So I have this THREE 4' tanks lying side by side for some weeks now, took the proverbial thing out of my a**e and decided to just put something together from the substrate, compost, soil and whatever I had. Decided on a crypt dominated tank although the carpet's S. repens.
Was pleasantly surprised when after 2.5 weeks, not only had nothing melted (in this tank) but they all seemed pretty happy.
The TC pygmaea was right at home from day one.
The nevilli which I'd been keeping in another tank for around 10 months was happy from day one too.
The wild collected affinis which I'd kept in the other tank for about 6 months took a few days to perk up but there was no melting.
And now we come to these. These were TRULY amazing!!! These little TC wendtii browns lost almost all of their leaves within 2 - 3 days of planting into a plastic cup in another tank, then I took a few stems and roots (hardly any leaves left by then) and planted them in this tank. Less than 2 weeks later, new leaves! Had I not planted them myself, I wouldn't have believed that these were the 'twigs in the cup'!
Substrate is cheap potting mix with some (hopefully organic) fertilizers mixed in. I thought of leaving it uncapped at first because I have a shrimp tank with uncapped compost substrate and the water's crystal clear but my impatient side took over and I put a bit of black sand here and there. There are 20 White Cloud Mountain minnows inside which I put in after testing about 3 times on different days. Ammonia and nitrite was undetectable although it was a new tank. Used a prefilter with just filter wool and an old bag of activated carbon as a simple canister to help clear the water somewhat. It's still a bit cloudy which explains the poor photos but another big water change should help clear things up.
Was pleasantly surprised when after 2.5 weeks, not only had nothing melted (in this tank) but they all seemed pretty happy.
The TC pygmaea was right at home from day one.
The nevilli which I'd been keeping in another tank for around 10 months was happy from day one too.
The wild collected affinis which I'd kept in the other tank for about 6 months took a few days to perk up but there was no melting.
And now we come to these. These were TRULY amazing!!! These little TC wendtii browns lost almost all of their leaves within 2 - 3 days of planting into a plastic cup in another tank, then I took a few stems and roots (hardly any leaves left by then) and planted them in this tank. Less than 2 weeks later, new leaves! Had I not planted them myself, I wouldn't have believed that these were the 'twigs in the cup'!
Substrate is cheap potting mix with some (hopefully organic) fertilizers mixed in. I thought of leaving it uncapped at first because I have a shrimp tank with uncapped compost substrate and the water's crystal clear but my impatient side took over and I put a bit of black sand here and there. There are 20 White Cloud Mountain minnows inside which I put in after testing about 3 times on different days. Ammonia and nitrite was undetectable although it was a new tank. Used a prefilter with just filter wool and an old bag of activated carbon as a simple canister to help clear the water somewhat. It's still a bit cloudy which explains the poor photos but another big water change should help clear things up.
