greenbliss
Member
So lately I have been wanting to make a tank that is somewhat unique and can house some interesting flora and fauna, but not too demanding as far as the amount of care and attention needed. Since I am a big fan of Cryptocoryne species I settled on the idea of making a jungle peat swamp habitat tank (not a biotope, but just creating a good environment for the particular species I have in mind, as well as making a somewhat aesthetically pleasing tank). If I set it up correctly and care for the plants and fish well, it should reward me with fry, inflorescences and young plants without having to invest too much money or time.
What I had in mind as far as equipment goes:
Tank: Clearseal 24x12x15" aquarium, only filled to around the 12" mark to allow space for flowering and for the plants to have access to some aerial CO2.
Filter: Unfortunately, it will be a pat mini filter for now but I will replace this for something a bit less distracting some time in the future. Or I might just use no filter, obviously letting the plants grow a robust root system and take over before I do so.
Heating: 50w Eheim Jager
Lighting: Fluval Aquasky 58cm version
Flora:
Now, I do have a few things I already have, as well as ones I desperately want which aren't always easy to get, but are still just as easy to grow.
Cryptocoryne ferruginea var. sekadauensis
Cryptocoryne yujii
Cryptocoryne nurii
Cryptocoryne xpurpurea nothovar borneoensis (would need to order from abroad)
Cryptocoryne longicauda (might be able to convince a fish store to get this from some TC labs??)
Cryptocoryne pallidinervia (would need to come from abroad too)
Cryptocoryne reginae - same as above, but I have never heard of anyone growing this species in an aquaairum
Cryptocoryne aura - same as above
Tonina fluviatilis
Ceratopteris just to provide shade at first
Fauna
Parosphromenus? Not sure what species I can get. Probably bintan since it is the most common. Already have live food cultures set up for them.
Betta from blackwater biotopes??
Boraras, but not if I'm going to be breeding Paro's.??
Blackworms
Asellus aquaticus
Any shrimp from blackwater habitats I can get my hands on.??
Water, substrate and hardscape.
These all kind of go hand in hand so I thought I would put them together. Substrate will be beech leaf mould since this is an ideal medium for growing the plants, and would also help feed microorganisms which would help increase Parosphromenus fry survival rates. It does not have many nutrients and is acidic, which is good since these Cryptocoryne species are not very tolerant of high nutrient levels, which means I can't use aquasoil. Water will simply be RODI water with no remineraliser and absolutely NO CARBONATES. I will use alder cones and leaves etc to help lower the PH. Sometimes on the WWW you can see images of pools in peat swamps that are habitats of such Cryptocoryne species and the water looks like a nice cup of Earl grey, which I am sort of aiming for. I'm currently soaking some leaf mould in a bucket and making sure the TDS does not rise too much. Leaves and botanicals will also absolutely be used. I have oak and beech but would really like to find if there is any loquat or magnolia trees in my local area. Hardscape is beech wood from a local forest, taken from a dead tree that had fell over. I want a more natural look so I think a branch snapped off a tree will make it look a bit more convincing than some really exotic would from an LFS. After all manzanita wood isn't going to fall into some random jungle stream 😉 . I might cap the substrate for aesthetic reasons but this might compact it too much for the good of the plants, and I don't think a leaf substrate would look that bad anyways.
Fertilisation
Not much. Also no chelating agents because they can end up binding the small amounts of calcium present in the tank, making them unavailable. Maybe I can add fresh leaf mould or use dried beech, oak etc leaves that have been picked while green as a sort of natural root tab (but placed on top of the substrate instead?). Could also use maybe 5%-10% EI? Or just use some all in one like tropica since I need so little. Fish food should also provide plenty but I might run into deficiencies eventually. I might also inject CO2 eventually as I actually found out in some Cryptocoryne habitats CO2 levels can be as high as 15 mg/l naturally, which shows they definitely can handle it and definitely benefit from it.
If anyone has any experience with anything like this feel free to chip in. I will also gladly listen if you just want to maybe share your thoughts on the scape idea or on the stocking choices. My tank gets here soon so I might be setting it up within a few days. I will also be doing a dry start period then slowly flood the tank to avoid Crypt melt. I also know BGA is fairly common in such tanks initially but ends up going way eventually. I do remember I have seen a PDF of an article from a German aquarium magazine translated into english that said the BGA went away when the author lowered water flow?? Also any idea what I could use to help secure plants initially other than small stones? Beech leaf mould has the consistency of water and plants sink in it before they establish a root system.
