# Aquascape help



## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Okay so I have my 54 gallon corner bowfront tank. I'm about sold on a sorority for this tank plus some cories and maybe 1 other school of something like rasboras.

I am sure I ordered too many plants, but I have 4 other tanks I can distribute the leftovers to. My plants should arrive today! I have:


12 assorted anubias
12 assorted java ferns
6 medium sized (10 inch) ruffled swords
countless stalks of moneywort and some anacharis
5 large bunches of water sprite
5 large bunches of ludwigia
A ton of wisteria
5 large bunches of aponogeton crispus
5 large bunches of bacopa
a couple bunches of rotala
5 large bunches of cabomba
a wad of some floating something which I can't remember what I ordered
several bunches of java moss
maybe some pennywort?
I'll put a picture below of the tank as it is now. Ignore the cloudy glass, as my daughter smeared the front with a healthy portion of hand lotion for whatever reason. I'm thinking of putting the large driftwood in the middle back in a different spot/configuration. Maybe rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise so it's sitting more on that V and putting it slightly off center toward the left. The ledges with the pebbles in them will also have plants in them - probably anubias or maybe a couple of the plants that require a higher light. I know I'm going to drive myself insane planting and re-planting if I don't make a game plan first. I think this will give me enough density and cover for a sorority. I also put the little clay pots in the background as some hidey-holes, and they each have a small ledge in front to put a plant on to obscure the opening. I also might flip the background around to the black side, but I'll see how the blue against the green of the plants looks.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Well, the swords didn't come, but I got everything else. I can't get a great picture yet because of all the microbubbles on the glass. I'm hoping the swords fill in the awkward gaps well enough that I won't have to replant a lot. I do have 5 bunches of various things that I didn't put in because it was feeling a little crowded when I was envisioning how things will grow in. The more I look at it, the more it feels too random, but I'll reasses once the swords are in and maybe move some stuff around.

I am really really pleased with the quality of the plants I ordered as well. I hope the swords come in as nice as everything else did.


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## KafkaDream (Dec 30, 2013)

Wow <3 my dream tank. I'm not much help when it comes to aquascaping but I do love having tall plants in the middle and lining the back. But I'm also used to working with rectangular tanks..


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Yeah this is my first nonstandard tank. It has been kind of tricky with the odd shape, but I'm loving it. I tried to arrange it so the anubias and other really low light plants are mostly toward the back corner where the light doesn't reach as well. The stem plants in the center as well as on the far left and right corners should all get 16+ inches, so I think it will give a nice look once everything grows up.


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## KafkaDream (Dec 30, 2013)

That sounds like a good plan to me. I'm excited to see it when its all done! Corner tanks have always been a favorite, but tricky to aquascape/ decorate


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

Okay, first off, I think it looks nice, maybe just a small tweak, but overall a very strong starting point.  

There are some really basic composition principles when it comes to art, and they apply to just about everything, from room decorating to aquascaping.  

1. focal point should NOT be in the middle. (which is going to be crazy hard with a corner tank)
2. your eye should flow from one side of the composition to the other, drawn along by lines created within the comp. 
3. Typically you have one focal point, but in a larger tank you can have two, typically one on each side.
4. NO matchy-matchy. If everything looks too symmetrical it ends up looking weird and unnatural. 
5. No straight lines across the top or bottom. The tank should go up, then down, then up again, or vice versa, low to high to low. This is one place where you can be symmetrical in the LINE, but not the overall look. 
6. In the two focal points, you want variety. Do the driftwood as a focal on one side, then make a large beautiful plant the focal on the otherside. You can still use driftwood on both sides, but it should be the focus only on one. 
7. Plant types, colors, décor should travel across the tank, don't put all rocks on one side and all driftwood on the other, make sure they are represented across both sides. They don't need to be equally represented (best case scenario is that they're NOT), but have some hints on both sides. 

Those are the basic rules...and they can all be broken in the right ways, lol! But, for a beginner these are tried and true, and can help along the way.  I had enough art classes through my education that these suckers have been drilled in!  

Also, go on youtube and look up planted tanks. That's where I've always enjoyed looking, those huge professional deals that are *amazing*...On one hand I always feel hopeless because I'm never going to get there (lol!), but on the other side, it gives you a great feel for positioning and 'scaping.  

I hope that helps!


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

Oh, sorry, one other thing. 

