Cod's Asian Communitope

Hi all,
It's been a long time since I last posted on the forum. I was quite active when I first discovered Think Fish when I narrowly avoided buying two fancy goldfish for my parent's old 15l tank.

Thanks to the advice on the articles and the forum I have avoided many other potential catastrophes and my four year love affair with the hobby has resulted in my development of an Asian communitope tank. I can't call it a biotope as there are a number of fish and plant species from various parts of SE Asia.

Livestock:
9 Harlequin Rasbora
7 Five-banded Barbs
3 Odessa Barbs (to increase to 6 when stocking allows)
6 Dwarf Chain Loach
1 Siamese Algae Eater
3 Amano shrimp
1 Nerite Snail

Plants:
Java Fern (standard and mini)
Bucephalandra species
Cryptocoryne (including wendtii, bullosa, usteriana, willisii and nevelli)
Rotala indica
Limnophila sessiliflora
Eleocharis acicularis
Pogostemon helferi
Pogostemon stellatus
Java moss

The eagle-eyed observers will have noticed Crinum calamistratum in the back right of the tank. Whilst this plant is African, at £8.99 a plant I wasn't going to throw it out!

I also have a few fish from my old setup that aren't Asian in origin - these are 3 X-Ray tetra (which are coming up to 4 years old) and a large Bristlenose pleco that arrived with the tank. Whilst the part of me has considered trying to rehome these 'aliens', I just can't bring myself to do it. The X-rays were my second fish purchase (after the obligatory platy) and I feel quite an attachment to them.

I'll try and get a better shot of the tank soon, but I'm feeling quite proud of my current setup and wanted to share it.

All the best,
Cod

Good to hear from you, Cod, and about your tank's current inhabitants. Tank looks great from the pic too. 

I always recollect that you have x-ray tetras as we started out tropical fishkeeping at the same time and both got x-rays at the same time - I also have 3 left who have their 4th birthday later this month. 

I think your tank looks great. 

That's a lovely looking tank. 

I quite like the concept of a communitope. I think this would also describe my tank well - I have mainly SE Asian fish and plants, but not completely and not all from the same country. I've also descovered recently that I could add 'blackwater' to the description of my tank.

I love the aquascaping of your tank and am always on the look out to steal ideas. What size is your tank and how hard is your water? What is your substrate?

Thanks Helen,

My tank is 90cm x 30cm and has a capacity of approx. 130l, though the volume of water is obviously less.

My water is on the hard side, so I have tried to purchase fish that can cope with this. The exception being the fivebanded barbs which prefer softer more acidic water.However, I've read that as the fish are now farmed, they are less likely to require softwater. They seem happy enough and the two fish of the initial 9 that I purchased died from escaping from the tank. They're a great alternative to Tiger barbs!

My substrate is Colombo florabase.

Tank looks brill Cod...