lilsoccakid's 5 gal bowfront planted

just got it started up, and will most likely be posting new pics every 3 or 4 days as progress continues. will be ordering a few plants on aquabid tomorrow, so it should be filling up fast!

Stats:
-5 Gallon Bowfront
-Whisper 10 Filter
-Plain Black Substrate
-15 Watt Flouresent Light for 3WPG
-Also have a 23 Watt CF lamp, but don't like the color of the light, to much yellow

Fish/Inverts (Final list, not correct at the time):
-1 Crowntail Betta
-Red Cherry Shrimp Colony (10-20)

Ferts:
-Iron Enriched Plant Fertilizer
-Soon to be Seachem Flourish and Seachem Excel

Please comment with comments and/or ways to improve, open to any ideas!

 

Its pretty! you can put shrimp w/ a betta? I would love to put some in our 5 gallon w/ our betta.

 

it looks so homey...but I did read that when the shrimp molt, sometimes they are betta snacks...

 

I love it, I just got a 5 gallon bowfront for my frog.
It's going to look really good when the plants grow in.
In the mean time, maybe something for him to swim through/hide in?

 

this is going to be an interesting experiment I am doing. I will be very safe with the shrimp, and watching very closely until I feel safe with them together. Every betta is different, so its hard to tell how mine will do. The tank is no where near as planted as it will be when I feel its safe enough for shrimp. I plan on filling the back with pellia, which shrimp love. My betta is very calm, and the only thing he will go after are faster moving fish. I tried otos, but he kept trying to catch them.



here is a picture of some
http://www.bharada.com/aquaria/40/pellia_rock.jpg

as you can see, its very thick and lush, which the shrimp like to hide in.

I will also be experimenting with the different fert levels, which I will post in the future

thank you for the suggestion Lucy
the back left corner has a little square cave-like place which he really likes. I'm trying to make my dream nano planted, while working around the bettas needs, which doesn't seem as easy as I was hoping. although at the time he is very happy with his little cave

 

My betta took to the 2 otos w/ no trouble. Which surprised me I wonder if he would be shrimp friendly?

 

I see it, behind the plant? He looks very happy exploring!

 

this is going to be an interesting experiment I am doing. I will be very safe with the shrimp, and watching very closely until I feel safe with them together. Every betta is different, so its hard to tell how mine will do. The tank is no where near as planted as it will be when I feel its safe enough for shrimp. I plan on filling the back with pellia, which shrimp love. My betta is very calm, and the only thing he will go after are faster moving fish. I tried otos, but he kept trying to catch them.



here is a picture of some
http://www.bharada.com/aquaria/40/pellia_rock.jpg

as you can see, its very thick and lush, which the shrimp like to hide in.

I will also be experimenting with the different fert levels, which I will post in the future

that looks awesome!!!!!!!!!!! goodluck with it all

 

Steveangela1- Yes I was also very suprised that he rejected the 2 otos. I am thinking it is because he has had that tank to himself for a year. When I had a couple snails in the tank, they would go around the bottom and sides and were never touched by him, which makes me wonder. I will be very delicate with this, and maybe even take him out for a short time while adding new plants/shrimp, maybe making him more accepting.

Lucy- Yes behind the micro sword and to the left of the java moss. He is a happy camper exploring his new surroundings!

Shawnie- Thanks, I really hope this one will work out!

 

Steveangela1- Yes I was also very suprised that he rejected the 2 otos. I am thinking it is because he has had that tank to himself for a year. When I had a couple snails in the tank, they would go around the bottom and sides and were never touched by him, which makes me wonder. I will be very delicate with this, and maybe even take him out for a short time while adding new plants/shrimp, maybe making him more accepting.

Lucy- Yes behind the micro sword and to the left of the java moss. He is a happy camper exploring his new surroundings!

Shawnie- Thanks, I really hope this one will work out!

Def taking him out for a little while and then reintrodcing him after the new guys are added would be a good try.

 

Cool. Let's see more pics of him.

 

I will tomorrow for sure. sorry about the poor pic quality. gunna use my dads 6MP kodak camera with an awesome zoom lens, hopefully I can get some macro shots!

UPDATE: 6-12-08

Not much to update, as the pellia order and picture with nice camera have had to be delayed. Will try to get the good pictures as soon as I can, probably tomorrow night. In the meantime, I took some pics with my bad camera. I am experiencing a biit of an algae outbreak, and am not sure how to attack it. I plan on buying seachem flourish excel, which will help a lot. Maybe some algae eating shrimp if my betta can handle not eating them! LOL. For the meantime I'm going to try using a little less fertilizer.

Also started looking for some planted aquarium substrate. My two favorites are aquasoil and eco-complete. The only problem is I only need about 8 pounds, and they don't sell it in smaller then 20lb bags, which isn't very practical. If anybody has some advice or a solution, please let me know!

Another big problem I am having is finding smaller amounts of HC (Hemianthus Callitrichoides). I have only eben able to find it in big amounts for about $50.00. I only need a little bit, and want it to spread on its own to form a carpet along the front. The middle of my tank is an attempt to be a valley, which will be easier to see when I add more substrate.

Well here are the pics, which don't at all show how nice the tank really looks. Cant wait to get some high quality pics to show off!

because my 55 gal is so understocked, I put up a divider so its about 10-15 gallons on one side and then the rest for the community. the divided side is the new home to my betta, which I'm sure he won't mind.

the 5 gallon now has 2 ghost shrimp, until I can find more ghosts or cherrys, then I will get about 20 total

 

The shrimp willbe fine when molting as long as they have a place to hide, like the pellia. I kept mine with ghost shrimp and corys and he did well with both of them.