You have kind of an empty area on the left hand side, I'd leave it right now until the swords come in, and then since they're big, I'd put them in the back, creating a nice junglesque (not a word, lol!) background that gives depth to the composition. 

Then, take some of those smaller, finer plants and put those up front, remember, even if they're supposed to get taller, they can be trimmed down as needed.  

I'm not sure about anubias, but I know that java fern is rated for low light, but it has no problem with higher light as well. Anubias is great for foreground stuff because it's small and stays that way, so you don't have to worry about trimming.  You might want to check that out.  It's a beautiful plant, and I like to show it off.  

I'd move the big driftwood more forward and to the left, so that it creates a focal spot about mid-ground in the tank. I LOVE the way plants look when they're growing up behind driftwood...something about the lines just makes me happy.  

It's up to you, but I think I'd change the background from the blue. A darker color like a dark hunter green or even a medium green, or, my favorite, those printed photo backgrounds of plants; all of these will give you more depth of field and make the tank look more full and lush.  

These are just suggestions, take them or leave them, there's no wrong way to do this.  If it makes you happy, then go for it! The fish don't care, they're just happy to have the plants. 

Oh, and where did you order from? I love knowing of good places to check out!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Blue Fish -

Thanks so much for the input. I came on here for help because I have absolutely no eye for composition, so that's exactly what I needed. Great idea about moving the large driftwood. I was trying to figure out where to put the swords since they get so large, but putting them behind is a perfect solution. I'm going to have to drain the tank down on Friday to put the swords in, so I'll do a little rearranging at the same time.

I got the anubias and crypts from http://www.bobstropicalplants.com/home/. Everything arrived in great shape.

And I took your advice and got everythig else but the swords from http://www.tricker.com. There was a TON of stuff and all in really great shape.

Got the swords on Ebay.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Oh man I just realized I forgot to put my root tabs in. Geez, I was so excited. Good thing I still have some work to do anyway!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I just want to note that if you are going to do a sorority you will need much more plant cover than that. I don't know how long you plan on waiting for it to all grow in? But if you want the sorority to work ideally you need an extremely heavily planted tank and many hiding spaces. Also getting sisters that have yet to be separated from the spawn will make for a MUCH more peaceful sorority than if you just add random girls you find. Granted I know that most sisters all look the same and that's usually not the point of a sorority but if you want a sorority to thrive, these are your best options.

Loving all the plant selections though!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I have to wait at least 3 months for the fish, so we'll see how the plants grow in during that time!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay! In that case, you should be fine ^_^


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Looks like a great start!

Give your plants 6 weeks or so to start growing in your tank, get some roots and let you see which you like the most and how they grow. Some will do very well, some will grow fast or slow and some might even die off. Either way in about 6 weeks you have a better idea of which thrive in your tank and which not so much. 

Try not to touch them for that 6 weeks, just let them go where you put them right now and then do a big re-scape according to what you like the best after seeing them grow for awhile. Then let them grow for another 6 weeks - no touching except to trim and replant the trims and you can do your final move around before putting fish in. It's usually best to see how the plants do in your water and grow in your tank, already plan when you will do your mini-rescpaes so that you aren't in the tank moving things everyday.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Easier said than done peachii! Can I keep my hands off the plants for 6 weeks?? Eek! I should get it cycled asap and get the cories. I'll be much less likely to want to mess around with the plants if there are fishies to work around


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

I love the stone background thing with the little caves in it!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

My swords are on the truck for delivery, and for no reason at all I picked up some more bunches of water sprite when I was at the store earlier. I really just went in there to pick up some Seachem Premier. ALMOST came out with another betta because they had a nice orangey peach girl. 

My daughter is at my mom's for a sleepover this evening, so tonight is RESCAPE night! Yay! I have some ideas already!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I'm done!!!! (Like anyone cares, but I like to pretend I have real fishpeople friends).

I really like how it turned out. The ruffled swords arrived in awesome condition, and I also changed out an amazon sword that was getting too big for my 10g tank and put it in the big tank. I'm going to give it a few weeks to grow out and see if I need to change anything around. I had excess plants (and I found SNAILS), so I just jaunted out to Petsmart and got the 5.5 gallon they have on sale for $20, and it's going to be a snail/plant tank. I think I'm going to attempt to dirt it.

Anyway, I know this picture sucks but I couldn't wait to share something at least. It feels so good to finally have this thing up and running. Although my filter is INSANE loud (water wooshy sound, not motor), so I need to get that worked out. And my air pump crapped out, but that's a cheap replacement.


