38G Freshwater Aquarium

[Marvin4o9]

Hello everyone my name is Marvin and I currently have a 38G Freshwater tank, with some plants but not a lot, so far in this tank I have some glofish tetras, swordtails, and platies. Recently added substrate for plants and some rocks me and my gf found to add to the tank. My first fish were the tetras, I really thought they were cool because they came in many different types of colors and many different forms. But recently I have gotten tired of them because they don't seem to have much energy compared to the swordtails and platies who will spend all day swimming around and scavenging for left over food that's stuck in the gravel, but they do poop a lot more than the tetras for sure. So I bought some substrate from petsmart (CaribSea Flora Max Planted Aquarium Substrate) that they said would help turn the fish waste into food for the plants, I was wondering what's the best way to remove fish waste since they really do poop a lot :c I was also wondering if adding some black aquarium sand would help the plants from getting uprooted? But I dont want to lose the added benefit of the substrate turning the fish waste into food for the plants. Some advice on this would be nice Now I also have two ghost shrimps and a red cherry shrimp and two long fin rosy barbs who get a lot and scavenge with the swordtails and platies. I also have a common pleco and a very shy ralphael catfish. I had a very nicely colored Bettafish who recently died, he was doing just fine during the night swimming around, but once I woke up he was dead laying there. Anyone might have any ideas why that could have happened? Thinking about removing the tetras and just having a group of platies and swords, but anyway I think that's all for now. Anyone know of some easy to grow foreground plants that dont require CO2? The staurogyne repens I have right now get uprooted easily by the pleco and sometimes the swords while they scavenge, and with the substrate I got I guess they cant send out runners as easily? At first they werent doing so good cause I only had a 24 inch Floramax bulb cause thats the only one that would fit my 36 inch hood, but me and my gf have recently modified the 36 inch hood to house a 36 inch floramax bulb and a 36 inch colormax bulb, and that has helped the staurogyne repens grow alot more but not send runners. I was thinking about some foreground plants that fish can swim through them and they wont bend and break off like the ones I have now. Any suggestions would help alot thanks!!

P.S Sorry for the double post couldnt figure out how to delete my first one, if I even can :/

Now to spam some pictures!

My tank



The rock that Ralph likes to hide



Alittle cave for the fish and shrimps to hide and sleep



This big rock we thought wouldn't fit but now makes for a nice cave and hill



My red cherry shrimp along with my two ghost




Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

Here is a close up of my cherry shrimp



Here are my two koi swordtails




Here is my pregnant swordtail



Here is my red wag swordtail?




Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

Here is my twinbar solar flare swordtail



Here is my betta fish that sadly passed away Sunday for some unknown reason



Here are my two longfin rosy barbs



Here is my common pleco



And here is my very shy Raphael catfish (he lost his tail to my vanilla crayfish) luckily I was able to save him now his tail is growing back slowly c:




Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

Here is my male swordtail



Here are two sail fin platies me and my gf bought yesterday (hoping to breed with my swordtail and get sail fin swords)



And here are some pictures I was able to get with my fish eating some algae rounds that were for the pleco








Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

The soon to my mother sword, hoping I can get the time of birth right to save as many fry as I can, by the looks of it she won't have more than 10 maybe since it's her first birth.





And here they are eating some egg whites that I gave them






Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

Here are my three crayfish, these guys have been moved to a smaller 30g tank as to not kill any of the swords who like to swim around the rocks and sleep low at night.

My vanilla crayfish



My two electric blue crayfish

(Male)





(Female)



And here she was pregnant, sadly none ever hatched




Located in Groves Texas

 

[Marvin4o9]

Here is my old 36 inch light hood with just a 24 inch floramax bulb



And after me and my girl retrofitted/ghetto fit two 36 inch t8 bulbs into the same 36 inch hood







Wondering if these two bulbs are good enough light in my 38 gallon tank?


Check out my introduction to view my tank!

 

[Nils]

This is a great tank! Although your stocking is a bit screwed up. Your common pleco reaches at least 2 feet! Your other catfish should be fine, and you could still add a "centerpiece" fish, maybe a gourami of some sort and that would bring more color to the tank. I like it so far, but keep in mind that you will need to rehome the pleco if you don't get a bigger tank! By the way, I love your crayfish!

Nils

 

[Marvin4o9]

This is a great tank! Although your stocking is a bit screwed up. Your common pleco reaches at least 2 feet! Your other catfish should be fine, and you could still add a "centerpiece" fish, maybe a gourami of some sort and that would bring more color to the tank. I like it so far, but keep in mind that you will need to rehome the pleco if you don't get a bigger tank! By the way, I love your crayfish!

Nils

Yeah, I got a very big pleco with the crayfish right now because he would totally destroy the repens with one swing of his tail lol he's so big the crayfish don't even mess with him, for now I put the pleco in this tank to help clean around the tank, but I will most likely remove him also once he reaches about 6+ inches, he's still fairly small compared to the other one lol. And thanks a lot! I been trying and switching things up in this tank, and hmmmmm I haven't thought about getting any gourami, any suggestion on one with nice color? I been thinking about removing the tetras and just adding more swordtails and platies, that will really make this tank look active and colorful. Also you think my bulbs are good enough to keep low to medium light plants?


Check out my introduction to view my tank!

 

[Fresh2o]

Those lights are probably okay for low light plants (Java Fern, Anubias, moss, crypts). Medium light would be a stretch IMO with the depth of that tank.
The star repens will grow slowly under those conditions. I have some in a shallower tank (12") with dual T5 normal output bulbs. They stay green and grow despite no ferts added to the water column. Even in optimal conditions they don't send runners; side shoots often appear after trimming them. When they get between 1-2" i trim and replant them.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Marvin4o9]

Those lights are probably okay for low light plants (Java Fern, Anubias, moss, crypts). Medium light would be a stretch IMO with the depth of that tank.
The star repens will grow slowly under those conditions. I have some in a shallower tank (12") with dual T5 normal output bulbs. They stay green and grow despite no ferts added to the water column. Even in optimal conditions they don't send runners; side shoots often appear after trimming them. When they get between 1-2" i trim and replant them.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Hmmmmmm I'm thinking about replacing the colormax for another floramax bulb, I can't really go back to full spectrum bulbs because they just don't make the colors of my fish pop, did a comparison and with the full spectrum bulb my red cherry shrimp didn't even look red lol, with the floramax it makes everything pop! Any idea on some powerful bulbs that help plants grow and make the colors of the fish and shrimp pop out?


Check out my introduction to view my tank!

 

[Marvin4o9]

Or maybe Leds? I just don't want to lose the colors in this tank, it's really a big difference.


Check out my introduction to view my tank!

 

[Nils]

A cool gourami would be maybe a pearl or opaline gourami, they're not too colorful but can be trained to eat from your hand have quite the personality! Or you could maybe do an angelfish, but I don't know if he would be compatible with the stock you already have!

Nils

 

[Marvin4o9]

A cool gourami would be maybe a pearl or opaline gourami, they're not too colorful but can be trained to eat from your hand have quite the personality! Or you could maybe do an angelfish, but I don't know if he would be compatible with the stock you already have!

Nils

I read that sometimes the swordtails might nip the angelfish and I think I may need a bigger tank for the angel


Check out my introduction to view my tank!