Over the holidays, I decided to fill my Mini-S aquarium back up, and implement a new aquascape. It had been sitting dry for several months, as the room it once resided in got renovated, and I didn’t want to fiddle with the tank elsewhere during those renovations. This time, I decided to do a simplistic iwagumi-style aquascape with HC as the only plant. It took me about a week of tinkering to find the right collection of rocks, and to position them as seen below. I ordered 4 pots of Hemianthus callitrichoides from Green Leaf Aquariums, and planted it a few days later.
I snapped this picture a few minutes ago while feeding the fish in the rest of my aquariums. This is about 2-3 weeks after planting, and the only thing I’ve been dosing is Seachem Excel for a carbon source. Otherwise, I’m currently relying on the nutrients in new ADA Aquasoil (regular Amazonia and powder forms). I’d love to hear some feedback on the hardscape arrangement as it stands now.
After months of neglect, the previous aquascape in my 75G had gotten completely overgrown. What started as a few strands of hitch-hiker Riccia fluitans eventually covered the water surface in totality, shading out most of the plants below it. So, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade, using that pest of a liverwort as a foreground in my new aquascape.
I reused much of the same bogwood for the hardscape, but rather than showing the knobby side of the wood, I kept everything smooth-side-up to look like tree roots weaving up out of the Riccia lawn. I had lots of Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia in the previous scape, which I spread out as my background plant. The gaps were filled with Anubias barterii var. ‘nana’. Obviously, it needs to fill in a bit, but I’d love to hear your initial comments/critiques!
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted my Mini-S aquascape. I’m pretty happy with how it’s turning out, although I can’t decide whether to let the Blyxa japonica grow tall like it is, or to keep it shoved down behind the rock more. Suggestions on that? I also added some livestock in the form of Phoenix Rasboras, Orange-Eyed Blue Tiger Shrimp, and a few horned Nerite snails.
A couple weekends ago I found some time to rescape my 50G aquarium. I’m not entirely thrilled with it in its current state, but I’m hoping that the plants will grow in a bit, and minimize the size of those rocks a little bit. I was also hoping that my plecos wouldn’t dig, but that seems to have been wishful thinking.
At least it’s looking way better than it did prior to my rescape. In case you’re curious, I’m trying to do a themed series of aquascapes in my fishroom, using the pool filter sand, and fairly minimalistic look. Now I just need to keep this and my 33G going while I find time to rescape my 75G!
I finally took a break from my on-going home improvement projects to rescape my GLA 33G rimless aquarium. Being inspired by Ghazanfar Ghori’s aquarium at the last GWAPA meeting, I wanted to setup an aquascape with a sand foreground, using some of the same type of rocks he used. I also wanted to utilize a pile of branches I had laying around.
As far as plants go, I wanted to use the Hygrophila pinnatifida that I got at the AGA auction last fall. I’ve been growing it out from tiny plants straight out of tissue culture, so it’s taken a little while to get enough for an aquascape. My goal was also to keep the aquascape fairly minimalist, using only 3-4 species of plants, any heavily relying on the hardscape.
After planting, the tank’s water was quite cloudy, but it’s looking pretty good this evening. To supplement the H. pinnatifida, I used lots of Trident Java Fern. I also placed a number of Fissidens covered rocks around, and planted some Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides, which I hope will cascade up and over the rocks to soften the cracks between them.
All in all, I’m pretty happy with how this aquascape has started out. I’d love to hear and comments/critiques you may have.
Frank over at ADG posted a great video of Takasi Amano aquascapes on their Facebook site. It’s easy to see why Amano is recognized worldwide as an aquascaping pioneer.
Ghazanfar Ghori hosted GWAPA’s January meeting last weekend, and I wanted to share a fantastic video that our recording secretary took of Ghazanfar’s 90-P aquarium and aquascape. The wood in this aquascape is a special wood from Southeast Asia that maintains its bark underwater without releasing too many tannins. He complements the detail in the wood with lots of Riccardia chamedryfolia (Mini Pelia) , Fissidens moss, Bolbitus, and Anubias barterii var. ‘nana’. The foreground is a very shallow layer of pool filter sand, with ADA Aquasoil in the background to provide nutrition to the plants. Check it out!
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an update on here. I snapped a quick photo of the Mini-S how it appears right now. I’ve recently replaced the Taiwan moss with Flame moss. The Rotala macrandra variant have been trimmed and is growing back in. Everything else has been filling in a bit. It like how the sand has bits of Aquasoil on top of it, as it looks more natural to me than plain white sand. Comments/critiques welcome!
After getting some great feedback from the aquascaping community, I’ve replaced the rock in the back right of this scape. Many folks felt that the original rock didn’t balance out the large focal rock enough. I also added in a little bit of Eleocharis acicularis in the background to fine-tune things back there. Comments/critiques welcome!
After neglecting all but essential maintenance on my aquariums for some time due to an on-going home-improvement project, I finally aquascaped a new ADA Mini-S aquarium for my office. Below is a picture of the tank after being setup for a few days. This is the first aquascape I’ve ever actually done using a sand foreground and path, as I’ve always favored foreground plants.
The low ground cover is Taiwan Moss tied to lots of small stones. Mini pelia accents lots of the larger rocks, with Blyxa japonica, Staurogyne repens, and Rotala macrandra (some variant) in the background behind the large rock. I think I may need something in the back right, but I’m not sure if that should be a slightly larger rock, or just some hairgrass trimmed at an angle for some height and depth. I’d love to hear everyone’s feedback on the hardscape and aquascape in general, comments/critiques are welcome!
After the banquet tonight, the Aquatic Gardener’s Association announced the winner’s of their aquascaping competition. I took quick shots of every winner, and am listing them below. Do you agree with the winners? You can view all of the entries on the AGA website.
