Jenynsia Lineata - Paleomonetes Argentintinensis

[JorgeO]

 

 

So here it is, the two-week-old Walstad, all native plants but for some Vallisnerias I got. It has a small pump moving a bit of water, pointed at some lava rock I had as filter media. I dumped the filter contents in a hidden corner and aimed the pump to keep some of the bacteria alive, at least while the plants gather momentum. The light is a cheap LED 10watt floodlight. Also, a heater. The fish do not need it, but the plants appreciate it, I think. 

• Substrate: backyard topsoil, capped with medium gravel. Given a year or so of maturing. Sprinkled pond mud for inoculation of bacteria and diversity of aquatic organisms.
   
• Hardscape:
   
  • regular yellowish rocks from a construction yard
  •  Quebracho wood pieces from old train tracks. Really old. 
  • Mystery snail shells collected from a couple of different sources.
  •  
• The fish are Jenynsia Lineata, called overitos here in Argentina, and the shrimp are I believe Paleomonetes argentinensis. There might be a Macrobrachium Borelli, but it's too small to tell yet. 
  There are too many males vs females, I noticed recently. I will dump some males in the river and net some females, to avoid the stress. 

 

• A tentative plant species list would be:
   
  • Alternanthera (reineckii? perhaps)
  • Echinodorus cordifolius/urugaiensis
  • Hydrocotyle bonaerensis
  • Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
  • Vallisneria spiralis
  • Peace lilies (the roots)
  • Ludwigia peploides
    
    Then there are other, unidentified species. I did what I could identifying them, only got me so far, they all look similar. 

 

The Ludwigia should eventually reach the surface and become a sort of "floating plant". I definitely do not want duckweed here, but I might stop by the river and get some Pistia Stratiotes one of these days. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

I cannot remove the spoiler thingy. Sorry, not sorry. 

This tank has been running with no fish or plants for a year, just the substrate. Before that, it looked like this, but I had a trip and then I moved and had to neglect it.

 

This time around it's better, I think. If a couple of new natives I found grow properly, I'll replace the foreign Vallisneria with them. 

Edited February 22, 2023 by JorgeO

[TheSwissAquarist]

Welcome to the forum!

Those are beautiful fish! Livebearer or egg-layer?

Edited February 22, 2023 by TheSwissAquarist

[JJenna]

Love those fish! Their muted color blends so nicely with the Walstead set-up. Welcome to our group. 

[JorgeO]

On 2/22/2023 at 1:18 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Welcome to the forum!

Those are beautiful fish! Livebearer or egg-layer?

Thank you! Livebearers. One-sided livebearers, part of the Anablepidae... thingy. Genus. Whatever.