75 gallon Malaysian biotope

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chris_todd
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75 gallon Malaysian biotope

Post by chris_todd »

So here's the beginning of a log of my 75 gallon Malaysian biotope. Today I set the tank on the stand, loaded the substrate (four bags of ecocomplete capped with about one full bag of Colorquartz black sand), and setup the hard scape.

My plan with this tank is to do a sort of "Nature Aquarium Biotope", where the layout mimics the scene of a Malaysian stream with dense vegetation on either side, lots of fallen trees, etc., and the flora and fauna are also from that biotope. I'm going to stretch the biotope concept a bit, because it will focus on the habitat of the fish I'm keeping - Pearl Gouramis, Harlequin Rasboras, and Siamese Algae Eaters. Even keeping those three together is a little bit of a stretch, but I'm going with it!

So the plant selection will be from habitats in which you would find these fish - streams and pools in Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Java, etc. The main components will be crypt balansae, Java fern, java moss, hygrophila difformis, cyperus helferi, and a selection of other crypts: pontederiifolia, moehlmannii, affinis, albida, and I think one other I can't remember right now.

I plan on doing the planting this weekend, but I would appreciate any feedback you have on the hardscape. The small stones will be wrapped with java moss and be used to outline the stream. I don't plan on using cosmetic sand for the stream, I'm just going to keep the substrate clear of plants. So it should look like a black water stream. Black water, get it? :-D

I plan on a big stand of c. balansae in the back left corner, with the H. difformis to the right of that, at the left focal point (in front of the filter, but behind the driftwood, and sloping down towards the stream edge). The sawn edge of that driftwood will be wrapped in a little moss, and I'll probably attach some Java fern to that piece. Then an assortment of crypts fill out the remainder of the left side midground and foreground.

On the right, I'll use mostly java fern attached to, and placed around, the "tree stump" (which is actually three pieces of malaysian driftwood that fit together almost perfectly to create that stump - I was soooo geeked when I pulled that off!). I want to use the c. helferi over here, too, but I'm not sure if it should be behind the stump on the right, or slightly to the left, near the stream edge. I'll use a few small crypts to fill out the right side foreground.

I'm not sure H. Difformis is quite the right plant for the left focal point - in my 20 long, it's just not growing tall and bushy the way I expected it too (I'll have a separate post on this later). I wanted something that would be a nice color and texture contrast to the darker greens of the crypts and ferns, and I thought h. difformis fit the bill nicely. I was looking through the APC Plant Finder (which is awesome, BTW - Thanks, Cavan!), and there were a couple of focal point-type plants from southeast Asia that caught my eye - rotala wallichi, rotala nanjenshan, hygro corymbosa 'stricta', h. corymbosa 'siamensis', barclaya longifolia, and hygrophila sp. "Red". Any thoughts or opinions? Note that this tank will not have CO2, and is probably a "moderate light" tank - I have four 40 watt T-12 bulbs with lousy reflectors.

I've also considered using downoi as a foreground plant, but in a moderate light, no CO2 tank, I'm not sure it will thrive.

Any and all feedback and opinions are appreciated - this is my first real attempt at an aquascape, where I didn't just stick plants where they would fit.
Attachments
First take at the hardscape (yes, I will buy a background that hides the filter and light switch :)
First take at the hardscape (yes, I will buy a background that hides the filter and light switch :)
hardscape2.jpg (119.24 KiB) Viewed 3186 times
Last edited by chris_todd on Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
magsdez
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Post by magsdez »

Can't wait to see your pics. Scott and I also have an SE asia/Thailand theme tank. It's a work in progress (thanks everyone for the help!). Just an FYI about the fish we have. We have Pearl Gouramis, Harlequin Rasboras, SAE's, some other type of rasbora (poss Espie), Odessa barbs, 1 Kuli loach, Poka-Dot Loachs, at least 1 oto (I know-wrong biotype-algea assistant *g*), Arulus Barbs (which have successfully bred), and for the most part, everyone gets along. I've even had male bettas in without any problems-so have fun!
Bridget
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PaulS
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Post by PaulS »

Your concept sounds very cool Chris. Can't wait to see pics!
Paul
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chris_todd
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Post by chris_todd »

PaulS wrote:Your concept sounds very cool Chris. Can't wait to see pics!
Paul
Yeah, I guess my original post isn't very useful without pics! :oops: Sorry about that, I'll get pics posted tonight.

I posted the description last night because I am so excited about finally getting this tank setup - I got it back in October, and have been thinking (well, OK, obsessing) about what I wanted to do with it ever since then!
ingg
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Post by ingg »

Stricta and Siamensis are big plants - BIG leaved plants. Like almost tree leaf big. The tank is big enough to pull them off in my opinion, and they are beautiful and easy to keep.

It would definitely give great contrast to Balansae, and does grow in tall vertical and bush out...


