North shore of Lake Inle
The 41th place in the qualifying stage of the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2013
Poland. Blazej Berner
Volume: 119 L
List of fishes: Channa gachua sp. Inle Lake
List of plants: Vallisneria asiatica, Vallisneria spiralis, several species of Cryptocoryne, Pistia stratiotes, Lemna minor, Microsorum “Narrow Leaf”
Biotope description: Aquarium was created for Betta unimaculata, but with the passage of time and my development I headed toward typical biotope tanks. My love to Channa species motivated me to make the natural environment as much as I can. It’s hard to find specific materials with photos of Inle Lake. I supported with publications, I watched behavior of these fish and planted species as similar as possible to those that grow there to make perfect environment for my Channa. They repay me with health, proper growth and spawning. They are young and they still are learning how to produce offspring. The tank is a flooded shore with wood imitating the roots of trees. There are rinsed logs simulating hiding places for fish, a lot of grassy vegetation and Cryptocorynes. I put floating plants for fish comfort. Floating hollow log is perfect for male gachua in order to incubate roe himself. Everything for sense of comfort and calm. In addition to Channa I have also several species of Anabantoidei and Cryptocoryne collection.
Unfortunately I know this lake very well and introduced almost all fish species living along the north shore already begin of the 1980s (i.e. the former Inlecypris auropurpureus, and I. jayarami, Microrasbora rubescens, M. erythromicron, Yunnanilus brevis and many more), and know all the aquatic plants (of which none you have are from there), your placement was way down. Please research more next time, as you do nice set-ups.
Well, if someone had the opportunity to see how the reeds look like at the bank of the pond – then he would appreciate this layout. Because it looks exactly how it looks underwater – lots of stems, which are obstructing the view and make almost impossible to see anything. A very good tank, and I don’t know why it ranked 18th. In my opinion it deserves at least the place among first ten tanks, even though it could be bigger.