River Grza, Upper wellspring, Serbia

The 3rd place in the qualifying stage of the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2015

 Serbia. David Milosevic

Volume: 400 L
List of fishes: Phoxinus phoxinus, Pseudorasbora parva
List of plants: Porella baueri, Cinclidotus aquaticus, Pellia endiviifolia, Metzgeria conjugata, Hymenasplenium obscurum, Neckera webbiana
Biotope description: The aquarium was set up based on a biotope of Grza river in Central Serbia. It originates 20 kilometers from Paraćin city. It passes through limestone and sandstone rocks so it have large diversity of stone materials through it flow. Substrate is made of fine sand, reddish colored. While the larger rocks are predominantly yellowish-white. Because the river passes through a thick forest, a lot of branches and stumps are in the water. Average temperature of water is 9.5°C but in summer is 18°C. Ph is 7.6 but it can go to 8.1 depending on the season. TDS is 235 mainly because of the limestone. It have large diversity of plants near or in water, especially bryophytes (above 30 species).

Lots of detail, I particularly like the very fine and complex texture of the large driftwood. Light makes some interesting contrasts on the driftwood, with parts quite well illuminated, and parts remaining in the shadow. There could be a little bit of mud on the stones – but anyways, the whole composition looks very good. It has some “Petra Del Basic-ish” touch to it, especially the patches of moss – I wonder if she is the designer of this tank.

Piotr Kierzkowski (Poland)

When looking at this entry a comparison with the artist who paints the landscape comes to mind. Everything is very realistic, but there is a significant mistake: Pseudorasbora and Phoxinus always make schools. You can never never see this fish alone. When setting up any biotope aquarium this rule should be taken for granted: schooling fish should be kept only in groups.

Alexey Malyshev (Russia)