Post-Apocalyptic Tank Build

Okay, so after reading over Wardonianfungus 's thread ( Polluted tank build? | Freshwater Aquarium Builds 437637 ) I kind of want to try something similar.... but whereas their aI'm is "Polluted natural stream" I kinda want to do like post-apocolytpic/toxic waste/alien tank kinda thing. (If someone suggests mutant ninja turtles I swear). I have definitely also taken a few of the below ideas from the thread mentioned... sorry
I will not be able to do this for quite a while probably, but here's what I've been brainstorming:

20 Gallon Long Tank (Have)
Black water

Decor:
Driftwood - more than 1 piece, dark in color?
Indian Almond Leaves (Leaf Litter) (Have)
Various broken bottles + cans? PVC pipes?
--- epoxy sealed and sanded so not sharp
Substrate: black sand? White sand?
No rocks? Or I have some medium size smooth black ones?

Plants:
Red root floaters (Have)
sußwassertang?
Aponogeton capuroniI and/or something similar shaped like Aponogeton ulvaceus?
Bucephalandra black tears?
Aponogeton Madagascar?

Critters:
1 Betta Mahachaiensis (Have)
3-4 KuhlI Loach (Have) (Add to #?)
2 Albino Cory (Have) (Add to #?)
1 Pepper Cory (Have) (Add to #? If I add would just put all peppers in a different tank - Or can he hang with the albinos? He is rn and seems fine)

Horned Nerite Snails?
I’d say Glass catfish but I think the minimum is 30 gallons right?
Glassfish [instead]?
Glofish’s green and/or orange Danios (if I can find, and would they be okay at 78?)
Some blind cave tetra? (78 too warm?)
Pencilfish?

Maybe a goby? I know nothing about them but they’re weird and alien-looking sometimes? Though I think only a few are freshwater, right?
I wish Birchir and ropefish didn’t get so big - they’re fun looking lol
Shrimp may be cool but I have no experience/interest in keeping them at the moment - they’re too freaky for me


Now I'm definitely not saying I want to put all that in there, nor that all that is compatible. I would, however, like to put my wild betta in at least, I think. He's chill. But hopefully you all get kinda the idea of what I'm going for/thinking of. What do you guys think? Suggestions? Compatibility (Are there any I should nix right now?)? Ideas?

(Wild Betta for reference on what he looks like rn:

)

 

Happy to see this lol. I think add some more albinos cories, maybe a few peppered to show some kind of mutation (not sure what kind of post apocalyptic your talking about). I love the ideas of Kuhlis in these kinds of tanks. Nerites are cool, and maybe add some rams once you’re start laying eggs. Some amano/ghost shrimp would be cool looking in this tank, and they’re both cheap, and hardy. Happy to what people come up with in this thread as well as mine

 

Happy to see this lol. I think add some more albinos cories, maybe a few peppered to show some kind of mutation (not sure what kind of post apocalyptic your talking about). I love the ideas of Kuhlis in these kinds of tanks. Nerites are cool, and maybe add some rams once you’re start laying eggs. Some amano/ghost shrimp would be cool looking in this tank, and they’re both cheap, and hardy. Happy to what people come up with in this thread as well as mine

I'm glad you're happy about it lol - but we can/should totally share ideas!
Hmm... What if it was like 4 albino 2 pepper? Think they'd all get on okay? That'd look more like a mutation than if I did 50/50
And yeah! I already have the kuhlis, black would look cooler but mine are striped (Easier to see at least lol) but they're pleasantly wormy and eel-like regardless
Now that I'm thinking about it, the blue ramshorn might actually look pretty cool in there too, depending on the fish
Like I said, not experienced with shrimp. I guess I could look into them tho

Edit: There is some kind of shrimp at my LFS that are kinda cute, though very snack sized... but sure of the type. They're black with like blue stripes on them

 

Turtles. Teen ago mutant perhaps. Um yea pizza so.....

 

Turtles. Teen ago mutant perhaps. Um yea pizza so.....

