thE TINT

the art and science of botanical method aquarium keeping.

  • “OPERATING” YOUR AQUARIUM. EMBRACING THE SEASONS.

    One of the great joys in creating and working with botanical method aquairums is that we have such a wide variety of natural habitats to take inspiration from. And, as we’ve discussed here over the years, it’s not just types of natural aquatic habitats or specific locales- it’s seasons and cycles that we can emulate in our tanks as well. I…

  • CURING WOOD “IN SITU.” YES? NO? MAYBE?

    I talk incessantly about the “preparation” of botanical materials for use in our aquariums. It’s become part of our hobby “ethos”; a practice that we hardly even question anymore these days. It’s a safe, efficient, and practical approach to utilizing botanicals in our tanks. Now, with twigs and branches, that idea of practicality comes in. Most of…

  • FORMULA.

    As I plot my next botanical method aquarium, I’m thinking about all of the different ideas I want to incorporate in it. Actually, it’s more about what ecological niche I’d like to try to replicate. A submerged log? A flooded varzea meadow? A temporal pool? A leaf-choked igarape? And then there are the botanicals themselves.…

  • SPONTANEOUS FISH BREEDING, CHASING NUMBERS, AND FIGURING OUT WHAT’S IN YOUR WATER…

    The other day I was admiring some of my Epiplatys dageti Monroviae (a top-spawning African killifish) spawning in one of my tanks. It’s always cool to see your fishes spawn, and it’s even more cool when they are fish that you’ve raised from fry themselves- I guess it’s something about “closing a circle”, or whatever.  Regardless, the…

  • TO BOLDLY GO: YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT…

    Over the years, I’ve presented some of the work that I feel has pushed our hobby experience forward, challenged our skills, and questioned the status quo. Some were downright weird, some were unique, but not really earth-shattering. Still others actually led to a re-imganing of how I do things in the botanical method aquarium world.…

  • “OLD SCHOOL” FRY FEEDING TECHNIQUE: THE BOTANICAL METHOD WAY…

    I’m on this kick about how things in the hobby continuously evolve, so it was sort of obvious to me to think about how some of our common aquarium practices have changed over time as new ideas and techniques creep in. With so much emphasis on keeping our fishes as healthy as possible for as…

  • LITTLE FRIENDS AND FOOD WEBS IN OUR AQUARIUMS…

    One of the things that we discuss so much around here is the concept of the aquarium as a “microbiome”- a habitat for a wide variety of organisms at many levels. Over the years, I have thought a lot about how we as botanical method aquarium enthusiasts gradually build up our systems, and how the…

  • FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK…OR ADD SUBSTRATE…

    Hey Scott- how come you don’t see rocks in those pics of the igapo inundated forests? Can I Include them in my “Urban Igapo?” Oh, this is a good one. A question I get all the time.  First off- you CAN do whatever the hell you want. However, if you’re trying to faithfully represent one of these habitats…

  • A BIT MORE ON THAT “HAZE” IN YOUR WATER…

    I just gave you a big handful of stuff on “color” and “clarity” in our botanical-method aquariums, but I wanted to touch on a bit more bout this “haziness” we see in our tanks. A lot of you ask about it, so I need to elaborate more on it. It’s a sort of “haziness” which…

  • TINT, TURBIDITY, AND A CERTAIN “LOOK.”

    We walk a line between function and aesthetics in our world. A world which demands mental shifts, adoption of new techniques, and a love of a certain “look.” And, one of the big discussion points we have in our world is about the color and “clarity” of the water in our blackwater aquariums. I receive…