My New Dwarf Puffer "Biotope" Tank!

[SqkyPckle]

Hi everyone! I have been busy and haven't been on for a while, but I wanted to show everyone my DP tank I set up a few months ago. My goal was to make a sort of "biotope" for the little guys, and it is my first planted tank.

The tank is a 10 Gallon with an Aquaclear 20 power filter. I used Seachem black fourite sand as the substrate. The lighting is a simple fluorescent bulb but the tank is also in front of a window in case I ever wanted or needed more light.

I tried to use only plants that were likely in the same general area as Dwarf Puffers in the wild, though I was of course limited to what my LFS had so I stuck to Southeast Asia/ Sri Lanka as a requirement. They are the following:
-Watersprite
-Rotala Indica
-Cryptocoryne undulata
-Aponogeton crispus
-Cryptocoryne spiralis
-Java Fern
-Java Moss
-Bronze Wendtii
-Green Wendtii

I have 3 puffers in the tank, as well as an Otto and a Bristlenose Pleco. I feed the puffers frozen bloodworms and an occasional snail, and they seem very happy. They swim up to greet me every time I am near the tank and are incredibly inquisitive and have huge personalities. So far, I am in love!

[Welch4]

Very cool setup. Love the hardscaping.

[mandycat]

Very nice tank! Love all the plants.That's how I keep my tanks so I'm totally biased. Looks great!

[SqkyPckle]

Very nice tank! Love all the plants.That's how I keep my tanks so I'm totally biased. Looks great!

Thanks! I wanted it to be filled to the brim with plants. They are growing pretty fast so I have a bit of a canopy going on at the surface. They haven't seemed to have gotten bored yet either and like the hiding places.

[Hillehaus]

That's a really cool tank. I'm very partial to heavy planting. You did a great job.

[TheStig]

Totally digging your creativity in your 10 gallon. What an awesome Puffer palace! I am definitely making a note on the plants you use. Appreciate the research that went into that, and sharing them on here.

Do you use any liquid ferts for your plants? What else do you do to have such healthy tank plants?

[SqkyPckle]

Totally digging your creativity in your 10 gallon. What an awesome Puffer palace! I am definitely making a note on the plants you use. Appreciate the research that went into that, and sharing them on here.

Do you use any liquid ferts for your plants? What else do you do to have such healthy tank plants?

Thanks! I am loving all the green and the puffers are loving it. I did use liquid ferts in the beginning, specifically Flourish Excel and Flourish. It really helped everything grow in the beginning, but also caused some algae. I threw in a pleco and the algae disappeared and everything has been pretty stable. I have not used much of the liquid lately as it doesn't seem to need it, I think for now the Seachem Flourite is working well enough. My tank also gets a ton of light as I turn it on around 8am and keep it on for a few hours after work, it isn't unusual to get 12-14 hours of light some days.

One odd thing I have noticed is the Watersprite doesn't like to be cut. The clippings will grow just fine, but the original plant sprout (even with leaves left on) will turn brown and die. I do also have occasional plant death because my Otto seems to sometimes eat near the roots but when a stalk goes brown I just pull it out.

Additional note: Plant Anchors have been so incredibly helpful, I wish more stores carried them. I had issues with some of the plants coming up in the beginning but the anchors keep everything down while they get roots.

[AquaMike]

Nice puffer jungle!

[Julia321]

Love the tank!
I Just started my first dwarf puffer tank a couple months ago and am really into the idea of a heavily planted tank I have a decent start on the tank now, it's pretty filled, but I was wondering what kind of filter you have? I have a traditional filter in the tank now and was worried about the plants being close to the intake, I don't want the plants to get damage or the filter being blocked.thanks!