It's been a while!

I moved to Arizona with my wife, and subsisted for a whole year with one
tank. ONE TANK!

Sadly, that state of affairs is a-changing I just finished setting up a
2.5 for my desk. I'd always wanted to do a fun tiny plant tank(sort of an
aquatic bonsai project) and I finally felt up to it. A pic is at:
http://www.emptiedout.com/2.5/
The following details are up there as well, reposted here because it's
usenet and that's just how it should be

This is a 2.5 gallon tank, with a small heater, and Aquaclear power filter,
and and a homemade hood with a 13W power compact fluorescent for lighting.

The piece of driftwood is one I have had for years, most of that time in a
box. I bought it imagining I would do something cool with it some day, and
it seems I was right. I drilled a few holes in a spare piece of
plexigless to make a base for it- the thing floats and never seems to
waterlog so this was pretty much a necessity. Being the geek I am I used
cable ties to secure it. The wood is tied with Java moss, a few small java
ferns in the back, and anubias nana and barteri var coffeefolia.

Upon much consideration, I decided the use a soil substrate. I mixed about
3 handfuls of topsoil, one handful of vermiculite, one handful of potting
soil, half a handful of peat moss, and enough water to make a nice pasty
mess. On top of that is small grain gravel bought in a local fish store.

The tank is currently planted with rotala indica, an unidentified crypt
species, an unidentified hygrophilia(I think) species, and echinodorus
tenellus. I plan to add some dwarf hairgrass for accents as soon as I can
find some locally.

Current inhabitants are 10 snails to stir the substrate and eat detritus.
Next week I will add one otocinclus affinis and one Amano shrimp for algae
control. As for fish, I am currently thinking I will add a pair of
sparkling gourami. Other contenders include a trio of featherfin
rainbowfish or a pair or trio of dwarf puffers. If you have other
suggestions for a small tank (aside from betta or paradisefish) feel free
to contact me via email or reply to this post. I want something very small
with personality.

Also in the works, a new 20 gallon to house my rambunctious red phantom
tetras. The school of them (10) feels out of place in my 55 now, and I
want to go with some dwarf cichlids in that tank(most likely apistogramma
cacatuides) and needed to free up some fishload If this 2.5 goes well I
will likely do soil in that tank as well.

This time I am stopping at three tanks. Really. No, *really*.

~Empty

Empty wrote:
It's been a while!

I moved to Arizona with my wife, and subsisted for a whole year with one
tank. ONE TANK!

Sadly, that state of affairs is a-changing I just finished setting up a
2.5 for my desk. I'd always wanted to do a fun tiny plant tank(sort of an
aquatic bonsai project) and I finally felt up to it. A pic is at:
http://www.emptiedout.com/2.5/
The following details are up there as well, reposted here because it's
usenet and that's just how it should be

This is a 2.5 gallon tank, with a small heater, and Aquaclear power filter,
and and a homemade hood with a 13W power compact fluorescent for lighting.

The piece of driftwood is one I have had for years, most of that time in a
box. I bought it imagining I would do something cool with it some day, and
it seems I was right. I drilled a few holes in a spare piece of
plexigless to make a base for it- the thing floats and never seems to
waterlog so this was pretty much a necessity. Being the geek I am I used
cable ties to secure it. The wood is tied with Java moss, a few small java
ferns in the back, and anubias nana and barteri var coffeefolia.

Upon much consideration, I decided the use a soil substrate. I mixed about
3 handfuls of topsoil, one handful of vermiculite, one handful of potting
soil, half a handful of peat moss, and enough water to make a nice pasty
mess. On top of that is small grain gravel bought in a local fish store.

The tank is currently planted with rotala indica, an unidentified crypt
species, an unidentified hygrophilia(I think) species, and echinodorus
tenellus. I plan to add some dwarf hairgrass for accents as soon as I can
find some locally.

Current inhabitants are 10 snails to stir the substrate and eat detritus.
Next week I will add one otocinclus affinis and one Amano shrimp for algae
control. As for fish, I am currently thinking I will add a pair of
sparkling gourami. Other contenders include a trio of featherfin
rainbowfish or a pair or trio of dwarf puffers. If you have other
suggestions for a small tank (aside from betta or paradisefish) feel free
to contact me via email or reply to this post. I want something very small
with personality.

