#cryptocoryne

[water-based]

Thinking about her....

[fire-bug1]

An attempt at aquascaping.

My fish are much happier with the setup, it has much more room and hiding spaces. I’m wanting to add more plants but I don’t know which. Any suggestions?

Plant species under cut

Left- anubias Nana pt.

Middle- najas guadalupensis (guppy grass)

Right- lutea (cryptocoryne)

[wetmek]

Cryptocoryne becketii 'petchii pink'

[aquariumfacile]

Cryptocoryne parva, plante d'aquarium à posséder dès maintenant

Imaginez un tapis verdoyant, dense et luxuriant, sur le devant de votre aquarium. Ce dernier transforme votre espace aquatique en un paysage sous-marin séduisant. La Cryptocoryne parva en aquarium est un choix de prédilection pour les aquariophiles d’eau douce. Originaire du Sri Lanka, cette plante est robuste et esthétique. Elle est idéale pour les débutants qui souhaitent se lancer un petit…

[sibellaa]

Absolutely adore Cryptocorynes and their dramatically large root systems

[waterskies]

Little update on Mikhail's tank~

The dwarf sagittaria that was pretty much brown shoots had bounced back after root tabs were placed under them. Hopefully, there will be a carpet again soon! The cryptocoryne wendtii went through a bit of a melt and lost the majority of its old leaves, but new ones are growing, so that's good!

The vallisneria asiatica is doing fine. It's sending out new leaves that are spreading across the surface, and we have one new runner~

The anubias has a new leaf, but without snails in the tank, they're suffering from detritus and algae. I rub them off periodically, but it just comes back.

The Java fern just up and melted right back, which is a shame because it was bright and healthy when I put it in here, and it takes so long for them to get to that size. At least for me. So I think I'm going to put it back in the tank I got it from and put something else there. I'm not really sure what though tbh.

Anyways I thought I would also show Mikhail's reaction to me taking photos of the tank. I bet some of you can already guess what he thought lol

Once he got over trying to fight the camera, I did get this nice one of him.

Pretty boy~

I wanted to get a shot of the floating plants in here, so I opened the food hatch and instead was met with this.

"Feed me, mom."

[gasterofficial]

apparently when i get high i order aquarium plants and stare longingly at plecos i cant afford for several hours

[bucket-of-soda]

We have spent a lot of time training at the river!

Thalassia is a good counter to the Leader's pokémon creatures, but last time it struggled to keep balance on the floats. We have been busy fixing that!

Cryptocoryne is much better at water skirmishes, but will have to make do with melee attacks to deal more damage.

I believe our new strategy can work for a rematch tomorrow!

[savageboar]

actually why buy a new hide when i can just rearrange my oyster shells to make one

[databent]

moved fishietank ^_^👍

to Go To Sleepies ... or to Play Videos Game ..... or to Move Fishtank. that's is the questions

[painted-bees]

preliminary aquarium plant haul..! Trying to get all-red/orange/yellow foliage for my green alien betta + kubotai rasbora tank! Might pick up more on round two, depending on how things look. I have my eyeballs peeled for some red cryptocoryne albida...at worst, I can order that locally online. It's a native plant to these areas, so it's not super difficult to obtain. [I am also dying for some red tiger lotus and red root floaters, but I have literally never seen them here...so I don't know if they exist in the local hobby at all]. I have to wait for the tank stand to arrive in a day or two before I can do anything with the 20g anyway.

[The green ferns and anubias plants are for the other tank, which will primarily host corydoras, khuli loaches, and (hopefully) threadfin rainbows]

oouhhh it's nice to feel so excited about this hobby again!!

[wetmek]

Happy New Year! I'm so happy with how my nature aquarium is coming along. The Cryptocoryne retrospiralis and Eleocharis vivipara are providing a grassy backdrop which is punctuated by the Myriophyllum tuberculatum and other stems plants that are growing intermixed. The Bucephalandras have been flowering non-stop since they were added. The white cloud minnows are also doing great, they are very active and colorful, and they have been spawning regularly. I love watching them swim around the tank and explore the different areas. They are such peaceful and hardy fish, perfect for an unheated setup.

