Amazon Biotope Aquarium?

[Mturner615]

I've been reading about turning my 30 into an amazon biotope tank or starting a new 20 that I'll be getting into one soon.

What fish can I use for this and which plants? I also got the impression that adding driftwood is highly recommended.

The few sites I found said the typical fish: Angels, Tetra, Cories, etc, and the plants consisted of Swords more or less.


Can anyone offer any tips or suggestions?

 

[Stevie]

Hmmmm..... I remember reading something about this many years ago. I think many of the Amazon's waters are very dark so if your putting wood in you should not soak it first and let the water turn that dark "tea" colour.

The substrate can be dead, dry leaves, although I dont think I would bother with this myself.

In terms of fish, well you have loads of choice. I would get some other typr of cat instead of cories, but that me.

 

[misterking]

Basically, the possibilities for this type of set-up are endless. The nitty gritty detail all lies in how strict you want to be with the biotope and if you want to model a particular "area".

A lot of people use either a light coloured sand or a very dark (practically black) sand for the substrate. I've read boiling oak leaves makes them sink, and so you can have areas of leaf litter, however to prevent decomposition these would have to be replaced fairly regularly.

You are fairly restricted on plants unfortunately, as not a huge amount of amazonian plants are commonly sold. Amazon Swords are, as you know, the most obvious, and the variety of forms available mean you can create quite an aquascape (however it would be rare to find two types in the same place in the wild and therefore this would not be biotopical). On top of this there are brazillian milfoil, brazillian pennywort, amazon frogbit, various stem plants such as vallisneria etc etc. Of course, there are vast areas where no underwater plants are found, chiefly in areas of flooded forest in which you'd typically find discus.

Now for fish. You could get away with a pair of angels in a 30, however I wouldn't have any more as this isn't much space for them to "breathe" if they become territorial. An alternative centrepiece fish would be flag cichlids, again a pair would work beautifully in there, and then maybe a pair of apistogrammas (depending on where they're from). As for tetras, lots actually don't come from the amazon, and so you'd want to research and find tetras which are from the amazon, such as cardinals and pristella tetras, hatchet fish etc, but you're certainly not limited here. Corydoras catfish again span a huge area, from southernmost south america to the bahamas (where species such as bronze corydoras are found). Depending on how strict you want to be you could research on corydoras and other catfish that typically derive from the amazon.

My personal aim is to create a very strict biotope with wild-type discus, flag cichlids, and pristella tetras to mimic one of the many flooded lakes left during the dry season.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Basically, the possibilities for this type of set-up are endless. The nitty gritty detail all lies in how strict you want to be with the biotope and if you want to model a particular "area".

A lot of people use either a light coloured sand or a very dark (practically black) sand for the substrate. I've read boiling oak leaves makes them sink, and so you can have areas of leaf litter, however to prevent decomposition these would have to be replaced fairly regularly.

You are fairly restricted on plants unfortunately, as not a huge amount of amazonian plants are commonly sold. Amazon Swords are, as you know, the most obvious, and the variety of forms available mean you can create quite an aquascape (however it would be rare to find two types in the same place in the wild and therefore this would not be biotopical). On top of this there are brazillian milfoil, brazillian pennywort, amazon frogbit, various stem plants such as vallisneria etc etc. Of course, there are vast areas where no underwater plants are found, chiefly in areas of flooded forest in which you'd typically find discus.

Now for fish. You could get away with a pair of angels in a 30, however I wouldn't have any more as this isn't much space for them to "breathe" if they become territorial. An alternative centrepiece fish would be flag cichlids, again a pair would work beautifully in there, and then maybe a pair of apistogrammas (depending on where they're from). As for tetras, lots actually don't come from the amazon, and so you'd want to research and find tetras which are from the amazon, such as cardinals and pristella tetras, hatchet fish etc, but you're certainly not limited here. Corydoras catfish again span a huge area, from southernmost south america to the bahamas (where species such as bronze corydoras are found). Depending on how strict you want to be you could research on corydoras and other catfish that typically derive from the amazon.

My personal aim is to create a very strict biotope with wild-type discus, flag cichlids, and pristella tetras to mimic one of the many flooded lakes left during the dry season.

great info here. do you not have a biotope tank setup yet i take it? if so do you have a pic. that sounds like and interesting tank.

 

[misterking]

Nope not yet, it's all being planned for when I have the space and money for a much larger tank (I'm thinking around the 150 gallon mark). My current tank's sitting empty waiting to be sold on as a vivarium (there's a chip in one of the corners and I don't trust it with water), so I'm collecting as much information and researching as much as I can to get a very strict biotope.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Nope not yet, it's all being planned for when I have the space and money for a much larger tank (I'm thinking around the 150 gallon mark). My current tank's sitting empty waiting to be sold on as a vivarium (there's a chip in one of the corners and I don't trust it with water), so I'm collecting as much information and researching as much as I can to get a very strict biotope.

i here ya for the planning and waiting for more room. im just waiting till febuary to buy my 180g and then i have to wait until april when we get a new bigger place to set it up so i will have a couple months inbetween to buy the canister filter and the pressurized co2 system along with all the decorations/driftwood/rock that im going to do. also all the plants i can get all planted and start the cycling before i start getting a ton of fish. first will probably come the school of angelicus botia loaches after the tank is planted so they can do whatever cleaning off the plants. from what i understand after you plant heavily that your cycles arent as drastic and dont take long to cycle thru. read that another thread today actually. i cant wait.

that sucks that there is a chip in that big of a tank.

 

[Mturner615]

Now as far as plants go, how hardy are the swords? Because I've never had swords in a tank, and my current tank doesnt have high lighting.

 

[vahluree]

I think swords can be tolerant of low lighting. They will just have a very slow growth rate. If you want to upgrade your lights to higher watts per gallon, you may need to consider adding CO2. Avalon has a very informative sticky in the planted tanks forum on this topic (and more). Swing by there and check it out, and of course, feel free to ask more questions!

 

[misterking]

The thing about swords is, more often than not they will completely melt down when you put them in the tank before growing again from the base. For this reason make sure you buy good quality plants so that the regrowth is as strong as possible.

 

[vahluree]

I should clarify what I said earlier. You won't find that thread I mentioned directly as a sticky. It has been combined with a list of other informative articles about plant care. The thread is titled, "Aquatic Plant Articles."
I think the link is here, hopefully I did this right...

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/aquatic-plants/55309-planted-tank-walkthrough-v-1-0-a.html