5 gallon planted

[KatieJ]

Figured I'd post some photos (for once) of my tank. XD Here are the specs:

Filter: Tetra Whisper (not sure what model it is. ). It came with a cheap little filter cartridge with carbon, and I used it to soak up some driftwood tannins before deciding it wasn't enough. XD I threw the driftwood in a 5g bucket to soak, and stuffed some polyfiber filter floss in the filter. Do I need any bio thingies (ceramic, balls, etc) or am I good to go?

Lighting: clip-onFluval 13W Compact Flourescent Lamp

Substrate: Eco-Complete; 10 or 11 lbs

Plants: Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis), Anubias nana, Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis), and a tiny stem or two of Hygrophila sp. and Rotala rotoundifolia. Also have some duckweed growing in a small cup; dunno what I'm going to do with it.

Fertilizer dosing: 5ish drops of Seachem Flourish every two days, >1 mL of Seachem Iron every day, and >1mL of Seachem Excel every day. Thinking about getting a cheap mini pressurized CO2 kit, but we'll see how the Excel does as a replacement. The light isn't too strong, so we'll see how it goes.

Livestock: 1 Betta splendens and ~6 American Ghost Shrimp (I say ~6 because I don't know if any died after being acclimated because they're so hard to find! XD) Ordered some Red Cherry Shrimp from jetajockey; can't wait for them to get here around Monday.


I had a thread a while ago about all the plants dying; I attributed it to the cruddy light that came with the tank and the acclimating process. They're growing back now - it looks like the wisteria exploded, but that's only because I bought a beautiful new bunch at PetCo for only 4 bucks. The DHG is shooting runners (even though a lot of it died) and the little rotala and hygro stems are trying so hard to get those new roots out. Hope they live, haha.

The tank almost done cycling, so the water params are a little shaky. I'll test it in a day or two when I do a pwc and then post it on here.

 

[jetajockey]

That's a nice looking betta, great display tank, subscribing.

 

[redsea]

The tak looks amazing! Nice looking Betta by the way!

 

[Gboy66]

Ya i like the mini aqua scape youv done! Id like to see what you could do with a 40g!! Really cool beta and shrimp!!

 

[KatieJ]

Thank you! :3 I was worrier it wouldn't look good since I pretty much stuck the plants in the substrate on impulse. I'm going to put a really neat piece of driftwood that's shaped like the bottom half of a tree, and a tinier piece next to it when they're done soaking.

Here are a couple more pics, including a FTS.

 

[fishfanatic]

Beautiful little tank! Keep up the good work

 

[Atxpunx]

Great tank build. Is your picture of your ghost shrimp of a male? I've been looking to try to differentiate the sexes in ghost shrimp.

 

[KatieJ]

...well, the red cherry shrimp didn't work out. I received 16 or so (when I ordered 12! <3 Thanks, jetajockey!), acclimated them, let them settle in for a few hours, put the betta in, and took him out 2 minutes later after he ATE one. |: (even after I'd fed him) So he's temporarily in a separate tank 'till I can figure out what to do with him.

So now I'm a little disappointed, because I was really hoping they could coexist. I wasn't getting my hopes up too much though, since it is a hit-and-miss kind of thing. Now I'm wondering if there's another micro-fish I can put in there to kind of fill in the empty "space" since the shrimp reside on the bottom. Celestial pearl danios really catch my eye, and so do some of the other micro rasboras. Are there any that would be suitable for a 5g?

@Atxpunx - I'm not sure what gender it is. I'm no better at sexing shrimp than you are.

 

[Coursair]

Good Nano fish
Chili Rasboras
Celestial Pearl Danios
Otos

If you get a ton of Shrimp, then you can add a Dario Dario (Scarlet Badis) or 2. They will eat baby shrimp but leave adults alone. I have one in my Shrimp tank.

