10 gallon dreaming

[Chomskypom]

SO... I’ve “inherited” a 10 gallon tank. It has the older style lid with built in light and filter (I can tell y’all the exact one when I get home if anyone is interested). There’s also a heater and an air stone.
Currently, the tank is cycled and heathy, with gravel substrate and a little bit of decor. It used to have a little school of tetra in it, but they’ve moved into Fishie Manor, a 55gal planted tank.
What I would LIKE to do with this now empty 10gal is to change the substrate to something more amenable to plants, get it looking nice and lush, make a tiny bonsai tree out of marimo, and once it’s ready, put a betta in there! And maybe some shrimp to keep it clean.
To get there I might have to change some of the other components. Like, I don’t think the light in this hood is strong enough to keep plants happy. And I’ll have to cycle it again if I change the substrate. Argh! I want my betta NOW! I’ve never had one and I’m super excited to spoil it with exotic treats and the happiest habitat.

 

[Chomskypom]

I went a little off the rails and got a 12 gallon long rimless tank. OOPS

New filter, fancy "plant and shrimp" substrate (which it turns out is very high iron? I somehow missed reading that on the bag but it sure sticks to a magnet). And some driftwood + cholla. I have what I think are bacopa seeds planted... they're from amazon so we'll see. My boyfriend wanted to "help" and got them for me, possibly to save me from spending the next three weeks trying to decide on a ground cover. I think maintaining a little tiny habitat will be a good outlet for that micromanagement urge!
It's really hard to take attractive photos of the aquarium where I have it set up- lots of reflections to remind me to clean my house- but SOON! there will be pictures!
I'm going to just keep "journaling" about it in this thread because everybody I talk to in person is sick of hearing about it. Maybe I need to find an aquarium forum...

 

[Chomskypom]

I never came back with an update! Okay, here’s how it looks with the plants starting to fill in.
I ended up getting a little group of cherry shrimp, Sunkist orange color. There are some berried females even! Once the first generation of shrimplets get big enough to be out of danger I might add some kind of very small fish, maybe chili or kubotai rasbora.
I love how this tank is shaping up, it’s so pretty and restful to look at.

 

[Aves]

cherry shrimp

Shrimp are so fascinating, I used to have ghost shrimp in my betta tank, and I loved them. Unfortunately, they died.

 

[camelotshadow]

Very pretty. I used to love fish & had a few tanks at one time in NY. So peaceful & quiet. Was pet less for about 5 years when I moved to CA. Decided to go to the local pet shop to check out the fish. It was a bird shop but had other small exotic pets such as hamsters guinea pigs, reptiles etc.

There was not much of a fish selection. Just a few tanks. I would have to had invested in the setup again as I left all my tanks & stuff in NY.

The birds caught my attention & I found myself memorized by them. I'd go almost every day watching the hand feeding of the birds & the birds on stands just hanging out. A love of birds which I never knew I had was begun.

 

[Feather]

I have a little school of kubotai rasbora in my little planted 14g BioCube! I absolutely love them. That little flash of blue they have on their backs is so cool.

I really, really want more featherfin rainbowfish. I bought the last one my LPS had and they haven't restocked them since. The little guy schools with the rasbora and seems happy enough about the situation, but I certainly didn't plan for him to be alone forever.

 

[Chomskypom]

Oh my gosh, I just looked at some pics of featherfin rainbowfish and they’re SO striking! I’m new to aquariums and am really enjoying “meeting” new fish as I learn more.

 

[Monica]

How's your tank doing now?



Just thinking... if you don't do it right, the "shrimp and plant" substrates can cause havoc with your water parameters.... Being in Texas, that may or may not last long?


Those seeds on Amazon or Ebay? Total sham! Many people who have had them for 6+ months say they are horrible! They end up dying and creating a mess of the tank, or they lift up the substrate... again, making a mess!


Other than that though... the tank looks great!

 

[Chomskypom]

It's doing really well! My parameters have stayed nice and stable and the substrate is holding steady for now- fingers crossed. I have at least 30 adult shrimp, plus a recent crop of shrimplets. I love watching their antics- they like to swim up and grab a small duckweed floret and ride it down to the bottom, and I enjoy seeing which blanched vegetables are popular and which aren't.

The plants grown from those seeds ended up getting taller than I wanted, so I did rip most of them up. I think I'm going to replace them with something more suitable eventually but I'm sort of enjoying the contrast of little orange shrimps on black substrate for now.

I ended up getting 12 chili rasbora and they're such a charming addition! I like how the school moves and shimmers. Some of them are lighter but a couple of them are that nice red they're known for, and there are two separate territories shaping up, which I expected from my research. They know me and will go to their feeding spot if I stand around admiring them for too long