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What do you think about my pea puffer aquarium setup?


Karen B.
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Greetings 

I should be getting 6 pea puffers for my 20 high this week. The aquarium is cycled but I finished the actual setup only today.

What do you guy think? Any improvement I should make? Keep in mind the plants are not fully grown/established yet. 

 

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Looks great! They are very lucky peas. I would add a bunch of floating plants to give you more coverage while you're waiting for the other plants to fill in. It'll really help the peas feel comfortable in their new space. Maybe attach some epiphyte plants like anubias and java fern wherever you can to give you that extra bit of plant life. Peas like a lot of vegetation to help break up the line of sight so they can establish their own territories more easily. Here is a photo of my setup just for reference. You can see that it's packed full of plants. I've tried just about every type of floating plant with no luck but while they were there my peas seemed to love it. I'm also getting a larger anubias on driftwood to fill in that space to the left behind the rock. Please excuse the algae! I did add some neos who are taking care of most of that and the rest has since disappeared. 

Hope that helps! 

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On 1/23/2023 at 4:55 AM, Theplatymaster said:

maybe wait a week or two for the plants to get much bigger, causing many line of sight blocks, as you can see currently all plants stop in the middle of the tank, which could be a warground for the puffers.

Totally agree! Do you have a photo of your setup? 

Edited by Jennifer V
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On 1/23/2023 at 5:10 AM, Karen B. said:

@Jennifer V @Theplatymaster

Floating plants hate me. Well, a lot of plants do. Life java fern. Can’t get it to grow for the life of me 😡

My other problem is when I pack too much plants, leaves that touch each other tend to rot… I am not too sure why?

Thank you for the suggestions!

Have you tried floating guppy grass, hornwort or anacharis? 

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On 1/23/2023 at 3:26 PM, Jennifer V said:

Have you tried floating guppy grass, hornwort or anacharis? 

+1 for elodea. It is like a weed.

Maybe skip hornwort, in case it does not like it in there, shredding needles everywhere can be unpleasing 😄

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On 1/23/2023 at 6:11 AM, Lennie said:

+1 for elodea. It is like a weed.

Maybe skip hornwort, in case it does not like it in there, shredding needles everywhere can be unpleasing 😄

Great point! You're absolutely right about the hornwort. I didn't think about that as I haven't tried it yet. 

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On 1/23/2023 at 4:14 PM, Jennifer V said:

I didn't think about that as I haven't tried it yet. 

Me neither. One is sitting on my shopping cart for my next tank. But I can't be sure! 😄 Heard some unpleasing stories 😄 Maybe I go for guppy grass!

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On 1/23/2023 at 9:03 PM, Karen B. said:

@Lennie @Jennifer V @Theplatymaster

I made some changes according to your suggestions. Still not perfect but more plants! 

The white stuff are the aquarium coop root tabs. I squish them but I can’t put my hands in the water so it’s harder with the tools and they keep resurfacing 😭

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Looking good! For the root tabs, if you pop them with a pin to let the air out, they won't float. 

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On 1/23/2023 at 4:10 AM, Karen B. said:

My other problem is when I pack too much plants, leaves that touch each other tend to rot… I am not too sure why?

Chemical warfare, basically.  I think @OnlyGenusCaps can explain this a lot better than me, but plants release chemicals to try to fight off other plants from taking their territory.

If you're talking about java fern specifically, ferns tend to want some specific nutrients to thrive and if they don't have that they will get black sections and die off.  It could be that scenario, but not sure which plant you're specifically speaking about.

On 1/23/2023 at 8:03 PM, Karen B. said:

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When those stems grow in, it'll be a really nice jungle.  Looking forward to it!

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On 1/24/2023 at 1:54 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Chemical warfare, basically.  I think @OnlyGenusCaps can explain this a lot better than me, but plants release chemicals to try to fight off other plants from taking their territory.

If you're talking about java fern specifically, ferns tend to want some specific nutrients to thrive and if they don't have that they will get black sections and die off.  It could be that scenario, but not sure which plant you're specifically speaking about.

When those stems grow in, it'll be a really nice jungle.  Looking forward to it!

Chemical warfare?! That's truly interesting. Do you know if certain plants are more prone to that than others? Stem plants maybe? 

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On 1/25/2023 at 4:31 PM, Jennifer V said:

Chemical warfare?! That's truly interesting. Do you know if certain plants are more prone to that than others? Stem plants maybe? 

I think it's something all plants do, honestly.  There's probably a name for it, but I don't recall the term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_defense_against_herbivory

These things....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allomone

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On 1/25/2023 at 5:35 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I think it's something all plants do, honestly.  There's probably a name for it, but I don't recall the term.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_defense_against_herbivory

These things....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allomone

Wow! That's very cool! And it adds a whole new layer to aquascaping that kind of blows my mind. 

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Yeah, plants can be very territorial. 

Black Walnut trees are known for releasing a chemical called Juglone, which not only prevents plants from growing around it, but the shavings are also dangerous to use for horse bedding. 

Never use it in your aquarium either. 

Beautiful wood though
 

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