Southeast Asian Backwater Biotope

Southeast Asian Backwater Biotope



Hey All,

I thought I'd post some pics of my latest tank I started - it is a recreation of your typical slow-moving waters found in the Borneo/Cambodia regions. These ponds often are quite acidic (around 6.5 pH and therefore have pretty soft water; the reason, however that these waters remain stable is because of a lot of leeching that takes place as water drains from the mineral-rich mountain regions. These minerals increase the buffering capacity of the water and in-turn stabilize the pH (but it also uses up many of the nutrients, hence the softer water).

The tank is of course 100% organic and all plants are real and also indigenous (apart from one or two species which I added for more visual appeal - ie. Red Rotala and the Myrio). Lighting is quite bright; I'm using 2 x 25 LifeGlo tubes as these waters are often quite shallow and the leeching from organic material can tint the water over time so the extra light is helpful for plant growth.

The major attraction of this tank is the flexibility of choosing tankmates - typically you would shy away from putting gouramis and bettas together but since these fish are sourced from the same environments and attention is put into creating areas in the tank which allow the fish to be more comfortable, you find that they end up reaching a peaceful equilibrium. For example, bettas tend to be fin-nippers but also are susceptible to getting nipped, however bettas are known to be territorial and the reason for this is that they are actually pretty peaceful as long as they have somewhere to call home... Blyxa and Radican Swords with their relatively large yet unobstructive leaves (bettas' fins tend to snag on spiky leaves) give them a place to hangout when they're feeling a little flustered - they only get aggressive when other fish come into their territory; after some tense first days the fish in the tank quickly learn their respective places and end up having a respectable relationship with each other - the beauty of it is that it is rare to see these fish happy together, but it works because if you recreate nature, it takes care of the rest.

I'm using an external filter to reduce clutter in the tank and am also using CO2 injection (self-modified 16g cartridge rig).

The idea is to get the backdrop filled in nicely with the fast-growing Cambomba and Anacharis and for the Blyxa, Valli and Radicans to create a protected, but free-flowing area on the right. The Myrio and Rotala on the front-left should form a nice reddish forest on the left which will be kept trimmed so the shyer Loaches can have a door to their hideout under the wood and also a foraging area... The wood has been placed to create enough hiding places as well as to hide the heater (which must be placed diagonally, not vertically as many often mistakenly do). The wood was pre-soaked to keep it down (though the one piece still has the rock on it to keep it down, will move that as soon as it's properly water-logged) and will hopefully get a nice coating of Java Moss (or spiky moss if i'm lucky enough to find some) as soon as I can find somebody that has stock.

I've chosen a sandy bottom substrate level to allow for easy root growth since in order to facilitate carpet-like forests, off-shoots are important. I've added reddish gravel to recreate the soil found in the asian regions which is typically quite high in iron. Sandy substrate is not the greatest substrate in terms of nutrients though so I've also supplemented it with a few tabs of fertilizer (Seachem Flourish) and have also added in a bit of peat into the filter to help keep the pH on the low side.

Some of the fish include a Dwarf Gourami, Pearl Gourami, Betta, Rainbow Shark (although I'm considering moving the Rainbow shark - they'll get too big)... I also have a pair of Siamese Algae Eaters (the spotty sides - the ones with the lines are Chinese Algae Eaters) which are all to happy to keep excess algae off the top-level plant leaves.

SEA Backwater biotopes have always been my favorite themed aquariums since I was a kid and am quite proud of the current setup - please let me know if you have any helpful comments or suggestions or if anyone is looking for any tips on maintaining a 100% organic biotope.

I'll try post some more interesting photos once the tank is a little more established - it is a little on the small side (110L) so careful management is a must so I'll be keeping a careful eye on it.

 

Bit of a nicer pic...

 

Most people in Cape Town that's injecting CO2, also adds shells to their filter to prevent a pH crash.

 

Very nice!

 

Ah OK , thanks for the tip, that actually makes a lot of sense - I've not been using CO2 for long and was wondering if the dissolved CO2 might mess with my pH since the peat would already be sucking out the water's buffering potential.
I'm assuming the calcium in the shells adds more buffering, but now I'm wondering; I added some of those fertilizer tabs (Seachem Flourish) so they're probably now leeching out minerals, so do you think that if I add shells in addition to this, won't it maybe make my water a bit too hard? I'm looking to keep my water hardness around 0 - 4 dH... Otherwise I suppose I could reduce the peat?

 

All depends if you want backwater or blackwater :tongue:

There are some true blackwater fish that live in incredibly low TDS waters, those types of biotopes often don't even include plants because the water is too acid for them to grow. I think for what you're doing at the moment a handful of shells might keep things stable, as it looks like you're not going that extreme.

 

Ok cool, well I'll put some shells in and keep an eye on the water hardness then - if it stays the same then I'll be thanking you all in the near future for saving me some ph headaches! Where would one get shells...? just McGuyver it and go pick some up at the beach and boil them to remove any parasites?

 

I suspect that those shells are too hard and shiny to leach much - you probably want broken-up bits of oyster shells, something like that.