New tank journal

Good news! I got home today and had 0 readings for ammonia and nitrite! All of the fish seem happy and healthy. If things remain stable through the weekend, I'm planning to get a few more fish to add. The kid thinks the neons are pretty and I feel bad having just 2 of them in there, so I'll probably get 3 or 4 more of them. I'm also going to start looking around locally for some panda cories to add.

I also ordered a couple of bunches of dwarf chain swords which should be in in the next few days, so there will be a bit more green to add as well.
 
Awesome to hear! Definitely need more neons :)

Panda cories are great, nice tiny little fellas.

Cant wait to see the chain swords, ive been on lookout for some for one of my tanks.
 
Sounds like a great start!

Instead of chain swords & dwarf sag (they're very similar), how about some crypts in a couple colors of wendtii? Red, bronze or mi oya are pretty & easy to grow.

How old is "the kid" ? Shrimp can be fun & come in colors too. Neocaridina are easy in any color red, blue or yellow...green might blend into the plants.
 
I've definitely got my eye out for more crypts. I've got a few in there now, and would love to get some more for variety. My understanding is that the chain swords would get a bit taller than the dwarf sag. I was thinking to put the swords in the back and sag in the front and make kind of a grassy field in the center of the tank

I would love to put some rcs in there, but idk how they would do with the neons. Wouldn't the neons eat them?

My daughter is 15. She's interested in the tank but doesn't really have any experience yet. I'm trying to use this to teach her a bit about how to keep fish properly.
 
Thanks for the link, doesnt work for me tho :/ most likely cause im in Canada.

Neons and rcs should be fine together. I have 8 celestial pearl danios in my shrimp tank , and they are roughly same size as neons. Perhaps a hair smaller. I also have a male betta in there and no issues.
 
Yeah, neons "may" pick off a few very tiny shrimplets but cannot eat adult (or almost) juveniles, especially with plants.

I gifted a ~13-14 year old niece a 10g shrimp tank several years ago. She loved it...until drivers ed, lol. Yeah, teenagers (shrug). Still, I think we both enjoyed her experience while it lasted.
 
What kind of filter came with the tank? Can you just move the media to whatever filter you want to use?

Don't forget about quarantining, especially if you are teaching an impressionable teenager AND trying to hook your soon to be wife into the hobby. Nothing turns someone off a hobby faster than problems and watching living things suffering.

Also make sure you remove the weights off the plants or they can strangle/irritate them eventually.

How have you never owned a pleco!? That was literally my first fish lol. You'll love them.

RCS can be housed with small fish just don't expect a ton of babies to survive. Add fine plants (or just LOTS of them) or cholla wood for the shrimplets to hide in.
 
^Agreed! Plecos are awesome, my bristlenose is by far one of my fave fish :)

Just to add, lots of moss is great for shrimplets as well. I have all kinds swimming around in my xmas and java moss , so cool to see!
 
I think I'm going to wait until the tank is more mature and heavily planted to add any shrimp. It's good to know that they will be able to go in though... I had given up on the idea.

I was never really into plecos, so I just never picked one up. The bristlenose seems pretty cool though. I'm thinking of naming him Elvis because I don't really get to see him much; just a quick sighting every now and again that no one else sees. =)

Java moss is definitely on the list of stuff that I'm looking for. I've got a plan to wrap it around some of the ends of the driftwood.

The filter that came with the tank is an Aquatech 40. It doesn't really have bio-media per se. It has a red, hard-plastic plate that's supposed to serve the same purpose. The plate is non-porous so I don't think it will do a good job of hosting bacteria, and it won't fit in the AC filter. I put a bag of Aquaclear bo-media in that filter to help seed that, as well as in the Aqua-clear filter I put on along side. Once I'm convinced that everything is stable and healthy (and I get the new o-ring in) I'll be setting up my Eheim canister with the bag of AC media I put in the Aquatech filter.

The only plants I have the weights still on are the 2 java ferns in the back left corner. I'm going to take the off as soon as I can find a piece of hard-scape to attach them to. I'm thinking of getting some small pvc pipes to use as caves for when I eventually put the RCS in. So I'll probably attach them to that along with some java moss and put that whole shebang in the back left corner.
 
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