Hi everyone,
So I started with one tank last fall and during Christmas I really wanted another. I also had plants in a bowl and didn't like that anymore... so I ended up going to the store and getting a 5G Do!Aqua tank. This one is my favourite so.. I'm gonna keep a forum journal on it haha. Here are my main learning points so far (spare you the detailed details):
- Pygmy cories don't move much especially in small tanks (even if there's a lot of them - 13?). They were (and are still) always also hiding behind my big rock... so if you want to see your fish and shrimp, don't put a big rock right smack in the middle and give them space to go behind it lol.
- Otocats and Pygmy cories will ruin your carpeting... mine freaked out whenever they saw me and kicked up the aquasoil. I had enough of this and eventually fished about 9 pygmy cories out of there. They are hard to catch in a small tank. Basically I find kicked up HC every day after work and replant them.
- What goes in... is really hard to get back out... I moved things/knocked things over quite a bit.
- Full dosage of what's recommended on fertilizers give me serious algae issues. Began dosing half of what's suggested and things are much better under control.
- My crystal red shrimp (CRS) at first didn't go for algae. After I added some red rili shrimp - they kinda showed them how to be a shrimp.
- HC did not melt, but does not grow very fast either. I ended up adding more easy to grow plants from my other tanks as I did not like how empty it began to look.
- Creating mounds will not work unless you have substrate supports (you can see in my photos). It really leveled out after 4 months.
- Anubias Nana Petite (not sure if this is the right name for it) does not like to be directly under light. I removed a section of it as it was growing a lot of algae on top.
Photos:
Date: 20151225
Date: 20160309
Equipment:
- Hydor 50W Heater
- Aquaclear 20 w/ BioMax, Scouring Pads
- Do!Aqua Mini-M (5G)
- ADA Solar Mini-M Light & Fixture (27W) // Glorified Desk Lamp x)
Plants:
- Java Fern
- HC Cuba
- Anubias Nana Petites
- Echinodorus
- Hygrophila (2 Types.. Can't remember name exactly. One is pink if there's CO2 and the other is Siamenses (sp?))
- Anubias
- Fissidens Moss
- Misc. plants from other tanks that I don't want to throw away (S. Repens, Ludwigia Brevips, Rotala Rotundifolia, Duckweed, Floating Something...)
Inhabitants:
- 4x Pygmy Cory
- 10+ CRS & 4+ Babies
- 6 Red Rili Shrimp
- 1x Otocat
- Ramshorn Snails
Other:
- Expensive Rock
- Tropica Aquarium Soil Substrate
- Tropica Premium Fertilizer
- Aquavitro P Fertilizer
- Excel (0.5 mL/day)
- Indian Almond Leaves
Parameters:
- 7.2-7.4 pH
- 9-10 gH
- 2-3 kH
====
ADA 60P
Brio35
So I started with one tank last fall and during Christmas I really wanted another. I also had plants in a bowl and didn't like that anymore... so I ended up going to the store and getting a 5G Do!Aqua tank. This one is my favourite so.. I'm gonna keep a forum journal on it haha. Here are my main learning points so far (spare you the detailed details):
- Pygmy cories don't move much especially in small tanks (even if there's a lot of them - 13?). They were (and are still) always also hiding behind my big rock... so if you want to see your fish and shrimp, don't put a big rock right smack in the middle and give them space to go behind it lol.
- Otocats and Pygmy cories will ruin your carpeting... mine freaked out whenever they saw me and kicked up the aquasoil. I had enough of this and eventually fished about 9 pygmy cories out of there. They are hard to catch in a small tank. Basically I find kicked up HC every day after work and replant them.
- What goes in... is really hard to get back out... I moved things/knocked things over quite a bit.
- Full dosage of what's recommended on fertilizers give me serious algae issues. Began dosing half of what's suggested and things are much better under control.
- My crystal red shrimp (CRS) at first didn't go for algae. After I added some red rili shrimp - they kinda showed them how to be a shrimp.
- HC did not melt, but does not grow very fast either. I ended up adding more easy to grow plants from my other tanks as I did not like how empty it began to look.
- Creating mounds will not work unless you have substrate supports (you can see in my photos). It really leveled out after 4 months.
- Anubias Nana Petite (not sure if this is the right name for it) does not like to be directly under light. I removed a section of it as it was growing a lot of algae on top.
Photos:
Date: 20151225
Date: 20160309
Equipment:
- Hydor 50W Heater
- Aquaclear 20 w/ BioMax, Scouring Pads
- Do!Aqua Mini-M (5G)
- ADA Solar Mini-M Light & Fixture (27W) // Glorified Desk Lamp x)
Plants:
- Java Fern
- HC Cuba
- Anubias Nana Petites
- Echinodorus
- Hygrophila (2 Types.. Can't remember name exactly. One is pink if there's CO2 and the other is Siamenses (sp?))
- Anubias
- Fissidens Moss
- Misc. plants from other tanks that I don't want to throw away (S. Repens, Ludwigia Brevips, Rotala Rotundifolia, Duckweed, Floating Something...)
Inhabitants:
- 4x Pygmy Cory
- 10+ CRS & 4+ Babies
- 6 Red Rili Shrimp
- 1x Otocat
- Ramshorn Snails
Other:
- Expensive Rock
- Tropica Aquarium Soil Substrate
- Tropica Premium Fertilizer
- Aquavitro P Fertilizer
- Excel (0.5 mL/day)
- Indian Almond Leaves
Parameters:
- 7.2-7.4 pH
- 9-10 gH
- 2-3 kH
====
ADA 60P
Brio35