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Want to make a Zhujiang/Pearl River Chinese Native Tank

Pacu305

Seedling
Joined
10 Nov 2020
Messages
14
Location
United States
Hi,
I have a pond outside with a Dojo Loach and White Cloud Minnows.
I'm upgrading it to a 30-40 gallon and hoping to make a Native Zhujiang/Pearl River in China themed aquarium
Using plants and stones or driftwood preferably native to this river. Only want to use a couple floating and a plant I can anchor down.
Problem is, I have attempted to research but i cant find anything on this topic.
Anybody have suggestion on plants and stone native to pearl river?

I grew up with saltwater Caribbean native and freshwater Florida native tanks in miami. But as an adult in oregon, I'v only had tanks for over a year and i love experimenting with aquascaping and creating a Orinoco river themed tank. Just mentioning cause I'm open to all advise as a rookie.
 
Take a look at Events and Musyupicks Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2018 for ideas. Depending you may find not that many plants or mosses so compromise
 
Take a look at Events and Musyupicks Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2018 for ideas. Depending you may find not that many plants or mosses so compromise
Thank you,
I saw some pretty nice natural chinese tanks when i checked out the musyu picks.
Seems with china specifically uses more stone over driftwood which is exactly what im going for. Just because I already have 2 tanks with driftwood already.
The stone I would like to use doesnt need to be exactly from the river, but the best to mimic.
Hopefully someone has knowledge on what plants grow in the Pearl river.
 
The Pearl Riveŕ seems very incredibly industrialised and it looks like at risk and endangered plants are being tissue cultured what appears big in China. There is choking up of some waterways with Water Hyacinth. Like @ not like bob l couldnt find much in plants in river set ups more rocks and wood.
 
The Pearl Riveŕ seems very incredibly industrialised and it looks like at risk and endangered plants are being tissue cultured what appears big in China. There is choking up of some waterways with Water Hyacinth. Like @ not like bob l couldnt find much in plants in river set ups more rocks and wood
It does seem very industrial. The Muysu Picks you suggested for me to look at had a Tung Chung river tank which connects to the basin.
It's kinda perfect because i do have the Hong Kong variety of white cloud minnows.
This might open more options for native plants. OFc i could go with java ferns but i feel theyre to delicate for a dojo.
 
Also to add - I grew up in Hong Kong, and from my recollections of trips to country parks and streams, driftwood wasn't a huge feature but leaf litter was. So if you do want to use botanicals, some kind of structural leaf litter with rounded river rocks would be good? If you want to recreate a pond environment, which makes sense with the dojo loaches, you'd have a lot more leeway to plant heavily, since those streams were fast-flowing and mostly had a lot of algae rather than actual plants per se. Hope that helps.
 
Salvinia will be added for sure. I was debating if i should use either hygrophila or cryptocoryne.
Hygrophila would look better by itself over cryptocoryne. I like the leaf litter idea and i think my dojo loaches would love it.
 
Also to add - I grew up in Hong Kong, and from my recollections of trips to country parks and streams, driftwood wasn't a huge feature but leaf litter was. So if you do want to use botanicals, some kind of structural leaf litter with rounded river rocks would be good? If you want to recreate a pond environment, which makes sense with the dojo loaches, you'd have a lot more leeway to plant heavily, since those streams were fast-flowing and mostly had a lot of algae rather than actual plants per se. Hope that helps.
what type of leaf do you suggest besides indian almond leaves?
 
The region this river delta is located is "East Asia" and using the Flowgrow plant database you can do a search filtered on this region to find a list of plants growing there.
https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants?filter[regionsearch]=457

If the plants grow specifically in this river delta is hard to say, all tho what I can find is it seems to be a rather brackish estuary. Then I guess if you like to stay typically true to the location/biotope it will be very sparsely planted with sp. that can grow in saline conditions.

Bacopa Monnerie/Waterhysop might be one of them... :) is doesn't seem to mind saline locations.

You can also use the Seriouslyfish knowledgebase and do an advanced search filtered on Country and even River.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/advan...pHmin=&pHmax=&cmin=&cmax=&sF=&sM=&aL=&aD=&aH=

This database gives a rather detailed description of what locations the fish are caught and in not all but also some cases some plants are mentioned. It requires a lot of searching and reading, maybe linked references to scientific field studies can give more detailed information on the typical vegetation of the region as well. Then also do a search for and read about the typical sympatric species found with it. E.g. Metzia lineata is a fish living in the Pearl river delta.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/metzia-lineata/

sympatric sp. found and caught with it.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/macropodus-opercularis/
 
The region this river delta is located is "East Asia" and using the Flowgrow plant database you can do a search filtered on this region to find a list of plants growing there.
https://www.flowgrow.de/db/aquaticplants?filter[regionsearch]=457

If the plants grow specifically in this river delta is hard to say, all tho what I can find is it seems to be a rather brackish estuary. Then I guess if you like to stay typically true to the location/biotope it will be very sparsely planted with sp. that can grow in saline conditions.

