They come on for 5 hours in the morning, then off 4 hours, then on 5 hours. Having a "siesta" in the middle of the day is meant to be good for the plants and supressing algae

They are a type of catfish, that's the funny thing! Just much smaller than the kind people imagine when you say catfish!

So far I've not done anything with the plants in this tank but soon I will need to give the larger ones a trim. Then maybe trim once every 1-2 months to keep it looking nice. You don't necessarily have to wait to introduce more fish but the next fish I want to add can be aggressive so it's best to add after other so it doesn't feel they are in "his territory", rather he is the newcomer and should hopefully be more peaceful

Thanks mate, I'm also a subscriber of yours! Got a ways to go until my tanks are as beautiful and varied as yours but glad you enjoy my videos 😊

Thank you! Yes the plants are certainly doing well, in fact the Rotala is doing far too well and is in dire need of a haircut! No tabs no, the tank is just a dirted tank, regular garden soil capped with gravel. Tank is using the Walstad method so has taken some time to get going but doing well now

No CO2. Tanks are walstad so no co2, ferts, even no filter. Get good growth and happy tank but takes long time to do. Very hands off tho which suits me!

Sure, I actually made a video on exactly how I set this mini tank up if you look back in my videos. I showed what to use for soil and how to do it. The little shrimp you see will appear in time naturally, either from eggs in the soil or from your water

The snails I think came from a plant I added that was growing in a tank at the local fish store. I think it had eggs on it which then hatched in my tank. The plants at the back are rotala rotundifolia and Bacopa caroliniana. The middle plant is a cryptocoryne. The grassy looking one is Eleocharis Acicularis AKA Dwarf Hairgrass. Hope that helps!

The substrate is just plain garden topsoil with a gravel cap. It's set up by the walstad method

And thank you for commenting :)

Thank you very much!

For the first couple of months I did a 25% change every couple of weeks but since then not at all. I will top it up with fresh water but have not removed any water for about 4 months at this point

Thank you! I do run an air stone in my other tank occasionally but in terms of water circulation the heater should provide enough movement with convection. I will occasionally run one just to break up any surface scum

Thank you! And that's right yeah, it's a walstad tank, no tech at all except a light. No co2 or filter

Thanks! I did consider snails but as it's open top I'm a bit worried they will climb out

​@@AdamsAquariamaybe cheesecloth or window netting?

Thanks for the tip! I've never been sure to do that or not, I didn't want people missing the video clips because they were reading, but it would make it more interesting to watch I expect

Thank you! I am working on a video to update on this actually! Being smaller with no critters introduced it's needed a little longer to develop to give enough for an interesting video, but lately there has been some cool stuff happening so will do an update soon!

I think I will next time around. I wasn't thinking they'd breed so fast and am a little unsure the tank can take many more fish anyway, but it seems harsh to leave them to get eaten..

Yeah it's pretty exciting! I hope your cory do well. I'm thinking I might have corys in my new betta tank. What sort do you have? I'm currently debating between them or loaches, I think both should do ok with betta. As for my fry.. I think there is literally 1 left. Either that or all but 1 are very good at hiding! I'll do a new video on them/him soon I hope.

@@AdamsAquaria oh it kind of "adopted" those corys. Someone was giving them in exchange of plants or live food so I took a few stems of plants from my aquarium and made the trade 😅. They were just 1 big chunky paleatus cory (i think they're often called peppered cory) and 2 albino hifin corys. I think the eggs are from the big peppered one cuz the fry are darker since just born.

@@AdamsAquaria I would also try loaches too! I really like their look and I think they have a lot in common with corys, so I'd trll u to pick the ones you like the most! Just accordingnto your aquarium size ofc 😁

I suspect they were in the soil that started the tank. It wasn't sterile or anything. Either that or in with the water when I brought home the shrimp or snails

The fry will mainly eat scraps from the tank. Some people feed a special fry food or egg yolks but that's mainly if there's lots of them in a dedicated fry tank. I only have a couple at most. Frogs would be cool! The only frogs that can live totally underwater are African Dwarf Frogs. They are very cute but need a heated tank, mine isn't heated. Maybe a future project though!