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

I love the little path!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ooooohh!! I love the path too!!! I'm such a sucker for path's and stuff in aquascapes! It look fantastic!!


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

For future reference, would that be like a MMA ring for the girls though...? Lots of empty space.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

If the plants kind of grew inward toward the path to conceal the top layer it wouldn't be so bad. Mostly it's the top layer of the tank you are concerned with since that is where they spend most of their time usually so you want lots of plants up there too. I think most people don't realize that part is all (not you givemethatfish, I've just seen other sorority "set-ups" and cringe and weep for the poor girls lol)


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

*soaks up sorority info*

Plus a little covered path would look sick...


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Well, the plants haven't really grown in yet. I've had them for like 3 days.


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

I think it looks great! And I second the others, I love the path.  

Your best bet for surface cover is to snag some more of the wisteria and dump it in the top.  In three months with fertz it'll be an awesome size and will totally make the girls happy.  

As for shading out your plants, I haven't had any trouble with that. It moves around a bit from the fishies and from the filter flow, and the light filters through it.  

Looks so good!


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## Joey Fish (Jan 26, 2014)

Wow!!!!!!!!! Love version 2.0. I cant wait to see it with fish. I want to get a 55 gallon now, the freedom of that much space is really appealing


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

LOVE that background. Super cool foundation for what is becoming a really cool set up!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Thanks guys  I'm pretty happy with it!!

I'll post a new picture tomorrow to show the growth. The wisteria, ludwigia, and water sprite have grown INCHES. 

And I'm not doing a sorority after all. A friend of mine has a batch of honey gourami fry that will be mature enough to relocate in a week or so, so I *think* I'm going to do the following:

-4-5 honey gourami
-10 or so galaxy rasboras
-10 or so cherry barbs
-small school of panda cories and/or kuhli loaches
-maybe 1 or 2 more non-schooling fish - any suggestions?


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

I love platys. I never thought I'd be all that interested in other fish, but all the colors are fantastic, I've even found blue ones! (ahh...so excited, lol!)

Now, that having been said...I'm not at all familiar with community tanks, so definitely either research or ask a reliable LFS store if platys can live with the guys you've chosen.  I have no idea, but their color and size would be a nice mix with the others as long as they're okay together temperament-wise.


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## SorcerersApprentice (May 31, 2012)

That path looks awesome! It's like an underwater grotto - beautiful!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Instead of Cherry Barbs I think you would do well with Ember Tetras. For a not schooling fish if you've got enough algae or can culture it well enough you could do a Rainbow Goby or Cobalt Blue Goby ^_^ males are more colorful of course. They like to burrow but generally don't mess up scapes too much. Another one you could look into is a single male or female German Blue Ram or any of the Ram's or Apistogrammas, go for the smaller ones so your CPD's don't get eaten since they are teeny tiny!

EDIT: or if you want to go with the smaller fish you could do a Dario (Badis) of sorts too! My little Dario Dario has a HUGE personality and thinks he's the boss of the tank! He acts tough but he doesn't normally bully too much otherwise ^_^


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I do love platies actually, and I think they would mix well. I also super love guppies. But I have this super insane paranoid fear of fry. I don't want livebearers. I don't want to be responsible for baby lives. I have a 3 year old and 2 cats and 4 bettas, and I've just found a crapton of baby pond snails in my plant tank that I can't bear to dispose of. I can't imagine what my house would look like with all the tanks if my fish started having babies. Eggs, I can deal with. Baby fishies not so much. 

I'm so excited now comparing pictures from a week ago to now! Tank progression below!! I can't believe how much the water sprite, wisteria, and ludwigia have all grown in a week. A couple of my swords are having trouble though, so I need to figure that out.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

You know, I had actually been looking at some of the peaceful cichlid species, but I really know nothing about them. I wanted a blue fish for some color variation, but I never looked at the blue rams. I like them! And the goby! There are so many choices! This is going to be harder than I thought to decide. I'm so glad I bought the big tank!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just ordered more plants...I didn't have enough color...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271441792423


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## SorcerersApprentice (May 31, 2012)

I know some sellers sell "male guppy packages." That way you get all the flash without having to worry about babies.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Hehe...I kept doing that with my 29 and I'm still looking at plants even though I'm stuffed with plants!!!!

