Burmese River Biotope

[GrayScale]

While waiting for my Co2 equipment to arrive I've been considering my plants and planning and replanning my huge rescape. I was thinking of doing a Burmese river biotope and having a species only tank for my celestial pearl danios and red cherry shrimp. I've done a little research on the types of plants naturally found there which include:
Rotala, aponogeton, elocharis, blyxa and water sprite.

I was wondering if anyone has attempted this sort of biotope and what other plants(if any) naturally come from this region. The only deviation away from this biotope will be carpet and moss selection but other than that I'm trying to make it as natural as possible.

Something like: aponogeton ulvaceus, aponogeton crispus, eleocharis acicularis, blyxa japonica, ceratopteris thalictroides, and rotala indica and rotala magenta.

Any ideas and tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
GrayScale

 

[ian]

Nice idea and great start with the plants, i think you have listed most plants that are native to Burma. You need to think of the hardscape in the tank. I would probably go with a bit of redmoor root for full effect. Just remember that Aponogetons get very big so, don't go over the top with them. Make sure you get some pics up!

 

[GrayScale]

I was thinking about getting some redmoor root but I can't find any online US dealers. I was thinking about using 1 of the two pieces that I have in my 20g now and it might wok out the way I want it to but I'm not sure. I'm still waiting on my co2 equipment and once I get it I'll still have to find and order the plants so it'll still be another couple of weeks before I get everything situated. Hopefully Christmas will come early and I can convince my g/f to get the plants for me now instead of waiting.

 

[ian]

have you read about cycling your tank with plants?

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/299827-why-we-should-not-fishless-cycle-planted-tanks/

 

[Biulu]

How big is your tank? From the fish choice I assume it is rather small, but your plants are rather big...
If you would keep the fish around 22 degrees, you could also add acorus gramineus, a plant that gets to 30 cm, but if you take the dwarf variety pusillus, then you have a small plant of around 10 cm high. Azolla pinnata, a floating plant is from this region, as well as barclaya longifolio, which would give you a nice touch of red... Cryptocoryne albida o ciliata, tambien microsorum and java moss are all plants that stay smaller.

Aponogeton crispus is from south India by the way....

 

[GrayScale]

This is actually for my 20g long tank that I've had set up for about 7 months or so. It has the 2x24w t5ho and will have pressurised co2 injection with dosing of micros.

Some plants grow in multiple tropical regions throughout the world and the website found here has aponogeton as a generalization and with further research I've found that most aponogeton grow in a variety of tropical regions throughout the world but are also found in these waterways.I've got 13 celestial pearl danios. Half of them came from one breeder and the other half came from a separate source so when they breed it'll be a nice mix and shouldn't have deformities. I had the 6 in my 10g and I've just recently picked up the other 7 and I'm only keeping them in the 10g until i can situate my 20g specifically for them.

 

[Biulu]

Should be lovely! They sold these fish for the first time last week in Mexico but their spines were all deformed, so I didn't buy them.

I have a book on aquatic plants and the info I gave you comes from there. Actually, most of the common aponogetons used in aquaria come from Madagascar, but the crispus is only India and Sri Lanka. And yes, there are many plants that have a broad geographical distribution, but the ones I mentioned to you in my other post concentrated on the ones from the Indochina/North Indian region always including Myanmar.

 

[GrayScale]

Alright Biulu thank you much for the information. I think I've come up with a more suitable plant list for my likings. I've taken a few things mentioned above and removed the aponogeton. I figured they would get too big for my 20g long since its such a short tank.

Barclaya longifolia(back), cryptocoryne albida(mid), microsorum pteropus(mid-back), blyxa japonica(mid), ceratopteris thalictroides(back), eleocharis parvula(carpet) and java moss for attaching to the driftwood. I'm still undecided on the rotala since I can get the red from the barclaya longifolia.

Thanks again

 

[GrayScale]

Alright, I've ordered all the plants and will be rehoming my current stock in my 20g long this weekend. I'm not too familiar with bulbs so growing out the barclaya will be interesting. I will be setting up my co2 as soon as the plants come even if my drop checker doesn't arrive since it will be a fishless tank. I'll also be getting root tabs and I'll probably up the heat to 75*f in hopes of getting the barclaya to grow quicker.

Then once everything settles and I have a good amount of co2 going with the drop checker I will be moving my celestials into the tank and building a little cabinet to go in the bottom of my metal stand to hide the filter and co2 tank. Haven't decided what I'm going to do with my 10g once my 20 is settled since it will be empty. Might just sell it off or use it as a qt with some sort of small fish to keep the bacteria up in the filter.

