[plantedfluvaledge]

I have a planted Fluval Edge with some drift wood, a few Red Cherry Shrimp and a wild snail that appeared one day. I added 5 Celestial Pearl Danios a few days ago and they did their characteristic hide-in-the-greenery thing. For such a small tank, somehow they pretty much disappeared whenever I entered the room. Yesterday I added 5 tiny microdevario kubotai. I know this is getting to the upper limit of stocking a 6-gallon tank, but so far so good with ammonia and nitrite levels (after feeding them a couple of times).

The CPDs suddenly came to life when I added the much less shy microdevario kubotai - they're out of the vegetation and scooting about, even though the tiny microdevarios spend quite a lot of time chasing them. I'm feeding them all Hikari micro pellets. Any advice for keeping my little tank happy and balanced? Are the Hikari micro pellets enough, or should I be feeding them other things as well?

All advice greatly appreciated! Picture attached.

 

[MoneyMitch]

nice lookig tank, love the micro idea and look. how long have you had it setup? lighting on the tank? just asking for the longterm if the tank is freshlysetup. if the tank is new and with not seeing a spike yet in your reads im going to say its from your plants helping cycle the tank.

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

nice lookig tank, love the micro idea and look. how long have you had it setup? lighting on the tank? just asking for the longterm if the tank is freshlysetup. if the tank is new and with not seeing a spike yet in your reads im going to say its from your plants helping cycle the tank.

I set it up a couple of weeks ago, with just a few shrimp and used the 'cycle' bacteria that came with the Fluval Edge. Had a small ammonium spike in the first week, and then a monumental nitrite spike at which point all of the shrimp died, unfortunately. Left one of the dead shrimp in, and added a bit of fish food to provide ammonia for the cycle to complete. Ammonia and nitrite levels dropped to zero midway through last week (week 2) and have stayed there since. Nitrate levels are staying low, which I would like to imagine is due to the plants absorbing it as food.

After ammonia and nitrite levels dropped, did a huge water change (75%) and removed the dead shrimp and decomposing fish flakes before stocking with fish and shrimp again. Very happy that levels have been stable in the first few days.

Lighting on the tank is the stock LEDs from the fluval edge. All of the plants can tolerate moderate to low lighting, and I don't think my little Celestial Pearly Danios could handle much more than that anyway.

 

[JDM]

Welcome to the board!

Nice looking tank.

My daughter is bugging me to get one of these for her. I just like floating plants (even though I haven't acquired the ones that I want yet) and I don't see that working well with the tank style.

No advice... sounds like it is working well so far. Awfully fast cycle... just stay on top of checking the ammonia and nitrites for a while seeing as you have pretty much topped out the tank bioload capacity. Things could jump around yet until it gets well established.

Jeff.

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

Welcome to the board!

Nice looking tank.

My daughter is bugging me to get one of these for her. I just like floating plants (even though I haven't acquired the ones that I want yet) and I don't see that working well with the tank style.

No advice... sounds like it is working well so far. Awfully fast cycle... just stay on top of checking the ammonia and nitrites for a while seeing as you have pretty much topped out the tank bioload capacity. Things could jump around yet until it gets well established.

Jeff.

Thanks Jeff!

Yeah - I'm checking Ammonia/Nitrite levels every day at the moment - another 0 reading this morning (fingers crossed). I did have one of my shrimp die last night - not sure why at this stage. I'll check that nothing in the tank has been treated with copper. The PH is quite low (around 6.4) and this is slightly outside the preferred range for Red Cherry Shrimp, but necessary for my Sundadanios (turned out not to be microdevarios after all).

I've got to say, I'm loving the Fluval Edge. It is just a beautiful tank, and the view from above is really nifty. I've spent weeks trying to work out what will live best in it though, and your daughter may be a bit frustrated with the limitations in terms of stocking. I'm completely in love with tiny fish - I like the idea of creating a miniature aquascape, and having tiny fish helps with the scale and makes everything feel bigger than it really is.

