Today, I’ve added a new feature to my website — a photo gallery. I plan on maintaining a set of my favorite/best pictures, in one place, so that they’re easy to scan through. Hopefully this will keep everything more organized than it currently is on Flickr.

You can easily access the photo gallery by using the new link at the top of every page. Every picture should have the EXIF camera data displayed so that you can see what focal lengths, iso, etc… I used when shooting the picture. I hope you enjoy my photos as much as I enjoy taking them.

It’s the holiday season, and the time where many show their friends and family that they care by exchanging gifts. Not surprisingly, those trying to buy for the aquarium keeper, particularly the planted aquarium keeper, are a little baffled by our wish lists. And who can blame them? The iPod, Elmo, or latest bestseller are great for many folks, but they’re not exactly useful in an aquarium. Let me help everyone out by supplying a short list of perfect gifts for the aquarium keeper.

Dirt - Yes, that’s right, dirt. And, if it’s fancy ADA kiln-fired dirt from Japan, that’s really going to tickle their fancy. Of course, if cost is an issue, nothing shows love like “homemade dirt,” dried and aged topsoil, free of humus, that will happily supply nutrients to root feeding plants without causing green water.

Fertilizer - No, you probably won’t end up on Homeland Security’s watch list for buying this for us. (No guarantee’s though!) Simple fact, the plants need it, and we need to supply it. It might not seem like the warm and cuddly gift, but we’ll use it daily, and our plants will thank you.

Air - What could be easier? It’s all around us, but if you could simply separate the CO2 out and bottle it, we’d be most appreciative. Nothing says love like a bottle full of nothing!

Worms - Creepy, crawly, and utterly delicious, or so I’m told by my fish. Avoid the candy-coated nuts, and fine chocolates — they’re just a sticky mess in the aquarium. The worms will do, and the fish will thank you!

Technology - Finally something you’re used to, right? Well, this stuff can’t be found in any big-box gadget store. We want pH readers, state-of-the-art lights, pumps that push massive amounts of water, water heaters, and water purification systems.

Sticks - This gift does indeed grow on trees! But, don’t think it’s as simple as going out and sawing down a Christmas tree. Oh no, this needs to be a special piece that’s dried out, free of sap, full of character, and boiled to perfection. And after all of that, if it sinks it’ll raise a smile.

Stones - Always wanted to fill someone’s stocking with rocks, but never had the guts? Well, here’s you’re opportunity, and they might even thank you for it! Please don’t waste your money on any fancy, shiny, polished rocks from the jewelers. We much prefer rocks that are course, unrefined, and look like miniature mountains.

So there you have it. I hope I’ve helped clarify what every aquarium keeper dreams to find inside their gift-wrapped package. Make your slightly eccentric loved one happy, by giving a gift they’ll truly appreciate. Good luck, and Happy Holidays!

It’s been a few days since the 2007 AGA results were announced, and I’ve had a chance to go through all of the entries. I thought it might be fun to display my own “best of” list for this years tanks. Not surprisingly, my tastes differ from the judges, as their Best In Show doesn’t even make my list. No offense to anyone if I didn’t pick your tank, as this is as much personal taste as anything.

So, here’s my top seven in reverse order.

#7
The first tank I really liked isn’t a true aquascape as much as it is more of an art piece. The wood is really nicely organized, and I could just imagine having this on a coffee table. The rock work in the sand is appealing, and the plants themselves, while somewhat minimalistic, all go together.

Entry #86: 63L (17 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Permeate worlds”
Piotr Suty, Warszawa mazowieckie Poland

#6
This is one of those tanks that I feel I shouldn’t technically like, but I kept coming back to. On paper, you’d say that the left side is too cluttered, and the symmetry is a bit off. That said, I really like the colors, the wood, and just the feat of maintaining all of these stems and making them look this good requires a lot of work.

Entry #149: 250L (66 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Passage Across The Wood”
Fabio Lorusso, Bologna Italy Italy

#5
As a rule, I tend to really like hillscapes. I love the negative space, and the colors are great. Some of the plants could be a little bit better groomed, but in a way, the wild look of some of the stems gives the hill a bit more character.

Entry #159: 217L (57 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “”Puntius in harmony”"
André Luiz Longarço, São Paulo SP Brazil

#4
Another hillscape! This one is a little bit more refined. It also incorporates more rocks nicely into the hill itself, and is quite serene.

Entry #112: 243L (64 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Sonata”
Guillermin Nicolas, Poissy France

#3
I’ve seen this tank before, as Jason is a GWAPA member, but really isn’t clouding my judgement. I’m not exactly sure how to categorize this aquascape. It’s not exactly a nature aquarium style, but it isn’t quite dutch either. I love the use of color in this tank, and the moss work on the rocks is fantastic. It looks more like an illustration than a real tank, and I love its uniqueness.