[iraprince]

speaking of fishtanks actually. if u have ever found yourself interested in keeping aquatic pets, but have held back bc ur unsure about a pet that u can't touch/interact with -- basically, about having a pet that will not be able to feel or express affection for you -- i really recommend u return to ur research and think about it just a little more.

it was a reservation i also had at first -- i'm used to mammals! things that snuggle with u and choose to spend time with u. but what i have discovered thru aquarium keeping is that there is a distinct but equally valuable feeling of love and peace and accomplishment from putting together a safe, beautiful environment for a group of creatures, for no reason other than to watch them enjoy it.

like, there are also aquatic pets that CAN and will socialize or behave in ways that can be understood as affectionate -- bettas will come to recognize you and usually greet their owners, a lot of more intelligent fish like cichlids etc have strong personalities, etc. you can find overlap between the experiences you'll have w aquatic + non-aquatic pets. but that's not rly what i'm talking abt in this case!

like, i have really really enjoyed having shrimp, who frankly do not give a shit about me at all. they don't know i exist (beyond, like, 'Sometimes There Is A Large Shape Out There.') they don't even come up to the front glass in anticipation of food the way fish do -- they really do not interact with me in any capacity ever, aside from curiously checking out my tools when i'm doing maintenance on the tank.

but they're happy and healthy. they enjoy the shade under leaves the big cryptocoryne i planted in the back corner. they spend all day plucking algae off the three glass walls that i purposefully leave unscraped to make sure they'll have enough. they go fucking apeshit when i grudgingly give them a little crumb of crappy pleco wafer, Junk Food Of The Sea. basically, they have a peaceful home that i made for them, and it seems like they like it quite a bit. it's really really nice to be the silent custodian of a little ecosystem like that.

[mudcrabmassacre]

A little progression as I planted! I don't have much to say here except how thrilling it was to put this together. Arguably this has been my BEST aquascape to date, and I surprised myself by how good it turned out for my third ever tank build.

The appearance of an old, root choked crumbling rock was what I was going for, like a tree stump or tropical mangrove that grew out of an old volcanic floe. The dramatic red of the spider roots really pops well against all the green I think.

Plants used under the cut:

-Cryptocoryne wenditii green

-Dwarf baby tears

-anubias Nana petit

-java fern phillipine mini

-java fern windelov

-bolbitis difformis

-bolbitis difformis mini

-bucephalandras sp. Godzilla, catherinae green, velvet 3-color, brownie phoenix

[waterskies]

Well, I rescaped the tank. I'm not sure if I like it or not. I wish I had more rocks to choose from or some better driftwood, but they're all being used in my other tanks lol

I put in 5 roots tabs under various dwarf sag and a couple more under the cryptocoryne wendtii I put in here. Decided to take out the limnophila sessiliflora and switch it with some vallisneria asiatica. Also, I grabbed some Java fern on wood that was in my 40long and put it in here, too. I hope the dwarf sag bounces back.

Thinking about christmas moss on the rock, not sure...

[endangered-aquarium-fish]

Toba betta (Betta rubra)

Endangered

One of the domestic betta's 74+ wild relatives!!! The Toba Betta is just a tiny little guy at only 2 inches long, and it's only found around lake Toba on the island of Sumatra, under a canopy of tropical pine forests. It's known for being very expressive, with just as much personality as domestic bettas- theyre goofy little guys, always exploring and interacting and showing off (or squabbling) with other fish and people, and changing colors to communicate - males seem to glow with a stunningly bright crimson when they're ready to mate.

Betta rubra is one of the more adaptable wild bettas, living both in stagnant peat swamps and fast flowing hillstreams, but always in soft, acidic water. It's one of the best fish for someone who wants to get into wild bettas for the first time.

