My first El Natural tank

[AaronBurr]

So I’ve had a few aquariums in the past but never a planted one. I like the idea of doing a very low maintains aquarium and have been reading up on the Walstad method among others. I was hoping to get some input into my design thus far by those with more experience than me?

I have a 10 gallon tank and I will do top soil/gravel as detailed in the walstad method.

Plants -heavily plant the tank
• Water sprites
• Anubias nana
• Java ferns
• Micro swords

Bio Crew
• Otocinclus catfish (I was thinking 3?)
• Maybe Cherry shrimp? If so, how many?

I’ve read that MTS are good for keeping the soil turning, but it sounds like you need clown loach to keep the population under control. And I don’t think my tank is large enough for loach.

I like the idea of plant eating fish, so I can do minimum feedings. Is that possible? I've heard Neon Tetris were good for natural tanks. What fish do you recommend?

Thoughts? Advice? Thank you in advance!

 

[Jev12]

If you get mts you could also get an assassin snail or two to keep the population in check and if do cherry shrimp I would say start out with at least twenty and then they should start to breed like crazy

 

[AaronBurr]

Thank you for the reply, I will look into the assassin snails. I haven't heard of them before.

Wow, Thats more cherry shrimp than I was thinking. Will I have to worry about population control? Or are they good about self regulating based on food supply?

Also do you think the tetra would work in the tank? Maybe a school of 5?

 

[Jev12]

Um the shrimp might regulate themselves but I'm not positive...and some people would say tetras are ok I a ten gallon some say they aren't....so you might want to wait for some more people to answer because I'm not quite sure on that but otherwise it sounds good

 

[AaronBurr]

Thanks so much Jev. I appreciate the input.

 

[Legit Fish]

usually you should have 5 shrimp per gallon so we are talking about 50 shrimp here.... but u can start with at least 20 or 15 to hav a colony to breed then u will end up with a lot more than 50 lol

 

[Jev12]

You could add a betta if you wanted and it should keep the numbers under control

 

[AaronBurr]

What about some dwarf gourami? I've read they eat the shrimp babies, and as long as i have enough places for the babies to hide i might be able to maintain a decent population.

 

[GodFan]

I am also into low maintenance setups. I actually do not regularly change the water on my aquariums. Your setup sounds great but you may run into trouble with the wisteria. It tends to grow so much that nothing else can lol
I am about to setup a 10-20 gallon low maintenance that will have emergent plants as well as immersed. Pothos vine is great for sucking up nutrients.

 

[Jev12]

You could do a dwarf gourami but you will need to be careful and make sure it doesn't eat the adults too...and you could do amano shrimp instead don't breed in freshwater and get bigger than cherrys do

 

[AaronBurr]

GodFan: Thank you for the advice on the wistteria. I know they grow quickly, but I certainly dont want them over running the tank. I hadn't thought of doing emergent plants. I bet that is going to look awesome for you.

Jev: I will look into the amano shrimp.

How quickly after adding the plants can I start adding the bio crew? should I wait until I can see some algea, so I know they will have food?

 

[Jev12]

Yes especially for the Otto cats since they aren't a fan of many commercial foods...the shrimp you could add whenever really and you should be good

 

[GodFan]

GodFan: Thank you for the advice on the wistteria. I know they grow quickly, but I certainly dont want them over running the tank. I hadn't thought of doing emergent plants. I bet that is going to look awesome for you.

Jev: I will look into the amano shrimp.

How quickly after adding the plants can I start adding the bio crew? should I wait until I can see some algea, so I know they will have food?

Yea no problem. The only reason I know is I have had it happen lol I hope my setup looks as good as some of the ones I have seen!