Entry #146: 284L (75 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Valley to the East”
Jason Baliban, Phoenixville PA USA

#2
A fantastic scape that was ranked highly in this years’ ADA contest, and one that deserves any accolade that it receives. I love the use of the petrified wood-looking rocks, as you don’t often see these used effectively in many aquascapes. The moss is trimmed masterfully, and overall everything is almost perfect.

Entry #190: 160L (42 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Field of Dreams”
Hui Kam Man, Hong Kong Hong Kong

#1
What may be my favorite scape of all time, all you have to do is mention “the tree scape” at your local club meeting, and everyone knows that this is the tank you’re referring to. The surrounding ground cover around the tree could be fuller, but the tree itself provides such a focal point that none of that matters. The moss is groomed perfectly to look like a tree. The fish resemble birds in the sky, and the use of negative space and depth through sloping is fantastic. What else can I say, this is my Best In Show!

Entry #20: 57L (15 gallon) Aquatic Garden: “Syrah”
Filipe Alves Oliveira, Porto Matosinhos Portugal

Do you agree with my favorites? Are there tanks that I’ve forgotten. Please sound off in the comments.

This week, my wife and I visited her sister in North Carolina, who lives near Croatan National Forest. This national park is a huge plot of 160,000 acres of pine forest, saltwater estuaries, bogs, and pocosins. I have posted previously about visiting a beach on the Neuse River, which was also in the park. This time, we decided to hike part of the Neusiok Trail, which is a 20 mile long trail from the beach into the forest; we only did a small portion of the trail.

I had come hoping to get lots of photos of Venus flytraps, pitchers plants, and sundews, but as often happens, I came away with a different experience altogether. Instead of pitcher plants, we came across a really nice grove of palm ferns near the coast. Whether they’re native or not, I haven’t a clue, but they remind me a lot of some places in Hawaii.

Further in on the trail, we found what should have the perfect bog habitat for carnivorous plants. Pine needles lined the tannin stained water bottom, and only a few grasses were throughout the area. Still, even between the grasses, I didn’t find the plants I was looking for. I’ve read a bit on the Internet about how poaching is a huge problem for this area, where collectors or resellers illegally dig up entire stands of carnivorous plants for their collections. I can only assume that any public trails that once had any rare plants are now probably devoid of them.

There were many old trails present along the main trail. Below you can see how an entire path was blazed through the trees, only to be abandoned allowing small brush to take over.

Fortunately, even though we didn’t find any carnivorous plants, we did find some interesting carnivorous creatures. I nearly walked face-first into this spider and web. Fortunately, I didn’t disrupt his web, and was able to get a picture. We also saw a number of small lizards scurrying along many fallen logs.

Accepting defeat on our carnivorous plant search, we decide to head back toward the Neuse River beach, and enjoy the pleasant sea breeze. The beach itself was fantastic with plenty of Cyprus trees growing right up to the water, with their tangled roots exposed.

As we were walking along the beach, we noticed some activity out in the water. Apparently, during this time of year, the sality of the Neuse River increases, and ocean creatures venture upstream. We witnessed proof of this when a whole family of dolphins was jumping and splashing through the water. As many times as I’ve seen dolphins, I still am fascinated every time!

That wasn’t the only activity of the day. Multiple types of birds were patrolling the skies, looking down at the water for signs of their next fishy meal. We witness this crane make repeated attempts toward fish.

Our most impressive bird of the day had to be this Bald Eagle. This amazing bird was also diving into the water for fish, and then retreating back to top of some of the Cyprus trees to enjoy their meal. I wish it would have be closer for me to get a better shot.

I highly recommend visiting this national park if you’re in the area. I still haven’t covered 1/10th of what they have to offer. Next time I go down, I’m going to be sure to contact a ranger first in hope pothat they might be able to guide me toward the carnivorous plants I’m seeking. Until then…

Last night I went over to my friend Aaron’s house to help him get a good photograph of his aquascape for the Aquatic Gardener Association’s aquascaping contest due in a few days. I promised him that I wouldn’t post any pictures of his actual aquascape until after the contest is over, but these are some individual plant shots I took.

The first shows HC, Hemianthus callitrichoides, pearling with a nice fat oxygen bubble on its’ leaf tip. If you look closely you can see some of the downoi reflected in the bubble. Below is a picture of a very healthy looking Rotala macrandra var. ‘Green,’ also pearling away. I’m going to have to go back and take more pictures because Aaron’s got some really awesome plants growing in his tanks. Good luck in the contest Aaron!

Around our camp in the Amazon, all sorts of lizards could be seen scurrying about. Often times, all you’d see is the flash of a tail, and then it would be gone. This pretty little lizard below was in our tent, and all around the camp.

