newbie's first 20-L tank

[alcarinhwesta]

I'm not really here to "show off". I'm more looking for input from people who have been doing this longer than I have. Please feel free to leave comments and thoughts!

 

[wabbitbugs]

Looks real good. Notice you have platies. What else u gonna stock? Be prepped for fry!

 

[alcarinhwesta]

I have 6 platys, 4 cardinal tetras (a tad harder to photograph), 2 pepper cories (going to get 2 more as soon as I safely can), and 1 Nerite snail.

 

[wabbitbugs]

Wait and watch before you add. Are all you platies male?

 

[alcarinhwesta]

I'm actually not sure what the ratio is, but I'm fairly certain I have a few females

 

[wabbitbugs]

Try keeping 3 females per male. Easy enough to identify. If it has a little 'tube' around the anal fin it is male.

 

[alcarinhwesta]

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

Do u have any live plants in the tank right now?

 

[alcarinhwesta]

Do u have any live plants in the tank right now?

Yes, I just can't remember what it is. We started with 1 bunch and it grew so quickly, that we now have 4 bunches (that probably need clipping soon)

 

[arangarajan93]

Nice tank.

 

[EndlersEatGuppies]

IMO 1 Amazon Sword, some L. Repens, and hornwort would be nice to add. But first u need the right lighting conditions.

What lights do u have?
wattage -
k aka kelvins -
lumens -

 

[alcarinhwesta]

So, apparently, disaster struck around 2am this morning. We had a power outage. I woke up around 4:30 and noticed that the filter wasn' pulling water, but it had been running dry for 2 hrs. It took another hour before the motor cooled down enough to start running again. Any advice on how to safeguard against this in the future?

 

[Homedog98]

Run two filters, turn one off and unplug one at night, so if it happens again, you've got backup.