# Wild Paradise-Journal



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

It's been a very very long time I didn't set up any new tank, but The Lunar New Year is coming, so I set up this tank, just for relax 
I'll show you all the steps in this thread, and love to hear you comments and suggestions, I need to improve my layout skill so much^^
Here is it:
1-The Driftwood: a gift from my friend, I really love it, just fantastic this time I try to find out a layout that fit with this driftwood...

2-I decide to use Aquabase<from Ferka> to set up, so I must wash the gravel...There're 50kg of gravels, and I must wash all of them, little by little..ARGH..really dun like this [email protected][email protected]


3-This is a mixture of gravel, Aquabase, and water..and its smell is..eeew...dun wanna talk a bout it  

4-almost finish the base 


5-place the driftwood in, and add the water..since I have some anubias in there,ading some water will help them not to dry too fast..this is what my tank look like when water was adding in^^


6-Adding plants ,placing moss and fern on the driftwood, this step is so much fun, one of my friends helps me in this step

7-Adding more water, okie, almost done


8-And done this is my 1-day-old tank


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

*continue..*

I cut my journal into 2 part, so that you can read it easier^^
For the update:
3 days later:

1 week later: I decide co change, and add some more plants:

2 weeks later: the water is clear^^

I know it's so soon, but I wanna have some fish there, here I have green neon tetra, and another little fish I dun know ID. You know, I's very difficult to capture the Green neon tetra, especially when they swimming around and around..ARGH.



I love this kind of plant, in my country, people call it "Sunset"...ooo..how I love this red

A little corner in my tank that I love the most, just like the old path, with wild flowers're blooming everywhere^^



Oh, Forgot this: HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR EVERYBODY


----------



## crazhzone (Oct 6, 2005)

Nice tank.
this year look like great year so I saw a lot nice tank from our city
I love ur tank but I think sunset is is not good option, it's look cute but it grow to fast


----------



## Steven_Chong (Mar 17, 2005)

Sunset (hygrophila polysperma) is a bit hard in the foreground. I think Ah Pek Plant (elatine triandra) would look good with this layout.


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@ Stev: I knew it^^, but I'm confused between elatine triandra, HC and hair grass. I'm not gonna remove sunset, but I'll cover the ground with one of these plants..anymore suggestion 
P.S: hey I'm Hoang Quan in DA, and it's so nice to see you here, comment in my thread


----------



## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

Looks nice!


----------



## Sudi (Feb 3, 2005)

The other little fish you couldn't ID is Borora Merah, or at least looks like one 
Nice start! Keep us updated!


----------



## Do78521 (Dec 15, 2006)

The green neon tetra and cardinals are totally different fish but in some aquarium and in yours, they seem like they only have one streak of extremely beautiful neon green on their body, where is half red part on their body? 

yeh your tank look sweet by the way. My uncle just came over from VN, and I am so jealous of how cheap the fishes that are being sold over there, like discus and cardinals. But people seem to be into rare, agressive, mean fish instead of fishes I named above.


----------



## gnob (Feb 8, 2007)

Nice Tank..

The fish? thats _Boraras maculatus_ found in Malaysia, Sumatra, Indonesia


----------



## Do78521 (Dec 15, 2006)

Paracheirodon simulans - Green Neon Tetra? Different from the 95 cent neon with the blue and half red body?


----------



## filipnoy85 (Jan 26, 2006)

Beautiful tank! Happy lunar new year to you too!


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@all: my Green neon tetra don't have the half red body^^, they exactly look like the photo I take. all their body in light grey, with one neon green in the middle^^.
I see that only Cardinal tetra and neon tetra have the half body red.


----------



## feistyfish (Aug 13, 2006)

beautiful path. i like the overhanging bridge.


----------



## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

Hey,Im from Viet Nam too 
Bạn có ở trong ABV kô nhỉ ? Sao thấy cái bể trông lạ quá


----------



## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

This is a lovely tank. The left side with the path, arch and plants tucked around it is wonderful. The right side seems a bit bare though. Are you planning on adding a foreground on the right side? Or maybe a mid-size stem behind the wood? Overall, I like how you've done this tank.


