# SE Asian Biotope



## junebug (Aug 5, 2013)

Well I had a few requests for pictures of this tank, so here it is:

Flora: Rotala Rotundifolia, Dwarf Lily x2, Java fern, Java moss, Water Wisteria, Riccia Fluitans (I think it's fluitans anyway), Giant Hygro (I'll be doing a lot of trimming.... it's only a 6.6 gallon bookshelf tank so it's very very not tall) and water sprite.

Some of the plants are invisible at the moment, as I trimmed them down quite a bit before replanting them, and my water sprite decided to arbitrarily die on me.

Fauna: Small herd of Sparkling Gouramis, small herd of RCS who refuse to reproduce for some reason. Malaysian Trumpet snails for beneficial tank functions (aka aeration and poop eating)

The tank was built using the walstad method(ish), MiracleGro potting soil, gravel cap on one side, sand on the other. The driftwood is mostly collected locally, though there is one piece of Malaysian Driftwood in there that I couldn't pass up at the store. I mean everyone needs a natural wooden arch in their tank, right? Haha!

pH is low, I've given up trying to test it, which I think is why my water sprite doesn't feel much like growing, all tank parameters constantly at 0, to the point where I'm going to start considering adding nitrates in liquid form. No ferts though aside from the soil and very low tech, low maintenance, making it my favorite tank by far lol.

My goal was to create a really beautiful tank, ecotope, and biotope, all in one! I am always open to suggestions, though, especially since you guys know much more about plants than I do.

Should be noted I fashioned the tank after a Thailand theme. Originally I wanted to do a true Sparkling Gourami biotope, but I could not for the life of me find more than two plants that grow in rice patties - rice and the rotala I have in the tank. Rotala rotundifolia is apparently a very common weed in Thailand rice fields. Don't ask me where I read that, I've tried to find the link a hundred times and it seems to have vanished. 

So I decided to cheat a little. I call this tank my Thailand Biotope though, as my research during the initial build led me to believe that each of these plant species and the snails and shrimp would likely be found throughout Thailand in any given slow stream or blackwater pool.

The tank originally had a betta splendens in it as well. I am considering adding 5 or so dwarf spotted rasboras, would love some opinions on if the bioload would balance with my plants well enough for this to work.

I'm waiting for the rotala to really start growing and fill in the void in the right half of the tank. Eventually that will be a rotala forest. Then I'll replant wisteria clippings along the back and edges as it grows. I like wild looks, so when the plants are re-established in the tank, I'll probably let them go wild!


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Interesting biotope, the last AGA contest really piqued my interest in this kind of tank.

There is an interesting discussion of sparkling gouramis on Seriously Fish. Several people report that this fish will hunt in groups and kill shrimp, even adults. So that may be why your shrimp do not reproduce.

Do you have any filtration on this tank? I can't tell from the photos what your bioload is, and you want to add some dwarf rasboras. I love those fish, and have a school of 20 in a 15 gallon tank (_Boraras maculatus_). My personal version of the Walstad method is to do everything as Diana says, except to add lots of biofiltration. This lets me keep more fish than she recommends while still having relatively low maintenance requirements.


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## junebug (Aug 5, 2013)

I have the four sparklers. And yes, they are definitely pack hunters, they killed my many batches of fire red cherries. I found they don't bother ghost shrimp though and tried lower grade cherries, been fine ever since. I run a deep blue nano filter on this tank, rated for 4 gal but it's the only one I could find that fit lol. 

What is the again contest?


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## junebug (Aug 5, 2013)

Stupid auto correct... that was supposed to say AGA contest. And I found it. What a cool thing!


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## junebug (Aug 5, 2013)

Hmm I just discovered something interesting. The new tank this setup is in, the 6.6 gallon long, is perfect for a rice paddy/drainage tope, which is where these fish live most commonly in the wild.

Given that, I double-checked my plants and they are all still good, commonly found in Thailand rice fields, and I added a really pretty female betta to the tank. I guess that puts the shrimp population on the downfall (I have never met a betta who didn't eat anything that looked like a shrimp) but since they weren't breeding anyway, I'm not worried about it. Also she's very mellow, so I'm thinking she'll get along with the other labyrinth fish just fine.

Given this, I won't be adding any dwarf rasboras, even though I really really want some boraras maculatus (might try them as dither fish in another tank at some point) and I might rethink the hardscape here. I doubt if rice fields have much driftwood in them. 

I'll definitely be removing some of the java fern, specifically the windelov that's half dead because it didn't want to adjust to my water.

Hopefully the water sprite and wisteria start growing in. They'll be perfect for this tank as they are very common native weeds in Thailand.


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## tonnakpil (Jul 29, 2013)

Junebug, this is a nice tank. Is there any reason why the right side of the substrate was capped with gravel?


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## junebug (Aug 5, 2013)

It was supposed to be an endler tank originally. I wanted gravel as a hiding place for the fry, and also I was using leftover substrate from other tanks lol. 

When I moved the biotope in, I scooped some of the fluval substrate from the old tank to harvest a few MTS (possibly anyway) and dumped it on the gravel side. It probably won't matter in the long run, as I'm sure that area will be completely taken over by plants soon enough.

I'm glad you like the tank  I was able to get some rotala wallichii online and I'll be adding it to the giant void in the middle when it arrives. I'll post new pics when it's all done/redone.

As a side note, all of the shrimp fell prey to the betta. Well the few that survived the move. I'm giving up on shrimp, officially :/


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