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25 Liters - Low Tech

06/03/2017
Changed the scape a bit.
Added 2 woods I found a while ago and got finally waterlogged. They were probably roots. Wood was hard and heavy. They should last underwater. I think that price for aquarium woods it's too high, so I am trying this cheap (free) alternative. I really like their shape and hope they don't break down too fast.
I tied to the woods what remains of Microsorum 'Narrow Leaf' and Bolbitis heudelotii.
At the base of the wood a new addition: Anubias 'Petite'.
And on the left on the thin wood there's Spiky Moss. It was dying on the mesh, but thriving now, and I really like the look. It apparently likes vertical surfaces where every piece has enough light and water flow, and doesn't grow over the others like would happen on a flat surface . On the right Creeping Moss. Just there temporary and I'm being careful to not make pieces of it go everywhere, now that I have almost eradicated it from the tank. But I still want to have a little bush of it for now.
Floating Ceratophyllum demersum to remove excess of whatever it's in the water after moving all the sand.

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11/05/2017
Added more twigs with spiky moss tied to them. 3 long ones in front of the filter, and 2 shorter ones, one for each of the 2 bigger woods I already had in the central part. I put them in front of the woods so when moss starts to grow, it looks like it grows from the bigger wood, but I just have to take out the twig to prune.
I bought 2 aquarium woods that are really similar in shape to the ones I have now in the tank (found in the woods, and Black Helmet Snails are eating them). I don't know when I'll add them.

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12\092017
Changed the woods, moved plants and rocks around. Spiky Moss is growing well and I really like the shape.
Few days ago I brought back to the fish store my 2 Black\Military Helmet Nerite snails (Neritina pulligera).
They were eating my new driftwoods and consequently expelling fine wood particles over the sand, and it doesn't break down fast. I'm sad because I know that they'll probably die from starvation because their actual and\or future costumer tank will be algae free because everyone here have aquariums with a single led just to light their fake plants and will put a snail in it because it's cool but without thinking that there's no food for it.
Oh and I decided to bring them back also because they were covering everything with white eggs. They never did that until recently so I assumed they were 2 males, since they are not hermaphrodites.

Actual population:
12 Paracheirodon simulans
1 Betta splendens
2 Aplocheilichthys normanni
3 Caridina multidentata (I have them since I started this tank, in 2014!)
Some Theodoxus fluviatilis
And I just added Melanoides tuberculata to stir the sand and clean it.
I know that no one wants Malaysian Trumper Snails, but I'll keep their population checked and add Anentome helena to control them.

Actual plants in my tank:

Spiky Moss
Anubias 'Nangi'
Anubias 'Petite'
Ceratophyllum demersum
Cryptocoryne petchii 'Pink'
Cryptocoryne parva


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Update.
Sand is much more clean now, and Malaysian Trumpet Snails reproduced a lot, but they always come out from the sand at night. Theodoxus fluviatilis population is declining. Many of them have white fragile shells because I have been using ro water for a while. Melanoides have strong shells instead.
Moss is a bit too much, but I want to let it grow for now.

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And a pic of my Betta.

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Hi Stefano!

Congratulations with this scape of yours. I scrolled everything from page 1 and I feel like I was watching a movie with the different scenes everytime you change the arrangement of your plants and rocks and faunas! Haha well done though!

If you don't mind sir, I would like to know the earlier process of this tank.
How often and how much was your water change after you set it up? And did you dose this tank with ferts once a week? And lastly, when did you add a swimming buddy in there for the first time?

I'm asking these questions, because I'll set up a low tech heavy planted myself. But this will be my first time to do it without ammonia getting added and water changes constantly. I wanna do it naturally and just be patient.

Thank you,
Rodgie
 
Update.
I couldn't resist to change the scape a bit. Attached some Anubias 'Petite' to the woods, with the remains of Bolbitis heudelotii and Microsorum 'Narrow Leaf' rhizomes. I can't get them to really settle and grow.

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@Rodgie
Thank you
Here you can read about and see my tank from when I started it back in December 2015.

http://www.aquascapingworld.com/threads/25-liters-low-tech.9283/

But I just want to tell how I keep the tank now.

I change water whenever I think is necessary. I try to observe algae growth. If algae start to expand too much on the glass or on hard leaf plants like Anubias or Cryptocoryne parva, I think there could be too much wastes (and consequently nutrients in the water to feed algae instead of plants). My idea is to create a balanced system keeping nutrients low, along with giving enough light but not too much.
Algae is a really primitive way to know if water parameters are not good enough, and I never tested the water. I am not encouraging to do this, but I just don't want to spend money testing water and try to observe how things develop.

So I never fertilize or use CO2. I throw a really small amount of epsom salt every 2-3 water changes. And use a part of tap water to bring new minerals mixed with ro water when I do water changes. I am using ro-water, so salts in water are really low. Many of my snails have troubles with their shells because of that.
But since I switched from tap water to ro water mixed with tap water, everything is doing better, probably because I have more control over introduced nutrients.
 
Update.
Sorry for the ugly phone pic.
I'm not doing anything special to my tank since my last post. Just constantly changing water, trimming spiky moss, clean water.
I added Bucephalandra 'Biblis' and tied it to a rock so I can move it around if I want to. I really love it's bluish leaves. Hope it grows well and leaves stay algae free.
And I added an African dwarf frog about 2-3 months ago, you can see it right behind the front glass.