Shhhhhhhhh noooo

 

I'm glad you're happy about it lol - but we can/should totally share ideas!
Hmm... What if it was like 4 albino 2 pepper? Think they'd all get on okay? That'd look more like a mutation than if I did 50/50
And yeah! I already have the kuhlis, black would look cooler but mine are striped (Easier to see at least lol) but they're pleasantly wormy and eel-like regardless
Now that I'm thinking about it, the blue ramshorn might actually look pretty cool in there too, depending on the fish
Like I said, not experienced with shrimp. I guess I could look into them tho

Edit: There is some kind of shrimp at my LFS that are kinda cute, though very snack sized... but sure of the type. They're black with like blue stripes on them

Yeah, 2:1 is a good ratio. They’ll be nice but usually won’t shoal together as if they were the same type. I don’t think your LFS shrimp are Neocaridina, so they’d be harder to start with. Ghost, amano, and cherries are hardy and need next to no special treatment, but I’d start with the see through shrimp because they’re cheaper, so you can get a feel for them, and see how your stocking will react to shrimp

 

Yeah, 2:1 is a good ratio. They’ll be nice but usually won’t shoal together as if they were the same type. I don’t think your LFS shrimp are Neocaridina, so they’d be harder to start with. Ghost, amano, and cherries are hardy and need next to no special treatment, but I’d start with the see through shrimp because they’re cheaper, so you can get a feel for them, and see how your stocking will react to shrimp

The one pepper sticks with the two albinos rn, but yeah maybe I'll do the 2:1

Like I said, no idea what the ones at the LFS are, but they're the only shrimp I've ever seen and been like "Oh they're cute" lol (Still wouldn't get them, not for this). I could look into amanos more, I guess. Like I said, they're kinda too freaky for me to deal with sometime lol

 

It all comes down to preference, I personally like shrimp, and if my version of this tank starts to fail, I plan on starting a cherry shrimp colony

 

Okay, so I was thinking more about what fish to put in. I came up with a list of fish that I feel might be a tad overstocked, this allows us to adjust down rather than speculate up
It goes # of fish, name, temperature range, where in the tank it’s likely to be




The reason there’s a range of numbers for the Kuhlis is because I am unsure if I have 3 or 4 - I see three regularly though. And the reason I have a range for the cave tetra is while they’re a schooling fish so 6 would be proper, that’s a lot and I’ve read they can get quite big (I do have a larger tank to move them should they start to outgrow this one). Also they’re blind, so I’m not too sure how well they’ll know how many of themselves there are or if the other fish are the same as them or not (I.e. would they school with like the glassfish?).
Also, with the Danios in particular, there’s no common temperature, but would 76 hack it? It’s close to the lower end of the range for some, and higher for other, but it might work fine - some people have tried it it sounds like.

Thoughts? This is obviously just the very start of planning this still and I really don’t want to overstock in the end

 

I have no clue on the overstocking, but the blind tetras I would think along similar lines, and they would look cool in this tank. Just not sure about how big they get, but if you have a spare tank, that shouldn’t be much of a problem. The only thing is that the nerites mainly eat algae, so too many would end up starving themselves

 

I have no clue on the overstocking, but the blind tetras I would think along similar lines, and they would look cool in this tank. Just not sure about how big they get, but if you have a spare tank, that shouldn’t be much of a problem. The only thing is that the nerites mainly eat algae, so too many would end up starving themselves

Yeah I should’ve mentioned I put X cause I was too lazy to look up if the place I like buying snails from sells in groups of 3 or 4. I keep mainly nerite snails

 

Glassfish would look awesome in there, and I think ghost shrimp would look cool too if you're willing to try them. You could also go to Petsmart and look at their aquarium decoration options, they have some really cool ones that might look nice in there. You could do black sand, or even black gravel? Show us a picture when you're done with the tank, it sounds awesome!

 

Glassfish would look awesome in there, and I think ghost shrimp would look cool too if you're willing to try them. You could also go to Petsmart and look at their aquarium decoration options, they have some really cool ones that might look nice in there. You could do black sand, or even black gravel? Show us a picture when you're done with the tank, it sounds awesome!

