Well here is my newest project... it's a 10 gallon, shrimp only. Right now it houses about 9 Amano shrimp and 25-30 cherry shrimp, mostly juvies. This is my first actual attempt and creating something nice to look at, rather than pushing plants in the substrate wherever I could fit them around the driftwood. oI know this is nowhere near as good as alot of what I've seen on here, but hey, it's a starting point. Can't get better without trying. Plants are: Limnophila Sessiliflora (I think) Ludwigia of some sort (labeled as 'Narrow Leaf' Ludwigia when I bought it but I think it looks similar to palustris... see pic below and let me know what you think?) Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' Sagittaria subulata Echinodorus tenellus 'micro' Taxiphyllum barbieri Should be getting some Taxiphyllum alternans soon... want to put it on the lower leg of the driftwood. Unless you all have any other suggestions? There is a 24" Coralife T5 Fixture over it, 28 watts total... on for 10 hours/day. I use DIY co2 with a glass diffuser. Drop checker stays green all day. Usually the first few days after a new mixture the drop checker goes yellow, hence the little airstone at the top corner, just in case. Ok here goes... remember, technically this is my "first", so be gentle! [-o< Looking forward to the plants growing in and getting more dense and for the micro to start sending runners. Been thinking about trying some Downoi if I can find someone with just a few portions to sell. I think it would look kind of cool either at the foot of the wood or maybe in the front right corner? Some close ups of a couple of the inhabitants My giant Amano... he's the king of the tank Anyway, thanks for looking! Suggestions or comments are appreciated.
a good start! plants are healthy... you might need to put in more of midground plants...downoi is good, or maybe blyxia japonica.. overall, great looking tank.. goodluck on the shrimpies!
A very nice first aquascape. The plants look very healty. Now just give it time to fill in & from there you can make changes etc. Keep us updated.
Thank you. I like the idea of midground... I'm hoping when the dwarf sag grows a bit taller I can move it back a bit.. and I really do want to try downoi. I would also love to have a full carpet of something in the foreground, but I'm still trying to figure out the whole lighting wpg or lumens blahblahblah on a 10gallon to see what I could successfully grow as a lush carpet. Thank you for the compliment! Having the patience to let it fill in is the hard part.
The plants looks so healthy that I almost mistaken them as fake plants. Great job growing the plants. Now, I think the dwarf sag is going to carpet in very nicely, so you may not want to add anything for a midground. Perhaps, focus on trimming the background plants so they serve as both midground and background plants. My other thought is, that centered driftwood could be moved out from the center position. To me, I think it would work if it was moved to the left side, and blended into the plants a little more. Right now, it's too much of an anchor and distracts from the plants and slips the foreground to much. Oh, I don't think it's Ludwigia palustris. L.palustris often has wider leaves. Maybe you have a cross between L.repens x L .palustris. Overall, I think the scape is on it's way. When the plants get more height, we'll get more depth and a more defined back/mid/foreground. I'm still amazed with the healthy growth, and I think this scape has lots of potential. -John N.
Thank you for the input, John, I really appreciate it! I have someone sending me a few stems of Downoi, along with some Ludwigia Brevipes and Gladulosa, Blyxa, and Bacopa sp. something (can't recall atm). That piece of wood is shaped funny, not sure I can move it over, but I do have a different piece I can snag from my 125 and try something off center with it like you suggested. Will update with pics after I get my plants. Thanks for the pointers and compliments.
Great little tank! Your sessiflora looks really healthy and nice. I'm hoping to turn my 10g into a shrimp tank when I move some fish around soon. Definitely a great first aquascape!
Thats crazy i also thought they were fake at first. Plants look so healthy. Its going to turn out to be a really nice tank keep up the good work!!
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