Need some advice on giving small tank WOW factor

[Experiment397]

It's been a while since I've been on here and I've been nothing but busy with different classes and other things keeping me away. But I did manage to maintain my latest project- a low tech planted 10 gallon tank. It is now pretty much to the point of establishment where I would like to put some things in it to blow people away. Being 10 gallons I would need small fish and smaller plants. It currently has a random Java Fern and some Pogostemon helferi I picked up. I do run a DIY yeast Co2 from a 2 liter bottle. Along with some fish I pulled from another tank to fill it while I decided what I really wanted to do with it. I'm planning on ordering a Finnex Ray 2 for lighting to replace the t8 fixture I have now. I would like to try and do a flooded forest or slow stream theme with it,Any ideas for fish and plants, maybe something that would grow on the wood? Here's some pics of the tank, I'm open to just about anything

 

[js302]

nice so far

maybe some more driftwood and plants tied to / growing off the wood.
perhaps do away with the community (nothing wow ever came of guppies)

If you had a group of siamese fighters 1 male 4 females, the male would build a great bubble nest and you could observe some great breeding behaviour.

You could have a bolivian ram trio / pair do something similar.

You should put some bottom dwellers (Betta splendens, C. sterbai, C. panda C. arcuatus whatever you want) in amongst all that foliage and leaves on the ground.

you could even just have a breeding group of corydoras and some top dwellers such as the siamese fighters.

...so more aquascaping, and a diff community I think! GL

 

[Etan]

Anubias Nana and anubias petite on your driftwood. You can also throw in some java moss or if you would like to get fancier Xmas or flame moss.

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[Experiment397]

Okay thanks. The fish in it were just so it didn't look empty for 3 months while the Pogostemon established, guppies will probably be snake food as soon as I get other fish. I have some dwarf dojo loaches and some otocinclus I could through in as bottom dwellers. Betas would be a cool community. How should I attach the plants to the wood?


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[Aw3s0m3]

Okay thanks. The fish in it were just so it didn't look empty for 3 months while the Pogostemon established, guppies will probably be snake food as soon as I get other fish. I have some dwarf dojo loaches and some otocinclus I could through in as bottom dwellers. Betas would be a cool community. How should I attach the plants to the wood?


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You can just tie them on with string or wedge them in the cracks. I think you should also put a group of kuhli loaches as bottom dwellers. I've always been a fan of those little guys.


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[Cookie*]

Use a sewing string to attach plants to driftwood. Try and put the roots of the plant into an area of the wood where it can hopefully attach itself, wrap/tie it there with whatever color string you choose, and in a few months the string will just degrade and detach itself. You could also use a rubber band and clip it off at one point, or fishing line, whichever your preference or is handy.

I wish I had better insight on the tank, I'm kinda in the same boat as you. I just started my first planted tank in a 15g, 2 days ago. My main plant is and will be Brazilian Pennywort as it's going to be an apistogramma tank and I'm looking for floating plant cover. Check out that plant online tho, I think it would add a lot to your tank. It can be rooted in substrate and grown to the surface, or just left on the surface. I think rooting it in a corner in your substrate and letting it grow up and fill parts of your surface would be pretty dramatic looking. However, I wouldn't let it get to wild on the surface as it will block light from your substrate plants. It grows pretty fast and is easy to propagate. It can also be attached to driftwood. Once you get a piece of nice driftwood in your tank and something to fill the different levels of the tank (bottom, middle, top) it will look fantastic.

 

[Experiment397]

Found some moneywort and anubias nana. I'll pick it up this next week and get it in. How many bettas do you think could be done? Obviously only 1 male but how many females?


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[darth pike]

If it were me, with those colors I would go with some good quality blue velvet shrimp and swap out those fish for smaller ones, like some of the really colorful micro rasboras like chili/mosquito rasboras (Boraras brigittae). The smaller fish would make that small tank seem bigger. I'd also use one of the close cropped mosses on top of the driftwood on the right, and try to hide as much equipment as I could behind it.

 

[Experiment397]

That sounds like a cool idea. Did a quick search and found a site specializing in "nano fish" maybe a school of chili rasboras, some mini moth catfish, and some shrimp. The tank already has a dozen ghost shrimp I tossed in to clean the small plant leaves so maybe I'll get more of them too


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[darth pike]

I'd swap out the ghost shrimp if going for nano fish, they have been known to catch and eat smaller fish.