Post by bamaplants on May 29, 2012 20:56:23 GMT -6
yep rick that is how they do.. they undermine their shells to make a valley and are very landmark oriented about their territory
but back to my Lower Tech planted tank set up
Fish
You have your tank set up. Now give it a week or two to see how it is fairing and if the plants have established themselves and started growing. Test your water parameters and make sure they are acceptable. If this is the case and ONLY if you have also planted heavily, then you can go ahead and add a couple of algae eaters into your tank. Algae eaters go a long way toward keeping your tank algae free. This is even more the case in a tank where algae growth, if any, will be slow and the fish or others will be able to keep up with it easily. This is the case for a Low tech planted tank ( and also the mid tech) Otos are thought to be one of the best algae eating fish out there although there are other fish/inverts you could pick too (like SAE, freshwater shrimps, microcrabs, nerites, hillstream loaches). Some folks will freak at the ithought of adding fish to an “uncycled” tank, but the truth of the matter is :
If you have a heavily planted tank where the plants are healthy AND growing then the plants will cycle the tank by immediately consuming any ammonia that is introduced into the system.
After 2 more weeks, Assuming all is going well and your plants are growing and look healthy you can steam on ahead and add the rest of your livestock. It would be a good idea to add them in small groups over a couple of weeks. Despite this, many people have added the entire livestock-load in one foul swoop without any issues at all.
but back to my Lower Tech planted tank set up
Fish
You have your tank set up. Now give it a week or two to see how it is fairing and if the plants have established themselves and started growing. Test your water parameters and make sure they are acceptable. If this is the case and ONLY if you have also planted heavily, then you can go ahead and add a couple of algae eaters into your tank. Algae eaters go a long way toward keeping your tank algae free. This is even more the case in a tank where algae growth, if any, will be slow and the fish or others will be able to keep up with it easily. This is the case for a Low tech planted tank ( and also the mid tech) Otos are thought to be one of the best algae eating fish out there although there are other fish/inverts you could pick too (like SAE, freshwater shrimps, microcrabs, nerites, hillstream loaches). Some folks will freak at the ithought of adding fish to an “uncycled” tank, but the truth of the matter is :
If you have a heavily planted tank where the plants are healthy AND growing then the plants will cycle the tank by immediately consuming any ammonia that is introduced into the system.
After 2 more weeks, Assuming all is going well and your plants are growing and look healthy you can steam on ahead and add the rest of your livestock. It would be a good idea to add them in small groups over a couple of weeks. Despite this, many people have added the entire livestock-load in one foul swoop without any issues at all.