 

[GrayScale]

Just a little update:

ordered potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate for EI dosing for macros. Will be dosing flourish for micros. The dwarf hairgrass and watersprite will arrive on wednsday and I will be hooking up the co2 to get it dialed in before I add the cpds from my 10g. The barclaya and blyxa will either be arriving by thurs or after the new year but hopefully before. I couldn't find any crypt. Albida but I'll be keeping an eye out for them. Co2 tank is getting filled tomorrow in preparation.

 

[GrayScale]

So there have been a few set backs and I'm very upset. The water sprite and hairgrass should have been delivered like 2 hours ago and it has not shown up which causes a HUGE problem; I have to waitl until tomorrow and it's super cold outside and I'm really hoping they don't die while they are waiting overnight since they've been in a truck since Monday. If they do die I will definately calling fedex corporate extremely angry.

The barclaya and blyxa were shipped today and are being shipped next day air so they should be in with my drop checker.

I haven't been able to fill my co2 tank and rehoming my serpaes and kribs should take place tomorrow. Not sure when I'll have time to fill the tank and I haven't decided if I want to inject my co2 before my macros come which should be Friday or if I should just hook it up and dose flourish while I wait. Decisions decisions.

 

[lljdma06]

So there have been a few set backs and I'm very upset. The water sprite and hairgrass should have been delivered like 2 hours ago and it has not shown up which causes a HUGE problem; I have to waitl until tomorrow and it's super cold outside and I'm really hoping they don't die while they are waiting overnight since they've been in a truck since Monday. If they do die I will definately calling fedex corporate extremely angry.

The barclaya and blyxa were shipped today and are being shipped next day air so they should be in with my drop checker.

I haven't been able to fill my co2 tank and rehoming my serpaes and kribs should take place tomorrow. Not sure when I'll have time to fill the tank and I haven't decided if I want to inject my co2 before my macros come which should be Friday or if I should just hook it up and dose flourish while I wait. Decisions decisions.

Hi Grayscale. Run CO2, but keep the photoperiod short, and dose Flourish.

I just read this journal, I'm excited. I love biotopes. If it comes out well, you should enter in a planted competition. Many of them offer a biotope category.

 

[GrayScale]

Alright so after all the rambling on about my plants, they've all arrived! I'm a little worried about the water sprite; it was either really cold and went stiff or it was grown emersed. My guess would be the latter. Anyways here is a fts after placement. I know it's not a "natural" look as with a biotope, it's almost more Dutch style but at the moment I'm just trying to get some growth and revamp the plants after long and cold shipping. The barclaya longifolia will be growing between the blyxa japonica and the watersprite once the bulbs sprout.

I also purchased a koralia powerhead rated for 240gph to increase flow for more nutrients to get to all the plants and to help with algae. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fill my co2 tank before the holidays so on Monday co2 will be starting. My dry ferts have arrived as well so I'm pretty excited to start dosing and injecting co2 to see how well they do.

Let me know what you think!

 

[Plantedtank12]

Alright so after all the rambling on about my plants, they've all arrived! I'm a little worried about the water sprite; it was either really cold and went stiff or it was grown emersed. My guess would be the latter. Anyways here is a fts after placement. I know it's not a "natural" look as with a biotope, it's almost more Dutch style but at the moment I'm just trying to get some growth and revamp the plants after long and cold shipping. The barclaya longifolia will be growing between the blyxa japonica and the watersprite once the bulbs sprout.

I also purchased a koralia powerhead rated for 240gph to increase flow for more nutrients to get to all the plants and to help with algae. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fill my co2 tank before the holidays so on Monday co2 will be starting. My dry ferts have arrived as well so I'm pretty excited to start dosing and injecting co2 to see how well they do.

Let me know what you think!

I'm kinda new to planted tanks but you might want to vary the placement of your plants, they appear to be in rows.

 

[GrayScale]

The rows were actually intentional for now. Once they become more established I will rearrange them a bit but since they were all pretty shocked due to being shipped in such cold weather I just wanted to place them in a way that looked alright but no where near how I'd like it.

Co2 and EI dosing will begin today so hopefully in a month or so they will be established and I'll do the rescape. Also, the little ones in the front will create a nice dense carpet hopefully and the barclaya will grow between the watersprite and the blyxa which will set off the colors and make it look a little less uniform.