I am currently restoring a 29 gallon thrift store find. It has a few scratches and will never be a show tank. With this in mind I want to do a low tech planted tank with potting soil and Flourite substrate. I may run a diy co2 setup but for this question let's assume there will be no co2 injection. The plan is to have some dwarf S.A. cichlids along with a few groups of schooling fish. I'd like to have a decent ground cover and some height to compensate for the fact that the tank is 18 inches tall. I don't have a good local source for plants (see petco) and I do not want snails. With all of this in mind I would like some suggestions as to what to buy and plant. Also, I have been told no shrimp is safe even with apistos or rams. Is this entirely true? Thanks in advance. All suggestions and questions are welcome.
An 18” tall, low tech setup is going to have its limits & challenges mainly due to lighting if you want some form of carpeting plant tbh...
So lets break this down a bit and answer one Q. at a time...
1. Taller plants that could possibly work include Java Fern, larger anubias and some of the Crypts may do well once settled in...
2. For ground cover, since this is low light / low tech, i would consider a carpet of the smallest anubias species you could find and fill out the bottom that way... i’ve seen tanks filled with just different anubias that looked amazing using smaller anubias as ground cover and different larger species to fill other areas...
If you are super patient and have some money to spare, you could even consider some of the Bucephalandra plants but take note they are super super slow growing plants and can be quite finicky to work with at times... but the results when they work out are amazing...
3. Snails... if you dont have a good place to buy plants other than petco type places, i would suggest giving any new plants a quick 2-5min bleach dip in a 1:99 ratio bleach to water mix, followed by a soak in a seperate container with an overdose of decholonator mixed with water followed by one final good rinsing under the tap... then placing it in the tank... this should kill off any snails and possible algae before entering the tank...
4. Finally, shrimp... basiaclly any small ornamental shrimp will end up as an expensive snack for your fish, especially the chiclids... they only get a few CM long once mature, so unless you go for something like a bamboo shrimp thats a larger filter feeder, im not sure you have many choices... since things like Cherry Reds, CRS etc are all going to get eaten...
So lets break this down a bit and answer one Q. at a time...
1. Taller plants that could possibly work include Java Fern, larger anubias and some of the Crypts may do well once settled in...
2. For ground cover, since this is low light / low tech, i would consider a carpet of the smallest anubias species you could find and fill out the bottom that way... i’ve seen tanks filled with just different anubias that looked amazing using smaller anubias as ground cover and different larger species to fill other areas...
If you are super patient and have some money to spare, you could even consider some of the Bucephalandra plants but take note they are super super slow growing plants and can be quite finicky to work with at times... but the results when they work out are amazing...
3. Snails... if you dont have a good place to buy plants other than petco type places, i would suggest giving any new plants a quick 2-5min bleach dip in a 1:99 ratio bleach to water mix, followed by a soak in a seperate container with an overdose of decholonator mixed with water followed by one final good rinsing under the tap... then placing it in the tank... this should kill off any snails and possible algae before entering the tank...
4. Finally, shrimp... basiaclly any small ornamental shrimp will end up as an expensive snack for your fish, especially the chiclids... they only get a few CM long once mature, so unless you go for something like a bamboo shrimp thats a larger filter feeder, im not sure you have many choices... since things like Cherry Reds, CRS etc are all going to get eaten...
Thank you for the reply. I figured i was out of luck with the shrimp but i was holding out hope. Originally i figured I would be working with dwarf sag but the idea of dwarf anubias sounds interesting. Do you or anyone else for that matter have a specific variety I could research?
Thanks again
Thanks again
Go with dawrf sag. Big showpiece plant for low light is aponogeton ulvaceus. I think the spelling is right.
put it by a window. Sunlight coming in from the back panel will let you grow whatever you want.
Thats definitely a showy plant, thank you for the suggestion. To add to the detail i just ordered a Nicrew 28-36" light for the tank after seeing one on a 36 bowfront. It looks great and seems to do well with planted tanks based on reviews. Does anyone have experience with one of these?
