Myrtle
Member
Inspired by the thread on the Biotope Aquarium Project thread, I decided to bite the bullet and begin to change over my O. woworae tank to a biotope. It had been in the back of my mind for a while and had been kind of set up to enable a change over relatively easily, but because I'd struggled to find much info on the habitat, bar a single photo of the collection site at Fotuno oe, on Muna Island and the info on Seriously Fish, I'd given up on the idea. Finding myself stuck at home for the forseeable future and triggered by @PARAGUAY 's post, I dug a bit deeper and found quite a bit more info and more pictures so I started planning. The water chemistry (from the little info I could find) should be pretty easy as it's basically my tap water.
The best known image of the locality is this one:

I've also come across this, which is the reference image I want to use. This area is the part of Fotuno oe which is in a protected area and hasn't been developed.

From everything I've found, it would seem that there are no aquatic plants, bar the moss on the fallen tree. I assume this is terrestrial moss that was on the tree as it fell though as opposed to aquatic moss. One thing I'm struggling with is the blue/turquoise tint; I can't find out what causes it and it's bugging me.
It'll be a slow changeover as the fish are in situ so today it went from this:

To this:

Most of the plants were in pots so were easy to remove. I also had a quick shift around of hardscape, added a few extra pieces of wood (and cleaned the dog snot off the window!). The wood is still quite floaty so not in place yet and I'm planning on using the fact that the window is behind it to create an extra sense of depth with hardscape behind the tank too.
If anyone has any advice, suggestions or info on this biotope, I'm all ears!
The best known image of the locality is this one:

I've also come across this, which is the reference image I want to use. This area is the part of Fotuno oe which is in a protected area and hasn't been developed.

From everything I've found, it would seem that there are no aquatic plants, bar the moss on the fallen tree. I assume this is terrestrial moss that was on the tree as it fell though as opposed to aquatic moss. One thing I'm struggling with is the blue/turquoise tint; I can't find out what causes it and it's bugging me.
It'll be a slow changeover as the fish are in situ so today it went from this:

To this:

Most of the plants were in pots so were easy to remove. I also had a quick shift around of hardscape, added a few extra pieces of wood (and cleaned the dog snot off the window!). The wood is still quite floaty so not in place yet and I'm planning on using the fact that the window is behind it to create an extra sense of depth with hardscape behind the tank too.
If anyone has any advice, suggestions or info on this biotope, I'm all ears!