41 replies to this topic

[doubleatraining]

Goal: To make a place inside a 10g tank where scuds, seed shrimp, and blackworms can live without being eaten....while allowing them to drift/swim into the tank to be food for the Elassoma. Theoretically, I'll only have to feed the "food" every once in a while.

 

I'm hoping this will make the Elassoma happy and more likely to breed.

 

Divider:

 

 

 

I added a bunch of moss to the divider to help make the back wall not as ugly and provide some more cover and places for fry and food to hide:

 

 

Dirt substrate capped with black sand and I also added rocks from the farm instead of driftwood. Planted Crypts, Anubias, Bruce, red myriophyllum, and dwarf sag.

 

 

 

 

 

Seed shrimp are ordered, I have a culture of scuds I can add, and I'll get the blackworms from the LFS.

 

I plan on letting this grow in 2-3 months and the "food" get really established before purchasing the Elassoma. I'm still torn on which strain I want since I can't have the endangered Elassoma boehlkei.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Matt DeLaVega]

I am excited to watch this develop. I have no doubt that it can work, but wonder what percentage of volume works best. Might be helpful to keep the divider moveable so you can expand the refugium volume.

[thedood]

Looking forward to this. Thanks for sharing.

[El Todd]

I had a similar idea, but it is not something I will do until late summer. Please keep us posted! One of the main things I was going to do with mine is add leaf litter. I have a culture of scuds, copepdpods, blackworms, and aquatic sow bugs I am planning to put in mine.

[doubleatraining]

Thank you! I have it so that the wall can be moved.

 

I've been adding leaf litter to the refugium side to encourage the "food" to hang out back there and breed. I added 25+ cull neo shrimp to the tank this week and will order my copeopods this week too. I'm happy to see the blackworms are easily visible and the scuds are enjoying having a predator free tank.....for now.

 

 

 

[El Todd]

It looks nice, I think the fish will be happy. Are you using the miracle grow performance I see in the bag?

[Joshaeus]

Cool! I have thought about doing stuff like this (though most of my concepts involved a separate tank rather than a tank compartment...this does definitely simplify things, though!). If I recall correctly from Erica's journal on E. gilberti, the pygmy sunfish become painfully shy if they do not associate you with food, so I would still feed them occasionally with items that do not grow in your refugium (Baby brine shrimp? Microworms?)

[thedood]

Love it, looks great! I tried to build a moss wall. All my moss died, I never figured out why. .

[doubleatraining]

It looks nice, I think the fish will be happy. Are you using the miracle grow performance I see in the bag?

 

Yes, I use about 1" of this and then cap with black sand. The plants love it.

 

 

 

Cool! I have thought about doing stuff like this (though most of my concepts involved a separate tank rather than a tank compartment...this does definitely simplify things, though!). If I recall correctly from Erica's journal on E. gilberti, the pygmy sunfish become painfully shy if they do not associate you with food, so I would still feed them occasionally with items that do not grow in your refugium (Baby brine shrimp? Microworms?)

 

I have a microworm culture and plan on using it as treats so I'll be able to actually see them

 

 

 

Love it, looks great! I tried to build a moss wall. All my moss died, I never figured out why. .

 

I've tried a few different ways. I think I've finally "mastered" the best way to do it.

 

1. Don't sandwich it between 2 pieces of the mesh.

2. I use zip ties to attach the moss because I don't need it to be very fancy and I typically start with larger bunches of moss vs. small sections.

3. Plant more heavily at the bottom of the mesh and then very lightly towards the top. The moss will grow up and I just attach it later as it grows towards the light.
 

[thedood]

Thanks, I think I am going to try the moss wall again. I have read that scuds eat moss. Any issues there? I was curious if you would share your plant list?

[doubleatraining]

Thanks, I think I am going to try the moss wall again. I have read that scuds eat moss. Any issues there? I was curious if you would share your plant list?

Scuds only eat live plants when they are starving. If they have algae and other food sources they only eat dead/dying plant matter. I've used them to "clean" moss that was looking puny from other tanks.

 

Plants in this tank:

Java Moss

Crypts

Swords

Bruce

Dwarf Sag

Dwarf Water Lettuce

Salvinia Minimia

Hornwort floating in the refugium

[thedood]

Is the long root the dwarf water lettuce?

[Matt DeLaVega]

Cool! I have thought about doing stuff like this (though most of my concepts involved a separate tank rather than a tank compartment...this does definitely simplify things, though!). If I recall correctly from Erica's journal on E. gilberti, the pygmy sunfish become painfully shy if they do not associate you with food, so I would still feed them occasionally with items that do not grow in your refugium (Baby brine shrimp? Microworms?)

I was just thinking that this could become an epic thread on par with a couple of Erica's. Doubletraining- if you haven't read through Erica's Elassoma thread, you really should. There is probably more written there about pygmy sunfish husbandry than anywhere else on these here internets.

[doubleatraining]

Is the long root the dwarf water lettuce?

 

Yes, the water lettuce and the frogbit are the long roots.

 

 

I was just thinking that this could become an epic thread on par with a couple of Erica's. Doubletraining- if you haven't read through Erica's Elassoma thread, you really should. There is probably more written there about pygmy sunfish husbandry than anywhere else on these here internets.

 

I have skimmed through but will try to sit down and read through it more thoroughly the next time I'm at work. (downtime at work is when I can sit still )

 

I hope this becomes an epic thread and my plan actually works.
 

[Joshaeus]

Hello again! Any updates to this setup?

[doubleatraining]

Hello again! Any updates to this setup?

Plants are growing like crazy. Shrimp and scuds seem to be doing very well. I haven't seen very many of the blackworms but I'm hoping they are thriving in the back with all the leaf litter.

 

I've tried twice to get Ostracods to become established in the tank without any obvious success....I can't find them.

 

I'll still wait another month or so before ordering the fish. I want to make sure that I have an abundance of food.

 

I'll get pics this afternoon.

[Joshaeus]

Plants are growing like crazy. Shrimp and scuds seem to be doing very well. I haven't seen very many of the blackworms but I'm hoping they are thriving in the back with all the leaf litter.

 

I've tried twice to get Ostracods to become established in the tank without any obvious success....I can't find them.

 

I'll still wait another month or so before ordering the fish. I want to make sure that I have an abundance of food.

 

I'll get pics this afternoon.

Good to hear!

[doubleatraining]

Filling in nicely

 

 

 

 

 

[Chasmodes]

That looks awesome and what a great plan!  I can't wait to see your progress.

[JasonL]

If this works I may try something similar.