'Kapatagan'

Kapatagan is a small clearing near the summit of Mt. Banahaw in the Philippines. A refuge for mountaineers who either ran out of camp space in the summit during peak season, the darkness caught up on them - making it difficult to traverse the ridge, heavy winds in the summit, or simply like it there for whatever personal reasons they have. Mt. Banahaw, revered as 'holy mountain' by locals and the religious, is the place I frequent during my mountaineering days. That was 9 years ago. Now busy attending to my 8.5 and 2 yr. old kids, I decided to recreate a part of the holy place, to remind me of the piece of nature I'm missing, right inside my home.

A cornucopia of orchids, wild flowers, senescent trees and medicinal plants, Mt. Banahaw has its own share of wildlife that you may frequently hear but seldom sighted. Owing to its lush rainforest, protected by the government, it is a haven for creatures big and small, feasting on nature's bounty.



Across Mt. Banahaw is the mystical Mt. Cristobal. Known to mountaineers and locals as the 'devil's mountain', its generally darker color and eery presence gave it its 'hike-at-your-own-risk' legend. I've had my fair share of unexplained 'circumstances' on that mountain. On weekends it is usually visited by alien fanatics and, according to locals, withcraft practitioners. Stories of both wonder and spectral would greet the unassuming guests. If I may visualise the 'feel' of the place, it would be something like this, pun intended.

This pair of angels are far from scary, although they do bite. They used to be with some other angels, pencils and corys in my 35gal planted but when I setup this 85 gal, I decided to give them a place of their own in the meantime, after they killed a number of tetras and corys, and even an adult male angel bigger than them. Sad to say they will be due for adoption once I find a willing hobbyist who would care for them in their own planted tank, alone. They continue to spawn, but sadly, I don't have an extra tank for which to transfer the free-swimming babies - which are eaten after a while.