Little floating plants will just get pushed under by the water flowing into the tank from the filter. However, you could have a couple of plants that don't need to be anchored as such - they will just stay suspended in the tank and could provide some shade for things like Celestial Pearl Danios. I'm thinking of getting some Water Sprite for that purpose. Perhaps you should take your daughter to your local fish shop and see which fish she really responds to. If she's taken with the tiny rasboras, or a few guppies, or sundadanios etc, then a Fluval Edge might be great. If she finds these ones boring and wants something flashier, it's probably not a great tank for her. Even fast-moving small fish like neon tetras might struggle with the Edge.

It's also a tiny bit tricky to maintain - you can't really just reach in and shove a plant back into the substrate, or move a piece of drift wood, or grab a dead fish, for instance. You have to wait until you do a water change, because the moment you put a hand in the tank, the water will overflow (it's best to keep it completely full to the brim so you can see in from the top). Food for thought!

 

[JDM]

Well, technically she has the 37 gallon in the living room. The deal was she gets the tank for Christmas but it couldn't go in her room... lots of reasons, so it is a family tank and she gets to help with all the decisions and whatnot. She is really liking it. Cherry barbs, emerald catfish, cherry shrimp, assorted snails and 14 species of plants... oh, and Oscar the Betta. Extremely hard water and the Betta reduced our options drastically. She just wants ANOTHER tank.

That fish mix up is more of a classification change that occurred. Either way they are interesting little fish.

I already have a hard time putting my arm in to do anything. Although its much larger, it is deep enough that I have to go up to my shoulder to reach the bottom and I have to be slow or it will spill. I think I will lower the level a bit. I like the streamlined look of my LED fixture over the glass cover, no big black hood.

Oh, watch for a possible nitrite spike. I had that after adding the first batch of fish, about two weeks out. I either didn't have an ammonia spike or I missed it or it was just a bump, lots of plants will mitigate it.

Jeff.

 

[Byron]

First, plantedfluvaledge, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.:-D

I would add a lot more plants, and definitely floating. The Danio margaritatus will be more settled and less stressed, and thus out even more, with a thick planting. You can read more in our profile, click the shaded name. Profiles (fish and plant) are under the second heading from the left in the blue bar at the top of this and every page.

A larger group is also advisable, as it notes in the profile. But your tank space is limited. Microdevario kubotai is not yet in our profiles, but it is another species that would be a bit better with more.

Byron.

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

First, plantedfluvaledge, welcome to Tropical Fish Keeping forum.:-D

I would add a lot more plants, and definitely floating. The Danio margaritatus will be more settled and less stressed, and thus out even more, with a thick planting. You can read more in our profile, click the shaded name. Profiles (fish and plant) are under the second heading from the left in the blue bar at the top of this and every page.

A larger group is also advisable, as it notes in the profile. But your tank space is limited. Microdevario kubotai is not yet in our profiles, but it is another species that would be a bit better with more.

Byron.

Thanks Byron. The CPDs are really quite active and settled now. What I thought were Microdevario kubotai are actually Sundadanio Axelrodi 'blue' (or perhaps S. Margarition), and I'm planning to add a couple more this weekend as they're being a bit territorial and nippy at the moment. I think any more that 12 or 13 tiny fish in a 6 gallon could cause the system to crash, so I'll leave it at that and see how we go.

I like the idea of more plants, although none of the fish are hiding very much at this stage. I have filigree milfoil, anubias and something else I can't remember the name of. The filigree milfoil seems to be dying bit by bit and I may take it out shortly and replace with a java fern or something as well as something floating if I can find a suitable plant.

Water parameters are still good a week after stocking, so I'm hoping that indicates that the tank is settling nicely. Nitrates are building up slowly, but nothing that a weekly water change won't handle! More plants could take care of that too.

Cheers,

Steve

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

Also - I notice that you're a BMus too! Hope your music projects are going well!

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron. The CPDs are really quite active and settled now. What I thought were Microdevario kubotai are actually Sundadanio Axelrodi 'blue' (or perhaps S. Margarition), and I'm planning to add a couple more this weekend as they're being a bit territorial and nippy at the moment. I think any more that 12 or 13 tiny fish in a 6 gallon could cause the system to crash, so I'll leave it at that and see how we go.

