Oryzias woworae biotope

[Myrtle]

Inspired by the thread on the Biotope Aquarium Project thread, I decided to bite the bullet and begin to change over my O. woworae tank to a biotope. It had been in the back of my mind for a while and had been kind of set up to enable a change over relatively easily, but because I'd struggled to find much info on the habitat, bar a single photo of the collection site at Fotuno oe, on Muna Island and the info on Seriously Fish, I'd given up on the idea. Finding myself stuck at home for the forseeable future and triggered by @PARAGUAY 's post, I dug a bit deeper and found quite a bit more info and more pictures so I started planning. The water chemistry (from the little info I could find) should be pretty easy as it's basically my tap water.
The best known image of the locality is this one:

I've also come across this, which is the reference image I want to use. This area is the part of Fotuno oe which is in a protected area and hasn't been developed.

From everything I've found, it would seem that there are no aquatic plants, bar the moss on the fallen tree. I assume this is terrestrial moss that was on the tree as it fell though as opposed to aquatic moss. One thing I'm struggling with is the blue/turquoise tint; I can't find out what causes it and it's bugging me.
It'll be a slow changeover as the fish are in situ so today it went from this:

To this:

Most of the plants were in pots so were easy to remove. I also had a quick shift around of hardscape, added a few extra pieces of wood (and cleaned the dog snot off the window!). The wood is still quite floaty so not in place yet and I'm planning on using the fact that the window is behind it to create an extra sense of depth with hardscape behind the tank too.

If anyone has any advice, suggestions or info on this biotope, I'm all ears!

 

[Courtneybst]

@LondonAquascaper has kept and breed these fish, he'd be good to chat to!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

One thing I'm struggling with is the blue/turquoise tint; I can't find out what causes it and it's bugging me

It is usually where you have <"high levels of calcium carbonate"> (CaCO3) in the water.

This is a <"Marl Lake in W. Ireland"> (Lough Gealain)

cheers Darrel

 

[AlecF]

And the Gaelic name means the white or shining loch, from geal, which has a photo Indo-European root, meaning to shine, like the many hills in Scotland called Geallaig – so the Gael's clearly knew their CaCO3.

 

[zozo]

And the Gaelic name means the white or shining loch, from geal, which has a photo Indo-European root, meaning to shine, like the many hills in Scotland called Geallaig – so the Gael's clearly knew their CaCO3.

Interesting!... "Geal" I now see the relation with the word for the colour yellow in Dutch is remarkably similar "Geel" and it indeed has the very same root to shine. Proto Indo-European 'ǵʰelh'

What shines reflects the colour of the sun or light which often is bright white or between green and yellow...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:proto-Indo-European/ǵʰelh₃-

Etymology - Yellow:​

From Middle English yelwe, yelou, from Old English ġeolwe, oblique form of Old English ġeolu, from Proto-West Germanic gelu, From Proto Indo-European ǵʰelh₃wos, from (“gleam, yellow”).

 

[AlecF]

Yes @zozo, it's one of those names one finds all across Europe, in variations. River names are often the oldest names, and they often name lochs, or lakes. I only wish I was as good at scaping as I am with place-names.

 

[zozo]

I only wish I was as good at scaping as I am with place-names.

Everything that takes time and patience ultimately gets beautiful...

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

And the Gaelic name means the white or shining loch

It is much photographed in winter & spring, because it is a <"marl lake (and turlough complex)"> and when most of the marl is submerged below clear water it looks otherworldly.

cheers Darrel

 

[Myrtle]

Thanks! So the water in karstic springs/lakes pretty much contains high Ca and Mg and little else, nutrient wise, is that correct? That would explain the lack of aquatic flora!
I was hoping to recreate the blue by utilising something I have at my disposal - the view out of the window. I made a comment on another thread about using what you have to your advantage and I think this is a good example. It's also a good example of how photography angle makes all the difference. There's a way to go though before the water is clear enough for the blue sky (well, UK winter blue) to actually look blue when viewed through the tank!
The tank from the "better" background angle, even better with the top cropped though:

From the worst angle for the background and including the non biotopic Betta!:

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

So the water in karstic springs/lakes pretty much contains high Ca and Mg and little else, nutrient wise, is that correct? That would explain the lack of aquatic flora!

Yes, <"they have a specialised flora">, but it is mainly <"slow growing mosses">, <"Eleocharis etc"> and the plants are usually covered with calcium carbonate (via biogenic decalcification), so not obviously green.



cheers Darrel

 

[Myrtle]

Hi all,

Yes, <"they have a specialised flora">, but it is mainly <"slow growing mosses">, <"Eleocharis etc"> and the plants are usually covered with calcium carbonate (via biogenic decalcification), so not obviously green.



cheers Darrel

Brilliant, thank you!

 

[zozo]

I was hoping to recreate the blue by utilising something I have at my disposal

Maybe not the best idea for the location the tank is in now, in front of the window. If you ever plan to move the tank to a different location you can create such a colour effect by using a frosted film on the back panel and making use of a blueish backlight with LED strips.

