California Reservoir biotope
#1 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 20 February 2014 - 10:56 PM
I'm thinking of doing a 75-100 gallon tank with one or two bluegill, a pumpkinseed, and a redear. I've read that these fish can have behavioral problems, but it seems that stems from stocking adult, line - caught specimens with one another. Since I'm in California with the dumbest collection laws EVER, I have to order fingerlings from out of state anyways (ie jonah's). I'm wondering if stocking them when very young and raising them together will prevent these behavioral issues?
Also curious about substrates. I'm planning for this to be a well planted tank, and would like to find a workable substrate that matches the bottom composition of the reservoirs in this state, which generally means coarse sand with a few pebbles, or mud. Unfortunately, most of the aquarium substrates I've Googled for that are conducive to plant growth do not look anything like it. Are there any workable solutions to this? Any mixtures I could try? I appreciate all the info, this site is great!
#3 Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 20 February 2014 - 11:14 PM
Here is a nanfa thread for you to read.I suppose you have heard about kitty litter? If you haven't, you will.
http://forum.nanfa.o...l-kitty-litter/
Welcome to the forum
#5 Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 20 February 2014 - 11:27 PM
silica sand with fertilizer sticks (Jobes are $1 for 30)
silica sand that's built up a lot of fish poop in it
I've found that aragonite sand and oolite sand will grow plants from day 1 with no fertilizaiton
pure clay kitty litter
soil capped in a few inches of something to keep it down
eco complete
fluorite
other specially made plant substrates
et cetera
Here, read this. http://www.thekrib.c...rate-jamie.html The basic idea is plants need iron, magnesium, calcium, and a fine enough grain to work their roots through. Very few people have success with large pea-sized gravel as the only thing, but you can cap something else with the gravel and the tank looks gravel-only.
#6 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 20 February 2014 - 11:53 PM
Can anyone give me any ideas for plant species? Most of the native north american plants I've Googled are illegal to import to California (for some reason), and "California native aquatic plants" isn't turning up anything useful. I would love to just go snorkel a local reservoir and snap/collect the plants myself, but...guess what? Physical contact with water on most of these reservoirs is ALSO illegal.
#7 Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 12:02 AM
This is a complete, exhausting (yes, both exhausting and exhaustive) list of plants that can be sorted to only display those in your state. http://plants.usda.gov/adv_search.html
The problem is it doesn't sort aquatic from non. You can try using 'control f' to find names that sound water-y, like "aquaticum" and "aquatilis". Common genus like "ludwigia", "myriophyllum", "hydrocotyle", "bacopa" are often aquatic, too.
#9 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 12:40 AM
Still curious about my choice of fish, if I raised them all together from very small size, would that make them play nice when adults? Or is aggression something that happens regardless? I would much prefer to have some variety and not a single species tank.
#10 Guest_Subrosa_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 05:34 AM
#11
Posted 21 February 2014 - 08:05 AM
As far as the fish, some have been successful with treating sunfish in much the same way that other aquarists treat cichlids, that is, buy them young and small and over stock slightly so that the aggression (and there will be some you cannot totally prevent that once they reach breeding size, which can be just 3-4 inches) will be spread out over the population and no one fish will get too beat up. The other thing that works is provide more cover and "breaks" in the line of sight. So I know you were just talking when you said "a hunk of drift wood"... but maybe think more like several pieces of drift wood that would break up the "territory" so that each could eventually stake a claim. Sunfish don't really need to swim around that much, I mean they go places and investigate and such, but they often just hang out in a location that they like... under a branch or beside a plant they like or whatever. Give them that habitat and they will settle into it better.
#12 Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 08:52 AM
There's a tank in there somewhere.
That's Miracle Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix with inadequate capping. From that experience, I have learned that I really do need to cap store brand potting soil with fully an inch of sand or gravel minimum. If it's got mulch in it, mulch is gonna float. Yup. This is how it looked when I started:
So... capping. Capping is important. And mulch based potting mix requires capping more than normal soil. Even now three, nearly four years later I still see mulch bits in my plants. I wondered how they got there for a while and then one day I saw a snail going along the bottom. Then it stepped on a piece of mulch that had worked its way above the cap and UP it went. The snail stepped off and the mulch stayed in the plant.
If you've got intensely burrowing fish, it's worth thinking about what they're gonna find if they reach the bottom of the gravel cap. Based on my experience, mulch based potting mix volcanoes up when a patch of cap is too thin. Wood chip mulch is the one thing I'd say don't use as the nutritious underlayer in a tank of burrowing fish.
#14 Guest_AMcCaleb_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 11:01 AM
#15 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 10:58 PM
I was considering using Seachem flourite and just capping it with whatever I could find that looked natural. Is there any benefit of using flourite over potting soil or basic dirt from somewhere?
#17 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 21 February 2014 - 11:25 PM
Flourite is great, I have used it... but it is really expensive and is in no way better than dirt from your backyard.
Given that the Flourite seems to have the consistency of gravel (from the images I've seen), might it be less likely than dirt to be kicked up and cloud the water if it gets burrowed into?
Also, and please forgive me if its more appropriate that this be posted elsewhere, can anyone identify this grass?
http://fish.photoshe...0000BXUSfXtbdOg
#18 Guest_Erica Lyons_*
Posted 22 February 2014 - 12:51 AM
If Fluorite solves the burrowing dust problem, then that would be neat. I've never tried it (I don't keep any burrowing fish).
#19 Guest_KingKenny04_*
Posted 22 February 2014 - 05:50 AM
Looks like echinodorus tenellus based on the one flat blade that crosses the sunfish's anal fin. Eleocharis parvula is another native grassy plant. I've got echinodorus tenellus growing in my tanks under 200 lumens per gallon of light and no CO2 or fertilizer (other than the clay substrate).
If Fluorite solves the burrowing dust problem, then that would be neat. I've never tried it (I don't keep any burrowing fish).
Thanks! That Eleocharis looks about perfect. Definitely gonna go with the Flourite and see how that works. Now to find a gravel that looks natural...
#20 Guest_Kanus_*
Posted 22 February 2014 - 01:27 PM
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