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Well, here she is.



The stem plants are all over the place trying to get some growth as the fish were jousting and the brown algae is getting going. I'll redo it later.

Sooooo, er.... help?


Stocking:
3 large wild bettas
4 small wild bettas
4 kuhlies
2 clown loaches

Anticipated extras:
2 hillstream loaches
8 harlequins
4 giant danios
2-4 clown loaches

I'm still toying with stocking, but either way, caves are a must as currently the bettas and the loaches are bullying each other for the space.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

It looks great! Sorry, but I can't offer any aquascaping advice. I am not a skilled aquascaper. But I do think it looks very nice. I thought about doing an Asian setup in my 38g tank, but I love cories too much!

I'll be anxious to see how it unfolds./:'

*Kristin*

How much light do you have to play with?

Are you going 100% asian or just fish?

If i was you id be doing a hard scape (very similar to keithghs ) tones of rocks and driftwood etc etc some Java fern and fill in some of the empty spaces with your stem plants.

This would also provide the fish with lots of hiding places

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

I'm trying to stick to asian, or more precisely Indonesia (Sumatra) but the Clown loaches have thrown a spanner in the works, as has the BF wanting 'something coluorful'. I'm sticking as close as I can to the plan, so plants and scapes that suit that region would be fantastic

Light is 2x48" tubes, one purple tint, one gren tint (eventually going to be Aquaglo/Sunglo, but i need to save up again) I believe that is 80W? so 80/55= 1.4wpg? Not brilliant, but a step up from 0.8, and I had OK success with that.


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

also hide the equipment

what substrate are you using?

Id plant i big groups
id try to have 7 or so different types of plaants in the background maybe

Asian Ambulia
Ancharis
Water Sprite
Baby tears
Willow leaf hygro
giant hydro
Rotala indica

Pack the middle with;
Java Fern
DW
Cryptocoryne balansae

And last but not least the foreground;
Swamp rotala (a plant that i found at swanes nursery doesnt need much light, stays nearly as low as glosso, grows fast and is a stem plant.)

all of them (im not sure about the swamp rotala) are from asia.

bonapatiet P

Alex

edit: no more hungry smiley

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Nice and bright!

Hmmm well, if the caves need to stay where they are then I'd agree with alex and try to make that a bit of the focus.
Or let the plants hide them so that they're just peaking out of the jungle....okay so not really helpful right

If you want it as a planted tank, add some CO2 the javas will like it and IMO they're great plants for an asian setup, let them take over. But if the plants are just kinda there then add more in the way of hardscape (are we sure we cant inch the caves over just a touch?) I'd group the plants together more, maybe just to one side cascading in height down to the caves?

^_^

I love your tank setup very nice !

My only note is that if you remove your java ferns you'd appear to have an SA/CA biotope ? Is that sagitteria and what type is it ? Looks very graceful and bright There was a type in a local lake that looked just like it, but didn't take well to trop temps.

That driftwood cave would look awesome covered in erect moss. Throw some crypts in there !

The Amazon Nut...

callayta , find out the specific colour temperature of the bulbs you want then go to an electrical wholesaler (the type that sells power points and lights etc not fridges) and get a price on the tubes , should be about 1/2 the price.

OH TOLEEDY!

sorry for got to say that most likely they will give you a blank look but stick to your guns and someone will definately know what you are after.

the person on the counter will be a newbie because all the experienced people will be on the phone dealing with trade customers so get them to ask

OH TOLEEDY!

Calla,

if you want to see the java ferns at their best, place some styrofoam up against your walls (possibly painted black or at least dark). The ferns will cover the foam in no time at all.

If you want to go for indonesia, put in some checkered barbs (7 - 10); they're lovely peaceful barbs that will give you great pleasure.

I'll show you some more Asian details soon, when (if) we take our planned trip ...

That's a great looking tank. I have an Asian themed tank as well with Tiger Barbs, Gold Barbs, Ruby Barbs and YoYo Loaches. May i ask what brand/model of bulbs you are using now? The tank looks very bright and clear and is a look that i'm trying to get in my own tank. I just ordered a 30" double bulb fixture that will give me 40W for low-light plants.