HybridHerp's 5.5 College Tank

This is a rebirth, I REFUSE to let this tank sit at my house for weeks at a time with my folks, it is mine and will come with me to school. In the past this tank had algae issues from too much light, but since raising the light I've been seemingly fine. Used to be home to some endler guppies and a breeding colony of fire red shrimp, but the tank crashed and I lose the endlers. The fire red shrimp and the weird shrimp in my 10 come from what was originally in this tank though, I put the original weird shrimp in the 10 when she was berried and she popped out some fire reds and some oddballs.

I am opting against shrimp this time as I've been having poor luck with them. Cleared some hydra last week from here as well (dog dewormer does wonders, I forget the brand though as my friend did me a big favor and set up the dosage for me already I just had to dose it). Since this tank comes with me to school and fish are a little more interesting to non aquarium people, I figured I'd keep this fish only. I'll do a shrimp only tank one day but that day is not today.

Here’s what this tank is rocking right now
Current Fish/Inverts
o Paracheirodon simulans – “Green Neon Tetra” x7 (lost one in first day, expected since they were new to the stoer)
o Brachygobius doriae – “Bumblebee Goby” x3 (kinda might get 3 more maybe)
o Planorbis arnoldi – “Mini Ramshorn Snail” x#
o Planorbarius corneus *– “Ramshorn Snail” x#
o Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#
· Foreground
o Eleocharis belem - “ Dwarf Hairgrass”
· Mid-Ground
o Nymphaea zenkeri – “Tiger Lotus”
o Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
o Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
· Background
o Rotala rotundifolia var. ‘H’ra’
o Persecaria sp. ‘Kawagoeanum’
o Rotala sp. ‘Nanjenshan’
o Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
· Surface
o Phyllanthus fluitans – “Red Root Floater”
o Ricciocarpus natans – “Purple Root Floater”
o Spirodela polyrrhiza – “Giant Duckweed”
· Hardscape - Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
· Riparium - Fittonia albivenis
· Dirt capped with Sand
· Some cheap but reliable nano heater
· Ray2 Ultra Slim 16” DS
· Whisper 2 Power Filter
· Fertilizers - PPS-Pro

Surprisingly simple list given my other tanks. And I like it with just these few species…I just want the Hairgrass to spread more and the Nanjenshan and Vietnam to bush out and it will all be good. Might even add some of that Madagascar stem that’s a weed in my 10 gallon to this tank. Otherwise I just need the Fissidens to spread, and the floaters to spread. Fun fact, my PAR at the substrate is still like 50+ but I’m not getting algae issues (knocks on wood furiously)


I do like how this tank is shaping up though. It’s a cute little piece if I do say so myself.


This was right after I added the plant, it started drooping. Its now completely fine and erect and I’m hoping it bushes up. I might add the pink veined variant as well, my mom has this and the pink one in a little terrarium in the living room so I can always clip a top and see what it does. However I was feeling the white vein for this tank instead of the pink on green.


Surprisingly well behavied. I will eventually regret this I know but on that day, I will replace the lotus with a micranthra. I just figured that the red tiger lotus deserved some love in one of my scapes. It’ll be great if it stayed this size for me though, so far its been.


Green neons are one of my favorite nano fish. If I upgrade my high tech 10 ever and make it into like a 20 or a 30 I’d want to put these guys with my embers because I think that would be one SICK looking fish combination. Both school great and are vibrant and hardy.


Ugh, these guys are quickly stealing my heart though. I’ve done my research and am experimenting with these a little but I’m very confident that this will work. I feed the tank and saw them eat their fill so I’m not concerned about food. Monster Aquarium in Flushing has had these guys for some time now so these guys are sturdy for sure. The green neons also came from that store as well.


Ugh, stop, fish, you cute. I might one day have to do a species only on these guys and breed them since it doesn’t seem too hard with a large enough group. I am considering getting 3 more though since they are so small and they provide a bit of extra movement but not quite as much as I was hoping for on their own.

In light of recent events, I’m going to try and cheer myself up with thinking about this tank. I recently did a hard trim on it so its going to take a few weeks to grow back and look 100% pretty again, but its doing well.

Current Fish/Inverts
· Paracheirodon simulans – “Green Neon Tetra” x7
· Brachygobius doriae – “Bumblebee Goby” x6 (might be 4 now though)
· Planorbis arnoldi – “Mini Ramshorn Snail” x#
· Planorbarius corneus *– “Ramshorn Snail” x#
· Melanoides tuberculata - “Trumpet Snail” x#
· Foreground
· Eleocharis belem - “Dwarf Hairgrass”
· Mid-Ground
· Hygrophila sp. ‘Brown’
· Cryptocoryne becketii petchii
· Background
· Nymphaea zenkeri – “Tiger Lotus”
· Rotala rotundifolia var. ‘H’ra’
· Persecaria sp. ‘Kawagoeanum’
· Rotala sp. ‘Nanjenshan’
· Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’
· Surface
· Ricciocarpus natans – “Purple Root Floater”
· Fissidens fontanus – Fissidens
· Riparium
Fittonia albivenis

I want to replace the belem since its not doing so hot, and I want to add some RRF and a black background, but otherwise I like how this tank is going. As far as livestock goes, I’d want to add two horned nerites at some point and maybe some more green neons since they are still very shy (which makes the tank a little boring to look at).

Anyways, here are pictures.



Dw, it will grow back.

This is doing very nicely.
Rotala sp. ‘Vietnam’ may not be working out the best in this tank, but for not its fine. I’ll remove it later.

Can’t end without a pic of one of these. Easily one of my favorite nano fish.