Progression

[TankGirl]

Here is my 5gal Endler's tank, back when I set it up originally over a year ago, with Fluorite, a 14w NO bulb and a Hagen natural CO2 system:

Here is the same tank in early March 2005, shortly after I "unplugged" it and made it a natural aquarium, with no filtration, only healthy plants and a good layer of mulm on the substrate, with no more CO2 since there is no current to distribute the gas:

Here it is last week, when suddenly it achieved "balance" and the plants decided to take off, especially the lilies. Yikes! Is there any room for water, nevermind fish?8O :

Now here is a pic of the 10gal, with just the contents of the 5gal moved into it, and just a little more fluorite and some dwarf sag from another tank. Still "unplugged" except for heaters:

The Endler's could not be happier in their new digs, and with their new tankmates of a few different strains of Endler's (snake chest - very impressive!) that I received from Guy at Endler's R Us in exchange for some of mine. Now they have room to swim and I am hoping after a settling in period the plants will thrive, especially the Marsilea quadrifolia, which was struggling in its prior almost buried location in the 5, and seems happier now.

I encourage folks to try this natural aquarium concept. It is really fasciating to see how the plants respond, and in turn provide excellent conditions for the fish. Small, hardy fish are ideal, and that's why Endler's work so well for this kind of setup. The area where they originate has little to no current, so they do not mind the lack of water movement at all.

 

[Fluff]

Wow, that's a huge difference. lol You gonna post pics of the ten?

 

[TankGirl]

I'm sorry - the last pic is the 10, I'll edit the description to clarify - thanks!

 

[Fluff]

lol Cool. Still looks great. Plenty room for growth again. Nice job. Now I'm tempted. Hmmm, no, better not. But.... maybe....

 

[TankGirl]

It's easy! Do it ... do it... do it...

 

[Quake2player]

TankGirl, what a great concept with those natural aquariums! With all the talk around here about lighting, ferts, CO2, nutrients, etc... great to see something that is low-tech.

I looked up your Endlers link as I never seen 'em and my first impression is they look like the feeder guppies they sell at one of my LFS. The males have similiar multi-color patterns and the females have no color at all... plain silver usually. The males are as small as neons, some smaller.
I have these feeder guppies in my 10 gal crayfish tank... I only bought 1 batch of 12 and haven't had a need to buy more cause they keep multiplying faster than my crayfish consume 'em.

Have you ever heard of endlers being sold as feeder guppies? Mine seem very similiar.

 

[Fluff]

Ok, you talked me into it. This has no Co2 right? I'm gonna have to read up on it now. See what you done? Now I'm gonna have to go learn something. (I'm always ready for a new challenge)

I have a six gallon I could work on with some young guppies, or I have a few ten gallon tank set ups laying around. What do you suggest as my first "natural" tank? Would smaller be easier?

 

[TankGirl]

Quake2player, Endler's are very similar to guppies, and if you read up on them you will see there is much debate about whether Endler's are their own species. We fortunately have John Endler at the Endler's site, and he has explained much about how he knows they are different. One thing is that female Endler's always have a gold color to them, rather than silver. The gonopodium is different in male Endler's vs. guppies, and they have a leaner, more torpedo-shaped body and are not as full as male guppies.

There are a lot of hybrids, also, so one thing we are trying to do at Endler's R Us is to track down where everybody got their fish, since often you can only get them from other hobbyists, and try to save the original species. The only place where they have been collected is being contaminated by a nearby landfill, and there may be no more Endler's in the wild before too long.

Boy, I'll bet you are sorry you asked, now!

 

[TankGirl]

Sorry, Fluff, I we must have been posting at the same time!

I am not running CO2, but I think many do - I just felt like the gas was being wasted. I also had been using Flourish Excel but I would have to stir the tank to distribute it and it is easy to stir up ammonia that may be collecting at the very bottom, so I did not want to do that.

In some ways a smaller tank was much easier for me to start, because it was so easy to manage and if something went wrong I could just put these small fish in my big tank with the others. However, all small tanks are, in theory, harder to keep stable because of the small volume of water. You being an accomplished aquarist means you can easily handle starting with a small tank, Fluff.

Get some good quality substrate (many use potting soil, manure, and gravel) like Eco-Complete or Fluorite and get the plants growing well in there with at least 2wpg, and a 12-14 hour photoperiod. There is the issue of oxygen for the fish and a nice long photoperiod is a big help in this regard. I did not have any issues with too little oxygen, just based on the behavior of the fish. I did not have an algae problem in this tank at all, though it is something I constantly battle in all my other tanks except my super low-light one.

My tank was easy because it was already set up, cycled, with thriving plants and healthy fish before I pulled the plug. I don't think this 10gal counts as setting up a new natural aquarium since I just transferred everything over, so I am not positive if there is anything particular that you need to do. You hopefully won't have a noticeable cycle if the plants are in good shape. Try to plant about 75% of the tank, if possible.

 

[Fluff]

Hmm. Ok. Lots to consider and a lfs shopping trip is in order. Thanks much TankGirl.

