Pursuit of Amazon Biotope

It is time to take out my half-moon tank and give it a good dressing. Simply I am setting up a new tank again but this time, much smaller scale without worrying about backbreaking.


















Making use of available accessories, from previous broken tank,  to save cost..

 

Since I have invested quite "heftily"on my new tank, I wanted my Biotope to look "real". Thus I fork out another sum for this cork bark for my background tank.  They are quite easy to break apart with hands or strong scissors.This real stuff is half the price of an artificial resin "tree bark" and will certainly look pretty if my imagination of the final display concept comes true.

It took me a day to spray and hot shower this "tree bark" before mounting them on an acrylic sheet as I do not want to mount them directly onto my tank wall with sticky silicon. Here is how it looks like.

I placed some dragon rocks and started to mount the twisted woods to create "beneath-the-Amazon" river effect.

Mounting the 3 twisted woods is not as easy as it seems using selicon. Manuveuring my hand inside the small ciricular space is equally challenging for fear of knocking down the unyielding twisted woods.. I wasted two full tubes of selicon during the process and the woods doesn't stick well on the wall. I have to apply a generous portion of silicon, use rocks to keep them in position and wait half-day for the the glue to set and integrate with the woods..

Now is 12.30am Singapore time and I am already  exhausted and in need of a good shower before heading to bed.  Will update my tank progress another day.......

Update: 23 Sept 2013
The glue is finally cured and the woods are set and sturdy, ready to add flora soon.

Plants I have in mind from existing cultivation are:
African fern
Weeping Moss
Petite Nana
Needle fern

Plants intend to purchase are:
Thai Java moss
Star Moss
Golden Nana

Courtesy of friend (John)
Gift: Echinodorus Tenellus

Update: 24 Sep 2013
Plants added, look like a mini vivarium.

The overhead filter has concealed half the lighting. I took it out and replaced them with Eden 501 so that lights can fully penetrate into the tank.

Eden 501 is a very handy and useful fitler, You don't know when you will need it during "emergency" like this.
Apparently, there are big gaps behind the tank cover for me to add blower fan in the near fuure. I want the water to cool down further..

The setup is now 90% completed (except for the fan).  In the meantime, I will  sit back and enjoy the Amazon River Biotope before adding fishes in the weeks ahead.

Update: 5 Nov 2013

Sparkling Gourami.

Hope you like it, enjoy!

Update: 04 March 2014

New tank - Boyu BYG-26

Every tank I used to own has a story, this one is no exception.  It was love at first sight affair, purchased instantly from online store with no budget in mind and that mean it cost me a bomb - 8 red notes to be exact.  In order to cut cost and save on taking cab, I lugged these dozen kgs item onto a bus at lavender, alighted at Bras Basah, walked 300m to another bus-stop, strenously lifted it onto another crowded bus that took hours to arrive. With no seat available, I stood 45 minutes before reaching my home which is another 100m away from where I finally alighted.  As usual, bruises with slight backache when I reached home.

Why I like about this tank is its half-moon shape unlike the traditional squarish or rectangular tank commonly seen in the market.  In fengshui perspective, I believe round symbolise  harmony too. Sometime, you saw such round aquarium in shopping mall albeit a larger version one.  Moreover it doesn't take up too much space, on my dinning table, which is  very importantl criteria when I bought this tank. Having said that, this round tank is not small either, it has the height (47cm) I was looking for and is energy-saving too.

I haven't decided how to aquascape this round tank, but will stare at it everyday like looking at a piece of white paper before I started to draw or built story out of it.

Fire Red Shrimps on the rise (again)

Shrimp feeding and noticed a steady increase in my Fire Red population again.  Patient not only pays off and I strongly believe increase in population is attributed to the blooming flora inside my 2ft tank.

Hope is in the air and I miss those days when I have hundreds of FR that fascinated many people.
Occassionally I still bring out the old photo of yester-years to boast..

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The massive shrimps shown in the last photo are the ancestor of  shrimps in the first two photos. I have not purchased any new batch when they were down to the last 50 pcs after transfering to the 2ft tank. Now they are breeding in more again.