Planted!

[Karackle]

So, I finally got plants for my little 5.5 gallon and have put them in. THe aquascaping isn't QUITE perfect yet, but we'll get there. I have a 14 (or 16?) watt light so I'm seeing how i do with low-med light plants, instead of just low light plants like in my 20 gallon.

Anyway, I have a couple questions:

1) Best place to find small pieces of driftwood? The smallest they had at the fish store would have taken up (or looked like it was taking up) most of the tank! (i checked it by placing it in an empty 5.5 gallon at the store).
Would something found at a lawn and garden store be safe to use if i clean it first?

2) I'm letting the plants settle for a few days/a week before I put my betta in, should i be doing anything else for them? I added some Flourish (would flourish excel be better?) Should I do anything else?

I'll post pictures later!

thanks!

 

[Purrbox]

I've gotten some smaller peices of Malaysian Driftwood through Drs Foster Smith that works quite nicely in smaller aquairums. Not sure I'd trust the wood from the lawn and garden store unless you can verify that it hasn't been treated with any chemicals.

Flourish (comprehensive) is a Trace suplement. The Flourish Excel is a Carbon source. Both are good fertilizers to dose, though some plants don't react well to Excel (Anacharis and Vals). You'll probably want to look at dosing some Potassium as well. Depending on how heavily planted you're going and the number of fish and how heavily you feed, you may also need to look at dosing Nitrate and Phosphate as well. If your Nitrates start bottoming out (going to 0) you'll need to dose Nitrate, and if you start seeing Green Spot Algae on the glass that indicates you need more Phosphate.

 

[Karackle]

Great information thanks! I'll get a picture of the tank later and a list of the plants I have in there (i assume this will be helpful for more specific information).

I'm planning on definitely having a Betta in there, and maybe a couple other little guys (neons or something) or shrimp. But i'll keep an eye on the nitrate levels for sure.

Should I be adding nitrates now before I put the Betta in too?

Thanks again!

 

[An t-iasg]

I have had bettas in 5 gallon planted tanks and I did have to supplement nitrates. But I wouldn't add nitrates before you add the betta (as long as you are going to add the betta fairly soon). Your lighting isn't that high (higher lighting means a higher rate of photosynthesis) and the plants are not going to take up the nutrients that fast. So I wouldn't supplement before adding fish and doing a few tests. But be ready to add nitrates if needed.

If you aren't ready to add the betta for a few more weeks, then I would add some nitrates. Aim for 10-20 ppm on your test kit. Monitor the nitrates after you do add fish.

A note about bettas and tankmates: Bettas may or may not do well with tankmates. A 5.5 gallon is a little small IMO for a betta and other fish. I have seen neon or cardinal tetras gang up on and nip a betta's fins. Bettas will attack guppies or similar colorful fish with long fins, thinking it's another male betta. Ghost shrimp may do well. Bettas (or most any carnivorous fish) can eat ghost shrimp, so get large enough shrimp to minimize the possibility of the shrimp being eaten.

 

[Karackle]

Yes, that is true, I had to remove him from my 20 gallon initially because someone was nipping at his fins (didn't bother keeping him in there long enough to find the culprit since it's easy to keep a betta in a bowl). I'm thinking of maybe an algae eater or a couple cory cats instead? Or large-ish shrimp. My ghost shrimp always seem to disappear in tanks...And yes, i'll be adding the Betta in a couple of days after i've let the plants settle some. But I'll make sure to have the nitrates on hand just in case i need them!

Thanks again!

 

[JustOneMore20]

Try ghost shrimp first. If they get eaten, you'll know you can't put any shrimp in there with him. Cories need more room than a 5.5g can provide....and I don't know of any algae eaters that can live in a 5.5g besides shrimp. He'll be fine alone. That's the perfect size for just a Betta.

 

[Karackle]

Yeah, I know he'll be fine alone, i'd just like to have someone in there with him, helps fertilize the plants too. Was thinking maybe bamboo shrimp? or otos?