----------



## Jdinh04 (Oct 7, 2004)

zQ. said:


> Hey,Im from Viet Nam too
> Bạn có ở trong ABV kô nhỉ ? Sao thấy cái bể trông lạ quá


I like the Aquariumbird.vietnam forum ! I wish I could read and write in vietnamese ... can only speak it.


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@JDinh: so sorry for it, but maybe no way to change all the forum into English^^
@Zq: Guesst who?haha
@Cs_Gardenner: this layout is not what I want^^, I'll adding some plant later. About the right side of the tank, I have some mid-grond plant..but they grow too [email protected][email protected]
Wait for my update, about 1 month later, everything'll change


----------



## zQ. (Dec 15, 2006)

Hic hic,Aquabase from APT ,tank from APT too,Filter jebo 508  
OOOOOOOPSSSSSSS,that house looks familiar................but  Chả biết ai cả,nói zQ. nghe đi mà


----------



## crazhzone (Oct 6, 2005)

@ZQ:  he is Mr. Hoàng.... =)) his nick name in AVB is cute fish, now u know who he is 
@ SBD : why you do not post it in AVB


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@Cratchzone: Just wait for the right time...wait for the right time...:sing: 
P.S: How can you find me out?:bathbaby:


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

Update my tank^^, I've just added some Glosso on the right side


----------



## pyramid (Jun 19, 2006)

âyda âydà...
nice!...i suprised to saw your tank here.
and suprised to saw your tank too. Its so nice!


----------



## Blue_Dolphinvn (Nov 12, 2006)

All the plant are in good health ku ui..., how can you keep the tank so clean like that? I could recognize some of my plants in yours..hehe...


----------



## Afroturf (Apr 15, 2004)

Great looking tank I'm just don't think the pink plant (Alternanthera?) fits itcreats a wall effect down the path and shortens the tanks bepth, i think it should be replaced with a green stem plant similar to the rotala used under the driftwood arch.

Beautiful looking tank though.


----------



## jassar (Jul 30, 2006)

That piece of wood is just amazing! Moss and ferns really add a natural effect ^_^
Cheers!


----------



## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

I love to see a tank filled with healthy growing plants so early in the tanks maturity. 
However, I do not get a great sense of depth in the tank. I feel as though depth could be a great area for improvement. I can see many thin, grass-like plants in the background. Maybe some Eleocharis sp. or Isoetes sp.


----------



## THHNguyen (Dec 2, 2006)

Very beautiful tank. The drift wood is my favorite part of it! What plants are you using?
Huy


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

update ít again, in fact, I didn't do anything to change the layout, just adding Co2 system, and now you can see, all plants are in good health, look at their color, I'm really satisfied with this^^



Now what I'm gonna do is wait for sunset and glosso grow more 
Leave me a comment, thks!


----------



## ReefJones (Feb 23, 2006)

I really like the pinks in the background! It reminds me of the sun setting behind the scape miles down the path!
Reef


----------



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

I really like this tank. The way the sand stream runs under that wood looks amazing. Great job!


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@ed_seeley: thank you so much for your comment, I really appreciate that^^


----------



## Genin (Jan 28, 2007)

the plant with the purple on the leaves looks amazing. your tank is great.


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

Update my tank again after a very long time^^, now it's really a forrest..haha
A full view:

Some red plants:

*Ammania gracillis+ludwigia arcuata*


*ludwigia arcuata*


Fish: I get rid of my colourlful neon tetras, now I only have emperor tetras, rummy noses, and some native fishes, I think that they're perfect choice for my tank:

*Native betta:*


Another native fish I caught from a stream, still dun know what it's ID

*Emperor tetra: *
so beautiful..


