Some time ago in July I went to my local petshop to buy some supplies for my fish (I keep cardinal tetras and cichlids in a 260 liters fishtank) and noticed one of those hip nanotanks on display with little red shrimps swimming around in them. They looked very attractive. I had kept shrimps before in the 260 liters tank, but those were cadina japonicas, which were far less colorful and didn’t last long in the company of predating fish. The unit was on sale, and I could buy the whole set including the 30 gallon tank with filter, lights, and soil for only 200 euros. The salesgirl assured me that it was a bargain. I didn’t doubt her for a moment and paid before my girlfriend could knock some sense into me. The following day the tank was set up and planted. I wanted to keep cherry shrimps in it, but before that was possible, I had to run the system for about two weeks before introducing them, otherwise they would probably all swim the backstroke as soon as the nitrate spike hit them.
How the tank looked like just after it was planted. Remember this because it's not going to look like this for long...
Noticed how everything looks tidy and neat and lush and green?
Ahum, that's NOT how the tank looks like now....
But anyway. For as long as it took (the full 2 weeks), I kept checking the waterparameters kept the plants healthy by adding liquid fertilizers. Soon the tank looked like this:
A bit full. The plants had certainly grown. That was a good thing...right?
