I'm hoping to use this thread as a live journal as my 10g Florida native aquarium continues to take shape and grow. The goal is to have it be a heavily planted tank that mimics some of the marshy conditions I regularly fish at. I'll try to update it regularly as changes occur.
Last Saturday (9/14) I set everything up. It has a small sponge filter, black sand as the substrate, a piece of driftwood, Helanthium tenellum, Bacopa caroliniana, and Mayaca fluviatilis. I also added some fertilizer for the plants and bacteria to give the nitrogen cycle a head start.
The plants are struggling a bit, but I hear that's normal as the plants adjust to new water conditions. I've kept some aquariums before, but never anything with live plants. My last experience with aquariums was a 2.5g betta aquarium about 15 years ago. I'm hoping the plants take off and can really cover a lot of the aquarium, especially the filter and back wall. I'd like to add some invertebrates first and hope they can start reproducing before I add any fishes. It would be great if some of the invertebrates could become naturally sustaining, but I don't have high hopes for that. I'm thinking some Palaemonetes paludosus would be great as well as some amphipods.
As far as fish stocking, I'm still not sure. My original plan was a single Enneacanthus gloriosus with a small group of Heterandria formosa. Then I thought of replacing the Heterandria formosa with some Lucania goodei due to their larger size. Now I'm thinking of doing a group of Heterandria formosa and Lucania goodei with a duo of Etheostoma fusiforme. There are too many decisions here, but I still have some time.
Thanks to everyone who responded to my original thread here: https://forum.nanfa....will-this-work/. It really helped get my mind moving and thinking things over. Any comments on this so far and suggestions are welcomed.
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