[Mortis]

Originally Posted by amol4184

Both your tanks are so beautiful, especially the first one! Could you help me with some issues I am observing?

My tank is a 5 gallon Betta setup with 1 Betta and 2 Nerite snails. The substrate is black sand at bottom and white sand on top. There are swords and Anubias on a piece of wood. Its been 2 years but neither Anubias nor swords have grown the way I would have liked. They haven't died but they are not thriving either. The sword has many offshoots over the time but they don't grow tall. I am stumped as to what could be wrong. Both of those plants were bought because of they do well in low-tech setup but I am little disappointed the way they are growing. I do use some fertilizers and a good quality LED light on top.
I am wondering if the thin sand is the problem for swords? But that doesn't explain why Anubias isn't thriving either.

Swords are heavy root feeders. Add a root tab under it and it should help.
In a low tech patience is key. Growth will be slow and not of the same quality as a medium or high tech tank. You are doing the right thing by supplementing with liquid ferts. Another possibility is to add multiple plants to make it more lush.
You can also add Flourish Excel to your dosing list. It helps a little bit.

[Rodie09]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

Any pointers what is that beard like growth on my goldfish? The fish looks all hale and hearty so I don't think it can be very concerning. Still, don't want to be ignorant either.

TIA

Update:I was able to take my Goldie to the aquarium shop and they were able to pull out the anchor worm with tweezers. Happy to see it free of the worm and back in tank - swimming joyfully.

Special thanks to you @dweathwalker for identifying the issue else I may have possibly ignored as something not harmful.

[gadadhar]

My plant carpet that was thriving and expanding suddenly lost all the leaves and became a very thin patch, and all in a matter 3 to 4 weeks. I am clue less on what went wrong while all other plants remained the same including the fishes

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

My plant carpet that was thriving and expanding suddenly lost all the leaves and became a very thin patch, and all in a matter 3 to 4 weeks. I am clue less on what went wrong while all other plants remained the same including the fishes


Attachment 2617817

Seems nutrient deficiency but can be due to lot of factors. Some plants do well only with CO2. Without CO2 they start to grow initially but wither away after some time. If that's monte carlo then it falls into that category. Few carpeting plants that usually do well in non CO2 setup are echinodorous tenellus and dwarf saggitaria. Rest can be a hit or miss. Can you also share the nitrate levels of your tank.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

Seems nutrient deficiency but can be due to lot of factors. Some plants do well only with CO2. Without CO2 they start to grow initially but wither away after some time. If that's monte carlo then it falls into that category. Few carpeting plants that usually do well in non CO2 setup are echinodorous tenellus and dwarf saggitaria. Rest can be a hit or miss. Can you also share the nitrate levels of your tank.

Thanks, it is monte carlo and your obsevation seems to be spot on. Let me get the nitrate test kit and update on that.

[gadadhar]

Experts, are there any fish friendly fertilizers that can be added to boost the plant growth? While my medium is less than 1 year old, plant growth seems to be muted than at the start

I don't have CO2 setup, is that required for the planted aquarium?

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Experts, are there any fish friendly fertilizers that can be added to boost the plant growth? While my medium is less than 1 year old, plant growth seems to be muted than at the start

I don't have CO2 setup, is that required for the planted aquarium?

There are lot of options out there. APT Complete, Aquatrition Complete Nourishment are two all in one fertilizers I have tried which work well. If you started off with a tank that does well for 6-8 months and then plant growth starts to slow down without any other change in parameters then most probably its due to nutrient deficiency. Adding in all in one fertilizer should most probably do the trick. Just keep adding it based on the dosage recommendation.

CO2 injection is not mandatory for keeping planted tanks. You can grow plants without CO2 but need to pick the varieties that grow well in those conditions. Montecarlo usually does not do well in CO2 deprived conditions and tends to melt after growing initially. Plants such as cryptocorynes, water wisteria, water sprite, hornwort, elodea, ludwigia palustris, ambulia, hygrophila polysperma, dwarf saggitaria are few varieties that are easy to keep in non CO2 tanks.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

There are lot of options out there. APT Complete, Aquatrition Complete Nourishment are two all in one fertilizers I have tried which work well.

Aquatrition Complete Nourishment is getting delivered today, hope that does the trick. Thanks

[madhavgpai]

Hi all,

Used to keep fish for many years through my childhood all the way to early adulthood.

