15g Asian Biotope-esque

[aaronnorth]

tank is starting to fill out nicely. Barbs do a have a tendency to nibble on the softer leaved plants.

Where did you order the plants from?

 

[Miah002]

Ebay is my guess.

 

[OohFeeshy]

No, actually, Greenline (or what was Greenline). To be honest it probably would have been a lot better if I had ordered a couple of individual species on wire or something- if most of the stuff is grown attatched to something then it makes getting clumps a bit more awkward.

On the plus side, all the bits seem to have taken off really quickly. I'll probably leave it another week and then start doing things properly- some will be moved into the (hopeful) 2g nano moss/shrimp tank that probably won't even happen, but it's good to hope. I might try taking somecose-up photos for ID later, doubt it will work due to camera shoddiness.

I'm thinking about adding some more stock too- at the rate the plants are growing they must be vacuuming up nitrate like there's no tomorrow. My preferred option would be for more Pseudosphromenus cupanus (possibly some dayi, although I'm not as keen on him), but the probability of the shop having them again is low. They're quite good at unusual mini fish though, so I'll keep an eye out. I'm debating whether to increase the number of barbs- they look quite nice amongst the green plants and brown fish, but I won't be happy if they all turn on the plants and make an even bigger problem. The four that I have are very 'friendly' and inquisitive, and I don't want to lose that by putting more in.

Kuhlis were another addition I wanted, but won't really be practical until the scape is pretty much complete (getting under moss netting, in filters, in the way). Ideally I'd like to shove an external on the tank, but lack of funding means it's a bit mern for now.

 

[Dwarf-P.]

lovely, i hope to achieve something similar when i re decorate my rekord 60

 

[OohFeeshy]

Did a bit of a tidy up earlier, took out all the plants, sorted out all the hygro plantlets, trimmed the roots. The root structure on some of those plants... Anyway, someone appears to have stolen the camera, so I'll have to wait to post another picture.

Generally everything's going OK, however the hygro keeps getting algae (well, I think it's actually diatoms) on the upper leaves. Wiping it off only works temporarily. Not sure what to do about it- I might get some shrimp (depending on their size, the betta is pretty big) which should help, and I'll also try and obtain some MTS, but that's the best I can come up with.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Did yet another move around earlier, I like the results very much.

(N.B, still getting to grips with new camera so...)

Clearly the hygro on the right needs to grow a bit, although I may well trim the main bit down to make it more even. Once it has grown I might move the wood over to the right a bit to make more room for the hygo, but may not, depending on how it looks. Now I'm not sure what to do with the space. I may try some Marsilea. Should be getting some MTS next week, still undecided on shrimp (although the plants are too close together for the betta to get in) but I'll probably get some more gold barbs.

 

[AdAndrews]

looks nice, whats greenlines new name then?

 

[RadaR]

That looks much better. Nice work.

 

[aaronnorth]

i like it too. Perhaps the drop is a bit steep, so you could fill it out with a fern (something like microsorum pteropus "narrow") then as a foreground eleocharis acicularis or parvula.

 

[OohFeeshy]

What, the gradient of the hygro? Once it's grown a bit I'll trim it to a better shape.

The hairgrass is from America, isn't it? The tank (thereoretically) should have only Asian species in. Plus not sure how well it will do, the quoted 'light required' seems to vary but generally seems to be high. It's a low-tech tank, low light, no CO2, no ferts.

 

[aaronnorth]

What, the gradient of the hygro? Once it's grown a bit I'll trim it to a better shape.

no, the gradient of the triangle, if you look at my tank in my sig you can see how it slopes pretty smoothly.
forgot about it being a biotope though

 

[OohFeeshy]

Oh, aye. I think I'll leave it for a week then give it another good prune, or if I get bored later cut some of the taller bits right down so the cuttings can go further across the tank (and make the slope more gentle). The tallest plants will be either just above or just below (whichever looks better) the highest level on the wood in front of them.

You can't really see in the picture (silly brightness) but there are crypts in front of the wood, some of which have grown quite big. I like them but they are making the mid/front section harder to scape because you don't get a very smooth transition, both from hygro to crypts and from crypts to sand/carpeting plants I haven't thought about yet.

I'm tempted to change my earlier plan and put some moss on the ends of the wood. I don't think I'll be having it anywhere else so it should be alright. I think I'll wait until I've sorted out the algae first, algaed moss is horrid.

 

[waterdrop]

Did yet another move around earlier, I like the results very much.

(N.B, still getting to grips with new camera so...)

Clearly the hygro on the right needs to grow a bit, although I may well trim the main bit down to make it more even. Once it has grown I might move the wood over to the right a bit to make more room for the hygo, but may not, depending on how it looks. Now I'm not sure what to do with the space. I may try some Marsilea. Should be getting some MTS next week, still undecided on shrimp (although the plants are too close together for the betta to get in) but I'll probably get some more gold barbs.

The effect of the wood seeming to come out of the plants is very good after this plant move. Nice!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Thanks. Mern, the camera is still proving too difficult for me, so standard 'it looks better IRL!' applies.

Unfortunately due to thin curtains I had to take it at a silly angle to avoid reflections from light coming through. I have trimmed the hygro a wee bit and spread it out further; note the ridiculous growth of the stuff in three days.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Er, out of interest, can anyone give a good explanation of the differences between Marsilea hirsuta, crenata and quadrifolia? In terms of what they need, how they grow and suchlike?