10 Gallon Tank Dual 10g Project Tank Journal

Can we get pictures pleaaasseeee

Of the potato lily? It's ready buried

Glad to see some interest though, I can definitely post some pics soon. The last ones I posted are pretty recent. Can't really take a pic now with the water black like coffee

 

I'm off for a week so I will post some pics soon

The planted 10g looks amazing now, but the pencilfish biotope has failed. I get my information from Seriouslyfish and their recommendations stated that a colony of N. Beckfordi would be fine in a 10g tank. After much deliberation it seems that the absolute minimum tank size for these guys is 20g and no less.

I came home today to find half of my pencilfish pale as printer paper with the 1 remaining male relentlessly attacking. I even reduced the ratio to 1M/4F last week and it seems I only made things worse. Even with the insane amount of cover I provided it seems that 10g is just too darned small.

So I'm welcoming new ideas! gonna tear down the blackwater or keep it running and stock croakers or something. I think the pencilfish will need to be rehomed unfortunately

 

Did a good cleaning on the planted side and this is what it looks like today. I decided to try the pencils out in this tank to see if the completely different environment helps or not. Also, it seems that Special Kitty non clumping unscented sodium montmorillonite has a buffering capacity that I didn't know about. After changing all the water in the Blackwater side out with distilled with pH 5.5 and waiting a few weeks it seems that the pH is still 7.4 lol. Not sure what I'll do with it but I'll figure it out.

Oh and check out that lily, no idea what kind it is since I pulled it from a lake but it's really thriving

 

Came home from work to find some of my plants melting. Did some investigating and turns out my heater failed in the 'on' position. The filter on the blackwater side had also stopped and it was never the greatest filter so I decided to buy a new heater and move the dwarf gourami I had quarantining in the blackwater over to the planted side with the pencils. Guess what? The females colored up almost immediately and the males stopped harassing them. They've spent the day shoaling together peacefully while the dwarf gourami plays in the current and nibbles at staghorn. These little fish make no sense whatsoever but I'm glad its working for now anyways

 

Well, if the goal of these project tanks is to learn something then I definitely accomplished that. The dwarf gourami has been living peacefully with the pencilfish and there's almost 0 aggression between the pencils now. I made a mistake with that lily though. All the ones at my local lake now have pads 14" wide. The one I put it my tank sucked everything out, even with ferts, and choked out the other plants. Even the duckweed died

So the planted side doesnt look fantastic right now, and the Blackwater side is empty because 10g is just too small for a Blackwater biotope.

Might finally set my 40B up.. I have it all scaped out and everything but never filled it. I'm kind of in limbo with this project so I'll post an update when I decide what I'm doing. Might even just set up another 20H (my favorite tank size) and transfer the pencils/dg over

 

More bad news.. the dwarf gourami had some internal parasites, bloating, little bit of dropsy starting

I dewormed 2x with flubendazole and all was well

Came home today to find one of my honeys near death in another tank and the DG in my 10 has questionable looking poop again

I put the honey into the Q tank and dewormed everything again for good measure... this is the 3rd time deworming the dwarf gourami though, so if this doesn't work I'll have to accept the loss. Flubendazole is the only medication available to me

The honey will likely die.. looks pineconed and struggling to stay off the substrate.. the other fish should all be okay though. I think I caught it in time

And the 10g planted side is now over run with diatoms and looks absolutely horrible. Like an inch of algae and mulm covering everything.. this is all despite regular maintenance and good filtration. Every 10g tank I start ends up like this somehow

Will post updates on losses
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Update:

GAAAAAH

Found two pencilfish fry in the Q tank

This is after I took out all of the duckweed and got it ready for the sick honey

I probably threw a bunch of fry out without knowing

Now the remaining fry are sitting in there with a sick fish and have been exposed to medication

Man.

 

Well I lost the dwarf gourami and the honey gourami

Turns out my instructions weren't clear so my wife wasn't feeding them enough while I was gone. Stress from improper nutrition combined with our recent heat wave and my AC being down probably did them in.