Also in the works, a new 20 gallon to house my rambunctious red phantom
tetras. The school of them (10) feels out of place in my 55 now, and I
want to go with some dwarf cichlids in that tank(most likely apistogramma
cacatuides) and needed to free up some fishload If this 2.5 goes well I
will likely do soil in that tank as well.

This time I am stopping at three tanks. Really. No, *really*.

~Empty

Looks like it's going to grow out beutifully. I'm amazed you didn't
have trouble with the vermiculite floating. I made the mistake of
trying to use soil with some vermiculite in my pond, and boy was it a
mess. I have 15 watts of CF over my 2 gallon hex and it works very
nicely for green plants - it's not quite enough for reds.

I like your idea of sparkling gouramis. Other tiny fish that come to
mind are Endler's livebearers, pygmy rasboras (Bororas maculata), or
pygmy cories (C. pygmaeus). Gill has a tiny tank with some really
unusual freshwater gobies but I haven't seen anything like that on this
side of the pond.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Elaine T wrote:
Empty wrote:

It's been a while!

I moved to Arizona with my wife, and subsisted for a whole year with one
tank. ONE TANK!

Sadly, that state of affairs is a-changing I just finished setting
up a
2.5 for my desk. I'd always wanted to do a fun tiny plant tank(sort of an
aquatic bonsai project) and I finally felt up to it. A pic is at:
http://www.emptiedout.com/2.5/
The following details are up there as well, reposted here because it's
usenet and that's just how it should be

This is a 2.5 gallon tank, with a small heater, and Aquaclear power
filter, and and a homemade hood with a 13W power compact fluorescent
for lighting.

The piece of driftwood is one I have had for years, most of that time
in a box. I bought it imagining I would do something cool with it some
day, and
it seems I was right. I drilled a few holes in a spare piece of
plexigless to make a base for it- the thing floats and never seems to
waterlog so this was pretty much a necessity. Being the geek I am I used
cable ties to secure it. The wood is tied with Java moss, a few small
java
ferns in the back, and anubias nana and barteri var coffeefolia.

Upon much consideration, I decided the use a soil substrate. I mixed
about 3 handfuls of topsoil, one handful of vermiculite, one handful
of potting
soil, half a handful of peat moss, and enough water to make a nice pasty
mess. On top of that is small grain gravel bought in a local fish store.

The tank is currently planted with rotala indica, an unidentified
crypt species, an unidentified hygrophilia(I think) species, and
echinodorus
tenellus. I plan to add some dwarf hairgrass for accents as soon as I can
find some locally.

Current inhabitants are 10 snails to stir the substrate and eat detritus.
Next week I will add one otocinclus affinis and one Amano shrimp for
algae
control. As for fish, I am currently thinking I will add a pair of
sparkling gourami. Other contenders include a trio of featherfin
rainbowfish or a pair or trio of dwarf puffers. If you have other
suggestions for a small tank (aside from betta or paradisefish) feel free
to contact me via email or reply to this post. I want something very
small
with personality.

Also in the works, a new 20 gallon to house my rambunctious red phantom
tetras. The school of them (10) feels out of place in my 55 now, and I
want to go with some dwarf cichlids in that tank(most likely apistogramma
cacatuides) and needed to free up some fishload If this 2.5 goes
well I
will likely do soil in that tank as well.

This time I am stopping at three tanks. Really. No, *really*.
~Empty


Looks like it's going to grow out beutifully. I'm amazed you didn't
have trouble with the vermiculite floating. I made the mistake of
trying to use soil with some vermiculite in my pond, and boy was it a
mess. I have 15 watts of CF over my 2 gallon hex and it works very
nicely for green plants - it's not quite enough for reds.

I like your idea of sparkling gouramis. Other tiny fish that come to
mind are Endler's livebearers, pygmy rasboras (Bororas maculata), or
pygmy cories (C. pygmaeus). Gill has a tiny tank with some really
unusual freshwater gobies but I haven't seen anything like that on this
side of the pond.

