stray guppies

Stray Guppies – Day 3, Plants!

Time to plant! The ammania gracilis and the Christmas Moss were both taken from the home tank but everything else was bought online! I got the lucky bamboo from amazon and the other plants from this seller on eBay. Everything showed up in great condition and I highly recommend them!

https://ebay.com/usr/plantsfactory

Ammania gracilis
Moneywort (bacopa monnieri)
Dwarf Water Lily (nymphaea helvola)
Water lily bulb.

These three plants are the ones I put in the background of the left side of the tank. The gracilis and moneywort are interspersed around the water lily in the center. The water lily bulb is not fully buried in the substrate, as that’s how most other aquatic bulbs are planted. My other nymphaea bulb in the home tank isn’t buried in the substrate at all. Then in the foreground I have some dwarf sagittaria subulata. I didn’t really include a mid ground plant as I wanted it to look more foresty and highlight the decoration.

Dwarf sagittaria subulata
Left side of the tank.

On the right side I added lucky bamboo I had cut down to size. It looks a bit too short now, but once the nodes grow leaves it will look better.

Right side of the tank.

Against the side of the tank I have lobelia cardinalis, a mid ground plant. I also added a couple stems of it to the left of the temple. Then in front I have alternathera reineckii as little accent bushes. And I didn’t get a good picture of it but I put a tiny bit of Christmas Moss on a rock in the front right corner.

Lobelia cardinalis
Alternathera reineckii
Full tank a couple hours after planting.

For the next 3-4 weeks I’ll just update every few days. There won’t be much to do while I wait for the tank to cycle and for the plants to start growing. I’ll do occasional 20% water changes but I’ll mostly just be leaving it alone. I have the light set to full spectrum at medium-high brightness for 13 hours a day. I’ll be keeping a close eye on all the plants and taking pictures so stay tuned and wish me luck!

home sweet home, Uncategorized

Welcome Home

This is my first aquarium! In my adult life, of course. (When I was in middle school I had a 1.5 gallon aquarium with a koi fish but we don’t talk about that.) I started it February 13, 2020. There were several decorations and a few plants and it has since come a LONG way. Here is the first day vs a little over a month later.

I added way more plant life and changed up the decorations and the background. Now I am incredibly pleased with it. I see a few more minor changes to be made but overall this will be the final arrangement of the tank.

I will be making separate posts detailing the equipment, fish, and plants! I’m tagging any posts related to this tank “home sweet home“ in honor of a sign that I will soon be hanging there. This will also be my main, “home” tank.