Hot damn! That's a fantastic deal! I can tell you so far my Limnophila Aromatica has been amazing!! I had issues with Alternanthera but I think it was just they don't like my water, a shame because they are so beautiful! Oh, if you're looking for an interesting plant you should try some Parrots Feather! It grows amazingly fast, does amazing in a bunch all together and doesn't necessarily need CO2 but it likes high lighting situations, if you've got that then it's a fantastic plant!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

*lilnaugrim* - you are the worst kind of enabler...Now I might have to go buy some.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Okay while we're at this - bad idea or not?

I was thinking of taking some cuttings from my high-light needs plants (the ones you can propagate through cuttings, specifically, obviously) and putting them in a little tray of substrate inside one of those little bathroom caddies - you know the ones that suction to the side of your tub? It wouldn't look completely stellar, I realize, but I was thinking I could do that and then suction it up closer to the light so they can grow out. Then I can plant them once they're tall enough to be close enough to the light.

I might even be able to get away with growing some emmersed plants like this because the back triangle part of my tank isn't covered by the versa-top. And I have a clip-on light I could aim at them. And the caddy is clear so it's not like totally glaring. Am I going to far? Because they even have triangular-shaped corner caddies which would fit right in the back corner of my tank! Maybe having a corner tank will turn out to be a big bonus!


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

lilnaugrim said:


> EDIT: or if you want to go with the smaller fish you could do a Dario (Badis) of sorts too! My little Dario Dario has a HUGE personality and thinks he's the boss of the tank! He acts tough but he doesn't normally bully too much otherwise ^_^


Lil... do you think a Badis would do OK with a single female betta?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Heh...sorry XD

And yes! That caddy idea works and actually there is a guy who sells basically the same thing for ripariums here: Shop | Riparium Supply


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Lil... do you think a Badis would do OK with a single female betta?


Yeah, they should be fine together. Mostly then I'm worried about feeding. Small fish such as a Badis, Pygmy Sunfish, even Celestial Pearl Danios and others like live foods and will only take live foods. I've got soil-less grindal worms and white worms and so far my Dario only likes the white worms lol he's a picky one for sure! You can train them eventually to eat flake/pellet foods but it's very difficult. I tend to pick up a white worm with my plant tweezers and he knows the tweezers means food so he runs right up and waits for the worm while I distract the guppy females who live with him so they don't eat the worm because they will :roll: but so will a female Betta is what I'm getting at is all. But temperament wise they should be fine, Dario (that's also his name lol so original but I got tired of typing out Dario Dario or Scarlet Badis) likes to try to bully the guppies but they just kind of swim away and ignore him. In all, the Betta should be fine. As always when adding new fish, watch closely for any signs of trouble and they should be just fine ^_^


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Hey look at that! And I can get those at the $ store. Woo!


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

Well, I stopped and got a pair... so far, my female Betta is on attack mode so I may need to rearrange some stuff... but I think she'll settle down. Got some live worms and OMG... aaaaallllllllll my fish are so excited! Feeding frenzy!!!!!!!!!!1

First time I've ever seen corys get all wild!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Well, I stopped and got a pair... so far, my female Betta is on attack mode so I may need to rearrange some stuff... but I think she'll settle down. Got some live worms and OMG... aaaaallllllllll my fish are so excited! Feeding frenzy!!!!!!!!!!1
> 
> First time I've ever seen corys get all wild!


Fantastic!!!! Yeah, I love watching cory's eat worms! Are your pair a mated pair or just a m/f you picked up?


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

lilnaugrim said:


> Fantastic!!!! Yeah, I love watching cory's eat worms! Are your pair a mated pair or just a m/f you picked up?


Well, I got them thinking they were dwarfs (teach me to believe the girl at Petsmart). I got 5 of them. Then, when the tank had it's collapse, all but 2 died. Then, in researching them (should have done before purchasing but I thought they were dwarfs which I had read about...) discovered they are *Corydoras trilineatus, *not Julii as they were labeled and definitely not dwarfs hahaha... well, they need to be in a larger group but in this little tank, they may get too big. But now, I'm attached to the little survivors. They are together all the time. I don't know if they are a "pair" in the strictest sense as it's hard to get them to hold still long enough to get a really good look at them but one is larger and rounder than the other so maybe there are! Anyway, I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep them because they are adorable or take them to our small LFS where they can give me realy Pygmy cories...

