Long Time Lurker, Fish Tank Help Please

Hello Everyone,

I have been lurking on this forum for a few years now. I kept fish and RCS for about 10 years growing up. Went to college and forgot about it for a while. Now that I am graduated and have my own place, I have become interested again in keeping fish. I recently set up an 8g long (JBJ Desktop) aquarium with live plants. I cycled the tank over 8 weeks and currently have water parameters of 6.8ph 0/0/10(nitrates). This is my first low tech planted aquarium, my previous fish keeping was without live plants. I have attached pictures below.

I originally was thinking of going with one betta and trying some RCS. However, in my obsessive research, I became enamored with Ember Tetras. Went to a great LFS and they only had two embers in stock so I bought them along with a nerve snail (they will call me next week when next shipment of embers comes in). One of them has colored up well and the other is still adjusting. They have really gone to town eating the copepods and deritrius worms in my tank. I like watching them, they are little hunters in this tank and seem to be happy so far. I had originally bought an amano shrimp but he got stuck in the filter and died over a weekend I was not home. I have a couple of questions I would like to get your opinions on.

1. Aquascaping - Plant list; 2 Amazon Swords, 1 Anubias, 2 Java Ferns, Amazon Frogbit. I have 2 amazon swords in the back left (hard to see behind the driftwood) and back right. Both of these plants have been sending out a new leaf every 1-2 days. In my novice experience with live plants they seem to be doing well. Interestingly, one plant seems to send off thinner leaves while the other sword sends out new leaves that are fatter and wider. Is this a cause for concern? I also have some anubias (front left) that has sent not sent out new leaves but seems to be doing okay. I am using fluvial stratum substrate. Additionally, I have amazon frog bit growing as a floater. It has multiplied from 2 mother plants to ~15 leaves total in 8 weeks. dosing 1x per week with API Leaf Zone. I am still not getting the beautiful long roots that I want. My other main question is, what do you recommend for improving the aquascape? I wanted to go for a mix of a jungle/island aquascape with the driftwood. I really like how the wood looks with the plants but I am open to your suggestions.

2. Algae - As you can see from the pictures of the driftwood and plants. I have some sort of dark grey/black algae that is growing on my driftwood (heavily) and plant leaves. I also have some diatoms on my glass but I know that is common with newer tanks. I have about a 10 hour photo period per day. I also suspect that this may be "dust" from the light fluvial stratum substrate. Does anyone have any insight on what this might be? The nerite has helped some with the algae but not an appreciable amount. If it makes any difference, the amano made some great progress on whatever it is before he got stuck in the filter.

3. Stocking - I really am liking the ember tetras, especially once they color up. I am planning on having a total school of 8-10 embers. I am totally fine with having just a school of these guys in the tank but I am curious if I could add a larger, centerpiece fish, in addition to the school. I am considering still doing a betta or dwarf south/central american cichlid

Sorry for the long post, that's enough for now. Please see pictures below.

 

I suggest you get to a group of 6 ember teras and leave it at that for best results.
If you wanted to try a female betta it is a possibility

 

An 8 gallon / 30 litres will look to full with any other centerpiece fish .Even if you could make it work with multiple water changes each week? . Ember tetras are a Beautiful peaceful species on their own. In time when the tank is a little more established you could add cherry shrimp?

I am going to suggest 10 embers as a maximum but think 8 should be OK ?

Cut the light time down to 7 hours. Increasing to a maximum of 8 perhaps in the future.?

The Java fern is slow growing. Fast growing Plants with their leaves in the air will help more with removing nutrients. Pothos is an easy plant to use.
Just the roots ( without any dirt ) go straight into the water.

You just need to add a bit more time. It’s early days yet.
Edit
I see the back of the tank has no backing. Pothos can be left to run wild behind the tank eventually giving a green background.

 

We were all lurkers.
Nice start.
Agree on the background. I use black mat board.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the responses so far, I agree that a background is next on the list of upgrades. Any thoughts on algae?

 

Update: Increased the school of embers up to 8. Water params still holding constant. Algae is still an issue I have not been able to fix even with significantly decreased lighting.

 

I have to say the "pest" snails have done a better job cleaning algae than any "ornamental" snails I have had. They keep the little plant leaves clean. My Amanos and Cherries do a good job too. I know Ottocinclus do a grand job but once the algae is gone they are harder to feed than most fish. A lot of people have a hard time keeping them alive in the first place it seems.