Bacopa Monnerie/Waterhysop might be one of them... :) is doesn't seem to mind saline locations.

You can also use the Seriouslyfish knowledgebase and do an advanced search filtered on Country and even River.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/advan...pHmin=&pHmax=&cmin=&cmax=&sF=&sM=&aL=&aD=&aH=

This database gives a rather detailed description of what locations the fish are caught and in not all but also some cases some plants are mentioned. It requires a lot of searching and reading, maybe linked references to scientific field studies can give more detailed information on the typical vegetation of the region as well. Then also do a search for and read about the typical sympatric species found with it. E.g. Metzia lineata is a fish living in the Pearl river delta.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/metzia-lineata/

sympatric sp. found and caught with it.
https://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/macropodus-opercularis/
thanks for sharing that tool
 
thinking about adding a paradise fish now you mention it.
I have couple types of waterhysop that was under a lotech light and most of leaves fell off as you can see in my pic.
I upgraded to better light and changed some parameters and it flourished though. My worries are the dojo loach ripping in apart.
 
I am pretty sure that the brackish mangrove estuaries are not the precise environment where those dojos/WCCMs would be found - rather you're looking at manmade or natural freshwater ponds, or smaller hillside streams. But if you ever did want to set up a mangrove-esque biotope, all I can say is - lots of fiddler crabs, mudskippers, red mangroves, oyster shells, and other salt-tolerant or beachside plants.
what type of leaf do you suggest besides indian almond leaves?
This short article on common HK vegetation might be useful, as would this one on the plants of feng shui woods (old-growth native woods that have been tended to by humans). As for leaf types, I'm honestly not super sure. Mulberry and guava leaves would be a safe bet but they decompose very quickly so I treat them as a food source rather than as structural litter (people would have grown both trees in wooded areas for the fruit). Magnolia trees are also pretty common since they're native, so Magnolia grandifolia leaves might also make good additions.
 
I grew up in Hong Kong in the 70s and I remember visiting my grandparents who lived in a small village in the countryside. The fields were sometimes flooded and there used to be fish, frogs and other creatures in them. The village is still there but the fields are now under high rise buildings and roads.
Despite what people think, much of Hong Kong is still not built on. I visited the Hong Kong Wetland Park a few years back and here's a few of the aquatic plants found there. You can search for freshwater fish in this HK animal database.
 
I am pretty sure that the brackish mangrove estuaries are not the precise environment where those dojos/WCCMs would be found - rather you're looking at manmade or natural freshwater ponds, or smaller hillside streams. But if you ever did want to set up a mangrove-esque biotope, all I can say is - lots of fiddler crabs, mudskippers, red mangroves, oyster shells, and other salt-tolerant or beachside plants.

This short article on common HK vegetation might be useful, as would this one on the plants of feng shui woods (old-growth native woods that have been tended to by humans). As for leaf types, I'm honestly not super sure. Mulberry and guava leaves would be a safe bet but they decompose very quickly so I treat them as a food source rather than as structural litter (people would have grown both trees in wooded areas for the fruit). Magnolia trees are also pretty common since they're native, so Magnolia grandifolia leaves might also make good additions.
I see on google images guava and magnolia leaves give it a blackwater look. Does mulberry have the same affect?
Do you think putting it bowl of water for couple days will make it not tea the tank?
 
I see on google images guava and magnolia leaves give it a blackwater look. Does mulberry have the same affect?
Do you think putting it bowl of water for couple days will make it not tea the tank?
In my experience, mulberry leaves don't stain the water much if at all. Not sure about guava leaves since I've not personally used them. Magnolia leaves will give you the blackwater look. And pre-boiling/soaking for a few days will definitely help get out some of the tannins and make sure the leaves sink. I personally really like the blackwater look, but if not, you could always use some charcoal or Purigen in the filter.
 
In my experience, mulberry leaves don't stain the water much if at all. Not sure about guava leaves since I've not personally used them. Magnolia leaves will give you the blackwater look. And pre-boiling/soaking for a few days will definitely help get out some of the tannins and make sure the leaves sink. I personally really like the blackwater look, but if not, you could always use some charcoal or Purigen in the filter.
Thank you, I enjoy a good mulberry so im highly considering adding that.
Reason why I first didn't say "biotope" is because i feel a true biotope would have blackwater.
Also im thinking of using basic white or brown sand. Just another reason why I referred it as native tank over biotope.
Funny enough I actually have alot of access to these types of leaves with no toxins in Oregon.
 
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