Aquascape of the Month June: "Mountain And River of My Country"

Hello, my name is Trieu Duong Le (Trieu). I currently live and work in Ha Noi (Viet Nam) my job is interior design. I started developing planted aquariums about five years ago, starting with raising Betta fish. One day when I went to buy some fish, I saw stores selling aquatic plants which have been planted in small plastic cups with mud and sand. I was very surprised and curious when the seller told me, “they can live under water”. So I bought the plants to decorate the home of my Betta fish. Unfortunately, I bought the plant pots which often do not last long or where non-aquatic. So I started looking for information from the internet on how to keep them healthy and growing, this is my first steps to aquariums.

It took me over a year to get the hang of planted aquariums. I failed mostly on algae problems or the developing DIY substrate. I joined a planted aquariums clubs in my city or join internet aquarium forums, where I learned many things such as the demand characteristics of aquarium plants, how to deal with algae, and various information about types of fish, plants or shrimp. Regarding layout skills, learning design schemes has helped me quite a bit especially once I learned and applied the layout rules. I like the nature aquarium style tank.