 

[BrianNY]

Beautiful aquariums Liz. Congrats on being so successful. Now even I may have to try one. *LOL*

 

[Felf]

i had a natural tank without even realizing it was something special until i started seeing more and more people trying it. my sister's 3 gal eclipse has no filter because i kept getting shocked from it so i got pissed and threw it away...shortly afterward i put some stem plants (not sure the names) just to see if they'd grow and sure enough they consumed the tank within 2 weeks.

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks, Brian! You should try it, maybe your 120?

Felf - that's exactly what I am talking about - is it the tank in your sig? That reminds me, I need to get some shrimp in there.

 

[Guest]

Good job on the tank. 10 gallon tanks are like 9.00 at walmart, and all you need to do is buy a hood for it. (or a veratop) add some lights over top it, and heat the water. Based on your pics, I might have to try this sometime. It looks fairly easy to setup and very pretty none the less!
-Stewie

 

[TankGirl]

Very easy, and I already had the substrate lying around. The lighting is key, with this tank having a standard 10gal strip light retrofitted with an AHSupply.com 2x13w PC kit.

 

[Guest]

TG,
Do you happen to have any java moss in that tank? I currently have a 10 gallon guppy tank that is doing amazingly well. (filtered naturally) But the center piece of my tank is a plastic piece of fake coral that i've wrapped java moss around to make it appear as a "bush". My guppies love to browse off it. I feed them a decent amount 3 times a day, but yet they still seem to pick at it and trim it for me naturally. I've heard with higher wpg the javamoss might be rough looking. Currenty my tank parameters are as follows (according to liquid test last night)
ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
PH: 7.4

Currently have (i know its over stocked, but everything is in good balance) 14 guppies all varying in size, a crowntail/veil tail betta, and a 2 inch dwarf pleco (thats all the bigger he's going to get).
My plants include:
Java moss, anacharis, a tiny piece of hornwort (4 inches) and some foxtail looking plants. Do you think with my load that i would be able to just unplug the filter, unhook the hagen CO2 setup, and just dose ferts accordingly? I don't want the tank to go all downhill and get everything out of balance. The tank has been set up for 3 months now, and i've had most of the fish in it since day 1. (just had a VERY minimal cycle) since i jump started it from another tank and put plants in it. I've heard smaller tanks can get completely out of whack real easy. So since everything is in balance, should I try it on this tank, or just go get another tank and try it with that one? This is a very interesting concept to me, and i'd like to try it, but need your opinions on if I should try it with the tank I have now, why or why not, or a new tank, why or why not.
Thanks so much.
-Stewie

Edit: by starting a new tank, assume i'd go with the ah supply 2x 13 watt bright kit.

 

[TankGirl]

Stewie-
Sounds like a great tank to try it with, but what kind of lighting do you have, and how densely is the tank planted? You'll need at least 2wpg and about 75% of the tank planted, with vigorously growing plants. Once you do unplug it watch closely for signs of gasping at the surface, and if that does happen I'd remove the pleco and see if that helps. I quit using all ferts in my tank, as the plants are able to get what they need from the water column and what collects on the substrate. I try not to suction up any gunk during water changes (~50% once a week).

I do have a very large clump of java fern in the center back of the pic, resting on the driftwood, which is showing some brown because I turned the clump around to the opposite side when I replanted it, as it was not attached to anything and the part against the back glass was browning a bit in the 5gal. It should green up in a week or so. The Endler's fry love the java fern, and they hide in there when need be.

 

[Guest]

TG,
As of now, I have a standard 15 watt NO flourescent bulb, with a 30" light strip (20 watt Flour bulb) in the front of my tank thats on for ~ 6 hrs a day, the 15 watt bulb is on for 12. I don't know how much of an effect the 20 watt bulb would be, but I figured since i have the back and sides of my tank covered with construction paper, at least some of the light would get in. My anacharis seems to really like it. All the new shoots are bending towards the fixture thats sitting on the desk infront of the tank. So add it all up and technically its 3.5 wpg, but i'd say even if some of the light got in (since its not directly above the tank, but at an awarkward angle) i'd say probably somewhere between the 2-2.5 wpg mark.
Thanks for reminding about pleco. I know they seem to like alot of oxygen, and current to boot. I just "borrowed" him from one of my girlfriends tanks since the front of the tank where the 20 watt bulb was, was starting to get algae on the glass, which he had clean that night.
I might try it with this tank, and If I don't, I"ll buy a new 10 gallon or so to try it in. Thanks for the answers, and I didn't mean to kind of hijack your thread. Your's looks very nice.
-Stewie

 

[TankGirl]

No problem, Stewie, I was hoping to inspire some interest in the natural aquarium approach, so I hope you'll try it and post your experiences too, since I still very new to this and have more to learn. I was really sold on it when suddenly the plants took off and filled up the tank in a relatively short time, since things had stayed pretty much the same for almost a year until "The Great Unplugging."

I was a nervous wreck when I did it, so part of posting about it is just expressing my relief that it is working out.

 

[czcz]

so pretty...