# 'Swamp Castle' 6.25g Arc Update: 1/28/15



## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

I finally finished cycling the Petco Arc I got a month or so ago.
It still isn't fully planted, but it's well on it's way (I hope).

Right now I have some anubias nana petite, Crypt wendtii, christmas moss, Salvinia minima, and a lily bulb which I just put in water.

I have a bunch more mosses (flame, mini pellia, and nano moss) and a few more nana plantlets. Any ideas on what I should do with the mosses?

The water is still a little cloudy bc I just did a water change, and the wood ist still giving off TONS of color. 
I will probably get a small group (3-5) of otos and hold off on the Tai bees until next semester. 
Sorry for the iphone pics :/

 







btw here is the thread where I settled on the hardscape, if any of you are interested in seeing that: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=750401&highlight=


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## mvbis (Mar 10, 2014)

That's a lovely piece of driftwood.


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

Thanks! It's actually a bunch of pieces that I stuck together. I really like the boggy feel it has to it, and I think the shrimp will really love all the little nooks and caves it has (also lots of SA for biofilm to grow)


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

So, I have considered how much time and work I will realistically have to keep and maintain this tank and I think I'm gonna abandon the Taiwan Bee shirmp idea, and instead make this a planted nano with a few of my favorite nano fish. 

I was thinking I could probably do a small group of C. Habrosus (about 6 maybe?)
some Otos for algae control, and a shoal CPDs.

Or maybe just some pea puffers (maybe 2 or 3).

Any thoughts on the stocking?


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

i'm no expert, but i'd go with
6 dwarf cory(any of the 3 species) + neo shrimps or
6cpds(or other tiny rasboras/danios like chilli rasboras) + neo shrimps or
a trio of scarlet badis or
a trio of clown killi + neo shrimps or
5 lampeye killi + neo shrimp or
6 endlers(2 trios or only of 1 gender-same for other tiny livebearers like dwarf mosquitofish) + neorimps
6 hara jerdoni + neo shrimps or
6 ember tetras(or any other tiny characins) + neo shrimps or
a trio of sparkling gourami(or other tiny gouramis) or
5 bumblebee gobies(if in brackish set up) or
a pair of liquorice gouramis or
a betta
not 100% sure about the killis or the gobies though lol


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

What about a dwarf (aka pea) puffer?


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## stan71 (Dec 8, 2013)

I like that piece of driftwood


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

oops i forgot about the pea puffers. i would say 3 puffers, but they can get aggressive, so just be careful with them and give lots of hiding places and caves. maybe a couple of ceramic pots. the driftwood could be enough. not 100% sure though...


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

I think with a few more plants here or there 3 puffers would be good in terms of hiding. I could probably throw in a small pot too. 

I'd really like to be able to keep both cpds and c. habrosus in the same tank. Would two small groups be do able, or is that over stocking? I'm planning on doing weekly 30% water changes with regular top offs. 

Also neos would be dope! Maybe I can get my hands on some of those blue diamonds


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## AquaAurora (Jul 10, 2013)

*I'd strongly advise against multiple puffers in that size tank.* I got 3 for my husband (turned out to be 1 male and 2 females), in his densely planted 12g long. One was harassed into jumping to her death. A lid was made the next day, but a couple of months later (just a few weeks ago) the male harassed the other female into also jumping out t her death.. through a very small hole that had canister piping right above it so she really had to work to get out. Now the male is the lone puffer in the tank. We won't add new one a as he's clearly established that "ALL of this is *MINE*", I believe he had the most difficulty getting food (always the smallest stomach) and got rid of the girls so there was no fighting over meals (they were fed live black worms and a variety of snails they could hunt naturally through the tank.. he just sucks at hunting...).
If you get more than one puffer be ready for deaths, I'm not saying all puffers will kill their own, but its a possibility. Also its better to have *3g MINIMUM per a puffer,* so do 2 instead of 3.


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

Hmm when I had a trio in my 10gallon many years ago I had very little issues with aggression between fish, but they are all different. 

As much as I love dwarf puffers, I think I'll have to go with the cpds/habrosus corys. I'm thinking 4-6 of each. With and neos and Amanos (instead of otos for algae control). Also probably some ramshorn snails in there. 

Now I just need to find somewhere to order the fish...


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## newbieshrimpkeeper (Dec 2, 2014)

puffers can get aggressive, but they may not though... so if you are willing to take the risk of putting in 3, i would recommend a spare tank maybe if they get aggressive, or you could provide 10(maybe more) mini caves like pots and rock crevices. good luck


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

I think I will be sticking with cpds and dwarf corys. I may consider setting up another tank just for puffers in a few months. They are great little fish.


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

All planted now! I got a bunch more anubias nana petite, and some mosses (mini pellia, nano moss, flame, and mini weeping) two days ago. While I was planting everything, the wood dropped and broke apart, so I went and got it screwed together with stainless steel screws (much more solid now!)

Today I was expecting some pink ramshorns, but instead I got some pink ramshorns AND a little Subwassertang, frogbit, Salvinia (minima and natans), A green crypt, hornwort, fissidens, another Anubias petite, and Anubias afzelii and some food. I was really not expecting all that. It was awesome! So huge thanks to Ehmdee for those gifts--I'll be sure to pass it along.


I did a huge water change today and took advantage of the tank no longer being cloudy--working on that--to take some nicer pictures now that it's all set up! 

mini pellia


Salvinia minima + natans


anubias, fissidens, and some moss (forget what it is exactly :icon_redf )



Crypts, and mosses and my shoulder (it looks a little like the miniweeping might be dying off, but hopefully it'll make a comeback)


All together now!


Oh yeah, I've also decided to wait until Feb. to get shrimp and fish (I'm getting 6 CPDs and 6 C. Habrosus) since I will be away for a little while.


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## Ehmdee (Jun 26, 2013)

Looking great, that driftwood is excellent!


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## holoublahee (Jan 1, 2013)

So I'm back on campus after about a month and a half. It turns out everything on the tank was unplugged by RAs for about 3 weeks. I had a friend topping off the tank when they got back to campus and they plugged everything back in, but there was a good amount of debris all over the plants and wood.

I did my best to clean it up a bit when I got back, but I'm still working on it. The substrate seems to be breaking down a bit already. I knew it would happen eventually, but I did not expect it to start in the first 2-3 months. 

I'm thinking of adding some stems in the back corners to fill the tank in a bit more. What do you guys think I should add back there? It'd have to be low light.

The ramshorns seem to have thrived bc there are little egg sacks everywhere, and they are close to dime sized! 




here is a snail with an eggsack on its shell!


I brought in some fish! I have 4 CPDs who are a little shy, but are starting to venture out a little more, and 4 or 5 (originally 5, but I have only seen 4 at a time :/) Salt and pepper corys (C. habrosus) who are pretty funny to watch.

CPDs (hard to shoot, but I juiced the contrast a little to see their colors more)



Habrosus


Let me know what you guys think. And any suggestions for the stems/plants for the back.


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