For more information about such tanks, as well as to see where I got a lot of inspiration from:
What I had in mind as far as equipment goes:
Tank: Clearseal 24x12x15" aquarium, only filled to around the 12" mark to allow space for flowering and for the plants to have access to some aerial CO2.
Filter: Unfortunately, it will be a pat mini filter for now but I will replace this for something a bit less distracting some time in the future. Or I might just use no filter, obviously letting the plants grow a robust root system and take over before I do so.
Heating: 50w Eheim Jager
Lighting: Fluval Aquasky 58cm version
Flora:
Now, I do have a few things I already have, as well as ones I desperately want which aren't always easy to get, but are still just as easy to grow.
Cryptocoryne ferruginea var. sekadauensis
Cryptocoryne yujii
Cryptocoryne nurii
Cryptocoryne xpurpurea nothovar borneoensis (would need to order from abroad)
Cryptocoryne longicauda (might be able to convince a fish store to get this from some TC labs??)
Cryptocoryne pallidinervia (would need to come from abroad too)
Cryptocoryne reginae - same as above, but I have never heard of anyone growing this species in an aquaairum
Cryptocoryne aura - same as above
Tonina fluviatilis
Ceratopteris just to provide shade at first
Fauna
Parosphromenus? Not sure what species I can get. Probably bintan since it is the most common. Already have live food cultures set up for them.
Betta from blackwater biotopes??
Boraras, but not if I'm going to be breeding Paro's.??
Blackworms
Asellus aquaticus
Any shrimp from blackwater habitats I can get my hands on.??
Water, substrate and hardscape.
These all kind of go hand in hand so I thought I would put them together. Substrate will be beech leaf mould since this is an ideal medium for growing the plants, and would also help feed microorganisms which would help increase Parosphromenus fry survival rates. It does not have many nutrients and is acidic, which is good since these Cryptocoryne species are not very tolerant of high nutrient levels, which means I can't use aquasoil. Water will simply be RODI water with no remineraliser and absolutely NO CARBONATES. I will use alder cones and leaves etc to help lower the PH. Sometimes on the WWW you can see images of pools in peat swamps that are habitats of such Cryptocoryne species and the water looks like a nice cup of Earl grey, which I am sort of aiming for. I'm currently soaking some leaf mould in a bucket and making sure the TDS does not rise too much. Leaves and botanicals will also absolutely be used. I have oak and beech but would really like to find if there is any loquat or magnolia trees in my local area. Hardscape is beech wood from a local forest, taken from a dead tree that had fell over. I want a more natural look so I think a branch snapped off a tree will make it look a bit more convincing than some really exotic would from an LFS. After all manzanita wood isn't going to fall into some random jungle stream 😉 . I might cap the substrate for aesthetic reasons but this might compact it too much for the good of the plants, and I don't think a leaf substrate would look that bad anyways.
Fertilisation
Not much. Also no chelating agents because they can end up binding the small amounts of calcium present in the tank, making them unavailable. Maybe I can add fresh leaf mould or use dried beech, oak etc leaves that have been picked while green as a sort of natural root tab (but placed on top of the substrate instead?). Could also use maybe 5%-10% EI? Or just use some all in one like tropica since I need so little. Fish food should also provide plenty but I might run into deficiencies eventually. I might also inject CO2 eventually as I actually found out in some Cryptocoryne habitats CO2 levels can be as high as 15 mg/l naturally, which shows they definitely can handle it and definitely benefit from it.
If anyone has any experience with anything like this feel free to chip in. I will also gladly listen if you just want to maybe share your thoughts on the scape idea or on the stocking choices. My tank gets here soon so I might be setting it up within a few days. I will also be doing a dry start period then slowly flood the tank to avoid Crypt melt. I also know BGA is fairly common in such tanks initially but ends up going way eventually. I do remember I have seen a PDF of an article from a German aquarium magazine translated into english that said the BGA went away when the author lowered water flow?? Also any idea what I could use to help secure plants initially other than small stones? Beech leaf mould has the consistency of water and plants sink in it before they establish a root system.
For more information about such tanks, as well as to see where I got a lot of inspiration from:
