# Southeast Asian Nano Biotope.



## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

You could probably grow the Crypt hydroponically. And I would thing the lily as well. There are also many terrestrial plants from SEAsia you can buy at your nurseries or, big box stores that will grow well with their roots submerged.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

Thats good info. I believe the Light should be here today and I cleaned up an existing Aquaclear 20 I had. I'm going to try to set up the tank and start it cycling today. I wont have all the plants until next week but I have some Java moss and I was planning on getting the Dwarf HG from my local fish store. I'll try to get some pics up tonight.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

Awesome! I was the one who suggested the Hygroryza. PM member JuneBug. She might have some Hygroryza left for sale. The Rotala, DHG, and lily will apresiate brighter light so get the best you can find. Then if necessary use floaters or a screen of some kind over the tank for light diffusion. Good luck and excited to see this tank up and running!


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

I thought c wendtii was endemic to sri lanka, I'm not sure about the others. For dwarf hairgrass eleocharis acicularis, iucn says it is native to thailand and that's where I go for most geographic distributions. Java fern is native to a wide range including that area and I think i heard that it did alright partially submerged, but I haven't tried growing it like that so I don't know for sure.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

taitertot said:


> I thought c wendtii was endemic to sri lanka...


I think your right on the wendtii. That sucks, I ordered both green and red varieties. Good thing I set up that spare tank for a grow out. I'll put it in there until I get that 40 breeder set up for my CPDs.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

Ok, I'm gonna try to embed some pictures. Its been a while since I've done this so bare with me.

Here is a picture of the equipment. I used Black craft board for the back, although I saw a tank with a cheap dollar store mirror on the back the other day and I might try to do that if I can find one.


Here is the Tank filled with the heater I forgot to put in before the last pic. I added the dwarf hair grass I picked up at the local store and some Java moss I had in another tank. The rest of the plants should be here next week but I couldn't wait to get this thing set up. I'm hoping the Dwarf HG will carpet the front area and I'm expecting to add the Rotala indica to the rear left. I'm thinking the Tiger lily right under the filter and finally the crypts and Downoi in the middle area.
I guess you can't really see behind the driftwood to well in this picture. Sorry for that. I'll get some more when the other plants come in.


I'm sure someone has "planted" java moss this way, but I've never scene it. It was growing on the bottom of one of my other tanks and when I went to collect it, it was holding on to some of the eco complete. I just left it on there and used that to weight it down. The drift wood I used had some holes so I just put them in there. Its not tied down at all. I'm hoping it is weighted down enough to attach itself to the drift wood and I wont have to worry about it floating around the tank.

And finally as a bonus:

I had some left over dwarf hair grass and this Betta bowl cookie jar needed some TLC, so I took everything out, Cleaned the glass and substrate really well and replanted it. It has Java fern and some rotala indica that was in it previously so its kinda a Southasian biotope as well. I'm not sure the Dwarf Hair grass will do well in this tank because it is very low tech with only a 20w 5000k CFL bulb, but we'll see.


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

I love the shape of that tank it's awesome. And it's funny I've actually done that with loose java fern in my grow out, it attaches to the small black aquarium rocks then I can set them anywhere I want. I don't know if your already planning on this but I would narrow it down from south east asia to thailand or something. Biotopes are more about specific habitats in specific watersheds or countries, where as when it's a region like Amazon or south east Asia it's more a theme aquarium.


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## HDBenson (Jan 26, 2015)

I'd take out that sponge and just leave the top open. The sponge will drive off any co2 in there. Then you will be able to add other plants to the jar. Like some of the crypt later on. You might run into an algae problem in that thing. That's a lot of light for no ferts/injected co2.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

taitertot said:


> I love the shape of that tank it's awesome. And it's funny I've actually done that with loose java fern in my grow out, it attaches to the small black aquarium rocks then I can set them anywhere I want. I don't know if your already planning on this but I would narrow it down from south east asia to thailand or something. Biotopes are more about specific habitats in specific watersheds or countries, where as when it's a region like Amazon or south east Asia it's more a theme aquarium.


