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Nano Riparium (formerly Betta Biotope)

Pixels

Pixels

Member
Joined
14 Oct 2009
Messages
122
Hello all

I am looking to setup a small biotope for my Betta splendens and I would like your opinions on appropriate plants.

Tank

So far I have one of these:

950017-150.jpg


I got the 'mermaid tank' from the garage of my sisters house, it was home (briefly) to a poor goldfish. I have since set her up with a 60 litre, low tech planted tank which has now been running nicely for six months.

The tank is tall in relative to its other dimensions, so I though it would be ideal for emergent plants.

Plants

I have been researching and came across the Mongabay.com, based on what I read on this site I will look to add these plants:

Cryptocoryne. sp
Nymphaea. sp
Eleocharis parvula

Source: http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope_se_asia_pool.htm

However I am also considering some Cyperus helferi, I am not sure if it would fit the theme. But it does grow out of the water which is a look I am after.

Substrate

The substrate will be sand and varying grades of gravel and larger pebbles, I will probably add some Indian almond leaves to the bottom.

I think I have most of what I need bar the plants, so hopefully I will be able to post some initial pictures tonight.

Plant selection opinion is greatly encouraged!

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

As promised, some pictures.

I grabbed a couple of Crypts from another tank, each one has a Tropica root tab with it.

This is still at a very early stage, but I have thinking about turning this into a mini riparium with emersed Crypts...

in situ
DSC_0256.JPG


Moneo - My first Betta splendens
DSC_0255.JPG


Thanks for looking.

Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

The tank's dimensions are great! Not sure about the biotope "correctness" of this but i'd think about adding a long piece of wood emerging from the water with anubias attached. t'other thing to consider would be seeing if you could source some rice plants - can just imagine that lovely looking Betta swimming amongst some emersed stem plants!
Hope this helps!
Matt
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Nice fish! I really want to put together a betta setup some day.

You could turn that into a nice little riaprium. If you wish to keep crypts as emersed riparium plants you'll need to add a glass top so that the air inside will maintain proper humidity. If you consider stems instead you won't need a closed canopy--most stems will grow well at normal household humidity levels.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Hi bigmatt

Its turned out to be quite a nice tank once I got rid of the mermaid background and all the pink plastic! Rice plants are an interesting thought, not sure where I would source them from?

Thanks for looking

Hi hydrophyte

The Betta is great fish for the desktop, so much personality.

We have been germinating seeds for the garden in the study and brought flies in with the compost. It's safe to say not many survive landing on his tank water!

I saw your reply on your journal - 8cm is smaller than I expected!

Am I right in thinking you run or have something to do with ripariumsupply.com?

I noticed on aaronnorths journal you suggest Echinodorus cordifolius - Marble Queen, maybe I could forgo some (or all) biotope accuaracy for a riparium!

I think I have some research ahead of me and there may be some questions heading your way! :D

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Yeah those planters fit pretty well in smaller tanks.

'Marble Queen' sword is an excellent riparium plant. It makes a nice centerpiece.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Hi all,
I think you need some floating plants, Ceraptopteris (Floating Fern) would be a good start and biotope applicable or any of Limnobium (Amazon Frogbit), Salvinia or Pistia (Nile Cabbage), although I'm not sure any of these occur in S. Asia. You can always dispense with the "floaters" when the other plants have grown.

I would also like a fine leaved plant, possibly Heteranthera zosterifolia (this has a pretty flower) if you allow it to grow emersed) again this S. American. I would also so put it some dead oak (Quercus) or Terminalia (Indian Almond) leaves, these will colour the water, or dead beech (Fagus) leaves if you want it to stay clear. I Like the Anubias on wood idea, you could always use a moss (Nearly all S. Asian) and Java Fern.

PM if you want any floating plants, moss, leaves etc. I've got plenty spare that you can have, I've also got a couple of Cyperus sp. that will grow emergent, (but not C. helferi).

Another great advantage of having some floating plants is it keeps your Betta occupied building bubble nests, an also gives an early warning if he is unwell (no nest building = he is not happy).

As you are growing some plants, I think you probably have a garden, and this time of year is a good time to get "green-fly", (the aphids from roses etc.) they are a very good fish food, I used to feed them to Killis and Marbled Hatchets (I had a disaster with the wingless Fruit Fly culture, and it took a while to get another one going), and they did very well, I still use them for Tetras and Pencils and the Apistogramma will even come to the surface to have a go at them. I was told they were a good food over 30 years ago by someone who commercially bred Guppies.

cheers Darrel
 
Re: Betta Biotope

hydrophyte
Hello, I think I will look to go for a 'Marble Queen' sword and some Bacopa. I see TMG stock three species of:

Bacopa australis
Bacopa caroliniana
Bacopa monnieri

I think it is safe to say my biotope idea has lost out to the riparium idea!

Time to start some plotting some purchases, so would welcome any further plant recommendations. I only have one 11 watt light, but there is a window right behind for extra light.

I am thinking about ordering one Small Hanging Planter 3-pack and one Nano Trellis Raft 3-pack from ripariumsupply.com.

Darrel
Hello, thanks for all the info!

I am looking to transplant a Nymphaea stellata to the tank, it is very small at the moment and this will act as a floating plant. I doubt I will be able to get it to flower in such a small tank, but it should look good anyway.

I think I like the idea of my water staying clear, but I was wondering do the beech (Fagus) leaves have any of the beneficial properties that Terminalia has?

What species of plant do you have from the Cyperus genus? I would be very interested in a plant that will grow out of the tank. It will be also nice to grow a plant that I have not picked out of the Tropica catalogue!

