Tag: Aquascaping

Underwater Garden with Hellboy Plakat Betta and Anubias barteri var. nana on driftwood

Revisiting old hobbies for the first time in decades.

Back in the 1970s, when I first started my aquarium hobby, the Dutch-style aquarium was all I knew. It was my go-to style for creating aquatic setups. However, in the late 90s, I stumbled upon the books of Takashi Amano, which immediately transformed my approach to the hobby. I built several Cichlid biotype setups before life got busy with marriage and kids, leaving me with little time for my hobby.

But now, as my kids have grown into adults and left home, I find myself returning to the hobby that brings me so much joy. With a wealth of modern aquascaping styles available, I've found my preferences leaning towards nature aquariums and Iwagumi layouts. There's something truly captivating about these styles that showcases the beauty of nature within an aquarium setting.

While I admire the intricacy of some aquascaping styles, I don't feel confident in creating something overly complex. I am content with my minimalist 10-litre aquarium, featuring a vibrant male Hellboy Plakat Betta swimming among the Anubias barteri var. nana plants1 attached to driftwood. I named the fish "Laddy D".

I am enjoying my minimalist aquascape (underwater garden) and the peacefulness it brings to my home. But I have plans for something much bigger for the future.

  1. The plants were purchased at Buceplant. ↩

Underwater garden aquarium update

Old skills and knowledge must be relearned.

I lost the entire set of aquarium plants due to "melt". It was my fault. I ordered some plants, and I was impatient put all the plants in at once. This overloaded the ecosystem, and the plants collapsed and started to rot. I managed to save the betta and the frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum), the only surviving plants.

I then bought a Nerite snail to keep algae at bay. It’s cheaper than an algae diffuser, and the snail is pretty. But I killed him too.

So I started over. I cleaned the tank, did a 60% water change, waited a few weeks and replanted it with Java moss and Anubias nana petite. I used aquarium string to tie the rheophyte rhizomes and moss in place. Things look good so far.

I do weekly water changes and use Seachem Flourish Excel (extra carbon) and Seachem Flourish Advance to help the plants.

A new snail will arrive in a few weeks.

11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8
11 September 2022 * Apple iPhone 11 Pro back triple camera 4.25mm f/1.8

January 19, 2011 - Fishy

One day while I was a young boy, I caught some fish from a local stream. I brought the fish home and placed them in one-gallon pickle jar where they lived for many weeks. My father noticed my interest and a few months later took me to a local fish farm where he bought me a five-gallon aquarium. My skill grew, and a year later on my birthday, Dad bought me a 30-gallon aquarium.

For many years I practised my skills, raising and breeding many species of live-bearers eventually getting the family involved. My "baby" brother started a pond in the back yard, and when we went off to college, we all started keeping fish tanks. At one point, my mother's apartment in Queens housed three fish tanks.

It stopped for a while when I went off to graduate school and while I lived on my own, but I rekindled the hobby when I was married. My wife indulged me but did not like the sound of running water and freaked out about the amount of money I spent on the hobby. She was incredibly pissed off one day when we came home from a business conference to find that the heater for the tank had failed, killing $200 worth of Discus.

That was the end of the hobby for a while until we moved into our current home shortly after the kids were born. We've kept a tank with everything from guppies and mollies to swordtails and neon tetras.

The tank is quite old now and is a bit neglected. This year I want to start over with a new larger tank that I plan to fill with African cichlids.