Kingdom of the White Cloud - Aquarium Makeover

The aquarium in our living room has been running for nearly seven years, and despite enduring many changes over this time, the general theme has always been 'miscellaneous community' - a random mix of tropical fish species from different parts of the world, a selection of live and fake plants, rocks and wood. A good learning-curve for a beginner aquarist, and an interesting living room centrepiece, but in recent times I'd felt it just lacked a certain touch of character and intrigue...

The 'before' shot - a cluttered tropical community aquarium

The Inspiration

Close your eyes, and imagine the sound of a cool, clear stream trickling over a little rocky outcrop, with lush green forrest for a backdrop, and high mountainous peaks looming in the distance. I've always wanted to replicate a little section of one such clear, shallow creek system, with spring-fed origins forming amongst the snow-capped peaks of mountainous southern China. With one of my favourite fish species happening to inhabit that region, and my interest in the tropical community aquarium waining, I felt this was the perfect opportunity to give this biotope a shot. This is how I went about this little aquarium makeover, from cluttered mixed community, to shallow mountain stream:

The inspiration: Wu Tong Mountain, Guangdong province, Southern China (seriouslyfish.com)

1) The Strip-down: 

Just like with any makeover, the first step was to strip the aquarium down, piece by piece. With much regret, I sold most of the original inhabitants (2 x kribensis, 6 x emperor tetra) on Gumtree, and moved two remaining neon tetra to my South American tank (I decided that the four kuhli loaches and one bristlenose plec. would stay - this would only be a loose biotope, afterall). I then removed the hardscape, including rocks, wood and plants. I gave the tank a thorough clean at this point; the glass got a good scrub and the substrate a deep vacum. You could definitely tell that the poor old tank had not been tinkered with in many long years, judging by the amount of crap (literally) that came out during the clean!

The strip-down begins

2) The Hardscape

After the tank had been taken appart and given a deep clean, it was time to add the new hardscape (in aquarium terms, 'hardscape' relates to non-living decor, including rocks, wood etc.). The first step was to replicate a stoney creek bed. Using the existing gravel, I created a gentle slope slanting from right-to-left, and then arranged a select choice of river stones so that the largest were on the top of the slope, gradually declining in size toward the bottom, creating a natural flow and giving the impression of the bank of a shallow creek. I also entwind two small pieces of twisted wood around the river stones as to imitate some flooded roots.

Introducing the new hardscape, including river stones and wood

3) Finishing Touches

As the dust (or in this case, fish poo) settled, I was able to add the finishing touches to this riverine recreation. I scattered smooth pebbles along the bottom of the tank to round off the stoney creekbed look, and last of all planted a few specimens of vallis (Vallisneria sp.) behind the larger stones, representing a scattering of submerged vegetation growing on the banks of the 'creek'. And there you have it! It only took a few hours (and under $20) to turn the community aquarium into this simple, yet effective mountain creek biotope.

The end result - simple, but effective!

4) The Inhabitants

Running with the theme of a trickling southern Chinese creek, I could not go past one of my favourite fish species - the humble White Cloud Mountain Minnow (WCMM), Tanichthys albonubes. The WCMM originates from the clear flowing streams of southern China, and with its pretty red and neon-silver colouration, this species makes the perfect inhabitant for this tank. Along with the minnows and the original Kuhli loaches (Pangio kuhlii), and bristlenose plec (Ancistrus sp.), I added a shoal of glass shrimp to add some interest to the lower levels.

The humble White Cloud Mountain Minnow,  one of my all-time favourites

Glass shrimp love hanging out on the Vallis leaves!

Close-up of the hardscape

I'm really happy with the end result, and I find this simple, clean aquarium far more pleasing to the eye than the cluttered community setup. Eventually (a.k.a when I next get paid), I plan to double the number of WCMMs, and install a powerhead pump in order to increase the water flow in the tank to make it even more creek-like. Which do you prefer more, the community or the river? I'd love to hear your thoughts!


The Specs.

Tank:
75 cm x 35 cm x 35 cm
Approx. 90 L (25 US gallons)

Equipment:
1 Aqua One Hang-on-the-back (HOB) filter
1 Resun HOB filter
1 30W Aqua One heater
1 30 watt fluorescent light

Flora:
Vallisneria (Vallisneria sp.)

Fauna:
8 x White Cloud Mountain Minnow (Tanichthys albonubes)
4 x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii)
1 x Bristlenose Plec. (Ancistrus sp.)
15+ Glass Shrimp