Ghost shrimp would be interesting, I will likely go look at them in the store and see if I can stand them lol
And I have spent wayyyy too much time in petsmart looking at their decor lol, I’ll definitely check them out for stuff for this tank at some point - any particular recommendations?
Your vote is black sand then? I was kinda torn with what color to do (Probably would prefer to do sand as gravel can be rough on my kuhlis and corys, and potentially the cave tetras in I get them)
And don’t worry about a picture - I’ll keep you all updated as I keep working on it

Also, was contemplating add these (either color, haven’t decided):
Green stones
Blue Stones
However, while they are marketed for aquarium gravel - do you guys think it would be safe? If it is, I think a few of the larger chunks piles up or dropped around could add an interesting affect - like if they were toxic or something (Also not saying I’d buy those specific ones, just that’s the page I stumbled across first)

It was brought up earlier “What kind of apocalypse was it” and I wasn't quite sure at the time. Now I’m thinking nuclear warfare, which caused weird mutations lol

 

You could also do glass catfish, they look really really cool. I vote black sand You could maybe do one of the tree root decorations from Petsmart?

 

Green cherry shrimp would be cool if you could source them, and tolerate them. Would be a cool setup for the new glofish betta, but I see you've already got a betta for it.

 

Okay, just making sure that you know.

 

You could also do glass catfish, they look really really cool. I vote black sand You could maybe do one of the tree root decorations from Petsmart?

Glass catfish were on my potential list, but their minimum is 30 gallons and they need a school of 6, and they’re more delicate than the glassfish, so between the two options I though glassfish would be better.
Though often my LFS only has 1 of the glass catfish in at a time, and when I’m setting this up, if they happen to have only 1, I may pick it up, as I think it’d probably be happier with a school of glassfish than by itself.
Or I suppose I could do this in my 29 gallon, then I think I could maybe do schools of all four? Glassfish, Glass catfish, Danios, and Cave Tetras. However I’d kinda wanted to try a goldfish tank in the 29...

as for the tree root decor - maybe I’ll look for real driftwood roots? That’d help with the blackwater

Green cherry shrimp would be cool if you could source them, and tolerate them. Would be a cool setup for the new glofish betta, but I see you've already got a betta for it.

Those shrimp do look like they’d fit the tank theme perfectly and add some color, but OH MY GOSH THEY’RE SO FREAKY I’m sorry lol (maybe, I’ll look into them more too)
As for the glofish betta, if I have a fluorescing betta it’ll be one I’ve made myself for my senior thesis lol - I don’t intend to buy one from that company. For now I’m gonna plan on the mahachaiensis being in there tho

edit: just occurred to me - what if I made a fluorescing mahachaiensis?! That shape with the fluorescing would be awesome!

Other stocking option:
I have this one black long skirt tetra (used to have school, they slowly died off and now I have this guy left, and I’m not interested in more). I could put him in if you guys think he’d school with the glassfish/cave tetras? Right now he either follows my female bettas around (they get annoyed eventually and chase him off, hence the ratty-ness with his fins) or kind of schools with my barbs (fin nippers, also lends to the ratty-ness). Neither are super great options for him, and if he was in with glassfish in this new tank, maybe it'd be like the albino/pepper corys with the “mutation vs natural color” idea we discussed earlier? He might be happier in there too

The Tetra (please excuse the algae):

 

If he is getting nipped in the current tank, it would definitely be better for him in the new one, but I don’t know if he’ll hang out with your other fish, maybe the tetras but this guy can see, so that might be an issue with food out competition

 

If he is getting nipped in the current tank, it would definitely be better for him in the new one, but I don’t know if he’ll hang out with your other fish, maybe the tetras but this guy can see, so that might be an issue with food out competition

I can always try it, if it doesn’t work I can move him back. (The one he’s in is currently the only/best tank he could be in I have. Also don’t go feel bad for him, he can be quite a bully in his own right and often brings the nipping on himself lol)

 

I know how that works, my friend had to rehome the 3” rainbow shark, so my tetras and mollies of course go over and bother it, only to get chased or nipped at

 

What if instead of my mahachaiensis I put one of these guys in there? I’ve been drooling over them for a while and was thinking about getting one (Whether or not it would go in this tank). Which do you all think would go with the theme better?

