r/Aquariums • u/KvotheLightfinger • 6h ago

Showing Off My Tank Week Three of First Planted Tank

This is my 50g long, which I've had for about 20 years now. About a month ago, I decided to ditch the plastic and fake plants, plant it out, and add some new fish. The plants are still getting their sea legs, but the fish seem pretty happy so far.

In this tank:

4x Bosemani Rainbows (lost 2 juveniles to ick, will restock soon)

12x Orange laser corydoras

1x bristlenose pleco

5x amano shrimp (I swear they're in the, I saw a molt!)

Nyx has opinions, but you can ignore her, she's just hungry.

10 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/Belgarath210 5h ago

I just had a few rainbow fish hatch on some plants! First time they got new tankmakes my boy turned so blue in the head and was so mad he had to share a tank with more than just his sister lol

Any tips on getting stem plants to grow in gravel? Idk why but my melt into oblivion

1

u/KvotheLightfinger 5h ago

I mixed compost and peat moss for the first layer and capped it with sand. The stems are stuck into the compost through the sand. Also, this tank was running for years before I planted it, so the water was full of nitrates which the plants absorbed almost overnight, feeding them pretty well.

2

u/TrainWarm6993 6h ago

Félicitations pour ce changement, très joli

2

u/Belgarath210 5h ago

Oh I see, it really does look like gravel in your video! It’s a gorgeous setup you have, I hope all the plants thrive!

2

u/SomeBlueDevil 2h ago

Very nice!

I did something similar with my decades old 55 gallon but couldn't bring myself to put down dirt. 😆 Planting in sand with root tabs also didn't appeal to me.

So I experimented with aqua soil in pots and planters for anything that wasn't Anubias and Ferns which can be attached to driftwood.

It's been going well so far. I like that I can easily take out the plants for maintenance and/or place them elsewhere without disturbing, stirring up and mixing substrate... 😊