I wanted to share a tank that has been running for about 3 months now that I set up with frothhelmet on here. The idea is to set up a scape that looks like a terrestrial scene from the South African savanna, hence the name.
Specifications
Aquarium: 30 Liter Dennerle Nano
Filter: Dennerle EckFilter
Light: 12hrs/day 11w power compact + ~1hr direct morning sun
Driftwood: Unknown type - got it used
Rock: Red (European) + Blue (Japanese) Dragon Stone
Sand: B&Q play sand
Heater: AquaEl 50w
Water
Ph 6.7
Gh 8
Temp 75F
Livestock
Fish:
Nannostomus Unifasciatus x 2 (waiting to get more)
Corydoras Panda x 4
Shrimp:
Caridina Simoni Simoni x 23
Snails
Black Tarebia Granifera (MTS) x 17
Theodoxus Fluviatilis (river nerite) x 15
Plants
Moss
Afro Moss - new moss exclusively available from Living Waters Croydon. This is a micro moss, and it grows in little tufts like terrestrial moss does but underwater. You can see a better photo of it here when we visited the shop 2 years ago, second photo from the bottom; http
/www.lfkc.co.uk/index.php?topic=1042.15. Photo skills courtesy of LondonDragon - word up Paulo.
They weren't selling the moss then, as apparently the shop owners found it from a single strand of other moss and took 4 years to grow enough of it on to sell. In a way, this scape was designed to showcase this moss.
Floating
Phyllanthus Fluitans (red-root floater)
Limnobium Laevigatum (frogbit)
Here we have the tank about 3 months ago with just the hardscape of Dragon Stone
Where we had the bright idea to hide the filter
Just filled it up with water
With the afro moss and floating plants and livestock added. The moss is tied on with ‘invisible’ nylon, but it’s not so invisible here. When the moss grows in I am hoping it will cover the thread. One 3x4cm moss grid was enough to cover all of the driftwood. The afro moss is the only submersed aquatic plant in the whole scape, as we wanted the rocks and stones and wood to look a bit ‘barren’ like the semi-desert savannah.
Some floating plants pics. Afro moss does not like too much light so we put in quite a few floating plants. Frogbit does a good job soaking up nutrients and improving the water quality so we put a few in there too. The red root floater was chosen because its leaves and roots turn blood red in a bit of direct sunlight, and it gives the impression of a sunset in the background. Speaking of the background, you can see a lot of algae on the glass and rocks. Luckily this is the only algae so far, which is being cultivated for the river nerites to eat. These photos were taken before adding all the river nerites, hopefully they will now keep the glass clean but enough algae will grow to keep them alive and breeding
Some more photos
Black Tarebia Granifera
River nerite on the glass
Berried Dwarf Sri Lankan Shrimp
I like this shrimp because it is hardier and more heat resistant than cherries (breeds at 34C), though perhaps less colorful. Although I am sure almost all of the babies will be eaten by the pencilfish, the shrimps are important to keep the moss clean.
Unberried Female
Male
Here is a picture of the cave under the driftwood. You can see one of the one-lined pencils hiding out. These guys are really pretty and elegant, and are the only other pencilfish including eques (hockey-stick) that swim with their heads up at a 45 degree angle. They will happily eat off the gravel though, and in fact are pretty scared of the surface, only going there occasionally in this tank. The males do fight. Apparently these are only available wild caught and one of them was very emaciated when purchased. They wont eat any prepared or frozen foods and their mouths are extremely small, they can't eat live bloodworm or tubifex, which was very worrying in the beginning, but after obtaining cultures of microworms, grindal worms, and moina macrocopa and feeding them some ostracods (harvested from another tank) they have fattened up
The panda corys bring a lot of movement and action to the tank, which is a nice contrast to the subdued pencils. It's fun to see them sprint to the surface and dig like mad in the fine sand spraying it everywhere. Happy campers.
Some close-ups of the afro moss
Some more pics
Specifications
Aquarium: 30 Liter Dennerle Nano
Filter: Dennerle EckFilter
Light: 12hrs/day 11w power compact + ~1hr direct morning sun
Driftwood: Unknown type - got it used
Rock: Red (European) + Blue (Japanese) Dragon Stone
Sand: B&Q play sand
Heater: AquaEl 50w
Water
Ph 6.7
Gh 8
Temp 75F
Livestock
Fish:
Nannostomus Unifasciatus x 2 (waiting to get more)
Corydoras Panda x 4
Shrimp:
Caridina Simoni Simoni x 23
Snails
Black Tarebia Granifera (MTS) x 17
Theodoxus Fluviatilis (river nerite) x 15
Plants
Moss
Afro Moss - new moss exclusively available from Living Waters Croydon. This is a micro moss, and it grows in little tufts like terrestrial moss does but underwater. You can see a better photo of it here when we visited the shop 2 years ago, second photo from the bottom; http
/www.lfkc.co.uk/index.php?topic=1042.15. Photo skills courtesy of LondonDragon - word up Paulo.They weren't selling the moss then, as apparently the shop owners found it from a single strand of other moss and took 4 years to grow enough of it on to sell. In a way, this scape was designed to showcase this moss.
Floating
Phyllanthus Fluitans (red-root floater)
Limnobium Laevigatum (frogbit)
Here we have the tank about 3 months ago with just the hardscape of Dragon Stone
Where we had the bright idea to hide the filter
Just filled it up with water
With the afro moss and floating plants and livestock added. The moss is tied on with ‘invisible’ nylon, but it’s not so invisible here. When the moss grows in I am hoping it will cover the thread. One 3x4cm moss grid was enough to cover all of the driftwood. The afro moss is the only submersed aquatic plant in the whole scape, as we wanted the rocks and stones and wood to look a bit ‘barren’ like the semi-desert savannah.
Some floating plants pics. Afro moss does not like too much light so we put in quite a few floating plants. Frogbit does a good job soaking up nutrients and improving the water quality so we put a few in there too. The red root floater was chosen because its leaves and roots turn blood red in a bit of direct sunlight, and it gives the impression of a sunset in the background. Speaking of the background, you can see a lot of algae on the glass and rocks. Luckily this is the only algae so far, which is being cultivated for the river nerites to eat. These photos were taken before adding all the river nerites, hopefully they will now keep the glass clean but enough algae will grow to keep them alive and breeding
Some more photos
Black Tarebia Granifera
River nerite on the glass
Berried Dwarf Sri Lankan Shrimp
I like this shrimp because it is hardier and more heat resistant than cherries (breeds at 34C), though perhaps less colorful. Although I am sure almost all of the babies will be eaten by the pencilfish, the shrimps are important to keep the moss clean.
Unberried Female
Male
Here is a picture of the cave under the driftwood. You can see one of the one-lined pencils hiding out. These guys are really pretty and elegant, and are the only other pencilfish including eques (hockey-stick) that swim with their heads up at a 45 degree angle. They will happily eat off the gravel though, and in fact are pretty scared of the surface, only going there occasionally in this tank. The males do fight. Apparently these are only available wild caught and one of them was very emaciated when purchased. They wont eat any prepared or frozen foods and their mouths are extremely small, they can't eat live bloodworm or tubifex, which was very worrying in the beginning, but after obtaining cultures of microworms, grindal worms, and moina macrocopa and feeding them some ostracods (harvested from another tank) they have fattened up
The panda corys bring a lot of movement and action to the tank, which is a nice contrast to the subdued pencils. It's fun to see them sprint to the surface and dig like mad in the fine sand spraying it everywhere. Happy campers.
Some close-ups of the afro moss
Some more pics
