New 1ft cube journal

[Quixotic]

Marbled hatchetfish (3)

Tank cover is an absolute must. Otherwise, lots and lots of floating plants.

[Jervis]

that being said, i will now go to the virtues of the dark green packaging: it is an absolute JOY to plant in this soil. unlike the large grain, i have no need to manouveur my tweezers around and release slowly to be able to insert plants into the soil. this one is just grab, stab, release and move on to the next bunch. the small granules really hold the plant down very well and even when planting hairgrass, not a single strand escaped up.

I'm using this soil for my 1ft cube also and I find it very easy to do planting

[illumnae]

Tank cover is an absolute must. Otherwise, lots and lots of floating plants.

thanks for the heads up Quixotic i already got the cover ready when i decided to set up this tank...after losing my prized Apistogramma bitaeniata to jumping, i'm not gonna tank any more risks with fish.

that's actually why i decided on marbled hatchetfish for this tank. i've always liked them, but never kept them due to my old habit of coverless tanks. so when i decided to cover this tank, i knew i had to get the hatchetfish

[illumnae]

so many nice scapes up on Aquascaping today, i'm embarassed to post my ugly one

[yaya]

I think you should spread the hairgrass more evenly. Abit too much in a bunch.

[Jervis]

Actually your tank is looking good... maybe a tad too many rocks of the same size. What will be some fish to keep in a lidless tank?

[illumnae]

yaya: i got lazy planting the hairgrass as it was late and i had to work the next day. i'm just waiting for it to grow and spread

jervis: i've had lidless tanks till recently and had no problems with apistos, tetras, boraras, pencilfish, otos, plecos, rainbowfish. lately however i've had an apisto jump known jumpers/flyers are hatchetfish and bettas

[yaya]

haha. but in this way, it will spread more slower. Up to you bro.

[illumnae]

Fauna already in:
3x marbled hatchetfish
5x sparkling gourami
2x zebra oto
1x nerite

Incoming fauna this week:
1 pair Apistogramma


i guess my "bioload quota" for this tank has been reached/exceeded right? i'm quite tempted to put a small school of pygmy cories or 1-2 more zebra otos in, but am hesitant to due to potential overcrowding should i give in to my desires? haha

[yaya]

I will advise you to give in. Your tank is not 2ft,bro.

[Jervis]

i guess my "bioload quota" for this tank has been reached/exceeded right? i'm quite tempted to put a small school of pygmy cories or 1-2 more zebra otos in, but am hesitant to due to potential overcrowding should i give in to my desires? haha

To avoid overloading the system... maybe you can use a Eheim Professional III canister filter to add total water volume to your system

[EvolutionZ]

ehiem pro 3? his tank will be a wave pool if he does...

[illumnae]

haha he was joking Evolutionz

i shall heed all your advice and just add in the apisto pair tomorrow and call it quits until and/or unless some of the current inhabitants pass on (touch wood!) this tank will just grow and mature with no other additions

[Jervis]

Your tank will look fantastic in 3 weeks... serious

[illumnae]

i hope so i'm really quite bad when it comes to scaping...i think my eye for design is skewed/malfunctioned

[illumnae]

the apistos are in! went to collect them last night and had a minor accident with the male (he happily jumped onto the floor while i was acclimitizing him) but he was alright as of this morning.

[illumnae]

tank inhabitants:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...134#post314134

[Jervis]

Very nice!!! I wan that fish too!!!

[exotic_idiot]

Nice setup bro...

[illumnae]

Jervis: biotope has another piece of the same species colouring up nicely, or you can consider the Apistogramma bitaeniata "careiro" in the tank next door. there are 2 particularly beautiful specimen in there...i almost got tempted to take those ones instead, but decided to stick to my original decision for the Apistogramma agassizii "Tefe" instead.

As for the other fish in the tank, except for the zebra otos they're readily available!

exotic_idiot: thanks