Complete novice needing some help

[Autumnsky]

Thank you. With regards the breeder net I've found these at my local store also known as a ''hatchery" £4 for net version or £5 for plastic. I'll try get up there in the morning to take a look.

As for the baby if it came from a tank the lfs scooped your shrimp out of you may go back in and see what fish were in there too, or call the store and ask.

Make sure the frogs can not jump into the net for a snack.

You have a bunch of questions and it takes people some time to sort through it all, take it and remember what they can add.

Think that you have one tank, and as you mentioned there is a lot going on;

You have to learn about how to take care of aquatic fish and inverts.
Please read through the link in my signature and it has a wealth of information and links for a couple other articles too.

You may already know enough about the frogs so that is not an issue.

You have plants under the water and some may grow up & out of the water.
Here are a few articles some may be redundant in information, overlap or differ slightly as they are presented by different authors with varied experiences.
Beginner's Guide to CO2 Injection in the Planted Tank - Aquarium Advice
Planted Tank Basics - Aquarium Advice don't let the pic of sw creatures throw you, the article is for FW
So You Want a Planted Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

The issue of lighting will need to be addressed as how much and what kind of light and the duration of the light.

Certain light with a Kelvin rating usually in the daylight bulbs (some bulbs are too low of a K rating).

Best to grow plants with K rating in the 5000 to 8700 K rating, can go higher but not really lower as the color spectrum is not preferred by plants. You can look at some charts for plant growth and Kelvin rating. Ace hardware keeps regular bulbs, CFL and maybe can find LED bulbs like for a lamp. For DIY or just buy a nice light to grow plants.

Hoping you can start there. And we can help with additional specific questions along the way.

 

[mrsut]

Thank you for the links and advice.

As you say I'm pretty comfortable with my knowledge on the amphibians I keep, i posted there mainly in case any of the changes I make to the aquarium have an adverse effect on them that I perhaps missed but I'm not so worried there at present.

I do realise though that I'm asking a lot. Just trying to nail this first time I guess.

I've read through the articles and think I'm getting most of this right.

The plants I have chose should all be low to medium care. Only one on my choices should grow out of the water and that's the ones to the back left which are shallow planted and there to give the frogs a sitting and hiding place.

I believe I have the correct substrate to promote growth and now that I'm adding fertiliser and co2 I hope to see improvement.

The co2 system I went for was a simple canister device, I top it up at the start of each light cycle. It seems to be just running out by the end of 24hrs which seems spot on. If I see an improvement I will consider purchasing a better system at a later date but for now I think this should work. It's not a huge overly planted tank so we will see but any input on this would be great. I'm using the Tropica Plant Growth System 60

http://http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/tropica-plant-growth-system-60

I would still like to know if there would be any need or benefit of a small air pump, as mentioned earlier there seems to be some misleading information on this. From the two members responses I've had both seem to be 'airing' (pun intended �&#56841 on the side that it would be redundant or in fact have an adverse effect?

As for the lighting I realise I definitely need to upgrade this. I understand the wattage but I would like advice as to people preference or suggestions as there are still a lot of avenues. Do I replace the strip bulb built in to the hood? Do I do this (or leave this) and add further LED lighting? Or do I need to build a replacement lid and add higher lighting? I'd love to here people's views on this.

As for baby I'm going to call back to shop to see what they had in the tank, I thought about that last night. I'm still unsure whether the best thing is to get a hatchery or whether it will survive just as well in a seperate setting as I have it currently. Again any advice on this would be beneficial but I also have this posted in the breeder section although no responses there as yet.

 

[mrsut]

I've contact the store and they are unable to identify the baby fish. They said that the shrimp were in with a number of different fish but any babies were of a bigger size. They are hazarding a guess at a guppie but aren't sure at all.