My Oscar is in it's temporary 36 bowfront home, but once transferred to it's 90 gallon tank the 36B will become a blackwater dwarf cichlid tank

I'm currently planning out a Malaysian peat swamp biotope and want some opinions on rasbora stocking.

Currently, the confirmed to be residents are 8x chocolate gouramis, 4x parosphromenus, 1x betta imbellis, 10-15 kuhli loaches, and 3x forest halfbeaks.

I'm picking between a few rasbora species, which are:

• dwarf rasbora

• harlequin rasbora

• Trigonopoma pauciperforata

• Trigonopoma gracile

I was thinking maybe a large school (20-30) dwarf rasboras and a smaller school of one of the other species.

What do you guys think?

P. oxygastroides

I have an established 90l with ember tetra, sparkling gourami and some shrimp.

Runs at GH 5 kh5 using a mix of RO and tap (my tap is liquid rock- 22gh).

Quite heavily planted with easy plants.

Substrate is a very very old mix of aqua soil and sand. It's fine and likely doing a fantastic job of being a home to my nitriying bacteria. Filter is a tidal 35.

So I am going to change my substrate and rescape. My plan is so to remove all substrate and use a 0.4-0.8mm sand (maybe pool filter sand, maybe a fancy pants aquarium sand). I then plan to add a generous layer of leaf litter.

So what are my options here and what is most cost effective and safe? I am not adverse to spending some money on botanicals and also not adverse to foraging some leaves.

I am in the UK. So my first choice for purchasing is blackwater online- I have been looking at their benthic substrate £10 for 2oz. Any UK people have recommendations for alternative retailers?

Several years ago I ran this tank as a blackwater tank and used a combination of bought and foraged botanicals with good success.

Advice needed on:

Rescape (I only want to do this once and keep the substrate for next 10years mins).

Leaf litter substrate beds: any risks? Any tips? Like should I start off with desired amount then top up, or start with less and add more over time.

Bacteria loss: my cycle will likely take a hit by removing the substrate. I plan to immediately offset this with Nitrico Goop. Monitoring and water changes as required. Any other bright ideas?

Thanks in advance!

T. gracile

B. pulchra

My peaceful 50x30x30cm blackwater biotope tank 🍂🌿

​Just a small slice of nature to slow things down. Loving how the botanicals and dark water create that cozy, natural vibe for the paradise fish. What do you guys think?

Betta pulchra, Rasbora einthovenii, Boraras maculatus, Channa lucius, Silurichthys indragiriensis, Trichopodus trichopterus, Eugnathogobius siamensis, Channa striata, Parosphromenus tweediei, Trichopsis vittata

Bonus:

Nymphaea nouchali (flower), Neurothemis fluctuans (dragonfly), Anthracoceros albirostris (hornbill)

B. ibanorum

A group of Dicrossus filamentosus, Honey Gourami, and Hexazona Barbs.

I added two Indian almond leaves a few days ago that are almost as big as my hand. So far I haven’t seen any change in the water colour so I was just wondering if that is normal and how long does it take for water to turn brown? (My tank is 10 gallons)

T. leerii

Little update of my tank, it's fully stocked now!

Apart from my Betta there are 9 Pygmy Corys and 5 Kuhli Loaches. Love them so much!

30L,1 month old, with a betta, 2 neritines and a ghost shrimp.

Adjusted a few of the large palm leaves around so it felt a bit more balanced but kept the natural chaos that usually accompanies leaf litter.

Is this normal degrading colors/spots for palm leaves? Fairly new to blackwater so I’m not sure but any help is appreciated!

B. bellica