So I’ve done all the things you aren’t supposed to do for a fish tank and it’s turned out beautifully. It was a bit of an accidental process that started with my failed pickle jar ecosphere where I scooped up some pond water to see what lives in it. I promptly killed all of the inhabitants.
Then I bought a 2 gallon tank with a small, hang on the back filter. Then I went out into the forest and picked up some wood, rocks and moss. Then I went to the local outdoor pond store and bought some plants. I didn’t treat any of the wood or rocks other than to do the vinegar test on the rocks to check if they’re inert. I just gave them a rinse with the hose to get off dirt and pine needles.
Testing the water parameters, everything from day one was perfect. No ammonia or nitrites and low nitrates. I got some Amano Shrimp and a Mystery Snail and everyone seemed happy.
But now I wanted more!
So then I went out and bought a 10 gallon tank. Out to the forest I went and found a gorgeous tree root with all sorts of bending and twisting branches. It even has a “cave of wonders” at one end. There’s sort of three levels to it, so It fills the whole tank. Again, I did not treat it other than a spray with the garden hose. Then I went to a creek and took a large rock covered in thick, healthy moss. I picked out some pine needles and put it right into the tank. I found some beautiful rocks and super glued Java fern and Anubias to them and in they went. Everybody I’ve told that to thinks I’m nuts! “You didn’t treat it?? You HAVE to treat it!!”.
Well I didn’t treat any of it. Soon I had a lovely colony of various copepods, especially lots of cyclops. Testing the water parameters yielded the same results - everything perfect! After a few days I put my shrimp in - they are so happy! They’re shiny, active and healthy. It’s full of tannins and the shrimp seem to love it.
Then I decided I wanted fish. After a ton of research I decided on Ember Tetras because they’re very tiny and peaceful. Today is the big day. Down I went to my local fish store and purchased 4 Ember Tetras. Within an hour they were trying to spawn!
I can’t find a single other person, in real life or online, who has done an aquarium like this. I don’t even know what to call it? A natural fish tank? I don’t know but everybody is super happy. In a couple of weeks I’m going to go down and get another 5 or so Ember Tetras so they have a nice little school. They seem to love hunting down and eating the cyclops!
In the 1980’s I did all my tanks this way. I put some effort into full spectrum lighting but I didn’t buy much, just scavenged in the woods and creeks around my house. By 1989 I had a 150, a 75, a 50, and some smaller tanks. Angelfish and small cichlids were breeding, along with a bunch of other schooling fish, and I was digging masses of plants out of the tanks to sell on a monthly basis. A key factor was putting very few fish and a whole lot of plants in each tank, and leaving it alone.
After the earthquake broke all my tanks I never had the heart to start up again.
I’ve seen them over the years. Sometimes they are credited with having miraculous curative powers for sick fish. Over time that tree root might give you problems if it begins to rot, but even that may not be a problem if the you have a good microbe environment. I would suggest a lot of oxygenation of that water, get at least one airstone down at the bottom of the tank. If you get bubbling on top of the water skim that stuff off.
Good to hear that! For lighting I just have the LED light bar that came with it. I’m only doing water column plants right now because it just seems like the easiest way.
I have the hang-on-the-back filter up to high so that it creates lots of water movement on top. There was a bit of bubbling on top till I turned the water flow up and now it’s mostly gone. Still a little but nothing that concerns me. I’ve been doing twice weekly 10% water changes. The shrimp stand directly in the water flow and groom themselves. The Embers seem so happy to be hunting.
You’ll need some air to come at the bottom of the tank. You probably haven’t seen any scum bubbles on top yet, they’ll contain a lot of protein and it’s best to keep that out so the algae doesn’t go nuts. But every tank like that ends up different, just play with it and see what works out. Sounds like you’re having fun.
Yes, I can get a bit worked up about things that excite/interest me
It’s so rewarding to take little creatures and make them happy. The tetras were fine at the store but they were in big, completely bare tanks with nothing but fish in them. They were pale and just sitting in the bottom of the bag and now they’re nice and coppery, hunting and rubbing up against each other all happy.
Very nice looking! At a nearby nature center in the Metroparks they have aquariums with local fish and turtles in a similar environment. I hope everything balances and your fishies live a long life
Limestone and shells will add calcium to the water, a tank with invertebrates will need sources of calcium, shells and limestone is okay for a tank with shrimp and snails.
Understocking a tank is far safer than overstocking, the easiest solution is to think of the tank as an underwater garden, and have only enough animal inhabitants that the plants can consume their waste
the type of plants greatly depend on the “Watts Per Gallon” equation, the higher the WPG you have, the more delicate plants you can support, but you also need to make sure you don’t get nutrient/ammonia spikes, as that will cause an increase in algae…
….and don’t even think about looking into CO2 injection, it’s a slippery slope, trust me…
Ah, that’s ok! One rule of aquaria to remember, fish are dull, if they do something interesting there’s a 50/50 chance it’s a problem. The remaining 50% is split between mating and aggression.
Hmm, not all that different than humans is it? I guess with humans it’s 50/50 on the mating part.
Good advice there Floaty. You might be putting too many fish in a 10 gallon tank.
Maintaining the balance in this kind of tank can be a lot tougher than with inverts or salt in general. Algae blooms are a huge problem, that’s why I recommended skimming the surface where proteins collect, and break down into nitrogen and phosphorous, adding to the other decaying material in the tank. The bottom of the tank should be cleaned with one of those aquarium vacuum cleaner tubes (you know the one, it’s just a fat tube connected to a long hose).
I always recommend for any tank a reverse flow undergravel filter to keep that bottom clean and let your filter do it’s job. For a ten gallon tank frequent cleaning and water changes should be fine, and you’d probably have to make that kind of filter yourself, but it’s pretty damn easy if you step up to bigger tanks.
FloatyGimpy might be interested in this Facebook group dealing with “low-tech planted tanks”, where having a natural-looking habitat is the goal, rather than the usual maximizing of fish.
If I ever have a tank again :dubious: it will probably be along those lines.