 

[KatieJ]

I'm iffy on ottos 'cause they require a bit bigger space, and like to be kept in numbers I'm not sure my tank could support. :/

Definitely looking at the CPDs and Chili Rasboras... ugh, I wish they weren't so dang hard to find! My LFS has the CPDs but they're, like, 5 or 6 bucks PER FISH. x_X

 

[Coursair]

I'm iffy on ottos 'cause they require a bit bigger space, and like to be kept in numbers I'm not sure my tank could support. :/

Definitely looking at the CPDs and Chili Rasboras... ugh, I wish they weren't so dang hard to find! My LFS has the CPDs but they're, like, 5 or 6 bucks PER FISH. x_X

I got lucky, my planted tank club did a group buy on CPDs. I got mine for $2.50 per fish including shipping.

 

[Fallen_Nightmare]

I really like your tank! I'm new on this site, but i was wondering how much the tank was? Where did you get it from? I am wanting to buy a tank and a couple red clawed crabs but i cant seem to find a good tank.

 

[absolutangel04]

Another great nano fish are ember tetras. I have a school of them and I love them. They won't touch your shrimp and they look great in planted tanks.

 

[KatieJ]

I really like your tank! I'm new on this site, but i was wondering how much the tank was? Where did you get it from? I am wanting to buy a tank and a couple red clawed crabs but i cant seem to find a good tank.

Amazon.com: Tetra Crescent Aquarium Kit, 5-Gallon: Pet Supplies

Thanks guys! I might go on the hunt for some least killifish and chili rasboras. The killis are soooo tiny!

 

[fort384]

Very nice! I like 5 gal tanks. They get a bad rap a lot of times, but there are a number of possibilities, and it really takes some finesse to get a scape to look great in such a small space.

I love chilis. They work out very well in a 5 gal tank. You can check with HN1 a/o severum mama (members here). They often have chilis and other microrasboras available for sale.

 

[bruinsbro1997]

Very nice! Even though small you can really do a lot with five gallons, keep working on it!

 

[Coursair]

Look at Rocket Killis also. I almost bought some. Very cute.

 

[KatieJ]

Thank you, fort384!

So after some consideration, I think I'm going to go on the hunt for some chili rasboras. :3 I was debating between them and celestial pearl danios, but I'm not sure if I could handle trying to breed them since their wild stocks are really hurting. Does anyone know any members/online stores that sell chilis for a decent price? I've been doing research, obviously, but am still a little hesitant to jump into trying to buy some. My tank's cycled but has only been running for a month; are they sensitive fish that need a really established tank? I'm also hearing conflicting reports on their pH requirements. My pH here is a whopping 8.0, but it's stable. I'd consider just tossing my driftwood in to soften the water and add some shade/dim the light from the tannins, but would it negatively affect the plants or mess up the pH?

 

[Coursair]

Thank you, fort384!

So after some consideration, I think I'm going to go on the hunt for some chili rasboras. :3 I was debating between them and celestial pearl danios, but I'm not sure if I could handle trying to breed them since their wild stocks are really hurting. Does anyone know any members/online stores that sell chilis for a decent price? I've been doing research, obviously, but am still a little hesitant to jump into trying to buy some. My tank's cycled but has only been running for a month; are they sensitive fish that need a really established tank? I'm also hearing conflicting reports on their pH requirements. My pH here is a whopping 8.0, but it's stable. I'd consider just tossing my driftwood in to soften the water and add some shade/dim the light from the tannins, but would it negatively affect the plants or mess up the pH?

DW tannins will not hurt fish or plants. It may lower PH or you can add some Peat to your filter.

 

[KatieJ]

I suppose I should have clarified: I didn't really mean them chemically negatively affecting the plants - I meant as far as light goes. Tannins reduce the amount of light hitting the plants, right? I think the Dwarf Hairgrass is the highest light-requiring plant I have. I have one 13w compact florescent light, which gives everything enough light without me having to go into CO2 (right? My only supplement is Excel).