I used to keep Stricta and sold a bunch out at auctions, so hopefully it is floating around in the club somewhere.....unfortunately I got myself a case of collectoritis and didn't have room for it anymore, or I'd share some with you. :( I would actually like to find it again myself.
Dave
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ddavila06
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Post by ddavila06 »

i really like the idea. for me wood in a tank set up is a plus! what tipe of wood are you using, malaysian? what color background are you doing? i like the fish choice as well, pearl gouramies are really nice :D do you know how to sex them?> i have one and needs a companioon??? i have a 10 gallon that used to be for holding and growing only (now plants and guppies (mainly) took over :roll: ) and the plants grew up very fast with one t12.... post pics with actual fish and plants soon :wink:
Damian Davila
"Fishes-up, chill, Plants too"
"so many plants, so little space!"
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chris_todd
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Post by chris_todd »

Well, it's fully planted and filled, but it's too late for me to post pics (school night and all), so I'll post tomorrow night.

Damian, that is Malaysian driftwood I picked up at Scales TFW. I got a black background from PetSmart yesterday. Male Pearl gouramis have larger dorsal and ventral fins, and their breasts are redder, particularly if there are females in the tank. I also got my Gouramis at Scales, they had a nice selection of very healthy fish.
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chris_todd
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Post by chris_todd »

Here are some pictures from before, during, and after the planting, which I finished last night. I'm still not very good at photographing planted tanks, but I'm getting better.

Ahhh, the blank canvas...
Image

I'll tell you what, planting in the ColorQuartz sand is a real pleasure. You stick the plant in, release your grip, and the grains just collapse onto the plant allowing you to easily remove the tweezers. No fuss, no muss.

Next, the hardscape. As I mentioned in the post above, I really wanted to have a tree stump on the right hand side, and I was able to get three pieces of malaysian driftwood to fit together nearly perfectly. The driftwood on the other side represents a fallen tree, and the small rocks will be covered with java moss to represent the stream flowing through the scene.

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Now, to attach the epiphytes to the hardscape. The malaysian driftwood that makes up the "tree stump" on the right hand side had lots of useful nooks and crannies, so all I did was gently squeeze or wedge the rhizomes into cracks in the wood, or wedge it underneath protruding parts.

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Katie and I used green cotton thread to secure the java moss to the small rocks that form the "river banks", and to attach the moss to the tip of the driftwood on the left, where the tip had obviously been sawed off. I used floral wire to secure the narrow leaf and windelov java ferns to the driftwood. That's an AWESOME bunch of narrow leaf java fern that I got from Dave. Thanks, Dave! And that Windelov java fern was one I bought at my very first GWAPA auction back in October, then nearly killed it when I tried to rid it of algae with a hydrogen peroxide bath. It has recovered nicely, and I learned not to dip the rhizome! :oops:

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Then, I started planting the hygrophila difformis and crypt balansae.

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Then I planted the c. pontederiifolia and moehlmannii, and filled it up enough to cover all the java ferns (about 75%) because I needed to make a trip to Aaron's to get more crypt affinis as well as some c. albida. After getting home from Aaron's, I planted the remaining plants, filled it up completely, and let it settle overnight. Tonight, it looks like this:

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I need to tie a little moss to the top of the stump, to cover up the obvious saw marks. I thought that part would slightly protrude above the water line, so I wouldn't have to do that, but I guess I miscalculated.
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I think I need a few more pontederiifolia and/or moehlmannii to fill out the foreground on the right hand side, and while I love the look of the c. affinis on the left, I'm not sure yet how it will fill in as a foreground plant. And I definitely don't have enough balansae in the back left - I really want a stand of balansae that looks more like that bunch of narrow leaf java fern - dense and lush. Maybe I should stop watching Amano's aquascaping demonstrations from the previous AGA meetings, LOL.

I also think the stream bound by the rocks is too close to the center, and too wide. I think I'll move the left bank over to the right by a few inches, at least towards the rear of the tank. I meant for the focal point to be the h. difformis, not the negative space formed at the point the stream goes off to infinity. I'm hoping the difformis will really bush up, so that the stand will be quite tall where it borders the balansae, and slope downwards to the stream edge. But I don't have enough experience with these plants, or with tanks this size, to really have a good feel for how that will grow out.

You can't see it in the photos, but I have three rosettes of cyperus helferi planted in the back right corner. Would they look better if they were moved to be just behind, but to the left, of the tree stump? Or should I, perhaps, plant them to the right side of the stump but closer to the front, so you can actually see them? I'd be concerned they would get lost in all the large java fern leaves. Or maybe they would provide a nice contrast, I don't know.

Finally, there are two c. albida plants on the right, nestled among the java ferns. Their very narrow leaves are really pretty, but they don't show up well in my lousy photos. These had been grown emersed, so I expect them to melt, but I hope they'll grow back nicely.

Anyway, there it is. Any and all comments, suggestions, and criticisms are welcome and appreciated. Please be brutally honest; I can handle criticism, and I really would like to get better at this. I plan on enjoying this tank for a long time.
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ddavila06
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Post by ddavila06 »

looks awesome! this is defenitly going to fill up slowly but nicely (because of the low light set up you are doing, right?) as far as plant locations go, im terrible so i will leave that for other to decide 8)
Damian Davila
"Fishes-up, chill, Plants too"
"so many plants, so little space!"
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PaulS
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Post by PaulS »

Very impressive Chris. When it fills in, it's going to look even better. Really nice work.
Paul
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