I'm back :)

It's been a while!

I moved to Arizona with my wife, and subsisted for a whole year with one
tank. ONE TANK!

Sadly, that state of affairs is a-changing I just finished setting up a
2.5 for my desk. I'd always wanted to do a fun tiny plant tank(sort of an
aquatic bonsai project) and I finally felt up to it. A pic is at:
http://www.emptiedout.com/2.5/
The following details are up there as well, reposted here because it's
usenet and that's just how it should be

This is a 2.5 gallon tank, with a small heater, and Aquaclear power filter,
and and a homemade hood with a 13W power compact fluorescent for lighting.

The piece of driftwood is one I have had for years, most of that time in a
box. I bought it imagining I would do something cool with it some day, and
it seems I was right. I drilled a few holes in a spare piece of
plexigless to make a base for it- the thing floats and never seems to
waterlog so this was pretty much a necessity. Being the geek I am I used
cable ties to secure it. The wood is tied with Java moss, a few small java
ferns in the back, and anubias nana and barteri var coffeefolia.

Upon much consideration, I decided the use a soil substrate. I mixed about
3 handfuls of topsoil, one handful of vermiculite, one handful of potting
soil, half a handful of peat moss, and enough water to make a nice pasty
mess. On top of that is small grain gravel bought in a local fish store.

The tank is currently planted with rotala indica, an unidentified crypt
species, an unidentified hygrophilia(I think) species, and echinodorus
tenellus. I plan to add some dwarf hairgrass for accents as soon as I can
find some locally.

Current inhabitants are 10 snails to stir the substrate and eat detritus.
Next week I will add one otocinclus affinis and one Amano shrimp for algae
control. As for fish, I am currently thinking I will add a pair of
sparkling gourami. Other contenders include a trio of featherfin
rainbowfish or a pair or trio of dwarf puffers. If you have other
suggestions for a small tank (aside from betta or paradisefish) feel free
to contact me via email or reply to this post. I want something very small
with personality.

Also in the works, a new 20 gallon to house my rambunctious red phantom
tetras. The school of them (10) feels out of place in my 55 now, and I
want to go with some dwarf cichlids in that tank(most likely apistogramma
cacatuides) and needed to free up some fishload If this 2.5 goes well I
will likely do soil in that tank as well.

This time I am stopping at three tanks. Really. No, *really*.

~Empty