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Wanna be Borneo Biotope

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11 Jan 2013
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Hi, I was wondering if I can recreate a lo tech borneo biotope. After have done some research all I got is that in Borneo there are peat enriched small creeks, lo light due forest canopy and dark waters rich in tanins and fallen trees and leaves. The idea was to be kind of Boraras biotope??? Please advice if micro Java fern and moss is out of the scape? I saw in boraras maculatus habitat there are no vegetation just fallen trees. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks. The biotope has to be natural and pleasant for the eyes as well. I know Mother Nature loves chaos, but I am far from recreating something which has taken million years of erosion, flora and fauna affect etc.
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The water was tea colour but Purigen cleared it out :banghead: :nailbiting: my light works 30-50% as well.
 
Hi all,
The idea was to be kind of Boraras biotope???
Add some structural leaf litter. I see you've got some Alder cones, but fallen Oak leaves would add tannins (assuming you removed the purigen) and lower pH. Beech would be a more accurate shape (nearly all tropical trees have an oval leaf with a drip tip) and are an attractive colour, but won't soften the water to the same degree. Dead Camellia leaves are good if you can get them (right shape, tannin rich - Tea is made from a Camellia species).

For small black-water fish leaf litter is food resource, as well as cover, and it breaks up line of sight for fish that are territorial.

Some floater would also help diffuse the light, Pistia or Ceratopteris would be biotope appropriate. It should make the fish less stressed, and then they will come out of cover more, and behave more naturally.

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I plan to add some litter when everythig stabilizes. I just wonder if java fern is out of the skape? Will add micro Bolbitis as well, some shrimp to clean also. There is a some nano floating plant there also. I use RO water with remin salts. KH4 GH9 pH7 ???? The rock and shirakura stone also kicks my values. Shall I switch for pureRO?
 
Will defenetely remove purigen, and may be swap for carbon. I read somewhere they dont work good togeyher?
 
You might like this... I did like it a lot, many nice pictures all about Borneo blackwater streams and plants living there.
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/72735-Aquatic-amp-semi-aquatic-plants-of-Borneo

Here a list of about all cryptocorynes found in Borneo..
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/aquatic-...ryne-and-its-habitats-in-malaysian-borneo.htm

Borneo is so darn rich in botinac wildlife, still new species are regularly discovered it's realy wild.. :)

Java (Jawa) is another Indonisian island.. :) Hence Java Fern, most likely is discovered there. No idea why is it should not live in Borneo, it probably does. (Wading) Birds are the ones spreading fish and (semi) aquatic plants sometimes over large distances. So a hop from Java to Borneo is just a caper.. :)
 
Crypts also are a good addition and could recreate the java fern look if you can't find definite information on java fern (other than the name). So are Homalomena sp., Schismatoglottis sp., and Aridarum sp. The interesting thing with the islands is that some plants are endemic only on one or two islands and others are everywhere. Michael Lo :http://junglemikey.blogspot.com/ has a lovely blog if you haven't found it yet where he takes lots of photos with some species descriptions and location information for mostly plants in and around Borneo. In fact, the pictures in the previously mentioned links are from him.

Alder cones definitely aren't the right addition. I'd go with the leaf litter and maybe add a crypt or two since those are very prolific aquatic plant species in Borneo.
 
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definite information on java fern (other than the name)

Actualy found all ove South east Asia.. :) But so long in the bussines that there are several cultivars which are not found in nature.. :)
I'not sure Mick might say, but there could be more know cultivars than real wild Java ferns in the LFS.. Narrow is a cultivar, windelove, trident, needle also afaik. :)
 
Hi, thanks for the interest and the replies guys. Very useful info on Borneo aquatic and sem-iaquatic flora out there. Unfortunately crypts do not match the scale of that tank.I wish I had bigger and make paludarium:(. Still I may find Aridarium sp. mini which will fit, and defeenetely remove aldercones and catappa leaves:) I may get some more Buceps as well and cut the Mini bolbitis??? I noticed most of the clear jungle streams do not have much submersed vegetation, may be just some moss:). Will keep u updated. Fish is very shy, I dont know why as it comes from community tank. It is too early for breeding, or may be is the reduced light???
 
Hi all,
No idea why is it should not live in Borneo, it probably does
It says on the <"Aquasabi Microsorum pteropus "Trident"> page that this form probably originated in the wild in Borneo (Sarawak).
Fish is very shy, I dont know why as it comes from community tank. It is too early for breeding, or may be is the reduced light???
It is just lack of over-head cover. When there isn't any cover above them small fish are always under threat of being eaten by birds like small herons, kingfishers etc.

You get this with a lot of small fish, if you keep Apistogramma etc in a bare tank, they will hide in whatever structure is available, but add some dithers and some more cover and they begin to come out and behave normally.

Paradoxically the more cover you have the more you see the fish.

cheers Darrel
 
It says on the <"Aquasabi Microsorum pteropus "Trident"> page that this form probably originated in the wild in Borneo (Sarawak).
Indeed come to think of it i shouldn't use AFAIK :) should be As Far i Could find info.. Actualy i know zip about it for real. Never been there.
Some information states the majority of Java's in the LFS are cultivars. But actualy what does it matter, Java Fern says enough about it's origine.. :) Can't imagine a botanist discovering a plant on Patagonia naming it Java Fern. All tho we have indians there..... :rolleyes:
 
'Java fern' is correct for a borneo biotope. A lot of cultivars we have are also found there naturally rather than being man made
 
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