Yeah, Originally I was going to try that, But I started looking at some other tanks that were Betta habitats, and I didn't want to do the leaf bottom, no movement, dark water thing. I might try a Indian almond leaf in the filter but I don't want the water too dark. You mentioned earlier the Wendtii not being native to Thailand, but confirmed Dwarf Hair grass as found in Thailand. The only other plant I'm not sure is native to Thailand is the Cryptocoryne Costata (also found it labeled as Cryptocoryne albida). I coundn't find a specific origin, just Southeast Asia. 



HDBenson said:


> I'd take out that sponge and just leave the top open. The sponge will drive off any co2 in there. Then you will be able to add other plants to the jar. Like some of the crypt later on. You might run into an algae problem in that thing. That's a lot of light for no ferts/injected co2.


Algae problem in which one? The Cookie jar has been set up for almost a year without any algae. Honestly I'm not sure why. Both of these tanks are on the same timer and are on for about 8.5 hours a day(4 hours on, 3 hours off, 4.5 hours on) I did get a little algae in the 3 gallon Picotope I had set up before I swapped it out for the 5 gallon. But it wasn't bad. Just a little bit of green on a few rocks I had in there. 
I like the idea of removing the sponge filter to fit more plants. I actually considered that, but I'm worried about the lack of water movement. Another factor is I would have to do more water changes and I have to buy spring water for these 2 tanks. I'm on well water and bettas don't do well in hard water. Plus without the top, you don't really get the cookie jar effect.
I am worried about algae in the 5 gallon. Hopefully the other plants get here and planted before it gets too bad.

Thanks for all the comments everyone. I'm still so excited about this tank. and I really like the input and encouragement!


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

There's plenty of clearwater habitats in south east asia. I looked up your plants with iucn, and a couple other things
c. Albida/costata- Laos, Myanmar, thailand, found in channels and margins of small streams
Downoi- thailand, myanmar, river Kwai
dwarf hairgrass- basically all south east asia and the world, numerous habitats
java moss- all over south east asia didn't really have to look that up
rotala indica-all over south east asia habitat is swamps and paddy fields
tiger lotus- all over south east asia, as well as africa, I guess it's on some thailand province seals so it's definitely there.
All in all, I would just go with calling it myanmar or a thailand biotope because everything you have would fit.
If you want fish and you went myanmar you could do a cpd biotope, I think you said you have some but I'm to tired to re-read the thread.
In Thailand there's a few rasboras that might live in clearwater. A really cool biotope I have never seen would be a true Krabi thailand biotope, the water is clear and blue i think because of the limestone, some of the pictures I saw had patches with plants. Fish for Krabi would be betta simplex (I have no idea where one of those could be found), and espei/lambchop rasbora. 
And if it were me I would add malaysian trumpet snails but some people don't like those. I also am not sure about stocking and size for the fish I suggested, just random ideas.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

I might be doing a cpd biotope in the near future. CPDs are one of my favorites. I've got 6 CPDs in a 20 long with crystal red shrimp and some corydoras. I'm planning to swap the 20 long tank out with a 40 gallon breeder and doing a CPD species tank in that, So that would be the perfect opportunity to do a CPD biotope. I'm hoping to get about 10 - 15 more CPDs and I'm hoping I can get some breeding done. They are expensive little guys. The tank I have is pretty heavily planted but I haven't scene any fry. I'm assuming the CPDs, shrimp and corys have been eating up all the eggs. So I might try breeding them in a 5 gallon and using the 40 breeder as the frys final home. 

Maybe I'll start another thread when I start that project up. I'll definitely need some help finding the plants in the Burma Mountains.

What is this ICUN plant database you are looking your plants up on. I've been looking for a reliable database. I googled ICUN and found a home page. I tried searching for plants using their site search but Didn't come up with anything.


