Unheated nano

Just figured I'd share my first unseated tank.
S. Repens, Anubis nana and some c. Parva. A little driftwood, 2 celestial pearl danios and some cherry shrimp. Hoping to pick up some crystal shrimp as well to add to the variety.  Also looking for suggestions for a background stem plant of some sort and maybe an idea for a floating plant.

What are the dimensions? That looks like one of the new Mr aqua 6 long tanks.

I've been using baby tears (not dwarf) as a filler/background in my nanos because it is so undemanding. I tried stargrass and guppy grass, but no luck in my tanks. I think they withered because of insufficient lighting. I haven't tried hornwort or cabomba for the same reason.

I would just try a few different stems in there and see what works for ya. I'd love to find a good background stem plant for these tanks!

Haha it's a 1.5 gallon long mr aqua. I was thinking camboba.

Give it a try! I tried it on a 29 unheated for a while, and it lasted a few months. It might be easier to make it work on that tiny tank

You might try some creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia); it's fairly undemanding, the leaves aren't too big, and doesn't grow terribly fast.

I've kept pearl grass in the past (HM baby tears); the stuff tends to take over everything and then it gets stringy toward the bottom and has to be torn out and re-planted. If you do try pearl grass, keep it trimmed!!

Don't wanna deal with the maintenance on hc, and there isn't any co2 which I thought was pretty necessary for good hc growth?

I believe the type of baby tears that MrTom and I were referring to is HM (Hemianthus micranthemoides), also known as "pearl grass".  This is not the same thing as HC (dwarf baby tears).

Pearl grass thrives without CO2.  I don't use CO2 in any of my tanks and it went nuts for me.

I think cabomba would be too big for a tank of that size. It's also illegal to buy / sell / transport in this state.

Well I guess that's a bad plant the haha

pbmax wrote:I think cabomba would be too big for a tank of that size.  It's also illegal to buy / sell / transport in this state.

Just want to clarify, Green Cabomba, is illegal in Washington State...while Red Cabomba and Purple Cabomba, are not illegal.

Cabomba caroliniana, specifically, is the prohibited species.

Back on topic, really any stem plant would work, as long as you keep it trimmed.  I've had great luck with ludwigia repens x arcuata in many of my tanks.

You could try a smaller crypt like undulata (not a stem plant, but it might suit the purpose), if you're patient.

Haha if it's anything like my parva, then no I'm not lol

Think ill just have to pop on down to some lfs's and see what's out there. Thanks for all the suggestions, will post another pic or two once I figure it out.

optykal wrote:Haha if it's anything like my parva, then no I'm not lol

Hehe, I don't think anything grows as slow as parva...   

Isn't that the truth. I think paint peels faster.

Nice tank, by the way. I hope it thrives for you!   

Haha thanks. I hope so too. It's crazy how hard it is to keep something so small. Even just feeding the fish is hard lol

Indeed; the tiny tanks are trouble. I've had an ongoing love/hate relationship with my 2.5 gallon Walstad for years now. I'm thinking about putting some shrimp in again...That didn't end well last time.

What kind of shrimp and what happened?

Heh, long story, but it came down to neglect (not enough water changes) and Ph fluctuations. I kept neocaridina in it.

I'm very consistent with water changes on most of my tanks, but I attempted to treat this one like a Walstad and it was really too small to stabilize for long periods between changes.

look into italian val, though it might need more light, but it usually stays a lot smaller than normal val for me, and i really like the spiral leaves. i am currently growing it out with just 2 6500k cfl's above a 10 gallon and it's doing ok, so it shouldn't need tons of light in a shallower tank

there are so many websites that say so many different things about which species it is; either americana var. biwaensis, spiralis var. spiralis, asiatica, or 'contortionist' all seem to point to similar looking plants, i don't know which one i have but i like it

edit; also v. tortifolia

forgot to say that the tank looks good, also