Jkkgron2’s First planted tank build

Hi everyone! I recently remodeled my 10 gallon and turned it into a planted tank! I only have a male betta in there right now but the tank is divided and I’ve ordered a few guppies to go in the other half of the tank . I also have two nerite snails to help with the algae



So far the plants I have are: 3 very small amazon swords, dwarf hair grass, chain swords, a crypt wendtii, a Java fern, and some moss balls. I might get a few more if the hair grass or chain swords end up dying off. Probably another small plant. The ferts I’m using are thriveC (2 squirts a week) and the lighting I’m using is a combination of natural light and the hygger full spectrum light. The substrate is black diamond blasting sand.

This tank is mostly going to be used for breeding guppies just for fun, but I’ll be selling a few of them to my LFS. Also, I will be adding some of the fry to my 20g once I can tell whether they’re male or female. I might eventually get shrimp but the tank isn’t established enough for them yet.

A few pics of my betta and the tank! These pics were taken mid water change so the waters a bit low.

 

Hi everyone! I recently remodeled my 10 gallon and turned it into a planted tank! I only have a male betta in there right now but the tank is divided and I’ve ordered a few guppies to go in the other half of the tank . I also have two nerite snails to help with the algae



So far the plants I have are: 3 very small amazon swords, dwarf hair grass, chain swords, a crypt wendtii, a Java fern, and some moss balls. I might get a few more if the hair grass or chain swords end up dying off. Probably another small plant. The ferts I’m using are thriveC (2 squirts a week) and the lighting I’m using is a combination of natural light and the hygger full spectrum light. The substrate is black diamond blasting sand.

This tank is mostly going to be used for breeding guppies just for fun, but I’ll be selling a few of them to my LFS. Also, I will be adding some of the fry to my 20g once I can tell whether they’re male or female. I might eventually get shrimp but the tank isn’t established enough for them yet.

A few pics of my betta and the tank! These pics were taken mid water change so the waters a bit low.
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Beautiful so far! Great job

Just a heads up, dwarf hairgrass has a very hard time growing without added c02. If it's working for you, you're doing a very good job!

 

Beautiful so far! Great job

Just a heads up, dwarf hairgrass has a very hard time growing without added c02. If it's working for you, you're doing a very good job!

Thanks! It hasn’t melted or shown signs of lack of nutrients so I’m hopeful. I think I even saw some new growth! Tbh I didn’t realize it needed c02 to grow well until I got home but, hey, it’s doing well so no complaints there!

 

I just realized those pictures are outdated! After I took those I added some water wisteria and moved some stuff around. Algae is starting to go nuts so I’m thinking I’m going to reduce the light time. Here’s a updated picture of the tank

 

Got the guppies! No DOA’s but four arrived with what looks to be a bacterial or fungal infection. The ones that looked healthy, however, are beautiful! In the 10g I have four females and two males. I think two females are a blue-gray color and the other two seem to have a yellow and orange blend on their tails. One male is pretty much all yellow with a bit of blue and the other is a mix of orange, red, pink, gray, and blue. Here are a few pictures of the healthy ones. Do you guys see anything wrong with them?

 

Got the guppies! No DOA’s but four arrived with what looks to be a bacterial or fungal infection. The ones that looked healthy, however, are beautiful! In the 10g I have four females and two males. I think two females are a blue-gray color and the other two seem to have a yellow and orange blend on their tails. One male is pretty much all yellow with a bit of blue and the other is a mix of orange, red, pink, gray, and blue. Here are a few pictures of the healthy ones. Do you guys see anything wrong with them?
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They look pretty good to me! Pretty guppies!

 

They look pretty good to me! Pretty guppies!

Great! I love the look of them to I especially love my smallest male who has a HUGE tail!

 

They look pretty good to me! Pretty guppies!

Unfortunately I think one more of them has the infection. It’s the female with the red tail. Looking back on the pictures I can see a bit of the white on her, just less. It looks very very minor but I’m still going to remove her into my 3g quarantine (I’m doing daily water changes and parameter checks) to be safe. I’m think of treating with furan-2 and kanaplex in the 3 gallon. Hopefully none of the other fish get infected.

 

Turns out all the guppies were infected, the bacteria is fast moving like columnaris but I don’t think it is Columnaris, it looks a bit different. I’m still using the same siphon on all the tanks but I’m rinsing it out before I start every week and I’m doing the guppy tank last to prevent spread so hopefully it hasn’t spread to any tanks.

I’m not seeing any response to treatment so I’m considering euthanasia for Some of them since the bacteria isn’t going away. So far I’ve lost six and I think that three of the ones that are alive will make it, maybe all four.

If worst comes to worst and none make it I think I’m going to be getting some shrimp or a betta to go in it.