 

Just on the frogbit question, I would have thought it likely that the long roots grow in search of, and to maximise access to, nutrients from the water column. If you're adding fertilizer to the water, it is easily getting more than what it needs with little effort, so no need to send out long roots. (Just an educated guess as a keen gardener/plant person but beginner aquarist!)

 

Wanted to provide an update. Mods, please feel free to move this to an aquarium builds/pictures if that would be more appropriate. Still working on adding a background that I like to the tank.

Stocking
Added 6 RCS ~6 weeks ago to try them out. I really like them, unfortunately they do not seem to like me too much. I have confirmed 2 dead, and believe 2 to be MIA (likely dead). On the bright side, I still have one male and one female left (who is berried). They have stuck around for the past few weeks and multiple water changes, hoping that this pair may re-start the colony, but if not I will not be too disappointed. I have decided to add a betta (arriving tomorrow, I understand it may hunt the RCS or any potential shrimplets). My water parameters have been very stable, and I used Aq Advisor to help decide if that would increase the bioload too much. Should be about ~70% stocked according to them and I do not plan to add anything else. No fish have been lost to date.

Final Stocking: 8 Ember Tetras, 2 RCS (for now), 1 HMPK Betta, 1 Nerite Snail

Plants
I have seen great improvement in plant growth and reduced algae in the tank. I think they are a major contributor to helping keep my water parameters stable. The swords have really started to fill in the background of the tank. Anubias has grown well and sprouted two new leaves. The Frogbit has multiplied quickly and began growing longer roots. I like the look of the frogbit and hope it continues to thrive. Java ferns have had mediocre growth but provide good cover in the middle of the tank. Plant suggestions welcome.

Anyways, please enjoy some pictures of the tank now . I think it is cool to how much it has changed since the OP. Always a work in progress and open to comments/criticism from you experts.

 

Update: Added betta. So far so good. He has largely left his tank mates alone. Unfortunately, I just noticed some baby RCS in the tank, guess my pair bred. I am not hopeful he will be able to resist eating them but time shall tell. Hopefully a few survive.

 

Update: Added betta. So far so good. He has largely left his tank mates alone. Unfortunately, I just noticed some baby RCS in the tank, guess my pair bred. I am not hopeful he will be able to resist eating them but time shall tell. Hopefully a few survive.

I have loads of shrimp breeding in my 40 gallon with cardinal tetra glowlight tetra and honey gourami with no issues. So long as you have plenty of hiding space(plants, moss, cholla wood etc) you shouldn't have an issue. Rcs are cheap enough you could always try again if it doesn't work out. Tank looks great btw!

 

As an update, my shrimp seem to have gone nocturnal. I will spot maybe a couple per week if I look really hard (different ones). I know they are still alive because I find their molts of various sizes periodically. Not sure how many are left but they may have adapted to becoming more active at night to avoid the betta? Any ideas? No fish losses to report as of yet thankfully.

 

As an update, my shrimp seem to have gone nocturnal. I will spot maybe a couple per week if I look really hard (different ones). I know they are still alive because I find their molts of various sizes periodically. Not sure how many are left but they may have adapted to becoming more active at night to avoid the betta? Any ideas? No fish losses to report as of yet thankfully.

Honestly, and i can't stress this enough, more foreground plants like dwarf sagitaria or mosses like java moss will help them feel more comfortable showing them selves. Your betta will appreciate more plants as well. The more hiding spots there are, the more comfortable the shrimp will be. Cholla wood helps as well as it provides 3 things for shrimp. 1. hard surface hiding area the fish can't get to.
2. A place for them to safely molt and make bebehs.
3. Surface area for them to forage for algae and biofilm.

Mine are out all day long mostly because if they need to get away, there is always something for them to hide In, under or around.

 

Yeah, you've got some great plants as noted, but consider something dense like java fern or hornwort (and a bit of cholla) where they can feel safe. I think they are acting more fearful than nocturnal.

 

Yeah, you've got some great plants as noted, but consider something dense like java fern or hornwort (and a bit of cholla) where they can feel safe. I think they are acting more fearful than nocturnal.

Thank you, I do have java fern in there. the roots create a bit of covers around the base of the "wood island". That provides some heavy cover, but I may need to look into some more dense ground cover from what it sounds like.

 

Unfortunately, my betta passed away this weekend. I was gone for 5 days and found him when I got back. He was acting a bit weird the week before I left, had stopped blowing bubble nests when normally he maintained a massive one in-between water changes. Not sure what happened as I have been keeping up with water changes, testing the water, and my embers and snail all survived the trip. Back to the drawing board, sad to lose him but need to decide if I want another betta or go with a different route.