Update On Teddy's 20g

Teddy

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Well, I'm almost done with converting the tank from a crappy looking, begginer tank with colored blue and purple gravel, into a nice, natural looking tank with some aquascaping done to it! There are still a few pieces of colored gravel left because I couldn't get it all out, so now I'm plucking them out one by one whenever i feel bored. haha.. here are some pictures!

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Its definitely an improvement....some suggestions on aquascaping(i dunno if my way is best, but people seem to like it. With planting: try to grade you plants to have a feature at the front middle...so the fish have plenty of cover elsewhere. Some of those plants look non aquatic, but i may be wrong. What you could really use is a feature plant for the front or rear centre. Maybe look into some more bushy plants for the corners and sides, the tank still looks very open: fish become more confident with more cover. A more interesting planted bit of drifwood would help alot too.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the advice.

They are all live plants.... and I do have a baeutiful piece of drift wood, but I cant seem to keep it anchored in the tank. Do you have any suggestions? It just goes back up. I try to put heavy rocks on it, but it won't work. Let me post of pic of it.
 
Thanks for the advice.

They are all live plants.... and I do have a baeutiful piece of drift wood, but I cant seem to keep it anchored in the tank. Do you have any suggestions? It just goes back up. I try to put heavy rocks on it, but it won't work. Let me post of pic of it.


can I ask where did you get them from. LFS usually have non aquatic plants there anyway. Tank looks good though :good:
 
leave the wood in soak for ages anchored down ina buckethe just puts rockson his that usually works after a while the wood gwts to water logged and heavy to float :) but im sure thers promerly an easyer way lol
 
First, it's great that you want to upgrade your tank to a more natural look. I remember when I first started, blue gravel and all, and I like my tanks much better now. You've made a great start, but I'm sorry to say, you're LFS wasn't exactly honest with you.

The plant with the varigated leaves (cream and green longish leaves) is a Dracaena sanderiana. Very young cuttings will survive submerged for up to 8 weeks, but it is not an aquatic plant. It actually does best next to a bright window with soil. You also have a plant that looks to me like Japanese rush, another non-aquatic. It could also be either Ophiopogon japonicus.

You have several plants that look like anubias to me and they are planted in the substrate. Anubias grow via a rhizome that can never be submerged or the rhizome will rot and the plant will die. My guess is that the front broad-leafed plant in the front left of the tank is definitely an anubia. My left.

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but you are so enthusiastic about making your tank the best that it can be, and I just want to help you.

Many LFSs sell non-aquatic plants as aquatic, and they look tempting, but most die after a few weeks, filling your tank with decayed matter and ammonia. The plants and the tank will be better off if you remove the non-aquatics and plant them in a pot with good soil.

Warmest,

llj :)
 
Nice tank. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If you like it and enjoyit then it truly is awsome. :good:
 
Haha.. I will make no comments about what store these plants came from, but I will definetly trust you on that. I don't quite want to pull the mout until I get other ones though, because the tank will be empty...

So for the drift wood, I juts let it soak for a long time, and it will stay anchored with some rocks?
 

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