In other news, I have pencilfish fry now. The blackwater has been running empty for quite awhile with no heater and no water changes. No clue how or why they're there now

I'm not home atm but I'm hoping that the flubendazole didn't kill the fry. We will see. At least I know that my pencilfish can and will spawn in the type of setup I created for them

This Monday or Tuesday I will be putting my 7 pencilfish from the planted side into a bucket and completely restarting. I'm going to try a new substrate. Maybe Tropica. Will post results

Project is still running for now

 

The one pencilfish fry is still swimming around doing his thing so I'll keep that tank running as a grow out.

I ordered everything I need to completely restart the planted 10g. Cost less than 200 but still felt it obviously. I was going to give up but then I didn't

New plants: hygrophila rosanverig, limnophila sessiflora, cryptocoryne 'Kompact", Amazon frogbit

Keeping the driftwood but excel/peroxide dipping it to remove the staghorn

Bought some dragonstone, sand, root tabs, a small cave

Will post results

 

Found 2 fry this morning so there are likely more hiding in the leaf litter. One is much larger/darker than the other so I may have more than one batch in there

Not sure what to do. Looking back on my post history it seems these guys have been living in an unheated tank with no water changes for over 1 month now. I feel like doing a water change now would do more harm then good. Advice anyone?

 

Alright here's the new setup. First time using sand and I have to say I'm impressed with how easy it is to work with

I went with a 30 GPH nano filter combined with a small sponge. I wanted more even filtration and not too strong. The sponge is on a 40g pump with a limiter so I can adjust it up if need be

The hygro came in looking pretty rough but the other plants are very nice. Hopefully it recovers

Excuse the slight cloudiness, just filled it last night

And I'm going to stock a pair of peacock gobies as well. New project idea

 

Pleased to hear things are beginning to turn in the right direction for you.

 

Pleased to hear things are beginning to turn in the right direction for you.

All I had to do was tear it down and restart lol

All good though. At least the pencils are healthy. They were happier than pigs in mud in their filthy gross tank but I couldn't look at it anymore

 

Those peacock gudgeons will like the sand. They like to lay on the bottom sometimes, even on my gravel!

 

Those peacock gudgeons will like the sand. They like to lay on the bottom sometimes, even on my gravel!

Nice. That's good to know. I think the pencils will make good dither fish for them. How picky are yours? I was thinking I could reconstitute freeze dried copepods for them as a substitute for frozen or live. I hate working with that stuff

 

Nice. That's good to know. I think the pencils will make good dither fish for them. How picky are yours? I was thinking I could reconstitute freeze dried copepods for them as a substitute for frozen or live. I hate working with that stuff

Mine eat flakes, pellets, frozen, pretty much whatever i put in! Have seen them go after zuchinni as well, but the plecos chase everything off from that.

 

Mine eat flakes, pellets, frozen, pretty much whatever i put in! Have seen them go after zuchinni as well, but the plecos chase everything off from that.

Nice! Hopefully mine aren't picky then

Pencilfish fry shot:

 

Nice! Hopefully mine aren't picky then

Pencilfish fry shot:

View attachment 803140

Since most in the hobby are captive bred, i think it is becoming less of an issue. Even my fry haven't had problems eating flakes and nano pellets.

 

Since most in the hobby are captive bred, i think it is becoming less of an issue. Even my fry haven't had problems eating flakes and nano pellets.

Ah yes I forgot about that. Awesome. I have fry food but no nano pellets, that is a good idea. I'll order some if they don't take to the earthworm flakes and freeze-dried foods I normally feed.

I hope that cave is big enough for them. It was labeled as a small pleco cave but the opening is only 1 inch x 3/4 inch :/

 

Ah yes I forgot about that. Awesome. I have fry food but no nano pellets, that is a good idea. I'll order some if they don't take to the earthworm flakes and freeze-dried foods I normally feed.