My girlfriend has a few roses growing in the garden, I have told her to let me know if she comes across any potential snacks the Betta!

Thank you both for all the great info.

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

hey,

a friend of mine bort me a book called 'mini encyclopedia aquarium plants'. well it gives you a few different set ups such as african pool and indonesian stream, it mentions it being a biotope so ill list the plants and then you could look them up and decide what you want, seems to be a few stems aswell :).

The rice idea is what actually go me into plants asmy 1st betta died. i got another and wanted to make a better go, the idea was to have a very very densly planted tan to replicate a rice field lol :) anyway it kinda ended there i could find any seeds on the net, and other ppl asking seemed to get no were so, yeh end of that haha

righty oh heres the list.

Foreground;

+cryptocoryne balansae
+cryptocoryne moehimannii

Mid/Foregorund:

+cryptocoryne affinis

On wood or root java moss and jave fern,

Bacground;

+Blyxa echinosperma (giant japanese rush)
+Hygrophila corymbosa 'crispa'
+Rotala wallichii (whorly rotala)
+Rotala rotundifolia

:) quite slow growing, dont think they need mass amounts of light either, maybe the rotundifolia.


this has really got me thinking :) as ill have a spare cube soon was going to do a iwagumi but these seems very fun.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Pixels said:
hydrophyte
Hello, I think I will look to go for a 'Marble Queen' sword and some Bacopa. I see TMG stock three species of:

Bacopa australis
Bacopa caroliniana
Bacopa monnieri

I think it is safe to say my biotope idea has lost out to the riparium idea!

Time to start some plotting some purchases, so would welcome any further plant recommendations. I only have one 11 watt light, but there is a window right behind for extra light.
Click to expand...

Those are very good plant choices. Also consider ordering some AquaFleur plants from PlantedBox.com. They have some good ones. I have great results with Bacopa monnieri and B. madagascariensis, but B. amplexicaulis is another good one and they have it in stock. They also carry Echidondorus cordifolius 'Tropica Marble Queen', a fantastic riparium centerpiece plant. There are a number of other stems in the PlantedBox.com catalog that are also promising, including various Ludwigia, Hygrophila and others. I have real good luck with Limnophila aromatica.

Juncus repens might be a good one to add some grassy foliage. I think that Cyperus helferi might also work well, but I haven't tried it yet.

These plants should all grow well in an open-top tank with normal household humidituy, provided that they are properly acclimated. If they have come form a high-humidity environment their foliage will be softer so they will need a transition period to harden their leaves.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

nayr88

Hello, I think I could do with investing in a book like that. I also had a quick look for rice seeds and I didn't get very far!

You should set the cube up, I have almost fallen into this idea (with a nudge from hydrophyte). It was not really on my mind while setting the tank up!

hydrohpyte

Hello again, I have been looking at plantedbox, but the majority of plants need to be ordered in batches of six. I'm not sure what I would do with that many plants of one type. Though I am sure I read something about single mother plants?

Limiting myself to three plants to begin with, I think I am going to for Echidondorus cordifolius - Marble Queen,
Echinodorus radicans and something like an umbrella sedge or another suitable Cyperus.

Enough rambling from me, I have decided to put my money where my mouth is - I just ordered the 3 small hanging planters.

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Hi all,
I think Nymphaea will be all right if you keep it under control, but because it's leaves are flat one thing it won't do is create small humid air spaces for air gulping by your Betta, dry air can be a problem for anabantoids if you don't have a cover glass.

Beech leaves don't have much effect on pH or other water parameters.

cheers Darrel
 
Re: Betta Biotope

The Nymphaea is still very small and will not be moved for some time. If everything works out then I may end up leaving it where it is.

I will look to sort out floating plants soon.

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Pixels said:
The Nymphaea is still very small and will not be moved for some time. If everything works out then I may end up leaving it where it is.

I will look to sort out floating plants soon.

Cheers
Pix
Click to expand...

If you would like some floating plants, I will be clearing my frogbit soon. :thumbup:
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Pixels said:
hydrohpyte

Hello again, I have been looking at plantedbox, but the majority of plants need to be ordered in batches of six. I'm not sure what I would do with that many plants of one type. Though I am sure I read something about single mother plants?

Limiting myself to three plants to begin with, I think I am going to for Echidondorus cordifolius - Marble Queen,
Echinodorus radicans and something like an umbrella sedge or another suitable Cyperus.
Click to expand...

Those two Echinodorus swords are great choices, although the radican will eventually outgrow this tank. You'll have to trade up to a bigger one!

Cyperus umbrella sedges are also great choices for ripariums, alhough most of them get to large to keep in an aquarium. My favorite is Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Hey, just a quic question about the light. is it from ebay from hongkong? the guy has loads that sell at 99p and about 9.99 PandP?? if so how is it i was thingking about ordering one.

regards ryan.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Hi Ryan

It is from from a Hong Kong based seller on ebay. It's not a bad light considering the price!

Cheers
Pix
 
Re: Betta Biotope

bigmatt said:
I've just found an ebay seller selling bamboo plants - they'd look fantastic growing emerged and should be fairly biotope correct (i think!)
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0489523887
Want one myself now!
Matt
Click to expand...
I purchased these for my nano and the leaves emerged all dried off and died :( the ones under water were still healthy.
 
Re: Betta Biotope

Thanks bigmatt, but I think I have everything I need/want is on its way. I will post some pictures once it all arrives!

Cheers
Pix
 
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