Meanwhile, I continue to make stupid mistakes. I got live tubifex worms and the gal at the LFS said they'd burrow into the substrate and be available as food - well, my Bettas are gobbling them up so much that they are now *OVERFED*. :-( I had to leave for work so now I'm stressing out that I've killed my fish.

I have kept fish for most of my life... apparently, I need to relearn EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Well, I got them thinking they were dwarfs (teach me to believe the girl at Petsmart). I got 5 of them. Then, when the tank had it's collapse, all but 2 died. Then, in researching them (should have done before purchasing but I thought they were dwarfs which I had read about...) discovered they are *Corydoras trilineatus, *not Julii as they were labeled and definitely not dwarfs hahaha... well, they need to be in a larger group but in this little tank, they may get too big. But now, I'm attached to the little survivors. They are together all the time. I don't know if they are a "pair" in the strictest sense as it's hard to get them to hold still long enough to get a really good look at them but one is larger and rounder than the other so maybe there are! Anyway, I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep them because they are adorable or take them to our small LFS where they can give me realy Pygmy cories...
> 
> Meanwhile, I continue to make stupid mistakes. I got live tubifex worms and the gal at the LFS said they'd burrow into the substrate and be available as food - well, my Bettas are gobbling them up so much that they are now *OVERFED*. :-( I had to leave for work so now I'm stressing out that I've killed my fish.
> 
> I have kept fish for most of my life... apparently, I need to relearn EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!


Oh, I thought you were talking about Badis, my bad. Corydoras Pygmeus are the ones I think you want, also Corydoras Habrosus which are a teeny bit larger and more bottom dwelling are my favorites. Pygmy's tend to be more mid-dwellers which might not go over so well with the Betta since they like their mid-top level territory. Depends on the Betta of course.

As for the worms, don't worry, it is an extremely rare to have a case where the Betta dies from being overfed. And if it is it's generally had other issues like constipation and prone to that stuff. Live foods aren't as bad for overfeeding as flake foods would be or even pellets so I wouldn't worry so much. Just fast them all for a few days since they've eaten PLENTY of protein to last them a while lol

Yeah, keeping small tanks is certainly a whole different world when it comes down to the nitty gritty stuff. Most of the things are the same like the water chemistry and such but there are quite some differences.


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh, I thought you were talking about Badis, my bad. Corydoras Pygmeus are the ones I think you want, also Corydoras Habrosus which are a teeny bit larger and more bottom dwelling are my favorites. Pygmy's tend to be more mid-dwellers which might not go over so well with the Betta since they like their mid-top level territory. Depends on the Betta of course.
> 
> As for the worms, don't worry, it is an extremely rare to have a case where the Betta dies from being overfed. And if it is it's generally had other issues like constipation and prone to that stuff. Live foods aren't as bad for overfeeding as flake foods would be or even pellets so I wouldn't worry so much. Just fast them all for a few days since they've eaten PLENTY of protein to last them a while lol
> 
> Yeah, keeping small tanks is certainly a whole different world when it comes down to the nitty gritty stuff. Most of the things are the same like the water chemistry and such but there are quite some differences.


Thanks for the quick reply! I feel a bit better! I was sooooooooooo worried. The worms came in a HUGE ball of wiggling worms. I used to get them for my cichlids years ago. In a 110 gallon tank, I'd just put them in and let the fun begin... whole different ballgame now with little 5 gallon tanks! hahahahaha. I would love to set up something bigger but cannot so I'm learning to keep the wee tanks. I love the challenge!

I did get a pair (male/female) of the Badis! They are all but lost in the plants LOL... but both appear fine this morning. I'm a bit disturbed by the attention my female betta Frieda is giving them... not sure what to do. I'm hoping she'll get tired of bugging them. She is a stinker!

I'm reading about the cats. Really hate to give these two up but also don't want them to be unhappy... sigh...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Thanks for the quick reply! I feel a bit better! I was sooooooooooo worried. The worms came in a HUGE ball of wiggling worms. I used to get them for my cichlids years ago. In a 110 gallon tank, I'd just put them in and let the fun begin... whole different ballgame now with little 5 gallon tanks! hahahahaha. I would love to set up something bigger but cannot so I'm learning to keep the wee tanks. I love the challenge!
> 
> I did get a pair (male/female) of the Badis! They are all but lost in the plants LOL... but both appear fine this morning. I'm a bit disturbed by the attention my female betta Frieda is giving them... not sure what to do. I'm hoping she'll get tired of bugging them. She is a stinker!
> 
> I'm reading about the cats. Really hate to give these two up but also don't want them to be unhappy... sigh...