For me personally, the best looks are accomplished by using 2 led strips a normal natural white light from above and a coloured light from below to create a better sense of depth. Since in nature also white light comes from above and the colour fades with depth into the darker water colour.

It's a simple setup like this at the backside of the tank.

The front looks like this with a blue light from below and white from above with the colours naturally fading into each other..

In my case, it did this with a multi-channel LED dimmer controller and RGB at the bottom to customize the light colour in greenish blue. Or else you are stuck with the one colour the LED provides which would be just blue and with RGB you can customize it in an enormous scale of different colours yourself.

Anyway, no idea about your technical abilities or if you know people able to make this for you... So it might be too easy to say for me it ain't difficult. But it can be done...

 

[LMuhlen]

Part of the blue water effect comes from having a white and clear substrate. Your dirt-brown substrate looks very different from what your photos of the real river show.

 

[Myrtle]

Maybe not the best idea for the location the tank is in now, in front of the window.

I have a plan for summer which might work with the LED idea too; I was intending to insulate the back of the tank with polystyrene as I have an endless supply of 1 inch thick poly boxes to use up. Back up plan is to move it as its not terribly big. I'm not overly fussed about algae either!

Anyway, no idea about your technical abilities or if you know people able to make this for you... So it might be too easy to say for me it ain't difficult. But it can be done...

Yeah, technical abilities of a potato with electrics!

Part of the blue water effect comes from having a white and clear substrate. Your dirt-brown substrate looks very different from what your photos of the real river show.

The substrate in the location is a mix of mud and sand "The single known collection of O. woworae was from the type locality, a freshwater stream with a canopy cover of about 80 percent and substrate of mud and sand with leaf litter" source here

The colour of the soil on the banks would preclude the substrate being white and clear. Here's another image from google earth. It looks very different without the bright sunshine! It's also still a work in progress switching over from the old scape to the new so as not to disurb the inhabitants too much.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Part of the blue water effect comes from having a white and clear substrate.

Yes, I think it is a combination of that and the light scattering effect of the calcium carbonate precipitate in the very clear water. The <"marl in the turloughs is white"> and I've seen the same effect in disused <"China Clay"> & Limestone quarries and at the <"karst spring at Blaubeuren"> in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

cheers Darrel

 

[Myrtle]

The substrate is still the original with a fair bit of tropica substrate mixed in. I haven't settled on the right colour yet as the image above is the best view of the actual substrate I can find.

 

[zozo]

Yeah, technical abilities of a potato with electrics!

Nowadays it's much simpler than a few years back when I did it. Now you can buy very simple small wifi controllers that work with android app. It has a colour wheel to choose the right RGB colour see image and it has a timer function to switch it on or off at giving time and it has an EPROM to hold the previous settings. They are available for about 10 US dollars. They run on a simple universal 12 volt power adapter.

Then you would need 2, 1 for the RGB strip below and 1 for the white strip above. Which could also be RGB but set to white or yellow light. As far as I know, multiple controllers can be set up with the very same app separately or as a group. At least it works like this with the smart bulbs I have at home, 3 bulbs and all show up in the same app on the phone. All you need are LED strips of the correct length for the tank with sufficient cable and the correct connector. Then it will be plug-and-play... But you need a DIY solution to mount the top strip to the tank pointing down. The bottom one can be on the cabinet shelf pointing up.

 

[Myrtle]

Hi all,

Yes, I think it is a combination of that and the light scattering effect of the calcium carbonate precipitate in the very clear water. The <"marl in the turloughs is white"> and I've seen the same effect in disused <"China Clay"> & Limestone quarries and at the <"karst spring at Blaubeuren"> in Baden-Wuerttemberg.

cheers Darrel

Looking at the images in the first link, do you mean ""white" as in pale as opposed to white sandy beach type white? This image from the first link is the kind of colour I was looking at recreating, but not the white on the right which is what I think of as white.

 

[Myrtle]

Nowadays it's much simpler than a few years back when I did it. Now you can buy very simple small wifi controllers that work with android app. It has a colour wheel to choose the right RGB colour see image and it has a timer function to switch it on or off at giving time and it has an EPROM to hold the previous settings. They are available for about 10 US dollars. They run on a simple universal 12 volt power adapter.

Then you would need 2, 1 for the RGB strip below and 1 for the white strip above. Which could also be RGB but set to white or yellow light. As far as I know, multiple controllers can be set up with the very same app separately or as a group. At least it works like this with the smart bulbs I have at home, 3 bulbs and all show up in the same app on the phone. All you need are LED strips of the correct length for the tank with sufficient cable and the correct connector. Then it will be plug-and-play... But you need a DIY solution to mount the top strip to the tank pointing down. The bottom one can be on the cabinet shelf pointing up.

Brilliant, thanks! I can certainly have a play with that and may learn something while I'm at it!

 

[PARAGUAY]

Sand. at Pets at Home is a very natural colour and as a look of the picture very similar .Mixing it with River Sand maybe Adding a cheap blue/white LED light to a white light might give you the light effect. The tanks looking good