On a better note, most of the plants are doing great! I’m seeing new growth on the water wisteria and dwarf hairgrass daily, and the crypt hasn’t melted to much. The amazon swords are doing ok but I don’t think the chain swords are looking so good. Today I’m going to try getting the baby Java ferns off the leaves since they’ve developed a rizome (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and most have 1-2 leaves. Here are some pics

 

Aww, that sucks about the guppies.

Mine also came with a bacteria, columnaris I suspect but mine fought through it, their demise was them ultimately jumping out.

 

Aww, that sucks about the guppies.

Mine also came with a bacteria, columnaris I suspect but mine fought through it, their demise was them ultimately jumping out.

Yeah, I don’t any of them are gonna make it now. Another one just passed .
I’m also fairly certain one of my blood fin tetras has mouth rot in my 55 but it’s to fast to catch without tearing apart the tank . It’s far enough along that it didn’t come from the guppies but atleast I bought meds for the guppies.
Do you think I should euthanize them? None are doing good and I’ve already tried treating them.

 

Yeah, I don’t any of them are gonna make it now. Another one just passed .
I’m also fairly certain one of my blood fin tetras has mouth rot in my 55 but it’s to fast to catch without tearing apart the tank . It’s far enough along that it didn’t come from the guppies but atleast I bought meds for the guppies.
Do you think I should euthanize them? None are doing good and I’ve already tried treating them.

How far along are they? I managed to catch mine early and put them in a QT tank..

Whatever it is I would suggest isolating the diseased fish so if they die unnoticed the other fish will not nibble at the body and become infected.

 

How far along are they? I managed to catch mine early and put them in a QT tank..

Whatever it is I would suggest isolating the diseased fish so if they die unnoticed the other fish will not nibble at the body and become infected.

All but one are showing white patches on their body that definitely weren’t there when I got them. I’m not sure if your talking about the tetra or guppies but I’ve tried to remove the tetra and all I’ve succeeded in doing was freaking out my angelfish. He’s just to fast. I’ll keep trying but if you have any tips please share

 

Well, only two of the guppies are still alive and ones not looking so good . Now, I’m thinking of putting a pair of peacock gudgeons in there instead. No pics right now but the hairgrass is still growing very quick, so is the water wisteria. The swords aren’t looking to good. Some of the leaves are covered in algae. Yesterday I found a pest snail and it’s really cute! Then I found another.. and another.. and another hilarious lol so I think I have an infestation now.

 

Well more pest snails have come... I officially have an invasion ! Hair algae has also come but it’s not very bad, and, luckily, I had decided to make it very low flow on one end so there’s pretty much no hair algae there and I’m just removing it whenever it starts to get in big clumps.
I asked trins fish if they could send me a male and female peacock gudgeon and I’m waiting on a response, hopefully they have both in stock! I’ll Edit in pictures later, I haven’t taken any today so far.

 

Unfortunately I couldn’t get any gudgeons . Everywhere near me was out of stock. I ended up getting 4 orange Sakura shrimp from Petco and 3/4 seem healthy. The other has a big white patch on its back so I’m think that one will be isolated. I’m temp acclimating right now and I’m going to pour in some of the tank water 5 minutes before I net them out Of the container.

 

I believe shrimp need drip acclamation?

 

I believe shrimp need drip acclamation?

Yeah they do but I didn’t have the stuff to do it on hand. They came from a pet store very close to me so they were already acclimated to similar parameters so I figured it was ok. However, I’m thinking these may be golden bee shrimp, one of them has a very white area (I’m pretty sure it’s coloration not disease) on its back almost like an extended saddle and I read that golden bee shrimp look exactly like this when they’re young. richiep what do you think? These pics aren’t the best but should give you a somewhat good view.

 

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Yeah they do but I didn’t have the stuff to do it on hand. They came from a pet store very close to me so they were already acclimated to similar parameters so I figured it was ok. However, I’m thinking these may be golden bee shrimp, one of them has a very white area (I’m pretty sure it’s coloration not disease) on its back almost like an extended saddle and I read that golden bee shrimp look exactly like this when they’re young. richiep what do you think? These pics aren’t the best but should give you a somewhat good view.
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What I'm looking at are more like Sakura yellow

 

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What I'm looking at are more like Sakura yellow

Thanks for the quick reply ! 3 of them look exactly like that just a lower grade. It’s the one in the first and third picture that doesn’t look the same. It has more of the white saddle color than the rest. It does look like it’s coloration judging by how it’s in a pattern but it just doesn’t look like the rest. It’s almost as if it’s top half is white and the bottom is the normal yellow? I’m not seeing any change in behavior and it can still move normally.

 

Can you get a closer photo

 

Can you get a closer photo

These aren’t the best but they wouldn’t get any closer.
If you want I can try and get a few better ones later once they come out more.



Those two are of the Shrimp with the white patch on it


This one is pretty blurry but it seems like it doesn’t have a stripe? Do all yellow sakuras have a stripe?