I hope that cave is big enough for them. It was labeled as a small pleco cave but the opening is only 1 inch x 3/4 inch :/

Don't think my watering spikes are much bigger than that at the opening. Should be fine.

 

Came home after 96 hours of work and was expecting to do some maintenance. Nope. Tank is looking just gorgeous. I removed a few melted leaves and sucked up a bit of poop and that was it




The pencilfish are looking great. They seem really happy with their new home. Which is fantastic. I think I have them figured out now




And the hygro rosanverig is getting pink already! If I can get it to stop being so leggy it'll look amazing. Overall I'm happy with these plants... minimal melt and they're doing great. The limnophila has a dead patch at the back where you can't see it but I'll thin it out in a couple days. It likely won't be noticeable

 

Came home after 96 hours of work and was expecting to do some maintenance. Nope. Tank is looking just gorgeous. I removed a few melted leaves and sucked up a bit of poop and that was it

View attachment 803677

The pencilfish are looking great. They seem really happy with their new home. Which is fantastic. I think I have them figured out now

View attachment 803678

And the hygro rosanverig is getting pink already! If I can get it to stop being so leggy it'll look amazing. Overall I'm happy with these plants... minimal melt and they're doing great. The limnophila has a dead patch at the back where you can't see it but I'll thin it out in a couple days. It likely won't be noticeable

View attachment 803679

Glad to hear things are finally getting better for you, Pfrozen! Your Pencilfish look very happy in their tank, great work friend.

 

Whew, I've worked nearly every day 24H straight since last month finally got home and did a bit of maintenance on the planted side. I'll probably have to purchase a nerite for the diatoms but it isn't bad at all. I introduced one of my 2 pencilfish fry and he made his way right to the limnophila. The adults haven't noticed and he's too big to eat at just under 1 cm so I'm sure he will be okay in there. Unlike most fish these guys are super easy to sex- I can say with 90% certainty that the fry are 1M/1F

I have to clean the Blackwater side pretty thoroughly but as soon as that's done I'll reintroduce a pair of pencils and see what happens. Now that I know the aggression only happens during mating I'll be able to observe their behavior with more knowledge and remove the adults at the appropriate time. I got 2 fry last time but N. Beckfordi lay up to 75 eggs

 

That fry is pretty bold. Every now and then he swims out like "hey guys, what's up?" And gets chased back into the plants

Placed an order for 10 cherries, a pair of peacock gobies, and 1 spixi snail. Should be here tomorrow

 

That fry is pretty bold. Every now and then he swims out like "hey guys, what's up?" And gets chased back into the plants

Placed an order for 10 cherries, a pair of peacock gobies, and 1 spixi snail. Should be here tomorrow

Can't wait for those gudgies! Curious if they will be big enough to sex.

 

Can't wait for those gudgies! Curious if they will be big enough to sex.

They were sexed but they couldn't offer any guarantee. Let's hope!

 

Gudgies came in nice. The female has nipped fins from transit but they're both colorful and healthy. So the stocking is now:

2 peacock gudgeons
7 Beckford's pencilfish (+1 fry)
10 RCS
1 Spixi snail

I have some diatoms now but hoping that the new cleanup crew will help

 

Gudgies came in nice. The female has nipped fins from transit but they're both colorful and healthy. So the stocking is now:

2 peacock gudgeons
7 Beckford's pencilfish (+1 fry)
10 RCS
1 Spixi snail

I have some diatoms now but hoping that the new cleanup crew will help

View attachment 805956View attachment 805957

So did they send a male and female gudgie?

 

So did they send a male and female gudgie?

