Nice, Jeff!
Are those blackworms I see poking out of the sand? I'm looking to better my non-planted darter/shiner tank. Looks like you have a sand/gravel/pebble combo? Would blackworms hand on, or would they get grazed out in short order? I do keep them in my sand-covered pygmy sunfish planted tanks, but being the more shy and retiring types they don't root around and dig them all out. I'm thinking that it might help give the darters a more sustained food source, better than the saturation feed that I currently give to make sure they get enough from the shiners...
Hi nativeplanter, no those aren't blackworms. Probably remnant and algae covered val and other plant roots. Half of the tank is cobble/gravel/sand and the other half is gravel/sand. I added topsoil beneath the sand and created some gravel lenses just for fun. Basically, its like Todd's tank but lower tech. My inkling is that blackworms would be grazed out in short order, although I certainly like the thought
As far as food, although its expensive, you can't go wrong with a mix of PE mysis, bloodworms, and brine shrimp. The only thing I have found useful to dampen the financial blow is to first feed flake and pellet food to the pelagic fish that will take it.
Jeff