It's just the LED that came with the tank (specifically it's called "NovoLux 60 LED light") - stats are 8 Watts, 630 lumens. Not super powerful but seems to do the job

It's just the LED that came with the tank (juwel is the make) - 8 Watts, 630 lumens. Not super powerful but seems to do the job

Thank you! I've not noticed the shrimp acting any different. The ample plants should provide enough oxygenation and I do add an air stone for an hour or 2 most days just to add a bit of movement to the tank. In larger walstad thanks aeration is recommended but mine is quite small and not required

@@AdamsAquaria oh nice! I ask because plants also breath at night and consume oxygen and I thought shrimp needed a good aireation in their tanks . The airstone for a few hours sounds good too.

@danielcaridad2425 yeah it will dip at night but i dont think concerningly so. I also have the lights turn off for a few hours during the day as that's recommended for planted tanks to allow co2 to recover. That's when the airstone runs. At night, it's just left still and off. Tbh the shrimp seem more active at night but I think that's normal behaviour

@@AdamsAquaria ooh thats good to hear. I'm thinking about maybe putting some shrimp in my betta planted tank but I was worried about aireation because that tank doesn't have a filter, only plants. Now I may try it so I get a cleaning crew for my little homie 😄

@danielcaridad2425 Ah nice, they would do OK I think. I'd be more worried how the betta would react, I know some are fine with shrimp but others will actively hunt and kill them. A betta tank is going to be my next project actually!

For sure, it's a lot of effort and patience but it all pays off in the end! I love your little betta tank too, very cute!

Thanks so much, I'm glad you think so!

Thanks! The tank isn't heated so it's just room temperature. Currently it's around 18C as it's winter and in summer was more like 21. I chose the livestock and plants based on cold water parameters.

Good question! Most tanks of course require a filter to cycle, however some techniques can be used to mean you don't have to. What I have done here is based on what's known as the "Walstad Method" where you create an ecosystem with live soil substrate and lots of real plants. The bacteria in the soil and lots of plants deal with the waste like a filter would. It needs to be set up in a certain way and also be heavily planted to work though. I'd recommend researching the Walstad method if you'd like to learn more, it's a cool way to keep tanks, but does take more effort to set up.

@@AdamsAquaria yeah I know about walstad method from father fish. But i see fish enjoy more in filter tanks because it creates flow and ripples at the top and fishes love that thing that's why I asked BTW thanks for the video

​@@yashtapase3821Very true, some fish definitely like the flow and it's good for most to build up muscles. I do place an air pump in most days for a bit to circulate the water but I found if I run it too much then floating plants started dying off. The fish don't seem too concerned either way

@@AdamsAquaria it's your call and experience, we learn from our experiences 😁 Keep it up mate 👍

I'm glad you think so, thank you!

True, I just got them some pellets that claimed to help with moulting and colouration and fed them a pinch once or twice a week more as a supplement. Probably a marketing gimmick!

Thank you! I checked out your latest fish room tour and it's incredible, would love something like that one day

You're welcome! @@AdamsAquaria

No CO2 in this one, I used the Walstad method where the tank is set up to run without much tech like CO2, filters, etc. and is based more on a natural cycle. It's a cool way to make an aquarium but it does take longer to establish and has limitations compared to higher tech set ups.

@@AdamsAquaria oh that’s awesome, amazing plant growth

@@benevans5547Thanks! It's taken a while to get to this point but I'm definitely happy how it's turned out 🙂

Told you they were coming soon! You should give a tour of your tank on here as well, I'd love to see it!

@@AdamsAquaria That would be fun, I'm getting more and more into aquariums, plants and fish (I'm a marine biology student so I guess it's not surprising) and I'd probably enjoy posting about this kind of stuff too!

@@danielcaridad2425 It's fun for me and keeps me motivated to look after it well and learn all I can so I can share it with others. I studied marine environmental science at university so it's definitely a life passion for me also! If you want any help with how I make the videos then happy to, though it's not too complicated and I'm not an expert as you can see!

@@AdamsAquaria oh that's really nice! I mean the thing that it's stopping me the most is the 'making' of the videos. Have never uploaded anything to yt and don't even know how to start with the editing and stuff.

@@danielcaridad2425 I used a website called canva to make these, it's quite easy to use so maybe check it out! I have my email in my channel info so feel free to reach out with anything I might be able to help with 🙂

Keeping it simple is a key to a stress free success!

Thanks, I'm glad you think so! It's fun to watch tanks grow over time, I like to see other people's so decided to record my progress as well for others enjoyment. I am planning to get the fish tomorrow so should have a video up introducing them in the next week or 2 😊

Very kind of you to say - Thank you!

Thanks mate! I am happy with how it turned out. It's quite tall but works well in the tank. For my next tank I'd probably consider it more a midground plant and have just the hairgrass at the front or something