 

The link didn’t work. Can you post a picture of your maha. to compare, and trip load the link?

 

The link didn’t work. Can you post a picture of your maha. to compare, and trip load the link?

Huh, sorry, I’ll see if this works:

Pics of the maha:

 

I like your bettas coloring better

 

I like your bettas coloring better

The link worked then?
And you think mine would look better in this tank?

 

The link worked then?
And you think mine would look better in this tank?

Now that I rewatched the video, I like both of them. The Facebook betta has the really cool yellow on black, but your betta has the uneven spread of toxic colored scales. It more comes down to which kind of colored decor you have. If you go with a darker theme, I think that your betta would be better, but if you go with a balanced, or brighter theme, the Face book betta would be cool.

 

About the waste aspect, several public aquaria here have done polluted tanks on porpuse to showcase that. Most did saltwater, but maybe this can help give you ideas. Just skip the interview parts.

 

Following!

 

About the waste aspect, several public aquaria here have done polluted tanks on porpuse to showcase that. Most did saltwater, but maybe this can help give you ideas. Just skip the interview parts.

Wow! Those are cool (and sad)
Wardonianfungus did you see this too? I was actually going to leave you a comment already, my mother suggested last night that you should put in one of those six pack can holders, with all the ring - that’s look good for the pollution aspect

Now that I rewatched the video, I like both of them. The Facebook betta has the really cool yellow on black, but your betta has the uneven spread of toxic colored scales. It more comes down to which kind of colored decor you have. If you go with a darker theme, I think that your betta would be better, but if you go with a balanced, or brighter theme, the Face book betta would be cool.

Fair enough, I guess we can just play it by ear

 

Yeah, the six pack rings are a great idea! I got a kind of useful link in my thread, it can give you a few ideas of what to put in, but most of the thread is just trying to make the OP feel bad about it.

 

City background possibilities (as discussed on polluted tank thread)
Thoughts?

 

I like the half natural ground and the alien backgrounds. Especially if you end up putting rams horn snails, the alien would look cool

 

I like the half natural ground and the alien backgrounds. Especially if you end up putting rams horn snails, the alien would look cool

Ooo yes didn’t think about the rams having the same shaped shells lol

AqAdvisor is finally working for me again!!
I tested out a couple different stocking scenarios:

1. Full Schools for everything (Albeit two types of corys, but so far mine are getting along so I think it'd be fine.) and moving the Tetra over



2. Full Schools for everything (Albeit two types of corys, but so far mine are getting along so I think it'd be fine.) and not moving the Tetra over




3. Full schools of new things, but not buffing the existing numbers (with Tetra)



4. Full schools of new things, but not buffing the existing numbers (without Tetra)



5. What I was thinking with Tetra



6. What I was thinking without Tetra



7. Minimal with Tetra



8. Minimal without Tetra



Each Scenario is overstocked, but I can deal with that, if it's just a little bit. I'm more worried about over crowding. Thoughts? Other Options? I could cut one of the schooling fish (Not corys or kuhlis as I already have some), but I think they'd come together nice for the look of the tank with all 3. Like I said, I could use my 29 gallon, but I did have other plans for that.

Also, Betta mahachaiensis wasn't an option but Smaragdina is close enough for this, and ik it's not super accurate anywho

Edit: Replace s with smaller ones

 

My thoughts on over crowding:
Betta: top to upper mid
Glo fish: mid
Tetras:mid
Cories: bottom
Loach: bottom
Glass fish:???
I don’t know where the glass fish live, or how big they get, but I think that your stocking should be fine since you’re doing a long. I think that max 8 fish species with them occupying different levels like, 1-2 (usually the top), 3-4 (usually mid), and 2 (usually bottom). I know that kind of confusing, but I hope that you understand what I’m trying to say.

