well...it all started about 6 months ago when I bought my daughter a couple of goldfish in a 20 l plastic tank. My 'day job' involves botany so I then bought Diana Walstad's 'Ecology of the planted aquarium'....which meant I then had to get a tropical tank in order to grow the plants...which off course meant that there then had to be tropical fish in it!
I think it was Ms Walstads 'ecological' approach that got me hooked, and the last 6 months have been a huge learning curve. However for the last two months (perhaps because of the extra attention while at home) I appear to have got the knack and everything has been flourishing hence I've been feeling the need to expand...
Currently my two foot tropical has lots of plants, a large rose quartz, some black hutt river rocks, two paua shells, 4cm potting mix/gravel/beach sand substrate, two 'cheap white' fluros (12 hrs a day), 2-3 hrs sunlight on back off tank, about 5 sq cm of sparse 'green hair mat' aglae on one rock and some black 'fur' aglae or fungi I'm not sure lurking in darker places. One heater and NO air pump and NO filter. I suspect the no filter will raise more than a few eyebrows but you should read Diana's book. Since you probably don't have it here is an explanation in short...
Filtration can divided into three kinds, biological, mechanical and chemical, My plants and bacteria do all the biological filtration. In fact I haven't changed any water for 6 weeks. I'm a bit scared too, cos it might cause an algae bloom. Anyway the water is fine I've tested it. In fact after the fouth week with no water change and absolutely no ammonia detectable I got paranoid that the ammonia test kit wasn't working anymore so went and bought some window cleaner to see if it could detect the ammonia in it. The results indictaed that A) my test kit was working fine and b)One should never put window cleaner anywhere near you fishroom .
Mechanical filtration clears the water of debris but if it is already clear why do you need it? I did have some mechanical filtration initially but found it did nothing but deplete CO2 levels.
In an ecological system you want all the chemicals still in the tank sending their 'ecological message' out in the environment, so chemical filtration defeats the purpose..
Also I occasionally bubble Co2 (yeast bottle) in the water to give the plants a boost..
pH 7.7
KH 60 mg/l
24-28 C
OHH and the fish...! 8)
4X Peppered Corydoras
more fun than I imagined...
1 X Melanotaenia lacustrus - Lake Kutubu Rainbow
He is the survivor of a group of 6 that were the first inhabitants. The first five died so that the aquarist would learn from his mistakes to never make them again ( 2 x fin rot, 1 x jumped out, 1 x 50% water change, 1 x 'algal toxin disease')
5 X Melanotaenia praecox - Dwarf neon Rainbow
I gotta say I love rainbows. In fact one day I feel sure I am going to go sea kayaking around papau new guinea and do forays up rivers collecting new rainbow species. I would do it tomorrow - it's just that I'm not that hot with an AK 47. Anyway about 4 weeks ago these guys started breeding. This freaked me out...firstly if you've ever seen it you will know what I mean...the 'beaming headlight' and all. It also told me that the fish must be pretty happy and that the tank was reaching new levels of health. It also almost caused a divorce. 'YOU ARE NOT GETTING INTO BREEDING' I never would have harvested any eggs as rainbows can hybridise....so in order to put them out of their mood and keep me entertained I got...
1 X Betta Splendens - male siamese fighter
who certainly put the rainbows off sex...but each day has become more and more colourful and more 'flaring' at the rainbows.....yesterday he started on a second bubble nest (back to one large one today)...so I just can't ignore his testosterone anymore. As a fellow male I feel obliged to at least attempt to get him a date. I know the frustration he feels. Breeding bettas looks like great fun too and I wouldn't mind ten jars around the house. He has also damaged the lacustrus so I might need to separate them.
I pick up the one damaged and 3 hopefully good 2 ft tanks tomorrow... My partner doesn't know.... I'm not sure how to break it to her. Any advice from those that have been there before? Do I have a pathologocal obssession? Anybody know any good shrinks?
I will start with a substrate that sits under water for 6 weeks to condition the soil before I do any planting.
BTW large kudos to the moderators/adminstrators etc who set up this site. It is easy to use, one of the best internet sources and most importantly filled with great people
Richard