And of course, besides your harmless little lizards, there were also black caymans around. This particular guy was brought to us by some of the local villagers nearby. It’s really amazing how long these creatures will stay in a single pose. I suppose they’re in defensive mode or something, but once they get set, they’ll barely flinch a muscle for 10 minutes straight. That’s great for long exposures in dim light!

Look at the claws on this guy below. Can you tell that he’s found in the trees? It may not be as apparent in this picture, but look to the next.

Pretty well camouflaged, isn’t he?

This was my wife’s favorite guy. He has a very beautiful blue ring around the inside of his mouth, and didn’t seem ashamed to show it. I think he’s actually a little iguana, but then again, what do I know?

And, just like the various insects, there are lizards that look like leaves down in the jungle. This lizard is about 6-8″ inches long, and if you weren’t looking closely, you’d likely miss him on the forest floor.

Here’s a semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial turtle that was brought to us. He doesn’t look much different from a lot of the turtles we see in the United States, but still very cool. And unlike some of the turtles around me, this guy would not stay put in his shell. I had more trouble getting him to sit still then I think I’ve ever had with a turtle. Aren’t they supposed to be slow?

Finally, we were fortunately to locate both a male and female of the same species below. Of course, I don’t remember which is which, but you can see how the patterns on their back are entirely different.

I think I prefer the spotted pattern of the one below, to the barred one above, but they’re both pretty darn fun to look at. And check out their eyes!

Oh, and their teeth! This might be my favorite shot from the trip. I hope you like it.

Besides a few odds and ends that I might throw in, I think this is the last set of nature pictures I’m going to post from our trip. If you’d like to see more general descriptions of our travels, you can read about them on my wife’s blog.

Before I went to the Amazon, I was always one of those people who said they were afraid of snakes. Growing up, the worst we had to worry about were copperheads, but I think the fear that something so tiny could put you in a world of hurt was scary. Right before the trip, I had to help my mom remove a harmless black snake from their deck. Just handling that snake, you could feel the strength that they have. In the Amazon, I witnessed far more deadly snakes than the copperhead, but also saw even more strength in the boas, and more beauty in the coloration of some of these creatures. I hope you enjoy my snake photos.

The snake above is a standard tree boa constrictor. These snakes are so strong, and really coil up around a tree in an instant. Below is its much prettier cousin, the rainbow boa. One of the other photographers happened across this beautiful snake during one of his afternoon walks. With every movement, the iridescent blue shimmered one its skin.

I forgot what the next snake is, but in the shade, this snake was quite drab looking. In the sunlight, blue undertones started shining from its dark patches. A really nice looking snake.

Next is the famous fer-de-lance. This snake is very lethal, and is not afraid to strike. While our guides were handling this snake, it struck multiple times at the handling tools, causing venom to drip down the metal surface. They told us about one unfortunate previous guest who accidentally stepped on one of these, got bit, and needed over four months to finally get back to normal. He nearly didn’t make the first day. Scary stuff, but definitely a snake to respect.

Here is a vine snake that we found on one of our night walks. I kind of like how his head is disproportionate to his body.

Another pretty snake. Unfortunately, I don’t remember whether this one, the next, or both are vine snakes, or varieties of coral snakes. If anyone has any insight, please comment and set me straight.

Again, not sure what kind of snake this is, but isn’t it pretty with the orange and black checkerboard pattern?

While in the Amazon in Peru, we saw (and heard) a huge variety of frogs in the rain forest and at the river’s edge. If you looked close, you could see huge frogs on the river banks. Their eyes would shine as large globes in the night when you flashed your light at the bank. Reeds growing from the river would be home to multiple color forms of a single species of frog. In the forest itself, frogs would inhabit trees and undergrowth alike. At nighttime, you would hear bird calls that were really frog sounds, and vice versa. Since frogs have always been one of my favorite subjects to photograph, and just marvel at, I had a blast taking these pictures. I hope you enjoy them as well.

Above is one of the large frogs that we found sitting on a riverbank. He was not one to stick around for long. He got up into this tree, and this was the only shot I was able to get of him before he scurried up the tree out of sight. It’s hard to tell how big this frog is from the picture, but he’s probably a good 8-10″ from head to foot, with a bit of heft to him.

This frog above and the one below were both found in reeds by the river’s edge. If my notes are correct, they are both the same species of frog, but are obviously slightly different color morphs. Both are sitting on water hyacinth as is their natural habitat.

This tiny frog was sitting on this log during one of our afternoon forest walks. Not much larger than a half dollar, I wouldn’t have spotted him if it wasn’t for our guide’s sharp eyes.

Below, we were trying to adjust one of this frog’s legs up on the reed, when it slipped off. I liked the pose, and he held it, so I got this picture.

And finally, the next two are of my favorite frog on the trip. We were out collecting specimens at night, and stopped at a local village’s pond, full of grasses (and cichlids and even a coral snake). One of our guides spotted this little guy. For the pattern on his back, they call him a Giraffe Frog.

