Chocolate gourami theme

[|squee|]

I'm planning for a 2ft chocolate gourami themed tank.

This is my inspiration from art, the petfrd ex-administrator who's blardy good in cichlids and scaping with Java ferns with driftwood.



Things I wanna discuss:

1) Any thoughts on his scape? (art, if you read this, I sincerely hope you don't mind. Just make the request if you want to remove your pic though. )

2) Any ways to contrast furthur the gouramis and the plants? I'm thinking of lots of intricate driftwood, with Java Fern dominant in this tank placed at strategic spots.

3)Will the addition of granite rocks upset the contrast I want?

Discuss please!

[turtlehead]

I like it, but it could use a little bit more plants.

[wong1979]

I welcome you to join me in this club also

Art's tank is something similar to what I wish to achieve. Because of gouramis curious nature, like bettas, adding driftwood and foliages make good enviroment for them to explore, and in turn, you can explore with them.

Granite rocks can be used only, imho, if it's aged and not too light colored. Dark grey granites covered with green spots algae makes a good choice.

And with this theme, it's better to go low lights and no C02. Although initially, you can inject C02 with medium lights to attain the look that you want faster. After which, you might just wish that it stops growing

Cheers,
Wong

[Fei Miao]

I'm planning for a 2ft chocolate gourami themed tank.

This is my inspiration from art, the petfrd ex-administrator who's blardy good in cichlids and scaping with Java ferns with driftwood.



Things I wanna discuss:

1) Any thoughts on his scape? (art, if you read this, I sincerely hope you don't mind. Just make the request if you want to remove your pic though. )

2) Any ways to contrast furthur the gouramis and the plants? I'm thinking of lots of intricate driftwood, with Java Fern dominant in this tank placed at strategic spots.

3)Will the addition of granite rocks upset the contrast I want?

Discuss please!

Can see this is Art's signature style, simple, easy maintenance. As with this type of layouts, great set-up for apistos and in this case, chocolate gouramis. On using rocks, the rocks already in the tank are good enough, I think he did used some light green polysperma to give contrast to the greens... I think I see some crypts, some red leaves crypts will probably plays up well with the colours of the chocolate gouramis. Overall; tank.

[wong1979]

Before, on 24 July.


Photography settings: ISO 800, Shutterspeed: 1/100 sec, f/5.0, WB: Cloudy
Tank lightings: 36W PL

Just did some micro adjusment to my tank on 25 July. See that rock at the center. Very eye catching but the color is too light. I'm hoping some sort of algae, any type of algae, to grow on it to lessen the contrast Or I should just remove it...

[|squee|]

Hmm... took notes. wong, I see your point
Thanks guys!

Here's my plan:

-2ft tank, 16 gallons/56 litres, black background
-No CO2, low light ( need suggestions here... 18W? 36W? 24W? ), and a mellowed version of Tom Barr's way of dosing low-tech*
-ADA Amazonia since it supposedly has the strongest pH reducing capability
-Ehiem Liberty 100
-Driftwood, no rocks unless I can fit them in
-6 of the little buggers, 3 pairs?

Plants-wise, lots of Java Fern (Philippine if possible...), the usual crypt Wendtiis all over the midground. That should be it. Do you guys think crypt Balanse go well with the mixture? Any other plant suggestions, or is this as usual really up to my preference?

I might be arranging driftwood and see if I can't get some emersed Java fern from the water too.

Another thought is the fert regime... chocolates are supposedly very sensitive? Or, once they get stable its ok to add ferts (nitrate especially)? Or should I forego the fert regime all together?

[wong1979]

Lighting can be a tricky issue, especially for a 2 feet tank. The deeper your water, the less strong your lights will reach your plants. 56 L? So I'm assuming you have low depth. In order to light up your tank evenly, a 36W PL might do the trick. But it may be a little to strong initially for a newly setup tank. A better alternative would be to get 2 x 15 watts FL. It's relatively safe to just use only 1 X 15 watts throughout the whole photoperiod, and switch on to 2 x 15 Watts for your viewing pleasure.

For me, I only just dose LushGro liquid daily. I don't feel safe to dose a whole week of supply at 1 shot. I also try to be as diligent as possible to change 1/5 water every week.

So far, for about 2 weeks, my chocolate are doing well with diet based on flakes and tubifex worms.

Also, shrimps are very important in keeping off hair algae from the start. I've noticed the tendency of developing thick bushy hair algae together with my moss.

Another important thing to take note is to treat your driftwood properly until it doesn't leak tanins unless you like brownish stained waters

[|squee|]

I don't want to spend on yet another lighting fixture

I have a 24W PL though. But the light tube is not central ( as in, it's to a side because of the ballast placement ) and I'm wondering I can work around it somehow if 36W is too strong for the tank.

I might be thinking of tannin waters wanna make it as natural as possible as always. Stay tuned for updates.