Thought I would start this now in order to ease some of the anxiety of getting the tank itself setup. :grinyes:
Fauna:
? x Elassoma sp. (pygmy sunfish)
? x L. ommata (pygmy killie)
As of right now numbers will depend on availability. Hopefully I can get a single male and some females of the sunfish to get some good breeding going right away.
Flora:
Vallisneria americana
Cabomba caroliniana
Bacopa caroliniana
Ludwigia repens
Micranthemum umbrosum (depending on space)
Eleocharis acicularis (depending on space)
Sagittaria subulata
*undecided "floater"* please see my thread in the planted section for help choosing!
It's going to be HEAVILY planted, as you can tell.
Substrate is going to be a soil base capped with some silica sand. Will be an interesting experiment as I have never worked with soil in an aquarium before.
Lighting will probably come down to an old incandescent hood (topfin bran maybe?) with some daylight CFLs screwed in instead. Probably will go low tech and just dose some flourish comp and excel every so often. I think I still have some dry ferts sitting around somewhere too if I need to target dose.
I am going to try and get a blackworm colony going as well as the Elassoma seem to relish them.
Otherwise it will be unheated and filtered, as of know, via a small sponge filter. The experts at NANFA have been talking me into going Walstad but I am not sure how up to that I am. I guess I am too traditional...
Anyways the plan for tomorrow is to clean out the tank, possibly paint the background, and get the soil/sand ready. As of right now I am going to start the "cycle" now and transfer everything to school before getting the fish. So much easier that way. The plants on the other hand may be a different story as I doubt I will be able to watch a virtually empty tank for very long!
Fauna:
? x Elassoma sp. (pygmy sunfish)
? x L. ommata (pygmy killie)
As of right now numbers will depend on availability. Hopefully I can get a single male and some females of the sunfish to get some good breeding going right away.
Flora:
Vallisneria americana
Cabomba caroliniana
Bacopa caroliniana
Ludwigia repens
Micranthemum umbrosum (depending on space)
Eleocharis acicularis (depending on space)
Sagittaria subulata
*undecided "floater"* please see my thread in the planted section for help choosing!
It's going to be HEAVILY planted, as you can tell.
Substrate is going to be a soil base capped with some silica sand. Will be an interesting experiment as I have never worked with soil in an aquarium before.
Lighting will probably come down to an old incandescent hood (topfin bran maybe?) with some daylight CFLs screwed in instead. Probably will go low tech and just dose some flourish comp and excel every so often. I think I still have some dry ferts sitting around somewhere too if I need to target dose.
I am going to try and get a blackworm colony going as well as the Elassoma seem to relish them.
Otherwise it will be unheated and filtered, as of know, via a small sponge filter. The experts at NANFA have been talking me into going Walstad but I am not sure how up to that I am. I guess I am too traditional...
Anyways the plan for tomorrow is to clean out the tank, possibly paint the background, and get the soil/sand ready. As of right now I am going to start the "cycle" now and transfer everything to school before getting the fish. So much easier that way. The plants on the other hand may be a different story as I doubt I will be able to watch a virtually empty tank for very long!