Could he be any more cooperative with the camera? I mean really, how awesome is this frog?

The Amazon plays hosts to a multitude of insects. While we were there, we saw new bugs everyday, especially when we did night hikes through the rainforest. At night, bugs come out from their cover of leaves and sunlight, and are a macro-photographer’s dream. They’ll often just sit there, through multiple flashes. Please don’t expect any expertise on these guys, but I hope you enjoy the pictures.

There are some absolutely jaw-dropping beautiful moths and butterflies constantly flying around the forest. Pretty much every color of the spectrum is represented, but unfortunately, getting pictures of any of these specimens is a test of will, as they rarely stop moving. Above is a moth, resting at night. Of course, all of these moths/butterflies have to come from somewhere, and so there is also a large variety of caterpillars munching away at the foliage.

It’s near impossible to know for sure which species these caterpillars are without fully allowing them to complete their life cycle. These two guys below wouldn’t sit still much at all. They were constantly munching on leaves as you can see in the picture.

I was told that the caterpillar below can leave a nasty sting if you handle his spines. Nevertheless, I thought the little guy to be quite pretty.

If there’s anything that never stops in the forest, it’s the leaf cutter ants. These guys will march right over your foot if you put it in their path. When you find a trail, it seems like it goes on forever. These ants truly are magnificent workers.

Not exactly a bug, I know, but we saw a few examples of snails in the forest, so I wanted to fit them in somewhere. Nothing too exotic, but pretty neat.

Spiders, spiders, spiders. There are so many different types of types in the forest. Wolf spiders, tarantulas, tons of different spiders in webs. Fortunately, they make great pictures!

I like the yellow on this guy’s legs. Probably means he’s dangerous or something.

This is a really interesting catydid below. The white feathers on its back end are made of a waxy substance that turns to dust if you touch it. It’s used as a defense mechanism, much like how a lizards’ tail disconnects, allowing it time to get away from a predator.

There are quite a few odd shaped bugs in the forest.

Here’s another odd-shaped one. He blends in nicely with the tree though.

Then there’s a whole smattering of leaf-camouflaged bugs out there. Here’s one catydid. That notch at the top is not a bite or injury. It’s naturally like that so that they blend in better with the other broken leaves on the ground.

This is another camouflaged grasshopper. This is one of my favorite shots that I got — even his eye is camouflaged!

Then there are more brightly colored catydid, such as the one below with a bright yellow line down its back. I often had to cut out their long antennae from the photos because they were so long.

Another catydid that I thought was very pretty.

Of course, there is a darker side of the rainforest. Where damp environments are, so are fungi, and parasitic nasties. This particular grasshopper had the unfortunate luck of getting infected by a parasitic fungus. It slowly grows inside its host, and eventually breaks through the skin, killing its subject and feeding on its remains. Fun, huh?

Here’s some sort of beetle that I found interesting. All of the mosses on the trees provide ample habitat of a wide variety of bugs.

These millipedes were all over the trails in various places. If you startle them, they will ball up into a tight little ball, protecting their soft underside with their hard armored exoskeleton.

This nasty looking thing is called a whiptail scorpion. While looking quite terrifying, it’s actually completely harmless to humans. Infact, we took turns putting this guy on each other’s faces to get that “make mom scream” photo for the trip. We basically considered them really ugly daddy long-legs.

And of course, the Amazon has wasps just like any other place.

I hope you enjoyed my bug pictures. Please don’t use any of them without my permission first. Thank you!

The Amazon is a bird watcher’s paradise. You wouldn’t be in the Amazon if you didn’t hear the loud squawking of mccaw parrots as they flew overhead. It’s really amazing to see these colorful birds out in the wild, as opposed to in a pet store cage. As loud as the mccaws are, the green parrots are even noisier, particularly when you’re trying to sleep!

Besides parrots, I think the toucan is the quintessential Amazon bird that everyone knows. This may be in large part due to Fruit Loops marketing campaign, but nevertheless, there’s no wonder as to why people admire these birds. This particular bird below flew up to this tree, about 50 feet away from the platform I was standing on, about 5 stories from the forest floor. It then proceeded to fly overhead to a different tree where 2 other toucans squabbled with each other before all 3 took off. What colorful animals!

There are numerous birds on the water that prey on fish or other critters that become vulnerable on the water’s edge. I haven’t a clue what this bird is below, but we saw a fair number of this type around.

Even the Amazon has a common duck. While these ducks are slightly different than the common ducks all over North America, their general behavior is the same.

These yellow-bodied birds can be seen all over the Amazon. We saw especially large numbers of them when we were on the boat, making the trip down the Amazon river to the Rio Orosa.

With all of the insects in the Amazon, it goes to figure that there would be plenty of woodpeckers around.