Callen
Aquarium Advice Freak
I've had freshwater aquariums off and on throughout the years. Now I'm back at it again. My 9 year old, Tanner, absolutely loves this hobby! So we are working on a tank in his room.
A little story (skip it if you want to): We live in the country and my neighbor has a 2 acre stock tank. When we get a lot of rain it overflows and my boys go catch all of the fish that escape and return them to the tank. The spend hours building little dams and creating pools of water that will catch the escapees. This last time, they caught 2 small perch, a tiny bass, and 5-10 large minnows. We always have empty tanks in the garage, so we cleaned one out and into the house they came. Now, a month later, we have one perch survivor. He's a hearty guy! So far, Perchy has been just fine with a bubble stone and absolutely nothing else in the tank. We've been quite liberal with the water changes..using tap water and conditioner and he is no worse for the wear. Last week we bought some river rock/pebbles and fake plants and added them. We also added 2 goldfish and Perchy got rid of them overnight. We have dedided that Perchy is a loner for sure!
Tanner decided to build his tank so that it looks "natural, like where Perchy used to live."
Plan:
1. We will add the hood and filter, etc. to get Perchy a more healthy home. Got it, just need to do it tonight.
2. Add driftwood
3. Add live plants
Bought the driftwood and live plants yesterday. Have the wood soaking in the tub. I wasn't sure what to do with the plants, so I just dropped them in the tank for now.
Questions:
Q1: Anything special I need to do to really make this a planted tank? How do I help the plants take root and grow? Does the water need to be any different?
A little story (skip it if you want to): We live in the country and my neighbor has a 2 acre stock tank. When we get a lot of rain it overflows and my boys go catch all of the fish that escape and return them to the tank. The spend hours building little dams and creating pools of water that will catch the escapees. This last time, they caught 2 small perch, a tiny bass, and 5-10 large minnows. We always have empty tanks in the garage, so we cleaned one out and into the house they came. Now, a month later, we have one perch survivor. He's a hearty guy! So far, Perchy has been just fine with a bubble stone and absolutely nothing else in the tank. We've been quite liberal with the water changes..using tap water and conditioner and he is no worse for the wear. Last week we bought some river rock/pebbles and fake plants and added them. We also added 2 goldfish and Perchy got rid of them overnight. We have dedided that Perchy is a loner for sure!
Tanner decided to build his tank so that it looks "natural, like where Perchy used to live."
Plan:
1. We will add the hood and filter, etc. to get Perchy a more healthy home. Got it, just need to do it tonight.
2. Add driftwood
3. Add live plants
Bought the driftwood and live plants yesterday. Have the wood soaking in the tub. I wasn't sure what to do with the plants, so I just dropped them in the tank for now.
Questions:
Q1: Anything special I need to do to really make this a planted tank? How do I help the plants take root and grow? Does the water need to be any different?