Yup it looks like I have a definite male and female pair

 

Yup it looks like I have a definite male and female pair

Pretty easy to ID when you know what to look for

 

Pretty easy to ID when you know what to look for

Tbh I didn't really look into it much, I could be wrong lol. I asked for a pair from the supplier though

I do see that the two I received are very different so that's good. The one I think is female has smaller fins overall, is slimmer, and has that light black stripe across her analfin. The one I think is male is larger, has larger fins and features, and no stripe

 

Tbh I didn't really look into it much, I could be wrong lol. I asked for a pair from the supplier though

I do see that the two I received are very different so that's good. The one I think is female has smaller fins overall, is slimmer, and has that light black stripe across her analfin. The one I think is male is larger, has larger fins and features, and no stripe

The males will also generally get a little hump on their head.

 

The males will also generally get a little hump on their head.

These guys are adolescent, no hump on either but it won't worry me until they get a bit bigger

 

These guys are adolescent, no hump on either but it won't worry me until they get a bit bigger

I will gdt some pics later to show you to make it easier!

 

I will gdt some pics later to show you to make it easier!

Thank you, that would be helpful lol. I hope they do alright with the pencilfish. So far the pencilfish are being a bit aggressive but they are sometimes like that at first. If I have any issues I'll just move the gudgies into my 20H which is just stocked with honey gourami and otos and tons of cover/caves

 

Thank you, that would be helpful lol. I hope they do alright with the pencilfish. So far the pencilfish are being a bit aggressive but they are sometimes like that at first. If I have any issues I'll just move the gudgies into my 20H which is just stocked with honey gourami and otos and tons of cover/caves

They weren't being super cooperative but lets see what we got.

This is one of my males. Even though blurry, you can kind of see the hump above his eye, which makes the head look more rounded.



This is one of the females. The head is more stream-lined, and the belly is larger and round.

 

They weren't being super cooperative but lets see what we got.

This is one of my males. Even though blurry, you can kind of see the hump above his eye, which makes the head look more rounded.
View attachment 806035

This is one of the females. The head is more stream-lined, and the belly is larger and round.
View attachment 806036

Awesome, I can see the differences pretty clearly in those pics. Thanks!

I guess mine are too young to tell for sure but we'll see soon enough. No humps or large bellies yet

 

Awesome, I can see the differences pretty clearly in those pics. Thanks!

I guess mine are too young to tell for sure but we'll see soon enough. No humps or large bellies yet

I think i had to wait a month or two after i got mine to positively ID all 7.

 

Came home from a 4 day stretch and the tank is cleaner than when I left seems the cleanup crew is doing its job. All 10 shrimp and the snail are doing great as are the new gobies

Spixi snails are fantastic btw, they eat pest snails, dead/dying plants, algae, etc. Without touching anything healthy. I didn't have to do anything with the plants this week

The fish are all tolerating each other. Looks like this project is going to work out! It's basically a semi-aggressive nano community. I added the perfect amount of cover this time

The female goby had some nipped fins in transit but she's healing nicely. No physical injuries on any of the other fish. Looks like the pencils are breeding

Plants are growing in nicely. H. rosanverig is a weird plant but I like it so far

My next order of business is to cover the sponge filter with a dwarf lily. That's it!





Nipped female above. Fins are a bit better and you can see eggs developing

Almost forgot, the pencil fry is doing great with the adults and I moved the 2nd one in with him

 

Guess I should explain what I learned about these pencils it turns out that the Blackwater setup I had for them was in fact ideal... my mistake came from trying to colony breed them. The females pale out during spawning and they were constantly spawning when they were in the other tank

The Blackwater is now clear from sitting so long and looks very similar to the locality from which they're collected... I need to run out and buy a new filter today but I am going to keep the Blackwater side running and this time actually breed 1M and 1F. I will remove the pair as soon as I see one spawn

For now I have no other definite plans. My gudgeons will eventually spawn so using it as a grow out tank is a possibility as well. The pencils cannot predate fry but they certainly can peck them to death. This stocking is certainly unique so we will see!

 

Just a tip: make sure you have a cave you can remove for the gudgeon fry. Dad has a tendency to eat the eggs halfway through, so what i did was remove the cave from the tank after about 5 days or so and ran an airstone in the cave to simulate the fanning of the eggs. Had a pretty high hatch rate so far.