I just had a 20 high tank come open - bare bottomed, cycled, currently housing a small horde of marble sized mystery snails to keep it cycled. It's got a bubble wand a heater and 2 HOB filters, and a pile of rocks that I think are some sort of Feldspar (and so kick the hardness up a bit.)
My LFS has Lamprologus multifascitus for sale, $7 each. Good price? I was thinking of laying a layer of argonite sand and 8 or a dozen escargot shells and then getting six youngish multis and letting them do their thing. So to the questions:
Are there any other fish I might consider adding to this? I am not concerned with biotoping here, so if some sort of mexican livebearer turns out to need roughly the same water, I'll surely entertain the idea.
Would it be better to skip the argonite and go with silica sand and use Tanganika buffer?
Will I need to get the mystery snails out of there first, or can I let them grow out a bit more?
Thinking of tying some java-fern into those rocks. Good idea? Hows about planting some vals in the sand? Dwarf Sags? If it's a digging problem, I can shift bits of the rockpile to keep the roots covered.
Should I ditch the bubbler?
Will a pair of smallish (Topfin 20 with a bio sponge and the equivalent old style Penguin without the biowheel) filters make too much current?
Food: Will these guys accept flake? Frozen foods? Any they particularly like? I generally keep 3 or four kinds of flake around and frozen brine, mysis, daphnia, cyclops, bloodworms, glassworms, baby brine, and chopped krill.
This tank sits in the window of my study (North facing). Will these guys do allright without putting on a background? I'd rather get what minimal sunlight in the tank that I can for plants.
Thanks.
My LFS has Lamprologus multifascitus for sale, $7 each. Good price? I was thinking of laying a layer of argonite sand and 8 or a dozen escargot shells and then getting six youngish multis and letting them do their thing. So to the questions:
Are there any other fish I might consider adding to this? I am not concerned with biotoping here, so if some sort of mexican livebearer turns out to need roughly the same water, I'll surely entertain the idea.
Would it be better to skip the argonite and go with silica sand and use Tanganika buffer?
Will I need to get the mystery snails out of there first, or can I let them grow out a bit more?
Thinking of tying some java-fern into those rocks. Good idea? Hows about planting some vals in the sand? Dwarf Sags? If it's a digging problem, I can shift bits of the rockpile to keep the roots covered.
Should I ditch the bubbler?
Will a pair of smallish (Topfin 20 with a bio sponge and the equivalent old style Penguin without the biowheel) filters make too much current?
Food: Will these guys accept flake? Frozen foods? Any they particularly like? I generally keep 3 or four kinds of flake around and frozen brine, mysis, daphnia, cyclops, bloodworms, glassworms, baby brine, and chopped krill.
This tank sits in the window of my study (North facing). Will these guys do allright without putting on a background? I'd rather get what minimal sunlight in the tank that I can for plants.
Thanks.
