dec update
The rotala's shot up like crazy this month, had to trim it twice already. Whole scape is finally filling in around the seiryu stone, apisto's claimed a cave and is being his usual grumpy self about it.

Wanted an iwagumi, ended up with a jungle because I can't say no to plants at the store. Two seiryu stones basically vanished under Monte Carlo and hairgrass now. Fifteen apistos in a tank this small was probably a mistake but the chili rasboras don't seem to mind.
The rotala's shot up like crazy this month, had to trim it twice already. Whole scape is finally filling in around the seiryu stone, apisto's claimed a cave and is being his usual grumpy self about it.
Swapped the light for a Kessil A360X, wasn't cheap but figured the plants deserved better than what I had. Wallet's a little lighter, tank's a little brighter.
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A year grown in and it shows, monte carlo is packed in there. Is the apisto pair holding territory ok in a 10 or do they need more room than that
They've been fine so far, male holds the cave side and the female patrols her own little zone. Wouldn't want to add more apistos in there but the pair seems happy enough
No CO2 on that apisto tank and the rotala still looks decent. What's your dosing routine on the ferts?
How are you keeping the controsoil so clean looking with the apistos digging around in there
Honestly the horned nerites do more cleanup than I do, apistos just rearrange it into little craters and I let it happen
Apistos looking settled in there. How long did it take the male to color up once he claimed a cave?
Maybe a week or two after he picked his cave, he was pretty washed out before that then just kind of clicked into full color once he settled
How do you keep the apistos from digging up that hairgrass, mine wreck everything I plant