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Update. Low quality phone pic.
I didn't touch plant much, just let them grow for a while.
I just change water with reverse osmosis water when I see that algae on the glass grow too much. I never used fertilisers in the last months. Lights are on for 7 hours, but even less time would still be enough.

I'm tired of tying moss to rocks so I just push it in between other plants to keep it in place. I think it's growing habit and shape show better if "planted" this way.
Added some more Paracheirodon simulans and a new "opal" Betta, I really like its iridescent fins and black eyes contrast against the light body. Hope the damaged tail will grow back.

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Wonderful journal
I missed this until now, so fun to follow the tank from beginning :)

Do you still have the frog?

The ‘opal’ (or cellophane) Bettas have more delicate fin structure, fins should regrow in a few weeks if enough protein in diet (frozen bloodworms are great but be careful not to overfed, though the green neons should make sure that doesn’t happen ;))
 
Scape looks fantastic. Good choice in stocking as well. Only advice I have is to add some crushed stone (matching the stone you have already) in between the other crushed stones you already have. That and maybe crypt. balansae in the background (back left is a bit bare) Which is a personal opinion obviously but it looks fantastic as is tbh pretty much. Good job :)
 
The frog died few weeks ago.

Yes @alto , green neon tetras eat really fast and there's not much left for the Betta. The previous one ate faster, maybe it was used to other fish competition and this one will learn to eat faster hopefully.

@DutchMuch I found those stones in a woodland creek near where I live. It's hard to find big rocks of that dark type. Most of them are quite small. I don't want to add even smaller pieces because they wouldn't stay in place (Malaysian trumpet snails move around small rocks a lot) and I'd have to constantly search for them in the sand to put them again where I want them to stay.
I know that back left side is a bit bare but the tank is really small and filter takes too much space to plant something in front of it. I put some Anubias 'Nangi' there to try cover the filter, and hanged some moss in the upper part, so it's weeping growing habit will make that area less bare.
 
Hi Stefano,

How big are the fish in this tank? I've read that a tank this size can only hold like 1 single betta and nothing else. What size are the Paracheirodon simulans? I have a 25L tank myself that I want to add some fish to. Possibly some Endlers Guppy's. Do you think these would be OK?

Thanks
 
@Iwagumi_Scaper I've seen tanks with more guppies than water running for a long time without any apparent issue. But that doesn't mean that fish are "happy".
I think guppy are hardy fish, but don't know about endlers.
Surely my tank has too many fish, but green neon tetras have many places to hide. If they are afraid they can hide in the left side between the leaves and they disappear completely. The tank looks empty when this happens. Ahah
And betta stays in the upper part of the tank almost all the time, so it doesn't steal swimming space to neons. When it wants to rest for a while, it goes over the filter. That's also it's night sleeping spot.
Melanoides tuberculata snails eat all uneaten food, dead leaves, fish wastes, and stir the sand. Sand is much more clean since when I added them. They go on the glass at night, so even if they are a lot, the tank is not covered in snails when lights are on. Just a few crawling on the sand.
Caridina japonica are always hungry so they help cleaning everything, too. I have just 3 of them and I think that they are enough.

So from what I observed from my tank is that creating a stable environment is the most important thing if you want to keep more fish than what is recommended. I am trying to do that with plants(that provide hiding places also), water changes with just reverse osmosis water and without using fertilizer. I chose slow growing plants so they are fine in this environment.
My Paracheirodon simulans size is 2 cm. I have about 15 of them now.
Hope this helps.
 
That betta looks to be in a very bad way :sorry: have you treated for anything? I know some bettas just don't do well in community tanks... maybe he's stressed and that's why his tail never healed? Sorry, not meaning to criticise, just concerned he looks like he may not last much longer.
 
Betta is active, but fins are constantly damaged. I saw Paracheirodon simulans biting them. They didn't do that to my other bettas. It could be because of how cellophane betta fins look like, I don't know.
 
stefano-bonalume said:
Betta is active, but fins are constantly damaged. I saw Paracheirodon simulans biting them. They didn't do that to my other bettas. It could be because of how cellophane betta fins look like, I don't know.
Click to expand...

Take him out then, no?
If i compare with the first picture that fish is just slowly disappearing... He has to be active to avoid the biting i reckon...

I mean, i can't/wont comment on a scape when a tank is clearly overstocked and a betta is being eaten alive...
Sorry for that.
:(
 
I don't have another tank. I know it's sad, but I can't do anything. I didn't think this would happen, since I hadn't this problem with previous bettas.
I saw neons nipping his fins, but I'm paying more attention these days and even if I don't see neons bothering the betta, his fins are always damaged. Maybe water parameters are not good enough for cellophane betta fins to grow healthy, since they are more fragile. It's strange that green neons don't show discomfort, since they ideally need more specific water conditions, rather than bettas.
 
Speak to your LFS they may rehome him or the other fish. If not then look for someone locally, try facebook local groups or fish specific ones. Otherwise pick up a check tank second hand. Part of the responsibility of having animals is caring for them - there are solutions you just need to find one.
 
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