 

My thoughts on over crowding:
Betta: top to upper mid
Glo fish: mid
Tetras:mid
Cories: bottom
Loach: bottom
Glass fish:???
I don’t know where the glass fish live, or how big they get, but I think that your stocking should be fine since you’re doing a long. I think that max 8 fish species with them occupying different levels like, 1-2 (usually the top), 3-4 (usually mid), and 2 (usually bottom). I know that kind of confusing, but I hope that you understand what I’m trying to say.

Yeah I get you, in the thing I posted before, I had found that people said glassfish tended to range over the whole tank, though the ones I see at my LFS (Dyed - so I wouldn't get them) hang right along the top, and I think they'll get about the same size as my tetra.
(Reposting the pic I mentioned:

 

Also, was contemplating add these (either color, haven’t decided):
Green stones
Blue Stones
However, while they are marketed for aquarium gravel - do you guys think it would be safe? If it is, I think a few of the larger chunks piles up or dropped around could add an interesting affect - like if they were toxic or something (Also not saying I’d buy those specific ones, just that’s the page I stumbled across first)

It was brought up earlier “What kind of apocalypse was it” and I wasn't quite sure at the time. Now I’m thinking nuclear warfare, which caused weird mutations lol

The green stones would look especially cool if they were "spilling" out of some kind of tipped over nuclear waste container..

MopanI wood comes in really interesting root-like shapes.

29 gallons is a bit small for goldfish, unless you are only planning on only getting 1 or 2.

 

Happy that someone can kind of understand what I try to say. I don’t think you’ll be overcrowded, maybe a little hectic towards the middle, but again, since you have the long tank, that’ll be distributed over a larger area

 

The green stones would look especially cool if they were "spilling" out of some kind of tipped over nuclear waste container..

MopanI wood comes in really interesting root-like shapes.

29 gallons is a bit small for goldfish, unless you are only planning on only getting 1 or 2.

That's what I was thinking for the stones! I was definitely leaning towards the green cause they'd match the danios!

I did realize that's what it was called, but petco carries MopanI wood - and I actually have a piece in the tank I was gonna tear down to move the fish into the 20 long! I was thinking I'd move the two pieces in there over

As for the goldfish, I was following another thread and thought I'd try something similar (I won't go to much into detail here, so we don't get too off topic) but I was going to do 2 (young) fancys, maybe a ramshorn snail, it'd be very heavily planted, and have a filter for 55 gallons on there, along with a small sponge filter in the opposite corner. I think that should be okay

Happy that someone can kind of understand what I try to say. I don’t think you’ll be overcrowded, maybe a little hectic towards the middle, but again, since you have the long tank, that’ll be distributed over a larger area

Yeah, I think it should be okay...


I threw all my ideas together into a google doc anyone can take a look at if you're so inclined. I find having pictures of all the things together gives a better idea of what the tank will look like as a whole... I may also try and draw out the scape idea when I get some more free time
Post Apocalyptic Tank

 

I

That's what I was thinking for the stones! I was definitely leaning towards the green cause they'd match the danios!

I did realize that's what it was called, but petco carries MopanI wood - and I actually have a piece in the tank I was gonna tear down to move the fish into the 20 long! I was thinking I'd move the two pieces in there over

As for the goldfish, I was following another thread and thought I'd try something similar (I won't go to much into detail here, so we don't get too off topic) but I was going to do 2 (young) fancys, maybe a ramshorn snail, it'd be very heavily planted, and have a filter for 55 gallons on there, along with a small sponge filter in the opposite corner. I think that should be okay



Yeah, I think it should be okay...


I threw all my ideas together into a google doc anyone can take a look at if you're so inclined. I find having pictures of all the things together gives a better idea of what the tank will look like as a whole... I may also try and draw out the scape idea when I get some more free time
Post Apocalyptic Tank

I'm going to take your idea, create a google doc, and draw as well, even though I have zero skill

 

I'm going to take your idea, create a google doc, and draw as well, even though I have zero skill

Heck yeah totally do, visualization is a great too

Also, if I didn't think my mother would flay me I'd be tempted to do this in a 40 breeder to give the fish more room y'know?