I've never seen the Peacock Gobies over here since buying the five
(sadly now 4)....most places just look at me blankly if I ask about them
:-( They are great little fish IMO and I'm just keeping an eye out and
spare tank room just in case I find some again. The Gobies are currently
living with 5 panda cories which I guess would put pay to any breeding.
It looks like I have 2M and 2F so I think some research on breeding
might be in order....Great fish if you can get them

Gill

BTW did a google on the Sparkling Gouramis and they look like great
little fish - never seen them in the UK

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 18:21:13 +0000, Elaine T wrote:

Looks like it's going to grow out beutifully. I'm amazed you didn't
have trouble with the vermiculite floating. I made the mistake of
trying to use soil with some vermiculite in my pond, and boy was it a
mess. I have 15 watts of CF over my 2 gallon hex and it works very
nicely for green plants - it's not quite enough for reds.

The trick is to mix the vermiculite with water and kneed it until all the
air is out of it. Once the soil layer is in, use a spray bottle to was
off any slop on the sides of the tank/driftwood/etc. Then drop an inch of
gravel in and plant it before you fill it. I planted with enough water
so I had no open water unless I tilted the tank a little bit, and I
periodically misted everything down.

I like your idea of sparkling gouramis. Other tiny
fish that come to
mind are Endler's livebearers, pygmy rasboras (Bororas maculata), or
pygmy cories (C. pygmaeus).

I thought about these (and Celebese Rainbows too) but a) livebearers?
Argh! Within a few months it will have .5 gallons of soil plants and
wood, .5 of water, and 1.5 of fry!

The cories are awesome(I used to have them in a 30G hex with sparkling
gouramis, featherfin rainbows, and dwarf puffers) but to me they are an
accent and not a main attraction).

Anyone that has not kept sparkling gouramis should, definitely. They are
one of my favorite small fish. I think I will be going with them, if for
no other reason than the fact that they are anabantoids and if something
contaminates the water they can survive breathing surface air for a bit
longer.

Thanks for the advice

~Empty

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:04:31 +0100, Gill Passman wrote:

I've never seen the Peacock Gobies over here since buying the five
(sadly now 4)....most places just look at me blankly if I ask about them
:-( They are great little fish IMO and I'm just keeping an eye out and
spare tank room just in case I find some again.

These guys?

http://www.petfish.net/tater.htm

Go he
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/search.cgi
and search on "peacock". I just found 2 hits

Great fish if you can get them

I just may do that. Now that I realize you are in the UK I think aquabid
may not be the best plan- international next day shipping is probably not
cheap.

~Empty

Empty wrote:
On Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:04:31 +0100, Gill Passman wrote:


I've never seen the Peacock Gobies over here since buying the five
(sadly now 4)....most places just look at me blankly if I ask about them
:-( They are great little fish IMO and I'm just keeping an eye out and
spare tank room just in case I find some again.


These guys?

http://www.petfish.net/tater.htm

Go he
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/search.cgi
and search on "peacock". I just found 2 hits


Great fish if you can get them


I just may do that. Now that I realize you are in the UK I think aquabid
may not be the best plan- international next day shipping is probably not
cheap.

~Empty

Pretty much that's them although mine are more noticably orange rather
than yellow. One thing I would disagree with on that site is them not
being picky about food. Mine won't touch flake and live on frozen
bloodworm, daphnia, brine shrimp and strangely enough the catfish
pellets I feed the Pandas on.

I think my best bet will be to try and breed the ones I've got unless I
find some locally - did get a hit on somewhere around 100 miles away
which might be worth considering.

Good luck in your choice of fish - let us know what you eventually buy

Gill

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 14:12:54 +0100, Gill Passman wrote:


I think my best bet will be to try and breed the ones I've got unless I
find some locally - did get a hit on somewhere around 100 miles away
which might be worth considering.

Good luck in your choice of fish - let us know what you eventually buy

Thatfishplace.com has 'em too. They seem really cool, and I have always
liked gudgeons in general. Hrmm...

Thanks for the heads up- I may get some for my 55G community.

~Empty