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56G Sarawak Blackwater Riparium

hydrophyte

hydrophyte

Member
Joined
22 Aug 2009
Messages
978
56G Sarawak Blackwater Riparium

I have a new setup in the works. I decided to do a new kind of riparium planting in my 56G column aquarium. I had a hillstream riparium planting in that tank previously...

22-I-13-tank-I-m.jpg


I plan to use most of the same planting, but change it over to a blackwater setup more or less representative of a Sarawak forest swamp. I already have two fish species that I believe do occur together in that kind of habitat in the wild: 1. Betta schalleri 2. Brevibora dorsiocellata. The bettas are really cool and I have two pairs of them. This is a betta that is apparently unlikely to get into bad fights, so this small group should be OK. The bettas are very shy, but the eyespot rasboras are small and peaceful enough that I think they will be good companions for them.

The B. schalleri are really cool! This is one of the largest betta species and mine are ~3.5" long. They have really nice turquoise coloration on their cheeks. I should try to get some pictures soon.

It took me a while, but tonight I finally got the enclosure cleaned up and ready to go again. Here it is with white pool filter sand and these large magnolia leaves.

29-IX-13-tank-I-m.jpg


I had pondered also adding manzanita branches, but I think these leaves might be enough decoration underwater. The betta will probably like to hide under the leaves. If they need more cover I'll add some ceramic hides or coconut shells.

I really like these leaves.

29-IX-13-II-m.jpg


I can't wait to start adding fish and plants!
 
George Farmer said:
Very nice, Devin. :)
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TOO said:
Very nice to see a riparium here. And the setup and fish you have in mind sound great.

I think a riparium could be my next project. Could you recommend a good grass/reed like plant that grows to around 30 cm. Acorus perhaps?

Thomas
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Thanks you guys!

Most of the grassy riparium plants grow a bit taller, but Acorus gramineus is a good choice. If you can find it Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis would be another good one. Pogonatherum crinitum would be another good one if you can find it. Can you get Tropica plants there? This one would also be worth trying... Plant Details
 
hydrophyte said:
Thanks you guys!

Most of the grassy riparium plants grow a bit taller, but Acorus gramineus is a good choice. If you can find it Cyperus alternifolius var. gracilis would be another good one. Pogonatherum crinitum would be another good one if you can find it. Can you get Tropica plants there? This one would also be worth trying... Plant Details
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Thanks for great suggestions. The Eleocharis, do you think this can grow terrestrial? Looks like it has soft leaves.

Thomas
 
It looks like the whole second page of this thread was deleted(?). Has this been observed with any other threads?

---edit---

Oh I just read Paulo's post about the site crash. Thanks Paulo for fixing everything up again!

I went to get the two update shots showing the tank now with plants. This is mostly the same plants that it had previously. I might start adding fish tonight!

30-IX-13-tank-II-m.jpg


30-IX-13-tank-I-m.jpg
 
I got the Betta schalleri into the tank. They look good, but they are extremely shy. I don't know how I will take pictures of these fish. Maybe if I put lots of hides int he tank and use subdued lighting I can get them to come up front more.
 
I got a better picture of the Iguanura tenuis palm. I wish that I could find regular commercial availability for this plant, but ii is just rare and hard-to-find. It sure grows nice. Since it's a palm there is no easy way to propagate it either.

10-X-12-Iguanura-tenuis-I-m1.jpg
 
Thanks very much. It's easy to get good plant shots out in the sunshine.
 
The fish have colored up nice and they are a lot less shy now. I gotta try to get some pictures of them.
 
These Betta schalleri have colored up so nice now that the magnolia leaves have stained the water some more. I got to try to get some pictures of them, but the flash on my camera has died, so I need to borrow.

Here's a link to a shot that looks just like my fish are looking now... http://www.ibcbettas.org/smp/images/schalleri/schalleri_David_Charmillon.jpg

I hope I might be able to breed them. I have no experience whatsoever breeding bettas.
 
Hi all,
hydrophyte said:
I hope I might be able to breed them. I have no experience whatsoever breeding bettas.
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I've never kept them, but they are mouth-brooders. Most mouth-brooding Betta spp. like a bit of flow. I'd add some floating plants, even though they are mouth brooders, Pistia and Ceratopteris would be ideal, the male will hide in these whilst he is mouth brooding, and then he needs them later as a "safe place" to spit the fry.

