# 2010 - contest entry "Rotala Garden"



## skewlboy (Jun 9, 2006)

Rotala Garden - 20 gallon long










My first attempt at a Dutch style aquarium (started several months ago). I wanted the feel of it to seem as if you were looking at a very large tank - stocking only small leaved plants. True dutch style seemed to only have 3-4 varieties per foot of tank length - my tank has a little over 10 species per foot of tank space. I'm a huge fan of the rotala species so I figured I would have a rotala dominated tank - then the madness began. I have been collecting this current list since I started the hobby a little over 3 years ago. Most of the new varieties have come from members on this site. The other species in the tank add a bit more contrast to the vibrant colors that the rotalas pick up. I tried to get rows and use the colors to contrast with each other and allow leaf shape to stand out against other species. My spin on a capet on the floor on the tank is actually Eriocaulon sulawesi (previously eriocaulon blood ***** as well but I didn't like the look so it has since been removed). This tank is a light hog for the colors (most I have ever put over a tank per gallon before) and it truly likes the high doses of Iron I give it.

I tried to grow and trim the plants and get the rows to form an angle that sloped to the 1/3 - 2/3 mark on the left side where the tonina are. Also tried to have most rows angle to this point from the left as well. Put a nice deep red (r macrandra) behind a nice vibrant green (tonina) to pull the eye.

The focus on the tank was the plants, few fauna just to keep up with any algae that might arise. The yellow shrimp are great cleanup crews and can tolerate the fertilizing quite well. The flagfish are hardy and fun to watch duck in an out of the plants. The last is the lonely nerite snail - not much for him to eat as I keep the glass pretty clean. The dense population of plants does help keep my algae to a minimum.

Upkeep takes a bit of time. Trimming is a big endeavor, and is done 1-2 times weekly. Some of the species are slow growing while others like rotala vietnam and rotala macrandra sp green could be trimmed daily and still get out of hand. Much more different than my nature scapes, this one I try to keep rigid and uniform and allow the bunches to say together.

SPECS - 
20 gallon long
Pressurized CO2 - 3-4 bps w/ inline reactor
Eheim 2217
ADA aquasoil
4 x 24 Watt t5
2 archea 27w PC on sides
RO water 
Seachem line of ferts (flourish, iron, NPK)
Shirakura mineral powder (some GH boost - mainly for Ca for shrimp)

fauna - 
2 florida flagfish
20+ yellow shrimp
1 nerite snail
1000+ mini ramshorn snails










1 Rotala macrandra sp green
2 Rotala gia lai
3 Sphaerocaryum malaccense
4 Staurogyne kompact (name from tropica)
5 Limnophila aromatica broad
6 Ludwigia inclinata
7 Staurogyne porto vehlo
8 Hydrocotyle verticillata 
9 Rotala Singapore
10 Ludwigia senegalensis
11 Tonina fluviatilis lotus
12 dwarf riccia
13 Rotala macrandra
14 Rotala Vietnam
15 Rotala wallichii
16 Rotala sunset
17 Rotala green
18 Eriocaulon sulawesi
19 Rotala mexicana belem
20 Rotala macrandra super red
21 Rotala mexicana green
22 Rotala nanjenshan
23 Rotala mini butterfly
24 Limnophila repens mini
25 Rotala mini type 2
26 Limnophila Vietnam mini
27 mini pellia
28 Rotala mexicana goias
29 Rotala araguaia
30 Lindernia sp India
31 Lindernia rotundifolia variegated 
32 Rotala indica (ammania bonsai)

Only have room for 2 more pics - Would love to show each plant individually as the colors are truly amazing but here are 2 tank shots again. 

















** only editing done on the photos was to remove a few obscure bubbles via photoshop - I did NOT adjust color saturation or hue. **


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## Navarro (Feb 12, 2004)

An impressive collection you have there Mr. skewlboy like you I have always been a fan of Dutch planted tanks yet my knowledge about them is rather poor I understand a few of their concepts but again not an expert by any means.
So this is my opinion:
The background of the plants that grow faster and more dense that the rest would probably be better I the corners to help define the spaces a bit better and have a robust colorful plants to work as a focal point.
The middle ground is perfect the nice flow of red plants and the wide grouping close to the glass make it really nice.
The foreground is well done; something I always try to do is to keep it clean and open to add more depth.
Originality 20
Cleanliness 19
Composition 17
Difficulty 17


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Originality 19
Cleanliness 19
Composition 17
Difficulty 20


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

Nice garden of stems.

Originality 19
Cleanliness 18
Composition 15
Difficulty 20


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## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

TOTAL SCORE

Originality - 58
Cleanliness - 56
Composition - 49
Difficulty - 57

Judged Score - 220
Members' Choice Points - 5

Total Score - 225


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## Jardineiro (Dec 22, 2010)

I love this tank! I wish i could have this amazing collection of rotalas! Too bad im the only plant lover in my local area, and not having personal contact with other planted tank enthusiasts.

Anyways this tank is everything i'd love to achieve in planted tanks.

Originality 20
Cleanliness 19
Composition 17
Difficulty 20 

To sum it up, if i had a tank this good i'd be an happy plantkeeper!


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## waratep (Aug 3, 2011)

Very nice tank


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