Small bowls are a simple, inexpensive way of keeping aquarium plants and moving on to bigger things. A YouTube video (‘The Simplest Planted Aquarium With Diana Walstad’) shows the setup of 1-gal and 5-gal planted bowls. Lisa and John Hudson of KGTropicals (keepfishkeeping.com) made this happen. Video is a fantastic learning piece for those of you rightly intimidated by setting up aquascaped tanks, using soil in aquariums, or maintaining high-tech tanks. Photo shows me and Lisa with our bowls. She’s got the bigger one, but I’ve got three little ones. Not surprisingly, all bowls are doing great since setup!
Without my ‘Aquatic Ecology Subject Index’ (175 pages, available here), I never could have written Ecology of the Planted Aquarium. From the 1990s onward, I subject-indexed every scientific paper I read. Eventually, the index provided a framework for my book. I enjoy reading scientific papers. Many contain interesting experiments and inspiring ideas. Admittedly, the scientific jargon, conflicting nomenclature, and statistics can be daunting. But these barriers can be breached by further investigation and being organized. To be a scientist, you do not have to have a Ph.D., but you do need a love of science.
Diana Walstad at the Filing Cabinet. All Papers are Subject-indexed for Easy Retrieval.
‘Ecology of the Planted Aquarium’ (4th Edition, 2023) is now available as an affordable paperback to hobbyists overseas (Britain, Italy, Japan, etc.), not just to those in the U.S. While there is a different–and maybe prettier– cover for Amazon-printed books, all BTPS-printed books, eBooks, and Amazon Kindles contain the same material. This is a long-awaited improvement, because shipping a printed book overseas is prohibitively expensive.
I am thrilled to announce launch of the 4th edition (2023) of ‘Ecology of the Planted Aquarium’. Print version (paperback, 228 pages) and eBook versions are now available from my distributors (BTPS) or this website’s shop page. Amazon is carrying the Kindle version, and as of 5/16/2023, the paperback is available on all Amazon websites, both in the USA and overseas. (Note: Amazon-printed book has a different cover, but material inside is the same!) New edition has the same low-tech, low-maintenance approach of previous editions, plus new material based on science, experience, and hobbyist input.
New Fourth Edition (2023) of Ecology of the Planted Aquarium
I am displaying bowls with Neocaridina shrimp for the Raleigh Aquarium Society’s annual workshop. I set up two 1-gal bowls with shrimp taken from my guppy breeding tanks. I used a 7.5 watt reptile heating pad to keep bowl water temp at a nice warm 74F for good plant growth. (Winter house temp is 65F.) Shrimp article on my aquarium page here describes setup for bowls. Lighting for red shrimp’s bowl is 13 watt CFL. For blue shrimp’s bowl, I have a 3 watt LED desk lamp plus window light.
My Blue Dream shrimp crawling on the heating pad
For first 1-2 weeks I have had to change 80% of water almost every day to remove ammonia and nitrites. (The 2 cups of potting soil was probably too fertile; I probably should have diluted it with sand.) Most important for shrimp health, I only use aged aquarium water from the guppy tanks for water changes. [The DOC (dissolved organic carbon) in aged aquarium water protects the shrimp.] I don’t need or use the drip method, but I when I pour water into the bowls, I always use a small cup to block the water’s force. That way, the incoming water does not disturb the soil layer.
Bowl for Red Neocaridina Shrimp (RCS)
Bowl for Blue Neocaridina Shrimp
The RAS workshop [March 24-26, 2023, Raleigh, NC (USA)] will have native fish collecting, talks by fish, plant and shrimp experts, an auction, shrimp judging contest, banquet, etc. I have been going for decades. Later in the year, I’ll revise my shrimp article based on what I learn at the workshop from a shrimp expert (Robert Lupton) and from setting up these new 2023 bowls!
Diana Walstad's Books and Articles 