Friendly Hallo from Southwest Germany

[f_luxus]

Hello everyone,

My name is Felix and I'm 40 years old, based in Germany.
I've been keeping fish for a while and have a pretty varied interest in the hobby. I really enjoy creating aquascapes, but I also appreciate the beauty and simplicity of classic aquarium setups.
I'm currently breeding Betta imbellis (Peaceful Betta), which is a fascinating journey.
One of my quirks is that I love to do things exactly the opposite of the accepted wisdom, just to see what happens and if it works! This often leads to some interesting experiments. For example, I mix my own fertilizers – let's just say I'm quite frugal (or geizig as we say in German), but I still want my tanks to look fantastic!
My big plan right now is to set up a large Low-Tech aquarium (light only) in a biotope style out on my veranda. The goal is a virtually No-Maintenance system.
I'm looking forward to learning from you all and sharing my experiences!

Cheers,Felix

 

[MattW]

Welcome to the forum!

That large low-tech aquarium sounds like an interesting plan! What biotope would you try? If you have it out on the veranda, you could make use of rainwater to minimise maintenance.

 

[Back in the fold]

One of my quirks is that I love to do things exactly the opposite of the accepted wisdom, just to see what happens and if it works! This often leads to some interesting experiments.

My brother ! I welcome you and would hear more of your experiments . I too like to go against accepted wisdom and see what happens . Sometimes it blows up in my face but many times my hunches were right .

 

[Innesfan]

Welcome to you and your bettas.

 

[Fish Fan1]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[f_luxus]

That large low-tech aquarium sounds like an interesting plan! What biotope would you try? If you have it out on the veranda, you could make use of rainwater to minimise maintenance.

My absolut dream, would be a 200x50x50cm tank, thats about 130 gallons (sorry, we use the metric system in Germany).
Thanks for the suggestions! That low-tech approach is definitely what I'm aiming for.
Regarding the rainwater idea: my veranda actually has a drain, which is convenient, but I'm not a fan of unfiltered rainwater. Collecting it off the roof is the only way to do it easily, but it always picks up fine dust residues, and I'd rather avoid that. Plus, we often have weeks of no rain in the summer here (yes, Germany has hot summers! ).
The solution is actually quite simple: I have an RO unit in the laundry room right near the veranda. I can easily run a hose from there to top up the water, possibly with a timer. Water out is self-regulating thanks to the drain. Water in will be easy and controlled. Since there will be no pump in the tank, I don't have to worry about power cuts or maintenance on that front either.
As for the fish, I haven't decided yet. I have Heterandria formosa in a 15-gallon tank, and that would certainly be worth a try. Does anyone know for sure how low a temperature they can tolerate?
For the design, I plan to use local branches and leaves. I'm a self-proclaimed 'cheapo,' as mentioned, and I don't see the point in having driftwood shipped from the Everglades when local wood looks just as good! The fish won't care one bit.
Biotope-wise, since I'm using local wood/leaves, I might lean towards a generic Biotope feel rather than strictly replicating a specific geographic one, unless a good cold-tolerant fish option emerges that fits a particular region.

 

[MattW]

For a low-temp fish. You could try rainbow shiners. I think the minimum temperature requirement is around 11 °C. Great when they colour up as well. You could always run a heater in the winter months, as an assurance.

 

[f_luxus]

For the next time, my dream will not come true, but who knows what happens next.
Actually, we can run our Veranda as a kind of winter garden, but then, we need some work to do, installing windows etc. pp.
The House is from 1920 (bricks of sandstone, typical for our region, very durable) as you can imagen, there is so much to do. Bucket list and todo list have their own little competition

I'ld rather prefer Elassoma and Heterandria i guess. If needed with a heater, but i think i can manage to keep temperature over 12°C. So then it could maybe called "Everglades Biotope" built with german driftwood
What's fishkeeping, without dreaming a big dream Thank you guys for the warm welcome!