Kribensis Setup...Part 1

[ari]

oh NO! not another el cheapo cichlid.being at rm2 or less, the kribensis has often been overlooked, underated and snobbed at by most aquarist. the kribensis has the unfortunate luck of being term as a novice cichlid, and true to form the majority of malaysian aquarist wouldnt wanna have anything to do with a fish that tags its owners as freshies.

To me the kribs is one of the most beautiful cichlid and at its low price it is a cichlid worth keeping ... the reward of its colourful courting display and a spawn or two is almost assured. infact the very nature of the kribs in turnning their body colour on or off really reflexs the true calibre of their owners. a self proclaimed cichlid sifu is worth only 2 bucks if he cant get a kribs to turn its colour on......shall i go on?...so i thinkl its about time Kribs are given their proper respect.

i have been planning on a kribs only biotype setup for years , somehow for one reason or another i never got started.
so how does a kribs biotype looks like?
The books says clear water stream, pebble bed ,rocks and boulders....but how many times have we seen all that?...its begining to get stale on just pebbles and rocks. our imagnation is not being tested with such setups.
what about a planted setup with loads of exotic plants...half a dozen species a least. nice and attractive ...but then again everyone seems to doing the same setup and how often do we see aquarist who got the combination of plants wrong?..when something that dont suppose to be there appears there, then the whole setup becomes out of place...an eye sore ...especially to a fussy aquarist like me.


typical clear water stream in Nigeria...home of the Kribensis


the solution is to head out to one of our cleaner clear water streams in Malaysia to observe what its really like. im sure the streams in Malaysia are not much different then the ones in Nigeria....u cant go wrong here ...not on a long shot.
what i had in mind for my set up is the slower section of the stream. where moss grows on boulders, moss covered tree roots jolting out from the banks, and the slow current permits a small section of the bed to be infested with crawler plants. no fancy exotic plants here...they wont stand a chance in real life.
Tree root setup is not often seen since the problem of getting bogwood to look like roots.,,, unless u use actual roots.. roots have the natural curve but they must be in miniture size to fit into our tanks.
tree roots was the least of my problem....the real test ...can i get the 3 plant species i wanted for this setup?
JAVA MOSS, COLYSIS WRIGHT (poorman's java fern..hahaha) and Glossostigma.

so off i went to 88, a well known FS that supplies aquatic plants,....and luck indeed is on my side...they happen to have a bunch of java moss and glossostigma for sale.....but as often with me ..luck doesnt always means my lucky day.

I was told the java moss cost Rm3.50 per 10 grams!!!
wow!...and another wow!....wait a minute,...lets walk thru this again, Man, im serious...i aint the type who wanna trouble my brains with calculations, but this piece of information just needs to be calculated.
now, rm3.50 per 10gramms, that means 100grams would be rm35, and a kilo worth of java moss will cost a cool rm350.....cool for the lady behind behind the cash register, that is.
im trying very hard to appreciate the value of money no matter how fast the ringgit is skydiving...but to spend that kind of money for moss?...well this sure is something else....for as i could remember i last paid rm300 for a kilo worth of top grade Cambodian reeds and if my calculations are correct...the price of java moss tops the price of Rastafarian Wisdom Weeds!
Boy oh boy, guess the coloumbian boys would simply have to switch crop and start harvesting java moss.
hell...if the boys at 88 suppose i would paying any money for their moss...they sure got something else coming.

this tank has to go ..its a rush job for my nics....a real sore eye of a setup

[ari]

well...now im in a tight spot...without java moss my setup aint gonna happen.
but complicated problems doesnt always need complicated solutions.
as i could remember Java moss is not always java moss....they are emerge moss before they became what they are. sphagnum moss a common moss found along streams and boulder , quite often they could be found below the waterline,,,in a different form with a wider stem...and there is a 60% chance they will turn submerge in our tanks ....depending on whos doing the planting.

the submerge form...but they hard to scrap off, and more often they breakup into pieces.



getting the emerge form is much more practical...but more hard to plant in home setups. avoid getting those that grows on the ground...they are usually dirtier.




when scrapping the moss , make sure u scrap along the tree barks. it gives the moss an even chance with undamage roots



a surprise find.

[ari]

the moss are tied to plastic matting, using green thread.



the finish product...rinse to remove any dirt



look what i found at AI garabge dump....


the good thing about java ferns...nothing goes to waste...with the leaves removed the roots are tie to this stem..in time nice little leaves will grow

[ari]

the centre piece of my setup...



roots found along the streams...nice curves and texture




corse gravel covered with palstic mats


i use this SERA product....a trusted one for me ...of course i prefer ADA...but no money la

[ari]

the moss mats in place ...covering the ugly ugly brick wall background






everything in place...now to fill the water.




TO be continue

[dom]

The mosses you collected are terrestrial and can't survive in water. The fastest is a month and it will turn brown n die off. The slowest will take 3-4months.

Try to get those mosses in very high humidity area and very near to water surface. remember I was giving away the mosses....posted for a month n no taker. end up...i thrown most of them.

[LTO]

Very informative. Keep em coming. If u need java moss, i can give u some.

[RazorBlade]

Nice & neat article (even though Dom did point out an apparent flaw in the choice of plants/moss). Please keep us updated, and keep it coming! Thx for sharing!

[colim98]

wei bro ari, nice and amazing work u got there...really looking forward to the progress...

[ari]

Originally Posted by dom

The mosses you collected are terrestrial and can't survive in water. The fastest is a month and it will turn brown n die off. The slowest will take 3-4months.

Try to get those mosses in very high humidity area and very near to water surface. remember I was giving away the mosses....posted for a month n no taker. end up...i thrown most of them.

im a betting man ...and words without money to back it up adds up to nothing!
go to 88, ask the people there, which tank is the one with sphagnum moss. a true eye opener for u..my friend....and just like i said....depends on whos doing the planting.
maybe u are reffering to the longkang moss...hehehe. my back yard is filled with that!