Kbuser's 10 gallon South Asian Biotope...I think.

[kbuser92]

Here's another one for y'all to enjoy. I've decided I'd like to set up a small biotope for a flame dwarf gourami. It won't be a perfect biotope, but everything will be from South Asia. I dont know yet what "everything" entails, but I can say rhat I will most likely be using Crypts, Java, Aponogeton and some sort of hair grass and there will, of course, be the star of the show: a flame dwarf gourami. Other tank mates I've thought about are chain loaches, celestial pearl danios and white cloud minnows, but I'm not sure yet what the future holds. I also like hillstream loaches, but I don't believe they'd do well in a tropical tank with very little flow.

Tonight I got the tank all cleaned up and flourite added. If you've never used it and plan to, make sure to wash it first. It took me at least a half hour to clean it all.

I hope to order some plants soon and will update when I get them, but here's a teaser for now.

[Delapool]

Looking forward to this I've got flourite in the tank and it took a bit to clear but no troubles digging in it now.

[kbuser92]

Originally Posted by Delapool

Looking forward to this I've got flourite in the tank and it took a bit to clear but no troubles digging in it now.

It should be fun. LFS has or can get all the fish I want, should just be plants that needvordered. Do you know a good place to order live plants?

[Delapool]

Originally Posted by kbuser92

It should be fun. LFS has or can get all the fish I want, should just be plants that needvordered. Do you know a good place to order live plants?

Unfortunately in Australia Half of mine I get though society auctions now.

[Fresh2o]

You could check the AA classified section. Not everyone advertises so you might try contacting members that have Planted tanks.
I've found the plants in the rectangular clear plastic gel packs (not in the tubes) at PetSmart to be inexpensive and pretty reliable.
There are many online vendors out there. A few I have used include: aquariumplants.com, plantedaquariumcentral.com, and BucePlant.

[kbuser92]

Originally Posted by Fresh2o

You could check the AA classified section. Not everyone advertises so you might try contacting members that have Planted tanks.
I've found the plants in the rectangular clear plastic gel packs (not in the tubes) at PetSmart to be inexpensive and pretty reliable.
There are many online vendors out there. A few I have used include: aquariumplants.com, plantedaquariumcentral.com, and BucePlant.

Thanks fresh. I usually like petco, their last plant order was one of the nicest I've ever seen, unfortunately they only come in once a month. I'll check there again for some crypts after the first. I've never had luck with those flat packs, though, but the tubes usually do well for me. Ill see what's available locally after it gets water, still waiting for a few pieces of equipment and I'm also moving filters around (upgrading on the 40, moving that one down the line and so on) and when that's done, it'll get wet.

After I check out local availability, I'll look at some of those websites. I don't think I've been on any of those yet. Thanks for the tip!

[kbuser92]

Sorry for the delay, it's had water for white some time. It's also been about a week and a half or so since I put fish and plants in. So far, there's 4 Honey Dwarf Gouramis, I believe there all males, but they're really too small at this point to know for sure, ranging from 1-1.5 cm. I would like to keep them all together, but if I need to eventually remove some, i am ready to do that.

I also got a small pot of Giant Hairgrass (Eleocharis sp.) And a Java Fern (I believe it's a "standard" M. pteropis, it was just sold as "java fern"). It's still missing some plants that I'd like, dwarf hairgrass, a couple cryptocoryne and maybe something else. I am also still looking for a nice, branchy looking piece of driftwood, but local availability isn't the best and you can't be too choosy when ordering online so I'm testing out my patience.

As of today, about 10-12 days since adding fish, they're doing great, but I think they'd like some more hiding spots (I'll see what I can do before too long) and they're pissed anyways (unfortunately, another tank has camellanus, and these guys were bought from the same place after the fish in the other tank, so theyve been treated, too, for good measure) but eating great.

Here's a couple of the best pictures I could get. It's a little cloudy (not too bad) from the water change. None of them would really stay still long enough for a good shot, so don't mind the blur. I tried!