My brother’s 20 long journal

[Mississippi fish guy]

My brother has been wanting to set up his 20 long for fish for a while now. Today I cleaned it out, put some bdbs in it as the substrate, and began cycling it. Right now the tank is has water and sand in it. My brother will be looking for some wood that will look good in his tank in the woods behind our house. He wants to keep a samurai gourami as the centerpiece fish with greenfire tetras and corydoras.

[CoryWithAKatana]

Make sure you know what kind of wood you are using! Soft woods like pines cannot be put in fishtanks. Also make sure the wood has no fungus or rot. Oak branches are nice when set up correctly. Sand is a perfect substrate for corydoras since they sift through the sand with their gills. I have no experience with Gouramis so I cant help you with that part. I am excited to see what it turns into!

[Mississippi fish guy]

On 10/4/2024 at 12:47 PM, CoryWithAKatana said:

Make sure you know what kind of wood you are using! Soft woods like pines cannot be put in fishtanks

We will be keeping and eye on what type of wood we use but why is pine a bad idea?

[CoryWithAKatana]

Pine is saturated in sap. Sap gives Pine trees a resistance to bugs because it is toxic and pungent. The sap will leech into your fish tank and kill everything in the tank. This goes for all soft wood trees

[Mississippi fish guy]

My brother decided that he didn’t want to maintain a black water aquarium for the samurai gourami and now plans to try a pair of apistogramma cacatoides “triple red” and he might have changed his mind on what tetra he wants.

 

Also while working in a hunting lease there was a tree in the way of my daddy’s trailer so we cut it down and I think that part of the stump would make a good Apisto cave.

I’m pretty sure that the wood is from a sycamore.

i also found some great pieces of wood but unfortunately the were rotten.

Edited 16 hours ago by Mississippi fish guy