Then happened parenting, lockdowns, travelling back and forth from hometowns due to work from home.

I already gave the fishes, my light, my filter etc to my father a couple of years ago, just have a tank and stand (GI) now sitting empty for last 2 years, both of which are about 6 years old.

Tank is 30 inches length, 18 inches height, 16 inches depth, no lid.

I would be happy to pass them on to anyone in Bangalore, specifically I live just about 400 meters from Horamavu Signal on the outer ring road.

I don't expect a price. If anyone is interested, DM me.

I used to keep guppies and cabomba.

[abhi3284]

Originally Posted by abhi3284

Meet Sparkles, the new handsome member of our Home.

Sparkles just turned 1...
Doesn't feel like it's been a year and time just flew by.
Dropped in a TT Ball, which Sparkles loves to play with his Head, when no' ones watching him.

[deathwalkr]

Sparkles looks nice

Get him a bigger tank and some gravel for him to dig around. He will be a happier fish. And i would be concerned about the pebbles. Pretty soon he will be able to pick them up and drop them around!

[abhisheksircar]

Originally Posted by badboyscad

Tried my hands on a low budget pandora(avatar) setup, with some petrified wood stones that i had for many years.

Attachment 2540137

Beautiful setup.

I was introduced to the world of fish keeping since 1996. Being a Bengali, seeing a fish around and not eating it away was new to my family but I turned out to be a bit different since I was brought up in many states of India.

I had anger issues and was recommended aquariums. I got my first goldfish bowl back then in 1996. Soon I got addicted to it and tried all kind of fish but I felt I really got into it when I was introduced to this breed called Cichlids. They are intelligent and interact really well. They work with their environment and build their own setups by moving things. It's an always evolving ecosystem. It's been few years that I am introduced to Cichlids and this is my current 4 ft setup.



It has mix of haps, peacocks, electric yellow, zebra, rainbow and few others. A combination that is usually recommended to avoid but somehow these have found their space and are handling it well. These are all malawian Cichlids.

https://pangovet.com/pet-breeds/fish/types-of-cichlids/ | This page has a list of many more Cichlids to be found.

I get stuck in watching them for quite sometime if time allows and it's very intriguing

[W.A.G.7]

This is my first attempt at a planted freshwater aquarium. This is the Chinese aquarium - 20 gallon, 75L capacity. Right now I have placed a single Betta in it. Now technically, 75L is overkill for a single Betta, but I plan to introduce 8-10 neon tetras or 8-10 cherry shrimps in this setup.

I need some guidance here how to proceed. I have ordered one each of dwarf saggitaria and anubias plants and I intend to let them grow in this setup for 4-5 weeks before I introduce another species of fish here.

Is this the right way to go or does it need some other plants and/or fish? I also feel that the light needs to be changed - I will need some guidance there as well.

[Dieseltuned]

My set up a basic tank with a few plants. This set up has completed almost 4 years now.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

This is my first attempt at a planted freshwater aquarium. This is the Chinese aquarium - 20 gallon, 75L capacity. Right now I have placed a single Betta in it. Now technically, 75L is overkill for a single Betta, but I plan to introduce 8-10 neon tetras or 8-10 cherry shrimps in this setup.

I need some guidance here how to proceed. I have ordered one each of dwarf saggitaria and anubias plants and I intend to let them grow in this setup for 4-5 weeks before I introduce another species of fish here.

Is this the right way to go or does it need some other plants and/or fish? I also feel that the light needs to be changed - I will need some guidance there as well.

Attachment 2682675

Betta and chery shrimps might not go well specially with less plants. So neon tetras would be a better option. Let your tank cycle for 4 to 6 weeks and then add in the fishes.

Just one dwarf sagg and Anubias doesn't seem enough for this tank. You can easily do with 6 to 10 plantlets for sagg and few more fast growing stems like elodea, hornwort, hygrophila difformis etc. These would help you battle any initial troubles with algae and also make the tank a lot more lush. Also helps to hide the heater and filter.

Regarding the light it looks less but pics can be misleading as camera compensates for light. Any white led of 8 to 12 watts should be fine for growing plants. Nothing fancy is required. Keep it on for around 7 to 8 hrs.

Growing plants along with keeping fish can be tricky. Keep this thread updated with the progress and feel free to ask any questions. Do not rely on LFS much.