones

The residents:
3 orange von rio tetra (1 rescued Mr Chubs)
5 mystery rasboras
1 BN pleco
3 otocats
3 sunset platys
1 tiny baby opaline gourami (rescued)

Plants:
red cabomba
red lotus
hornwort
random asian crypts
random unidentified sword (?)
Melon sword (neglected/rescued)

 

[kaiofcanada]

Continued

 

[kaiofcanada]

continued 3

 

[kaiofcanada]

continued 4

 

[kaiofcanada]

I would be appreciative to anyone who can identify the little swords and crypts. They were craigslist freebies from a person who is moving and was giving away the stock in his tanks. I got the crypts, swords, platys and gourami from him.

 

[kaiofcanada]

any help with the crypt and sword IDs? also, any idea what would make those brown spots on the melon sword plant?

 

[Aquarium1]

Could be wrong, but from my experience the first Crypt (1st post, last picture) looks somewhat like C. Lucens and the second one (4th post, last picture) looks like Wendtii 'Green', but I can't say I'm 100% sure. If that is Wendtii 'Green' it's doing better than mine is lol. Cool set up btw although I think the Von rios wouldn't mind a few more in their school.

 

[DragonFish71]

Hmmm. Not sure what type of crypt that is, but with the melon sword give it some time to get used to the new tank, it should perk back up and look normal. If not, then there's is definitely something it needs. My melon did that when I first planted it. Took about a week for it to perk up and look normal. Now it's happy with it's root tabs and CO2 *lol*

 

[kaiofcanada]

Could be wrong, but from my experience the first Crypt (1st post, last picture) looks somewhat like C. Lucens and the second one (4th post, last picture) looks like Wendtii 'Green', but I can't say I'm 100% sure. If that is Wendtii 'Green' it's doing better than mine is lol. Cool set up btw although I think the Von rios wouldn't mind a few more in their school.

ok...thanks for tips.

Good eye! Just looked up pictures of C. Lucens and also got notes of parva? Is there a dramatic difference between these two. They look nearly identical O.O.

yea, I wanna get von rios when they get in a new shipment. Chubs needs more buddies

 

[kaiofcanada]

Hmmm. Not sure what type of crypt that is, but with the melon sword give it some time to get used to the new tank, it should perk back up and look normal. If not, then there's is definitely something it needs. My melon did that when I first planted it. Took about a week for it to perk up and look normal. Now it's happy with it's root tabs and CO2 *lol*

Sweet...it came like that ..I added root tabs yesterday and it is next to the CO2 diffuser. I really like the colour, so hopefully the bounce back will be nice.

Do you know if the other plant is a sword or not....it's really tiny and crazy green. It looks like an amazon, but is so small and dense I have no idea. Are there miniature amazon swords?

 

[Aquarium1]

Well my c. Parvas are shorter and closer to the ground, however I only got them like a month ago so I can't say for sure. But my lucens looks like the one in your first post atm.

 

[DragonFish71]

Sweet...it came like that ..I added root tabs yesterday and it is next to the CO2 diffuser. I really like the colour, so hopefully the bounce back will be nice.

Do you know if the other plant is a sword or not....it's really tiny and crazy green. It looks like an amazon, but is so small and dense I have no idea. Are there miniature amazon swords?

It could be a baby amazon or a compacta, the smaller species of amazons. You'll know in time. The compactas only get about 6 inches max.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Well my c. Parvas are shorter and closer to the ground, however I only got them like a month ago so I can't say for sure. But my lucens looks like the one in your first post atm.

I see. Looked the two up. They look strikingly similar, but stature is the key. I think I would like to get some parvas too than. Let me know how yours grow. Maybe we could do an exchange later. Hopefully my red cabomba will take off.

I am drawn to the idea of using crypts as a kind on ground cover, btu not sure how feasible this is. I tried dwarf hairgrass, baby tears, and clover, but had trouble with either the pleco rooting them up constantly or algae. All the shrimp I had were constantly being eaten by my angels. This time around, I want something simple and hardy, that doesn't require too much maintenance.

 

[Crepe]

Try sagitaria subulata. C. Parva grows slow as heck.

 

[kaiofcanada]

Try sagitaria subulata. C. Parva grows slow as heck.

Thanks I will look into this