....but sometimes very scary, they make me think about piranhas fish'__'


*Otto:*

a kind of colidoras, I forgot its Id >"<


----------



## jassar (Jul 30, 2006)

bravo man! the tank has turned out GREAT!
and your photography rocks as well ^_^


----------



## stepheus (Jun 13, 2006)

makes me want to get a heavily planted tank....A LOT


----------



## Haeun (Oct 19, 2006)

Wow, I really like the corydora. Heheh, really cool looking.

Amazing tank; this is one of the tanks that really inspire me and awe me.  Keep up the awesome work!
P.S. Btw, what type of moss is that attached to the driftwood?


----------



## apistaeasy (Jul 16, 2004)

Quantronghoang said:


> *ludwigia arcuata*


This looks more like L. glandulosa to me. Arcuata has very thin leaves(1-2mm at most), hence its common name, Needle leaf Ludwigia.


----------



## hedson_25 (Sep 20, 2005)

how many G or liters is your tank?
looksvery neat....nice.


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@Haeun: I only have java moss there^^, with cool water and good lighting, java moss can make some really amazing effect, some friends of mine even think that was Xmas moss^^
@apistaeasy: ough! Thks you so much! I will check it out now
@hedson_25: my tank is 80x40x40cm, so it's a 128l tank^^


----------



## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

The only thing that I could POSSIBLY criticize is that I wish I could see the Ludwigia and Amania a bit better from the front.....it just barely "peeks" out from behind the hardscape.

Otherwise, this is one of the best tanks I have seen! Great job!


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@apistaeasy: I've checked it out, my Ludwigia is L.arcuata^^, may be the leaf is a littile bit different , but that's it! this is the pic I search for "Ludwigia arcuata" on google, and those plants look exacly like my ludwigia^^


@donaldmboyer: I use them as background, but I'll try to take clearly pics of them for you, love to hear you comment!


----------



## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

No, I know you use it as a background plant.....in your last shot of the tank on the previous page, I see a really, incredibly red color towards the left, but it is hard to make out what it is exactly from the angle that I see it. All I am saying is that it would be nice to see more of it, especially with the beautiful dark-green colour of the java moss. The brilliant red behind that left piece of wood would look absolutely stunning!


----------



## yeux (Aug 23, 2006)

Great job, what ferts are you using? what are your co2 levels? light?


----------



## pyramid (Jun 19, 2006)

oh man, what camera you used to took all pics. there...


----------



## Quantronghoang (Jan 31, 2006)

@Pyramyd: My Canon S3IS, of course .Not so bad, huh


----------



## ranmasatome (Aug 5, 2005)

As for those plants.. have you looked up Ludwigia brevipes by any chance?? they definately dont look like L. arcuata.. the leaves are really a little too big.

Oh and almost forgot.. sweet tank.. try triming the back plants at a point below the wood so that when they branch and grow out... it will look much denser.


----------



## Darter02 (Feb 19, 2007)

Wow!:d


----------



## FelixAvery (Mar 29, 2007)

nice! ill be honest i thought i would be rubbish when i saw the first few pictures
but its great!


----------



## Plattykins (Apr 3, 2005)

Your 'scape is stunning! I like this photo the best... you can still see the driftwood.


----------



## skincareaddicted (Mar 19, 2007)

Agreed, the sand looks amazing. I love the color balance you have achieved and the driftwood looks like a nice bridge across the sand. I love bettas and it's nice to see a native one, my mom used to catch them as a little girl in Vietnam. And i think your tank is my favorite tank so far! 

Kristen~


----------



## blackBRUSHalgae (May 4, 2007)

ranmasatome said:


> As for those plants.. have you looked up Ludwigia brevipes by any chance?? they definately dont look like L. arcuata.. the leaves are really a little too big.


I second that. And by the way the small fish is Boraras Micros.


----------



## Jessie (Apr 23, 2007)

I really love the peek-a-boo effect of the driftwood and the bright reds behind it. It's as if you're walking beneath an arbor into a garden.


----------

