Indian Biotope Journal

[calivivarium1]

No photos at the moment, but progress is being made:

I went to Orchard and got a new piece of acrylic cut to cover the lights in my hood.

I removed old substrate(which, ironically, for colour/texture, matches some Indian streams better than the Seachem black Flourite which I had ordered) and cleaned the tank. I also played around with two pieces of malaysian driftwood I found in my garage. The big piece takes up alot of floorspace, I will be scrapping the Tiger Lotus. I think I have an intersting idea for them, I'll post pics when substrate arrives Thursday or Friday.

New plan:
Fauna: 1 male dwarf gourami(I believe tank is too small for a m/f pair?)
4-6 Hara jerdoni (Mini Moth catfish)
Colony of Indian Zebra Shrimp Caridinia sp
4 Dario dario (Scarlet Badis)
some MTS for sand
Flora: I need some help choosing Indian plants which would go well together while providing the gourami with some cover.

The current plan is: Cryptocoryne wendtii, Ciliata, and Undulatus, Java moss, and I need a background/taller plant I think. Any ideas what would go well together? I have been looking at Rotala roundifolia, R. wallichii, or R. macronda.

A second idea would be Eleocharis sp, Blyxa aubertii, maybe Cryptocoryne undulatus, Java moss and some Rotala roundifolia. Hygrophila corymbosa gets too big for a 10gal, no?

 

[calivivarium1]

Supplies are scheduled to arrive 07/09/08. If they do expect photos on that date.

 

[calivivarium1]

Supplies have finally arrived.... and now I am moving. I'll dork around with the tank and hopefully get hardscape in tonight. PIctures will follow

 

[calivivarium1]

I placed my bag of Seachem Flourite sand in a 5gal bucket and rinsed it out for approximately 10-15min. The water was running quite a bit cleaner by the end of the cycle, so I figured I would see how it turns out. I will hopefully have about 3-5days before plants get here if all goes well moving, so if worst comes to worst and I need to siphon the water a few times I can do that. I am impressed with the flourite so far, the grains don't appear sharp in any way and are relatively uniform. Hopefully my Hara hara or H. jerdoni catfish will enjoy it.

I am not sure what I want to do with the wood yet. I am afraid that the piece on the left looks too much like a shark fin instead of part of a buried tree. This weekend I may go to the over-priced LFS and see if they have any decent pieces of wood... Any suggestions on wood placement? I also have a kinda cool looking piece of lava rock and some slate at home, but I don't think they really match the decor.

 

[calivivarium1]

well, while ordering the plants for the tank today the wife told me that she wants the tank to be simple and without too many plants. She could have told me this before I bought everything for a moderately to heavily planted biotope...:wall:. So, I may try to convince that this will look really nice when its all done, but if that fails I will be changing the theme of this tank before the nights over. I would rather setup a tank that she likes than one that she finds "boring." Its alot easier to buy things for a tank she likes erv:

 

[DAVIDFBT]

I would flip the big center wood on the front so it looks like a wooden cave, but that's just me. Try to convince your wife that you would like it heavily planted and that it's your tank and you want to do that. I'd also place the plants around the sides and in the back and so when you look down on it, it looks like an upside down bowl with the piece of wood in the middle.

Looking forward to seeing this tank fully planted!

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

I also would try to convince your wife that she shouldn't make up her mind until she's seen it both ways.

 

[calivivarium1]

Thanks for the wood placement advice David, I was hoping I could get a few well-trained eyes to help me better position that thing. I will flip it this evening.

Yeah, she left for work and my parting words were "I think you will like it once its planted..." So now that she is gone perhaps I will just order everything I was planning on in the first place Like you guys said, once she sees it I'm sure she will like it

*edit* So I messed around with the wood and made a "cave" like David suggested. I think that may be the ticket to my design. I'll post photos tonight or tomorrow. Some livestock and plants will arrive either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week(regardless of the "theme" of my tank)

 

[DAVIDFBT]

So have you decided to skip the Indian Bitotope thing and just make an international fish mixture?

 

[calivivarium1]

She is convinced. Indian biotope it is! Thanks for the help guys