The two cats should be okay, sure it's not ideal but it's better than one. You could always just try to get one more if you think you can fit them.

Oh okay, are you sure it's a female Badis? Just want to know because if she is then you've got a rare beauty on your hands! Females are pretty rare in the trade, males are quite territorial against other Badis and I had started off with two males and Dario ended up killing his friend :roll: so...yeah, I hope they are a mated pair!

If she continues to bug them after two weeks time then you should take her out, rearrange some things, add or remove so that she's got more things to discover and wont spend most of her time bugging the other fish lol.


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

lilnaugrim said:


> The two cats should be okay, sure it's not ideal but it's better than one. You could always just try to get one more if you think you can fit them.
> 
> Oh okay, are you sure it's a female Badis? Just want to know because if she is then you've got a rare beauty on your hands! Females are pretty rare in the trade, males are quite territorial against other Badis and I had started off with two males and Dario ended up killing his friend :roll: so...yeah, I hope they are a mated pair!
> 
> If she continues to bug them after two weeks time then you should take her out, rearrange some things, add or remove so that she's got more things to discover and wont spend most of her time bugging the other fish lol.


 Fairly certain about the genders of the Badis... I was in the LFS last week when they got them in. I didn't have the tank ready so I wanted to wait. They guy who was helping me said, "go read about these fish. You'll be back" hahahaha... he was right. 

This shop has a rack of small tanks with fish and shrimp that are perfect for nano-tanks. There were at least 50 Badis in a bag from a local breeder that were getting ready to go into a tank. When I went yesterday, they were alllllllllllllll gone except for two males in one tank. I was really bummed till I spotted a little female alone in a separate tank. Yay for me!!!

The tank I have them in is just a 5 gallon. They are sharing it with Frieda, the two cats, a few shrimp and a mystery snail. That's already a LOT for a 5 gallon so I don't want to add another cat. In fact, if I wasn't attached to the cats, I'd pull them. I'm pretty religious about water testing and changes so I'm hoping things will be ok in there...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

knottymare said:


> Fairly certain about the genders of the Badis... I was in the LFS last week when they got them in. I didn't have the tank ready so I wanted to wait. They guy who was helping me said, "go read about these fish. You'll be back" hahahaha... he was right.
> 
> This shop has a rack of small tanks with fish and shrimp that are perfect for nano-tanks. There were at least 50 Badis in a bag from a local breeder that were getting ready to go into a tank. When I went yesterday, they were alllllllllllllll gone except for two males in one tank. I was really bummed till I spotted a little female alone in a separate tank. Yay for me!!!
> 
> The tank I have them in is just a 5 gallon. They are sharing it with Frieda, the two cats, a few shrimp and a mystery snail. That's already a LOT for a 5 gallon so I don't want to add another cat. In fact, if I wasn't attached to the cats, I'd pull them. I'm pretty religious about water testing and changes so I'm hoping things will be ok in there...


Sounds good to me! I'm glad you got a pair!! Sounds like you've got quite the amazing LFS!


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

People!!! My tank is cycled!!! Squeeeee! 3ppm of ammonia disappeared in 24 hours!!! TIME TO STOCK! Now I have to decide!


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## haveyouhadyourteayet (Jan 14, 2014)

Make magic!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

I would wait a few more days and keep dosing ammonia just to be sure! Sometimes you can get a false complete cycle. Are both ammonia and nitrite at zero?


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Oh for sure. I'm not stocking it until next weekend. Already told the ball & chain she's going to have to fly solo with the child for a good 3 hours next Saturday while I fish shop. If anything seems weird with the cycle this week I will hold off. I'll be doing maintenance doses of ammonia. Ammonia and nitrite are 0, yes.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## knottymare (Feb 23, 2014)

givemethatfish said:


> People!!! My tank is cycled!!! Squeeeee! 3ppm of ammonia disappeared in 24 hours!!! TIME TO STOCK! Now I have to decide!


Wooooot!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy for you, givemethatfish! Sorry I hijacked your thread... I got carried away


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Awesome!!! So glad to hear it! Sorry, I just didn't want you to crash your cycle or anything >.< but glad you knew about the whole waiting thing!


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

it looks amazing, I want a tank like that


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## Islandgaliam (Jan 27, 2014)

Beautiful Setup!


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