Hey friendos!
So here's the deal:
I've had fish most of my life, and went to an aquaculture school - so I have a fair bit of experience with them, and having them around is pretty normal. Then, I went to college, and I didn't have fish for a couple of years...
I graduated, and I didn't get new fish. I had cats, I didn't want more pets.
Then a young friend of mine got a betta and asked me to help.
I felt the urge, my friends.
But... I had no money. So suck it, Aard...
Until today. Today, I got a job. And on the way home, I passed a Petsmart (I knoooooooow. But the spirit is weak.) I went in, just to look around, and they had some nice mondo grass (I knoooooooooooooooow. But my 40 has a bioball filter.) And then they mentioned the Waterbury Aquarium...
The point is, I now have a 10gal set up and planted in my bedroom.
Well... partially planted. I stuck the mondo grass in there because w/e, I'll move it to the bioball filter once I've got something else to hide the filter. I'm looking to add a nice upright jut of ye aulde driftwood, and possibly a flat plinth of sandstone in front of it to give me somewhere to feed over, but I'm pretty happy with the raised section in back... You can't see it very well, but I managed to get ahold of Frogbit and duckweed, so it's going to have some nice cover for my boy once the tank has had a chance to grow out some.
So, what's the plan for this?
I'm still designing it, plant-wise. The one thing I'm 100% on is that I'm gonna do the front half in Microsword, since I'm frigging obsessed with it - I'll probably buy a bag of planter sand to mix in for that. I also want a nice Brazilian Sword in the back corner, or some other sort of tall foliage - I was thinking of an BS with some mid-size, simularly-shaped plants around it and spilling down along the back wall, though it's still very much a design-in-progress. I'd like some Cardinalplants to mix in with the Microsword, and a couple Anubias to round things out maybe... or I might do Aquatic Clover. Opinions would be dearly appreciated!
Fish-wise, I'm pretty set: 6-8 cardinal tetras, a betta (my boy Knockout), and two cories. My sister wants glass cats, but I think it might overfill the tank... If my chemistry is rock-solid after a few weeks with that crew, I might grab three of them, though.
Let me know what you think! I've been out of the game for a while, so I'm a little rusty - still, very happy with how this is shaping up! I figure that if I put 15$ a week in for a while, she'll be pretty excellent in about 5 weeks, about when I'll be ready to put fish in if her chemistry is ace. I could probably add them sooner, but I want to give the Microsword plenty of time to root in...
(Water is cloudy because I seeded her with my dad's (my, technically, but w/e) 40-gal community's biofilter. Should clear in 2-3 days, and I'm hoping the wood tints the water nicely.)
So here's the deal:
I've had fish most of my life, and went to an aquaculture school - so I have a fair bit of experience with them, and having them around is pretty normal. Then, I went to college, and I didn't have fish for a couple of years...
I graduated, and I didn't get new fish. I had cats, I didn't want more pets.
Then a young friend of mine got a betta and asked me to help.
I felt the urge, my friends.
But... I had no money. So suck it, Aard...
Until today. Today, I got a job. And on the way home, I passed a Petsmart (I knoooooooow. But the spirit is weak.) I went in, just to look around, and they had some nice mondo grass (I knoooooooooooooooow. But my 40 has a bioball filter.) And then they mentioned the Waterbury Aquarium...
The point is, I now have a 10gal set up and planted in my bedroom.
Well... partially planted. I stuck the mondo grass in there because w/e, I'll move it to the bioball filter once I've got something else to hide the filter. I'm looking to add a nice upright jut of ye aulde driftwood, and possibly a flat plinth of sandstone in front of it to give me somewhere to feed over, but I'm pretty happy with the raised section in back... You can't see it very well, but I managed to get ahold of Frogbit and duckweed, so it's going to have some nice cover for my boy once the tank has had a chance to grow out some.
So, what's the plan for this?
I'm still designing it, plant-wise. The one thing I'm 100% on is that I'm gonna do the front half in Microsword, since I'm frigging obsessed with it - I'll probably buy a bag of planter sand to mix in for that. I also want a nice Brazilian Sword in the back corner, or some other sort of tall foliage - I was thinking of an BS with some mid-size, simularly-shaped plants around it and spilling down along the back wall, though it's still very much a design-in-progress. I'd like some Cardinalplants to mix in with the Microsword, and a couple Anubias to round things out maybe... or I might do Aquatic Clover. Opinions would be dearly appreciated!
Fish-wise, I'm pretty set: 6-8 cardinal tetras, a betta (my boy Knockout), and two cories. My sister wants glass cats, but I think it might overfill the tank... If my chemistry is rock-solid after a few weeks with that crew, I might grab three of them, though.
Let me know what you think! I've been out of the game for a while, so I'm a little rusty - still, very happy with how this is shaping up! I figure that if I put 15$ a week in for a while, she'll be pretty excellent in about 5 weeks, about when I'll be ready to put fish in if her chemistry is ace. I could probably add them sooner, but I want to give the Microsword plenty of time to root in...
(Water is cloudy because I seeded her with my dad's (my, technically, but w/e) 40-gal community's biofilter. Should clear in 2-3 days, and I'm hoping the wood tints the water nicely.)