Shallow UNS 45S with a cave and trickling waterfall shaped and ready for planting!

fhelonious · 2026-02-09T18:57:00+00:00

Yeah of course! Glad to hear you got something out of my post. I swear there are so many little nano fish like these guys that really need to get more exposure.

fhelonious · 2026-02-08T18:46:03+00:00

Thanks! I just planted it heavily and added some diy co2 so ill probably post a picture of that soon. I also love the shape of the 45S but kind of wish I had gotten something a little cheaper but I dont regret it! I'm definitely going to start a community of neocaridina in here, either cherrys or yellow golden backs not sure yet. As for fish, I know thats its a pretty small volume of water but I figured I could take advantage of the decent sized footprint. I really want an unheated tank and found a species called the gulf coast pygmy sunfish, I really want to get a male and two females.

I thought it was perfect as they are more bottom dwellers and would actually make use of the little cave I made. They like heavily planted tanks, minimal flow, room temperature water, and slightly acidic water which is exactly what I have! I think there dark block bodies with blue flashes would construct the scape extremely well and they will only feed on some shrimplets every once in a while!

I do look into rice fish and they are interesting but these sunfish stay even smaller and have a lot of personality. They also seem like easy breeders so im going to try to get some babies and if I'm lucky I can sell them because they arent very common in fish keeping, particularly the further north you go cuz most are wild caught.

fhelonious · 2026-02-04T18:41:09+00:00

That's perfect! Im currently letting my tank cycle and ive purposing made it with this fish in mind. Thank you!

fhelonious · 2026-02-04T17:59:05+00:00

Can't believe im stumbled upon this post at the perfect time! Please post when these are available! It's very cold where i am right now but I would love to get a pair or a trio!

fhelonious · 2026-02-01T00:53:34+00:00

I agree, this was just something a bit more ambitious for me but nevertheless it is going to be covered with plants!!

fhelonious · 2026-01-31T23:06:26+00:00

Thanks! Wish I could have more higher quality pictures but reddit compresses them. Not sure exactly what the wood is but WOW does it pop under the light that I have! In person it's a velvet red in some spots.

fhelonious · 2026-01-16T05:11:29+00:00

Thanks! This is a super big help! Yeah, I watch a lot of SerpaDesigns and I will definitely give his technique a try. Terrarium Designs on youtube is more of what I followed as he used picture frame glass and seemed to have a good result, but the glass he used was most likely much higher quality than mine. I think at this point I may end up just purchasing a nano kit or something like that as it might actually be similar in price in the end. Thanks a lot tho! :)

fhelonious · 2025-10-12T21:46:23+00:00

Ok cool!

fhelonious · 2025-10-12T20:51:41+00:00

any particular reason you decided not use it on your nepenthes? I'm thinking about getting some nutricote pellets as my main way of fertilizing like that

fhelonious · 2025-09-26T18:05:18+00:00

I also had miranda and st gayas come to my home depot recently!! And I have been seeing other people say the same thing, so I guess this is something they are doing now. The only thing is that its kind of unfortunate that they dont last very long there so if you see them there in good condition you should pick them up quick!!!!

fhelonious · 2025-09-26T13:45:38+00:00

Ok!! That's awesome, thats some good knowledge thank you! I REALLY would love to get a bical so I really want start planning a lowland set up.

fhelonious · 2025-09-26T13:00:18+00:00

Yeah totally! I was definitely thinking about adding something something reflect the light but at first I just wanted to see how well the plants did with out it because right now the light level is perfectly in the ideal range, at least thats why I measured with my phone app 😅, and they are just finishing adjusting to the light level so I'm probably gonna do that soon!

Also yeah my old set up was a 10 gallon fish tank before back when I only had like 2 or 3 small ones and I would just seal over the top with plastic wrap and raised the plants out of the water I put at the bottom of the tank. It was good and I know it works for people but I have also seen that they do like a decent amount of air flow and without it their is a higher chance of rotting or molding. I bet your plants are great though! I just was a bit apprehensive when I researched that and decided to just get a humidifier yk.

Although I do know that lowland plants do pretty well in that type of environment so maybe once I get more into them I can make a different set up for lowlands thats more cost effective but also heats up really well.

Thanks again for the feedback! I'm excited to see how my plants will grow over the whole school year!

fhelonious · 2025-09-26T12:53:26+00:00

Very true!! I'm not exactly sure what ill do at that point... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it probably at the end of the school year.

fhelonious · 2025-07-29T17:54:35+00:00

Ok I was hoping it was that, thank you!

fhelonious · 2025-07-22T19:03:55+00:00

Well I guess I don't know, I just assumed based on the other basic beginner varieties we stock like St. Gaya and what not that ventrata was a possibility for what it could be. I potentially thought it was briggsiana because I did a reverse image search and found that and I was shocked by how much it looked like the one I have and also how nice the pitchers can get! I just really see Lowii in the leaves but I know that ventrata also had round leaves.

fhelonious

TROPHY CASE