 

[Purrbox]

I would definately skip the Bamboo Shrimp. They need really good flow which Bettas tend to dislike.

 

[Karackle]

hmm, very. Maybe I'll wait and try them in the Paludarium i'm building in which there will be a waterfall, that oughtta be high flow!

 

[Karackle]

Ok, as promised, here's are a couple of pictures. The first one if from monday when i first planted, the second is front Yesterday when i did some remodeling after finding a suitable piece of driftwood. I'm not sure i LOVE the aquascape yet, and am open to suggestions, though I may just see how it fills in for a while first.

Day 1:

Day 2 (With Flash):

Day 2 (without flash) Sorry it's a little blurry, the water was a teeny bit murky after stirring things up, but i was eager to snap a photo!

thanks for looking!

Day 2

 

[Karackle]

woah sorry....i thought i resized the images to be smaller than that!!! I apologize!

 

[Purrbox]

Looking good. I've got a couple of suggestions though.

1. It looks like you've buried the rhizome (thick tuber that the roots and leaves sprout from) of the Anubias this needs to be exposed or it will almost certainly rot killing the plant. Just pull it up slightly until at least the top half of the rhizome is visible.
2. The same goes for crypts, though I've found that it's generally not as critical as long as they aren't deeply buried.
3. I'd move the driftwood slightly to one side or the other and angle it toward the back center of the aquarium. This will help to create visual movement and depth.
4. More plants!! Denser planting of the plants that you already have, not more variety. The stem plants should reproduce quickly so it probably won't be necessary to buy more, but with slower growing plants like the crypts it's helpful to plant more upfront. This will help the appearance of your aquascape and make it easier to maintain the balance in your aquarium.

 

[Karackle]

Thanks for the suggestions!

1) Yes, the Anubias is actually tied to the driftwood, but i had to bury the driftwood deeper than planned to keep it from floating (it was attached to slate in a different orientation, i had some flat pieces of plastic with holes in them i tied each end to) So i plan on moving the anubias up a bit higher anyway, but it's good to know i should do it ASAP to get the rhizome out unburied, thanks

2) the crypts aren't too deeply buried

3) good suggestion, i'll do that when i replace it after re-attaching the anubias

4) I'll head to the store after work and get a couple more plants! I didn't want to overcroawd it, though I've looked at your 5 gallon planted thread and i should've known i could do more!!!

Thanks again, that's all really helpful!!!

 

[Karackle]

So I've been thinking (my brain wanders a lot while i'm doing the no-thinking-necessary parts of my job) that It might look nice if I add some more of the Purple Cabomba so that it fills more toward the center and move the Crypt over closer to the Wisteria (and add a second red crypt there as well....or maybe move the green crypt and get a second green crypt to set off the color of the purple more....now i'm just thining out loud....)

ANYWAY My actual question is how much light does the Purple Cabomba generally need? Because if I buy another bunch of it I think it will be a little too much and will dominate the tank, but I'd love to see it in my 20 gallon, I'm just not sure there's enough light in there....Thoughts?

thanks again for all of the very useful information!!!!

 

[Karackle]

So i made a few more adjustments, as suggested, and thought I'd post a couple of pictures. Unless there are any more suggestions, now i play the waiting/testing game for a week or so and then i'll put my Betta in!

Thanks for all of the help!!!!

With Flash:

Without Flash:

 

[Karackle]

Picture Update!

it's picture update time again! I can't believe how fast everything is growong! There's new leaves on EVERYTHING except the 1 smal red crypt on the front, but I don't think that little guy's grown a smidge in the time i've had it, but that's ok. It's alive anyway. So, i need to do a bit of pruning, but here's how it looks, and my happy Betta. Photobucket is acting up so some of the pics are big still, i'll try to get them smaller, I apologize for any invconvenience!

Full Tank (no Flash)

Full Tank (with flash)

And my Betta resting on the Cabomba (He likes to just hang out resting on the plants )