I have had a ten gallon for about 3 months now and am looking for any tips on it. I will post pictures on it as often as possible.
My 10 gallon aquarium
- Thread starter neontetraking
- Start date
I have an amazon sword, hornwort, and duckweed in it right now. The stocking in this is only temporary. I have 1 convict cichlid, which I am looking to try to find a home for, guppy fry, which I am trying to rehome also and 3 bronze? cory catfish.
The cory catfish are the only ones not temporary, although I might move them to my 20 gallon. If I did that I would have to buy sand for it.
What would you like to do with it once you rehome those fish? That would help with giving you pointers
Sword plants get some pretty hefty root systems. You may want to increase the depth of the sand/substrate a bit. I can't tell how deep the sand is, but you'll want at least 1.5 inches for rooted plants, and my preference is 2" or more. If I'm off-base and it's already fairly deep, cool. It just doesn't look too deep from the picture. I'd also get a few Malaysian trumpet snails, to help keep the sand from packing and creating anaerobic spots. As MTS are livebearing snails, they don't reproduce as fast as ramshorns or pond snails, and are easier to keep under control by manually removing extras and by ensuring you don't overfeed. MTS also don't typically eat plants. Any type of sand will pack over time, so you'll want to take precautions.
With the open topped set-up, you will probably see some emergent growth on the sword (which can also encourage blooming). Depending on the species, swords can range from 12" to as much as 20" inches (if I remember right) of stem/leaf growth above the ground. I know you said it's an Amazon sword, but that common name can actually be used for a number of sword species. It does look like it may be an actual Echinodorus amazonicus, though, from the shape of the leaves, and you're looking at 12"-15".
WYite
With the open topped set-up, you will probably see some emergent growth on the sword (which can also encourage blooming). Depending on the species, swords can range from 12" to as much as 20" inches (if I remember right) of stem/leaf growth above the ground. I know you said it's an Amazon sword, but that common name can actually be used for a number of sword species. It does look like it may be an actual Echinodorus amazonicus, though, from the shape of the leaves, and you're looking at 12"-15".
WYite
You will not want sand at all and certainly not over 3/4" cause it isn't beneficial to plants and will only cause problems in the long run.
But I see sand is the new goldfish in a bowl, people just want it, they had one in a bowl for xx years happy as can be, and no amount of evidence, logic or reason can change their mind. Good luck with that.
But I see sand is the new goldfish in a bowl, people just want it, they had one in a bowl for xx years happy as can be, and no amount of evidence, logic or reason can change their mind. Good luck with that.
Personally I wouldn’t even do live plants, fake ones have come a long way and look just as nice. I get the natural environment and growing aspect, I’ve kept reef tanks, but to me the reward of keeping live plants isn’t worth the effort.
Sand the new "goldfish in a bowl"? I've been using sand for decades, as have many hobbyists I know. Always in my cichlid tanks. In my more advanced planted tanks I usually have a 1 inch layer over 1.5 to 2 inches of soil, ala the Walstad method. In cichlid tanks where the soil is going to be turned over by digging cichlids, the build up of anaerobic gases is avoided due to that very digging. In tanks where it is used as a cap, root growth is usually enough to prevent anaerobic pockets, and the addition of a few burrowing snails such as MTS all but eliminates the risk. Sand is more than adequate as a substrate for val, crypts, and swords, as well as plants that develop minimal root systems such as elodea, cabomba and ceratophyllum, and again a few MTS will all but eliminate the risk of anaerobic zones. Sand and MTS will actually allow you to keep some tougher plants, such as those I mentioned, with cichlids that will turn the substrate over some but not enough to discourage all plant growth, and it does a better job IME than gravel. If you're going to explore more delicate stem plants, then yeah, you'll want a more advanced substrate, and as I said, my preferred choice is a sand cap over soil.
Anymore, the only thing I consider in absolutes is the minimum tank size required for fish, and even those are pretty well standardized across the hobby. I learned a long time ago that as soon as I state anything as an absolute, someone will come along and tell me they've had good luck doing the polar opposite. It usually comes down to how the tank is set-up and maintained.
WYite