Sophia

Plants with roots are much easier to get settled in and growing but most stem plants are pretty quick to take off if you get good cuttings. Lots of people will give away or sell cheap trimmings you can use, or if you post a thread in the wanted to buy section someone might likely do some trimming and send you a PM. Plants like swords, twisted val, crypts, ferns come as plants with roots usually. If you ever get twisted val make sure just to plant the roots and not bury the green bit or it will rot away. There is a lot of information on cycling here, it can be a controversial topic. There are couple of streams of thought - either use fish or not... if you do a search you will find more topics than you feel like reading :sml2: if you can get some filter media from someone else you can get the cycling started quicker.

she is a bad influence and now in a dangerous position of power :slfg:

:sml2:

These are my observations buying plants: *buying from LFS you usually or often pay more but at least you can see what you're getting *buying through TM and getting them posted often gets you squashed plants but you might pay less *buying on here has always gotten me good quality plants packed well but it's easy to miss out as they usually go quickly I prefer to buy from here first, then LFS, then TM unless I can pick up. I also have a few plants sitting in my new tank that aren't planted. Crypts you should definitely plant as soon as possible as they are fussy creatures. Stuff like twisted val and plants that put out runners often grow partly out of the substrate anyway and I haven't had trouble not planting them quickly. Saying that I weight them so they float the right way up and have some sort of stability rather than floating about in the current.

No one knows - Queens of the stone age

did you ever see Adrienne's ember tetras? They were almost a solid bright orange like jellybeans

I couldn't resist changing the title of this thread :slfg:

I vac gently between the plants occasionally, and otherwise just stir up the gunk and siphon it off

thanks :happy2: got some dwarf sagittaria from Barnacle today

yay for minifish!

funny expression :sml2:

in the beginning the seahorse is moving his mouth in such a way as it looks like he is singing :gigl:

maybe just pensive, thinking serious lizard thoughts....

Thank you Caryl for bringing the topic back on topic :sml2:

I've had it empty with water in it for about 2 or 3 weeks trying to be good and getting some cycling done in advance. I took 5 litres out prior to adding the rocks and gravel in, and they displaced exactly that much volume back again.

@ Sam - water is clear today 8) @ Liam - none of the plants are planted yet, they are just sitting there till I have everything, then plant-o-rama begins. I do want to have the bulk of stuff up and around the top and back like you suggested. Now I can't wait to finish and put the loachies in there :bounce:

:nfs:

scarlet badis are 2-3 times the size of a mosquito rasbora in body mass

borrowed Sam's idea and stole his favourite stockings to make a couple of sandbags to prop the rocks up higher Progress so far. The rocks will stay where they are now, plants, extra sand and final details to be finished this week or next weekend. Bought some JBL balls and some flourish comp so I can encourage growth in this sunny spot. The 3 rocks on the left side are stuck together with the silicone, the rest are fitting together in such a way as a loach wouldn't move them, even with digging. Digging won't really be possible as they are all on the sandbags anyway. There are multiple entries and exits from the tunnel and if the christmas moss sticks to the stone on the left, they will have a mossy curtain to peek out from. Front Left front side Left side on

I like that thread :smot:

Off topic topics should stay on topic :cofn:

not when you don't have cardboard :-? So the tank layout is now mostly completed. Need a few more plants and to decide final layout of the planting around the edges. I think it's pretty good, and the loaches should enjoy it. You will have to wait for more photos as I have to wait for night time as there is a lot of reflection on the glass when it's daylight.

thanks there will be some bare substrate space around the front and edges but I'll probably put some rocks through it for interest

Minor updates Plotting rock placements Starting plants off getting attached to rocks this is the photo I am using as a rough guide - rocks in the middle that have a loach tunnel through, planting around the back and in between if I can. May or may not use wood, depending what room there is after the rock pile.

The 2 fat females look less fat to my eye this morning so I think spawning has occurred. I've squashed down the moss and weighted it to discourage rummaging for now while I decide whether to take my chances keeping them in the same tank or putting them in another tank to see who hatches.