Edit: I just managed to get a close up of the one that doesn’t have a stripe. It’s still acting fine and can move so I don’t think it’s muscular necrosis? It definitely has a different colored body than the others.

 

richiep is this close enough? This is the one without a stripe. Does it look ok?

 

Its the same shrimp but without the strip, not all will get it but all her offspring may have it

 

Ok that’s good to know . The only place I can buy shrimp from without paying $10+ per shrimp is Petco so I was a bit nervous about buying from them. Hopefully I got males and females so they breed. Thanks for the help!!

 

From what I've seen members showing off shrimp from petco are of good quality and those yellows look nice

 

From what I've seen members showing off shrimp from petco are of good quality and those yellows look nice

That’s great news!! I might just get some cherries next time I’m over there if these guys don’t end up breeding. How long do you think it’ll be until one of them becomes berries (if I have males and females) ?

 

Size wise they look ready to breed but they start from 5 months

 

Size wise they look ready to breed but they start from 5 months

Perfect! Hopefully I start seeing some berried shrimp soon!

 

Update: I did a water change of about 30% and the shrimp all seemed good right afterwards but then I woke up and ones dead ? Maybe I changed to much ? I added in more ferts after the water change so could those have shocked them ? Only one is dead and it was the smallest one so it might’ve been less healthy.

I’m going to go get some cherry shrimp from Petco today or tomorrow. I know that they’ll probably end up breeding together and I’ll get wild types but I prefer watching their behavior more than trying to get a certain color. Two are missing but I think they’re hanging out on the moss ball under the filter.


The water wisteria is doing great and I think the dwarf hairgrass is doing good? I’m noticing a bit of growth reduction but I think that’s just because I didn’t add fertilizers when I should’ve since the water change was a few days later.

 

Things can sometimes take a little time to settle, loosing one is no big deal just dont do anything drastic like putting in extra ferts if you missed any, thats just an example

 

Things can sometimes take a little time to settle, loosing one is no big deal just dont do anything drastic like putting in extra ferts if you missed any, thats just an example

I put in the same amount (2 squirts for a 10g) as always. Should I remove the shrimp? I can’t imagine it would cause a huge ammonia spike and it’s in a tricky spot to get out.
Im hoping to go today because then it will give the new shrimp more time (3-4 days vs. 2 days) to adjust to the water before I do a water change. The cherries at Petco weren’t that red but I think I spotted two males and a female so atleast I would be able to start a colony if that female got berried.

 

No dont take them out my point is just to keep it simple not to shock them, this is a very important part of looking after shrimp knowledge gained here will help you in the future

 

Got the guppies! No DOA’s but four arrived with what looks to be a bacterial or fungal infection. The ones that looked healthy, however, are beautiful! In the 10g I have four females and two males. I think two females are a blue-gray color and the other two seem to have a yellow and orange blend on their tails. One male is pretty much all yellow with a bit of blue and the other is a mix of orange, red, pink, gray, and blue. Here are a few pictures of the healthy ones. Do you guys see anything wrong with them?
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They are looking NICE!

 

No dont take them out my point is just to keep it simple not to shock them, this is a very important part of looking after shrimp knowledge gained here will help you in the future

Ok, I think once I get the cherries I’ll get as many as they have and then do a 10% water change 3 days after I get them and then 2 days after that I’ll do another 10% so I’m not taking out to much at once. Does that sound good or should I do a 20% at one time?

 

Once you put the new ones in give them a week to settle theres no need for instant water changes, then do 20% but you need to get the temperature almost the same as the tank and introduce it slowly, you will get into a routine,

 

Ok, I ended up getting 8 shrimp. 4 cherry shrimp, 2 blue shrimp, and 2 black shrimp who I’m never going to find hilarious
They all look healthy and are very active! Here are a few pics of them when they weren’t exploring.

 

All the fish are doing good, I’ve seen some successful molts and only 1 dead shrimp. Aaaaand look who I got!


I had asked Petco to call me if they got one in since they aren’t all that common around here so I wanted to get one ASAP after they arrived at Petco. I still want to keep shrimp so I’m thinking about plugging the divider holes and moving all the shrimp into the betta side. Right now the gudgeon is absolutely tiny so I don’t think it will be eating any adult shrimp (or babies because of the many hides) anytime soon. I lucked out and she ended up being a female so she should be fine with my guppy for a while until I get her a mate. I’ll be feeding her some frozen brine shrimp in a few minutes So hopefully she eats !

 

She ate the pellets! I wanted to try the pellets first just in case she ate them and she did! It took her a while so I may have added a bit to much to get her to notice them but she ate and she actually seemed eager to eat them.

 

A cherry shrimp chilling by a leaf


And my little gudgeon! She never hides now. I think keeping her with the guppy did the trick.