So, I live in south Florida where I wouldn't consider posting this to a coldwater tank, but I am trying to specialize with natives, so, here I go!
Around my area is a beautiful little pond that was made from fill. South Florida has a lot of these fill ponds where the HOAs have dug them up to raise the ground. Most of these ponds are pretty much disgusting though; cichlids, cane toads, and algae, Oh my! The HOAs don't really take note that fertilizers and lack of care has killed off many opportunities to enjoy the natives and have replaced them with inbred convicts from other places. But this pond id different. I've seen few tilapia or jewel cichlids, and an abundance of native fish species I didn't even knew existed this far south. And that's why I want to make a nano biotope of the lake.
I go to it every winter and wade through the shallows looking for critters lurking among the shore. The last winter, I took my brand new Gopro and set it along the bank surround by boulders that border the dropoff where predators like bass prowl, and I found that there were two more species that I personally never seen so far south. The coastal shiner and bluefin killifish. Here are the video links:
and
.
So this winter, I would like to prepare a ten gallon nano tank with these species:
2-3 American Flagfish: 1 male/1-2 females
2 Least Killifish: 1 male/1 female
1 Golden Topminnow
3 Bluefin Killifish
3 Coastal Shiners
-------------------------
Jungle Val.
Duckweed
Cabomba
For the boulders, I would probably just use natural limestone, since the lake has limestone naturally in it, and have poolfilter sand as substrate with dirt or plant substrate for the plants(although I wouldn't know how to replicate the detritus at the bottom. I'd most likely set the tank next to a window to get more natural light and with a mix of an old t5 I have laying around since most of these plants don't need much light.
tl;dr: Just watch the youtube links, and read the last paragraph.
All I need is just some constructive criticism and some help and pointers for this maybe project.
Thanks in advance
Around my area is a beautiful little pond that was made from fill. South Florida has a lot of these fill ponds where the HOAs have dug them up to raise the ground. Most of these ponds are pretty much disgusting though; cichlids, cane toads, and algae, Oh my! The HOAs don't really take note that fertilizers and lack of care has killed off many opportunities to enjoy the natives and have replaced them with inbred convicts from other places. But this pond id different. I've seen few tilapia or jewel cichlids, and an abundance of native fish species I didn't even knew existed this far south. And that's why I want to make a nano biotope of the lake.
I go to it every winter and wade through the shallows looking for critters lurking among the shore. The last winter, I took my brand new Gopro and set it along the bank surround by boulders that border the dropoff where predators like bass prowl, and I found that there were two more species that I personally never seen so far south. The coastal shiner and bluefin killifish. Here are the video links:
So this winter, I would like to prepare a ten gallon nano tank with these species:
2-3 American Flagfish: 1 male/1-2 females
2 Least Killifish: 1 male/1 female
1 Golden Topminnow
3 Bluefin Killifish
3 Coastal Shiners
-------------------------
Jungle Val.
Duckweed
Cabomba
For the boulders, I would probably just use natural limestone, since the lake has limestone naturally in it, and have poolfilter sand as substrate with dirt or plant substrate for the plants(although I wouldn't know how to replicate the detritus at the bottom. I'd most likely set the tank next to a window to get more natural light and with a mix of an old t5 I have laying around since most of these plants don't need much light.
tl;dr: Just watch the youtube links, and read the last paragraph.
All I need is just some constructive criticism and some help and pointers for this maybe project.
Thanks in advance