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

International union for conservation of nature. It's all living things, and they have the best distribution and maps, practically everything cites them. They are the ones who say if somethings endangered or not. I just write "genus species iucn" and search it.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

Worried and bummed about the plants I ordered. The seller shipped them on Saturday and of course we are supposed to get 8" of snow tonight.

Cross your fingers for me and hope that they get here ok.


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

Did the plants show up all right? it's been hard to get stuff up here lately, it hasn't hit zero all that much, -15 right now.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

taitertot said:


> Did the plants show up all right? it's been hard to get stuff up here lately, it hasn't hit zero all that much, -15 right now.


I checked the Tracking number yesterday and it did not have any information. I'm hoping because the guy held them. If I don't see any tracking info or a package today, I am going to contact the seller to see if he held them because of the weather. 

Anyway, I put a Assasin Snail in the tank because I saw 2 or 3 ramshorn snails that probably came over on the Java Moss. I have them really bad in the tank I pulled it from. I should have known better than to think I could spot them before putting the Java Moss in the tank. Hopefully the Assasin can keep the population under control. I Don't mind a few in the tank but when there are 50 on the glass, it bothers me.


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## taitertot (Jan 28, 2015)

One assassin should do it, as long as you pull out any that you see, you should be good in no time.


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

I emailed the seller last night and they responded this morning saying they had to hold the order because of the weather and they apologized for not emailing me before. They said they were hoping to ship this Saturday for a Monday delivery. 

So far everything is looking pretty good. The Javamoss has become a darker green and seems to be very healthy. The DHG is starting to melt a little although I couldn't really get a good pic to show it.


Captain America seems to like the phone camera




I've been dosing it every other day with .5ml of excel and .5ml every third day of Florish. Does that sound about right. I would like to get the pps pro package from GLA but I need to read up a little more on it. 

I've also been looking into CO2 regulators but I'm completely lost on them at the movement. I like the GLA products because they seem to be the most recommended and accurate, but they are so expensive. I'm also looking at the aquariumplants electronic carbondoser, but that is not to cheap either. Any good options for a Regulator that could dose 2 of these Mr. Aquas reliably? Yes, I'm thinking about getting a second one for my other betta...


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

I emailed the seller again and they said they plan on shipping Saturday for a Monday delivery, which is what he said last week. I can't blame them because the weather has been insane here over the last 3 weeks, but I'm starting to get some algae on the glass. The guy said he would include extras at no additional cost.

I have some Blyxa Jacopina which I got from another member here and some Rotala indica(I think) that I've had for a while in a clippings tank. I Might go ahead and add those to hopefully curve the algae problem. I also have a Nutrifin CO2 kit that I might add to the back of the tank. I don't like dosing excel in this small of a tank. Do you think the CO2 on all the time would be ok in this small of a tank? I can't really turn off this CO2.

Also, I had to change out the heater because I needed the adjustable one for another tank. The heater that I added is a tetra heater that is not adjustable and is fairly bulky. I was planning on getting a smaller adjustable heater but I don't really see any that arn't ridiculously expensive. I guess I don't have to have an adjustable one if there is a preset heater that is accurate and reliable. Is there such a thing?


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## DizzyD (Apr 24, 2013)

I added some blyxa and rotala indica from another tank I have. I also added the nutrifin co2 kit, which seems to be a perfect fit for this tank. I know allot of people don't like the ladder diffuser but I kinda like it. You can see the bubbles get smaller as they go up the ladder. I'm getting about 1 bubble every 4 seconds.









I got my order in today. None of the crypts I ordered made it. I ordered 3 different kinds... The only thing that did make it were the swords and rotala indica. I've emailed the seller but have not received a response. The order was missing a tiger lotus I ordered so I have to at least see what's up with that.
For now, this tank is petty much on hold until I can find out if I'll be getting that tiger lotus and any replacements.


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