I gather than more numbers are important for Sundadanio axelrodi; 20 being minimum.

I don't know your level of knowledge, so my comments may be well known. Shoaling fish that are maintained in small numbers will become more aggressive because of this. Many factors affect this obviously, but the nippiness which is probably natural for the species is almost certainly to be increased with so few of them. I think both of these species should have more in their group.

Byron.

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

I gather than more numbers are important for Sundadanio axelrodi; 20 being minimum.

I don't know your level of knowledge, so my comments may be well known. Shoaling fish that are maintained in small numbers will become more aggressive because of this. Many factors affect this obviously, but the nippiness which is probably natural for the species is almost certainly to be increased with so few of them. I think both of these species should have more in their group.

Byron.

Thanks Byron,

I have to admit, I stupidly went on the advice of the aquarium I was buying from, who said that the 'dwarf green rasboras' (which is what they were calling the Sundadanio Axelrodi) did well as long as there were at least 5 of them. I will buy a few more and see if that settles them down - I guess I just have to try to make it work at this stage.

The CPDs seem like they're doing well - they eat well, they're out of the vegetation most of the time and their colour is improving every day. I think I'll just leave them in a group of 5 and keep an eye on things.

The most troubling thing is that my shrimp keep dying. I've lost 4 so far, after the cycling of the tank was complete. Water parameters have been completely stable during this time (Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates never going above about 5ppm and PH about 6.5) and I have no idea what is wrong. I have one little washed-out male left. Any advice?

Cheers,

Steve

 

[Byron]

Thanks Byron,

I have to admit, I stupidly went on the advice of the aquarium I was buying from, who said that the 'dwarf green rasboras' (which is what they were calling the Sundadanio Axelrodi) did well as long as there were at least 5 of them. I will buy a few more and see if that settles them down - I guess I just have to try to make it work at this stage.

The CPDs seem like they're doing well - they eat well, they're out of the vegetation most of the time and their colour is improving every day. I think I'll just leave them in a group of 5 and keep an eye on things.

The most troubling thing is that my shrimp keep dying. I've lost 4 so far, after the cycling of the tank was complete. Water parameters have been completely stable during this time (Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates never going above about 5ppm and PH about 6.5) and I have no idea what is wrong. I have one little washed-out male left. Any advice?

Cheers,

Steve

What is the GH? Shrimp generally do not fare well in soft water, and a pH of 6.5 would suggest a low GH.

 

[plantedfluvaledge]

What is the GH? Shrimp generally do not fare well in soft water, and a pH of 6.5 would suggest a low GH.

I don't have the GH/KH test kit at the moment (just the pH/Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate API freshwater master test kit). HOWEVER, I know that Melbourne's water is famously soft and maybe that's the problem? Is that likely to kill off shrimp in a week?

One thing that I just read on planetinverts.com is that Anubias and Crypt plants 'leak a toxic substance into the tank'. My feature plant is a big Anubias on a piece of driftwood, surrounded by planted Crypt so maybe I've found my answer?

S

 

[Byron]

I don't have the GH/KH test kit at the moment (just the pH/Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate API freshwater master test kit). HOWEVER, I know that Melbourne's water is famously soft and maybe that's the problem? Is that likely to kill off shrimp in a week?

One thing that I just read on planetinverts.com is that Anubias and Crypt plants 'leak a toxic substance into the tank'. My feature plant is a big Anubias on a piece of driftwood, surrounded by planted Crypt so maybe I've found my answer?

S

I've not heard of the plants being toxic to shrimp before, but that doesn't mean it may not be part of the issue.

But I can say with fair certainty that shrimp do not last in soft water. There is no calcium for their exoskeleton. Snails would have similar problems, except for the Malaysian Livebearing snail which is the only one I know of that manages fine in soft or hard water.

As the fish need the softness, I would accept that and forget shrimp.

 

[JDM]

...

As the fish need the softness, I would accept that and forget shrimp.

Yah, that might be a wise idea.

Jeff.