5g Rimless Native Nano Low Tech

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knifegill

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
Sep 19, 2005
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Oscar Tummy
Most of what you see here is locally collected from streams and ponds. Exceptions include the one leaf of java fern in the lace rock and the lace rock. The worms came in with the substrate which is mostly comprised of conifer needles and leaf skeletons. I also added gray sand from a nearby stream that I've cleaned and used before. Inhabitants include scuds, springtails, assorted nematodes and other larger worms, possibly some hydra if they survived the transfer from the vase. Plants I know are java fern, hornwort, eleocharis sp., and a few I haven't figured out yet. And one nostoc ball. Lighting is a CFL 60 watt replacement bulb (true 13 watt, I think). No heat, water is from well and naturally hard at 7.3, apparently. Added an olive green background. Still debating that, since it gives the tank a yellowy appearance.

Look for springtails on the water's surface, a rolly polly on the exposed wood, and many many worms in almost every picture! Also daphnia in the water column!
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Let me know if any of these plants will require more lighting or other care. Any input is good! This is my first real effort at a planted tank scape!
 
Oh, snap! I just realized the grassy plant on our left in the front of the tank is also non-native! I don't know what it is, it came with my crayfish and sends out runners just like a spider plant.
 
Yeah, it's still a bit muddy. Not much I can do without killing the daphnia, though. I wonder if there are any coldwater filter shrimp? I will definitely add some fingernail clams for their filtering abilities. Hmm, what else could I use for clarity? Obviously a few water changes would help. but it's only day two so I'm going to let everything settle in for now.
 
I don't know if this helps you (or even applies to the types of worms you have), but as a child my parents went fishing a lot and so we kept locally found worms in black soil. The problem for us was that if just one single worm died it would kill every other worm in the container as well. It seemed to be caused by the slime the produce rotting....

So, watch your tank or you may have an accelerated mass extinction on your hands.

Hope this isn't a problem for you.

cute tank btw
 
I don't know if this helps you (or even applies to the types of worms you have), but as a child my parents went fishing a lot and so we kept locally found worms in black soil. The problem for us was that if just one single worm died it would kill every other worm in the container as well. It seemed to be caused by the slime the produce rotting....

So, watch your tank or you may have an accelerated mass extinction on your hands.

Hope this isn't a problem for you.

cute tank btw
Thanks!
Came home from Thanksgiving in Oregon to find a couple of dead terrestrial earthworms along the front. The bright pink one and smaller ones like it are doing fine, but two of what looked to be baby night crawlers didn't take well to aquatic life, apparently.
The rest of the colonies are exploding! Some kind of nematode that snakes like an angry cobra has taken up residence all over the holey wood. The daphnia are doing their usual exponential growth, and even the springtails are happy!

I've added about ten baby crayfish to this tank so it might not be so wormy in the future. Going to probably add a Penn-Plax Small World air sponge singe they are so easy to install and hide.

What kind of lighting are you using?
Lighting is a standard household CFL, 13 watt I think.

The plants are looking okay. Wondering if I should try to track down some fertilizer for them.
 
Sweet tank! I have a couple native tanks set up at my grandparents house and they are awesome! They are close to 2 years old now.

What is that grass like plant in the right corner?
 
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