Ballz' 2.5G Dwarf Puffer Tank

[iball1804]

I'm guessing you have a planted tank? Thanks for your advice everyone. I know nothing in the planted realm.

[Squared]

i had a 5g planted, total fail, my reef was a planted tank before. some plants did well. my vals and anubis plants did pretty good. one other anubis and java ferns and small plants did not.

 

can't remeber if anubis or anubias?

[spazizz]

Link

[TravR]

Yeah, I have a 20G but it is not particularly fancy. I do dose it and have a DIY yeast based CO2 system. It was my first non-Walstad planted tank as I finally got tired of having a stinky yellow pond as my planted tank.

[iball1804]

That's amazing. According to the data, I'd only have to put two tabs in the sand?

[spazizz]

Depends on what kind of growth you want. I put one tab by each plant.

 

Edit.

 

But since you have 2.5 you are right with 2 tabs. I cant see you needing any more.

[iball1804]

That makes sense. Alright! Plants tomorrow?

[TravR]

You decided what kind of plants your going to get?

[iball1804]

crypts, anubias, java fern, few mosses... And a Marimo ball?

 

I'm not sure if any of the listed species fit this bill, but what type of plant looks like "grass?" the ferns?

[iball1804]

If I use the Flourish Tabs and the Excel liquid, will that help plants grow faster? Could I only dose with Excel? Only use the tabs?

 

Sorry for all the questions. I just have no idea what I'm doing!

[iball1804]

I've got 25$ and I'm going to go to Petsmart to get some supplies. On my list:

• SeaChem Flourish Tabs
  
• Excel Liquid (if they don't have any Flourish)
  
• Otocinclo's (spelling?)
  
• RubberLip Pleco (if Oto's don't work)
  
• Various Plants (anymre recommendations?)
  
• And maybe a shrimp or two...
  

 

Am I missing anything?

[surgicalsense]

Cherry shrimps if they have any

[iball1804]

Will the dwarf puffer hunt them down?

[.Newman.]

yes he might, but there is a chance he might not for a while.

[iball1804]

yes he might, but there is a chance he might not for a while.

Glad you stopped by. I like your little gallon vase! How do my plans sound?

[surgicalsense]

Will the dwarf puffer hunt them down?

 

 

I don't know ... I honestly did not consider that. Oopps

[iball1804]

I don't know ... I honestly did not consider that. Oopps

Well, I'm going to Petsmart today. Check my list above, does that sound good?

 

^

I've got 25$ and I'm going to go to Petsmart to get some supplies. On my list:

• SeaChem Flourish Tabs
  
• Excel Liquid (if they don't have any Flourish)
  
• Otocinclo's (spelling?)
  
• RubberLip Pleco (if Oto's don't work)
  
• Various Plants (anymre recommendations?)
  
• And maybe a shrimp or two...
  

 

Am I missing anything?

[.Newman.]

root tabs are good, but imo you could easily make this work with a bottom layer of organic soil (and not have to dose anything ever). plus since you dont care for a fast start, you might as well dry start the system to have the plants grow in much faster that when this tank has water in it. It's what i am trying to do right now with my new bowls that i am starting up (for a total of 3 planted bowls) Glad you like my shrimp bowl

 

definitely choose otocinclus over rubberlip plecos or any plecos (assuming you cant find pitbull plecos as they are insanely rare) rubberlip and most plecos grow way too large for a 2.5 gallon to support. one oto is good enough. pitbull pleco (or was it bulldog?) are just as small as otos so they can work if you get one and you find them somewhere online. however there is a chance your puffer can attack and kill the fish.

 

if you do want shrimp then go with a cherry or two until you are sure they the puffer eats them. after that dont get anymore lol.

 

plant recommendations are as follows:

dwarf sag

blyxa japonica

dwarf hairgrass

crypt

anubias

pygmy chain sword

micro sword

crypt parva

staurogyne repens

 

You also need floating plants like frogbit or salvinia once the tank is flooded (assuming you went with the dry start)

 

You can pick and choose which plants you want to go with if you want to use my list; be aware that they all don't look good together if you choose to get all of them for the tank lol. but you definitely will need one type of floating plant.

 

If you need plant combo recommendations then here are some i have seen that look decent:

hairgrass+crypt

hairgrass+blyxa

Blyxa+driftwood+bare sand

crypt+crypt parva

blyxa/dwarf sag+hairgrass

 

there are other possibilities i cant think of right now.

 

also like you mentioned, get a lower wattage light. about 13-14W CFL.

 

Join the dwarf puffer forums. you can find a LOT of great info there about keeping these fish. some tips from there include going with a larger tank for one puffer, and doing weekly 50% water changes always.

[surgicalsense]

Well, I'm going to Petsmart today. Check my list above, does that sound good?

 

^

 

Yes I think you have a great list, I have 3 different FW plants in my 3g. They are pretty hardyeasy ones also. Geesh I can not recall the names. One is that loose moss. I will try to locate the names of the other two plants I have.

[.Newman.]

mosses are good choices too. some nic ones i keep are taiwan moss, christmas moss, and flame moss. there is also java moss...

[iball1804]

Last time I checked, we do have Bulldog Plecos! But, I'll go oto's just for size instead.

 

I'm not quite sure what a "dry start" is, but I'll keep water in this tank, forever

 

Can I get those plants at Petsmart?

 

Yes I think you have a great list, I have 3 different FW plants in my 3g. They are pretty hardyeasy ones also. Geesh I can not recall the names. One is that loose moss. I will try to locate the names of the other two plants I have.

I love the grass look

 

mosses are good choices too. some nic ones i keep are taiwan moss, christmas moss, and flame moss. there is also java moss...

Java Moss? Ohhh!

[.Newman.]

java moss is the lame version of moss lol. imo Christmas is the best looking, but if you can get java easily, that'll work too. java is insanely hardy.

 

I meant pitbull plecos then (they are like otocinclus, but a different genus)

 

if you research dry start, its just a method to grow plants w/o much water in the tank. it takes about a month or two to have a fully packed planted tank. a result that would require about a year or more in a normal tank. its a matter of patience really and method.

 

some of those plants you can find at petsmart, but stay away from plant cylinders unless you yourself can ID the plant in there. most will be non-aquatic plants. so just buy from their aquatic display tanks.

sweetaquatics.com is a decent place to acquire plants from.

[iball1804]

Alright I'm leaving right now.

 

Oto's it is. Only 1.

 

Tabs to buy.

 

No cylinder plants.

 

Anymore plants?

[TravR]

some of those plants you can find at petsmart, but stay away from plant cylinders unless you yourself can ID the plant in there. most will be non-aquatic plants. so just buy from their aquatic display tanks.

sweetaquatics.com is a decent place to acquire plants from.

 

I actually picked up a nice Crypt there about three months ago in a baggie and found that they had started labeling their cylinders as semi-aquatic, the ones without that label all had Wisteria or Swords in them, so they may be improving that.

[.Newman.]

depends on which ones you like

 

interesting. maybe all the people complaining finally reached them.