Tom's Bucket O' Mud (semi self-sustaining aquarium)

[driftwoodhunter]

If the trick is laziness, I'm onto a great start - lol

All my tanks are low tech/low light & no added Co2 - I'm not interested in fast, pushed growth or frequent trims. Right now my main tank (the other two are temps until I get larger tanks running) is full of plant eaters, so I'm limited to certain less-tasty plants, no stems survive. Perhaps in future tanks though...even so, there is so much to learn from your tanks, the plant placements and the balance between plants and livestock.

[astrosag]

Tom, that is a most impressive tank. That tank and how you've utilized it is simply awesome.

I am a fan of relatively self sustaining tanks - I don't use CO2 or regularly fert. I just want a seeing-hole into a fish's natural environment (or as close as I can get it to be).

I could see my 20g reaching that level of hands-off if my GF didn't insist on having so many fish. Although the plants will do fine, I can't sustain a predation cycle with the amount of fish I have. Feedings are absolutely necessary.

Clearly, your plant-to-fauna mass ratio is highly in favor of the flora.

Very inspiring, thanks for sharing!

I am highly inclined to try something like this with my next tank.

[riverdragon]

I love this tank! It's like all the best parts of a pond, plus the best parts of an aquarium. I've been thinking about tanks that are wide and shallow-ish rather than narrow and tall for a while now, and I think it was seeing this tank back in January that made me start thinking about it. I really like how it looks both from above and from the sides, bravo! I think if I saw your tank in person, I'd just sit and watch it for hours!

[BigTom]

Got a couple of shots of the rosy loaches (Yunnanilus sp. 'Rosy') chilling out while I had the camera pointed at the tank - just messing around with a new cheapish flash setup really, but I don't think I've posted many shots of them before, and they really are lovely little fish:






And an oto hiding in a dell amongst the Lilleaopsis -

[james1542]

BigTom, I like your style of tank, similar to the philosophy I prefer . Excellent picture taking too! Those rosy loaches rock!

[Jnad]

Hello!

What a great tank, really inspiring.

If you should do this setup all over again would you prefer a higher tank, maybe 14 or 16 inches high? Is there any other changes you would do regarding the setup? I ask beacuse i am thinking of doing a tank just like yours Wonderful

Jnad

[BigTom]

Originally Posted by Jnad

Hello!

What a great tank, really inspiring.

If you should do this setup all over again would you prefer a higher tank, maybe 14 or 16 inches high? Is there any other changes you would do regarding the setup? I ask beacuse i am thinking of doing a tank just like yours Wonderful

Jnad

Hi Jnad. Yes, I think if starting over I would go with a slightly higher tank (40cm) to give more options for scaping. And maybe change the dimensions to be slightly rectangular instead of completely square, although that would depend on the space it was going into.

Mainly I'd get a bigger apartment so I could have it in the middle of a room viewable from all sides!

[Jnad]

Tanks for reply.

In my apartment i have a corner to place the tank, the free wall space in this corner is 130cm x 90cm. But i think maybe a tank that uses all of this wall space will look very large in my living room. I must give it a real thougt to get the right tank size that also look good in my living rom, the tank must not just look BIG

By the way, the wall that measures 130cm have a window, so the tank will have possibility to Get sunlight if preferd.

Jnad

Originally Posted by BigTom

Hi Jnad. Yes, I think if starting over I would go with a slightly higher tank (40cm) to give more options for scaping. And maybe change the dimensions to be slightly rectangular instead of completely square, although that would depend on the space it was going into.

Mainly I'd get a bigger apartment so I could have it in the middle of a room viewable from all sides!

[jeffs99dime]

Your tank and your skills are completely amazing!

[riverdragon]

Whoa! Those rosy loaches are awesome! Guess I have something new to research. I love your photos, too.

[DesertDenial]

Your tank is just so beautiful on so many levels it's just....WOW am in awe.
Well done!

[amajoh]

This tank is amazing. Gorgeous pictures. As a newbie, this is so inspirational.

[Aside]

This is really stunning. Both the tank and the photographs.

[acitydweller]

The photos and scape speak for themselves. breath taking...

[rozdaboff]

Very nice and natural - the same type of look I love.

The Rosy loaches look very nice. That is one of the nicest pics I have seen of them. They will be inhabitants of my tank here shortly, in addition to some other Myanmar species.

I had never heard of the Sawbwa resplendens until recently. Very beautiful fish. A biotope of them, Danio erythromicron and Yunnanilus brevis would be very cool - but all prefer a slightly more basic water than I have in my tank. So I am opting for D. margaritatus, Microdevario nana (or D. tinwini - not sure) and the rosy loaches.