Most fish in its family build bubble nests to raise their fry, which is such a wonderful thing that anyone who keeps them would recognize, but the Toba Betta has its own way- it comes from an ancestor that only lived in fast currents that would pick up the whole nest and carry it away if they could, so it came up with a new strategy called mouthbrooding - the males just hold the whole clutch inside their cavernous mouths!!! the eggs can take a couple weeks to hatch and the fish holding them goes that entire time without ever eating. Toba bettas can be very aggressive about constantly mating, sometimes doing it right as the fry from last time are released, so they sometimes go for months without any food 0.0

And that's not the only one of its clever tricks either!! Like other fish in the gourami family, Toba bettas have an entire unique organ to help them adapt to stagnant swamps and pools without oxygen. It's called a labyrinth organ after its mazelike fractal structure - and that structure is used to breathe air. Yeah!!! Air breathing fish!!!! They've gotten to the point where they actually need access to both air and water to breathe from or they drown.

Overall they're a lot like a more chill and funky version of a domesticated betta :3

Make sure you have at least a 5-10 gallon tank for your bettas, and 15-20 gallons is really best for a pair or small group - they're normally peaceful but it's important that they can get away from each other if there's a conflict. They jump a lot, so it's also very important that the tank has a lid, and that the water level is about an inch or more below it so they have enough oxygen to breathe (make sure the lid isn't completely airtight - you can poke holes in it or something)

Toba bettas love soft, warm (70-80 F), acidic water with a gentle current and some tannins from decaying leaves, wood, and seed pods. If your tap water isn't naturally soft this may not be the best fish for you. The tannins are medicinal, help grow food for the babies, and help the fish feel a bit safer. My favorite way to get them is from oak leaves and twigs and acorns since they're tannin rich and readily available where I am.

Like most wild bettas, Toba bettas love to have plenty of shade and cover from aquatic plants, rocks, and wood. Some of my favorite plants to use for this are pearlweed, susswassertang, frogbit, banana lilies, and Cryptocorynes- they'll all help your bettas feel safe and at home :3 (and they help the water quality a lot!!! do not underestimate the power of photosynthesis >:3)

Bettas have a reputation for being aggressive, but not these!! They're a bit more peaceful and can be kept in pairs or trios, and with other small, slow moving, peaceful fish if you give everyone enough space and cover, but males are very territorial to each other so only add one unless its a large tank. The one other thing they won't get along with is shrimp - they love eating crustaceans and their adaptation for mouthbrooding means they have a bigger mouth than you think.

They're really easy to feed - other than your shrimp, they love to eat most protein rich foods, like fluval bug bites and freeze dried or frozen blood worms, mysis shrimp, etc., but they really prefer live foods like mosquito larvae and daphnia if you can provide that to them.

They're easy to breed too, just put a male and a female together and keep them happy and well fed and you'll have babies in no time. The male will wrap around the female and squeeze out all her eggs before fertilizing them and scooping them up into his mouth until they hatch a couple weeks later. Keep a separate tank ready so you can move the female after breeding or she's likely to eat the babies once they're free, and don't move or stress the male while he has eggs or he might swallow them. The male should be removed too once the fry are swimming - they don't usually eat their own young, but they certainly can. The fry need humid air, like 90% or more, otherwise their labyrinth organ won't develop properly and they can die - luckily it's pretty easy to just put some plastic wrap or a good lid over the tank. They're super tiny and they love super tiny foods, including the millions of little creatures already living in the substrate, dead leaves, and plants. Some of their favorites are microworms, daphnia, and baby brine shrimp. As long as you keep the water clean and feed them well you'll have lots of new thriving colorful bettas in a couple months :3

Toba bettas are endangered in the wild from habitat destruction/degredation, invasive species, overexploitation, and climate change. So go keep them alive at home!!!!! its fun i promise :3