You may need to condition the fish separately, some Anabantoids you do, some you don't. I'd condition them with Mosquito larvae, lots of them, and then a cooler water change. If they eat earth-worms? I'd feed these as well.

The fry should be a bit bigger than most Anabantoid fry, so Vinegar eels would be a suitable first food.

Best of luck.

cheers Darrel
 
Ive bred many betta in my early days and B schalleri is one that I managed to get 4 spawns from, they aren't supposed to be that difficult to bred but I struggled for a while and tried many different things to induce spawning, what I found worked best is stained water ph around 6 and plenty of conditioning (3 weeks live food diet) after the 3 weeks and there all coloured up lower temp to 20c and do daily 50% water changes with cooler water ( I used 15c) this is what I found to be the trigger, then once spawning has happened cover the tank ( blanket, news paper etc ) and just leave them alone, I made the mistake of constantly checking on them and im convinced thats why my first attempts failed, with them being inexperienced the females have a tendency to swallow the spawn, keep persevering and dont be afraid to try new things different foods etc and as above floating plants will help massively and plenty of decor and/or plants.

Hth

Mark
 
sa80mark said:
Ive bred many betta in my early days and B schalleri is one that I managed to get 4 spawns from, they aren't supposed to be that difficult to bred but I struggled for a while and tried many different things to induce spawning, what I found worked best is stained water ph around 6 and plenty of conditioning (3 weeks live food diet) after the 3 weeks and there all coloured up lower temp to 20c and do daily 50% water changes with cooler water ( I used 15c) this is what I found to be the trigger, then once spawning has happened cover the tank ( blanket, news paper etc ) and just leave them alone, I made the mistake of constantly checking on them and im convinced thats why my first attempts failed, with them being inexperienced the females have a tendency to swallow the spawn, keep persevering and dont be afraid to try new things different foods etc and as above floating plants will help massively and plenty of decor and/or plants.

Hth

Mark
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dw1305 said:
Hi all,

I've never kept them, but they are mouth-brooders. Most mouth-brooding Betta spp. like a bit of flow. I'd add some floating plants, even though they are mouth brooders, Pistia and Ceratopteris would be ideal, the male will hide in these whilst he is mouth brooding, and then he needs them later as a "safe place" to spit the fry.

You may need to condition the fish separately, some Anabantoids you do, some you don't. I'd condition them with Mosquito larvae, lots of them, and then a cooler water change. If they eat earth-worms? I'd feed these as well.

The fry should be a bit bigger than most Anabantoid fry, so Vinegar eels would be a suitable first food.

Best of luck.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for these tips you guys. I have a hard time trying to keep up with breeding projects, but maybe I will give a shot with these fish. They do look like really healthy specimens.
 
I cleaned the tank tonight and here are some update photos. The PAR 38 is really great with the stained water. The Betta schalleri are still very shy and I don't know if I'll ever get a good shot with fish in it. The plants look good.

20-X-13-tank-V-m.jpg


20-X-13-tank-I-m.jpg


20-X-13-tank-IV-m.jpg


Another nice thing about these socket LEDs is that you can hang them from the ceiling up and out of the way. I found this clamp light fixture to be rather light and flimsy for the heavy PAR 38, but I was able to secure it better with some electrical tape and zip ties.

20-X-13-PAR-38-I-m.jpg
 
Nathaniel Whiteside said:
Looks excellent Hydro, I particularly like the colour of the stained water in contrast to the greens of the plants.

So is this just filtered with a little air powered sponge?
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Thanks so much. Yes I really like that contrast too. I was impressed with how the LED lit up the water area and enhanced that mahogany color.

Yes there are just a couple of little sponge filters in there and I do partial water changes a couple of times a week. This seems to be plenty. There are only about 20 gallons of water.
 
hydrophyte said:
Thanks so much. Yes I really like that contrast too. I was impressed with how the LED lit up the water area and enhanced that mahogany color.

Yes there are just a couple of little sponge filters in there and I do partial water changes a couple of times a week. This seems to be plenty. There are only about 20 gallons of water.
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Yes, I'm sure they are more than adequate. I'd imagine the flow of a traditional filter would also be detrimental to the peacefulness of the scape.

Looks like a slice of nature. Beautiful.
 
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