Ultimately I think it comes down to the individual betta's temperment.

Cory

 

nice betta and nice tank. I love planted tanks
It sounds like if its going to be a great tank.
hope it is. we just have to wait now don't we.
Either way its a great tank.

 

I got a bag of shultz aqua soil at home depot I know it was under $10 the only problem with that is it is very light weight and I ended up using fluorite with it to hold the plants.

If you are having algae problems and don't have excel yet reduce the time your light is on.

If I had some HC to send you I would, all I have floating plants if you need some of them. Oh yeah a lot of java moss.

 

thansk for your comments guys, and I'm sorry for not having good pictures up yet.
The betta is way to aggresive, and I saw him hunting a shrimp 5 minutes after I put them in! he is now happy in 15 gallons of the 55 gal

as for the 5gal, ive been limiting light time, and have tried a couple different lights. I'm going to get excel ASAP to deal with the algae, and some serious aquascaping is in need

well I finally found a place with Hemianthus Callitrichoides.

I was wondering if anybody knows if this plant would be ok with priority mail flat rate?

thanks!

 

It really depends how the package it and where you live. If someone is at home that could bring the plants in the house. Right now I am not ordering any plants because it is to hot outside. I work second shift so they would most likely be outside over 10 hours.

 

well its been awile since I updated, because ive been waiting to get everything I ordered.

-I received my eco complete today, as well as my seachem flourish and excel
-I planted my HC (Dwarf Baby Tears), which took about an hour doing one stem at a time
-Now using a desk lamp with a 27 Watt 6500K CF bulb

-Cant wait for the HC to carpet in underneath the rock "bridge". want to put some hairgrass around the sides in the future, once the hc starts to take off

Comments appreciated

 

Should look nice when it grows out!

I really don't like hairgrass, didnt have good experiences with it. Don't knkow if its what your looking for but I really love Dwarf Chain Sword. Awesome plant. If you want some I can send you some.

Are you just going to let the baby tears carpet or are you adding other plants?

 

is the dwarf chain sword the same thing as "micro sword"? if so then I think that's what I'm using for the sides, and maybe pellia, or another bushier plant for the back

I'm gunna try to let the hc carpet under the bridge in the middle, but I plan on using a grass like plant on the sides, and a bushier plant along the back.

 

I'm not sure what your referring to. Lets talk scientific names. Dwarf chain sword is: echinodorus tenellus and the micro sword that I am familiar with is: lilaeopsis brasiliensis

Which one are you talking about?

 

sorry, I was thinkking that dwarf chain sword and micro sword were just different common names for the same plant. after looking at echinodorus tenellus, I see that I made an incorrect assumption.

echinodorus tenellus does look nice, and thanks for offering to ship it, I really appreciate it. I'm more going for a thinner plant look if uk wat I mean. hopefully I can find dwarf hairgrass. even though I heard its difficult, I wanna give it a try. after spending an hour planting HC stem by stem, I think I can deal with almost anything lol

 

haha good luck with whatever you pick.

You would think it would be easier to plant such a small tank but its actually very hard!

 

yea it really is. maybe when I'm older ill be more patient but I'm only 17 and sitting with tweezers for hours is really frustrating!

 

I know what you mean!

Your preaching to the choir lol. I'm fourteen and I don't know how I deal with some of the stuff. Like catching fry for hours or getting the right look in a tank for hours or picking out stock for days at a time.

To much stress for a young buck like myself haha.

Here are some plants that you might waht to look at:

Eleocharis acicularis - Dwarf Hairgrass
Riccia sp. "Dwarf"- Dwarf Riccia
Utricularia graminifolia
Riccardia chamedryfolia- MinI pellia
Pogostemon helferi

Just some suggestions! Let me know what you think!

 

thanks a lot Cory, and these all look great. The biggest problem is just finding these locally. I try to avoid online ordering as much as possible.

thanks a lot for the suggestions, ill try to find them at my LFS's

 

Good luck with that!

I've never had trouble with Aquabid so you might want to try that.

 

I would, the only problem is until next march I won't have a credit card, so I only order online occasionally

 

like the way your tank is going, should look excellent when done. I recently bought a 5 gallon bowfront . It was an amazing bargain at 85 Euros complete with filter, heater, light fixture and 3d rock background.

 

does anyone know a website where I can buy I can buy fish online and will ship to ireland?

 

please post this in your own thread, this threads for the progression of my tank.

 

does anyone know a website where I can buy I can buy fish online and will ship to ireland?

why don't u make a sepaerate thread for this question...it will get more views that way!

 

I've always been a big fan of Melon Swords (Echinodorus osiris). Mine always started real red and greened up as they grew. Real easy for my tanks too, needed just enough light as my dimmed knifefish tank put out. Cool sight with some red led lights on at night.
I also like java fern. Mainly cause it's the only thing my fish don't eat.

 

ok sorry, I will!

 

its fine, I just want you to find your information as fast as possible!

 

Update

Sorry for not posting often, between school and soccer had no time to post. I have been waiting for the HC (Or at least think its HC, was labeled HC but looks like HM to me) to grow through the tank. Its almost done, then I will be cutting out parts to form the aquascape.
I am still using DIY CO2, which is diffused through the powerhead. I also am giving excel daily and very small doses of flourish.