River Thames Biotope

[fozziebear]

hey just wanted to share this with the forum, ive recently put together a thames river biotope tank as i live very close, im not sure on the legality of this but if anyone has any objections or knows anything about collecting from the thames just pm me and ill do my best, im willing to replace everything to where i got it from.


so basically i collected all the hardscape flora and fauna from a slipway/beach just next to the MI6 building, in vauxhall.


the tank stats are as follows:

tank size: 12 x 8 x 8 clearseal tank

Filtration: very small resun magic jet filter with spraybar

heater: none

water changes: thames water (dechlorinated)

substrate: a mix of small 3/5mm gravel, river silt, clay, and debris.

rocks: 2 rocks from the river one pourous (i took this because i seen that the shrimp hide in the holes in the rock)

Flora: (i dont know the names of any of these, but they were all growing
below the high tide line, in mainly aquatic conditions)
4 very small leafed green plants looks like hemianthus callitrichoides but with slightly longer leaves.
4 to 5 clumps of a very short grassy plant, it only grows in the clay, and has tubular leaves.
and some rocks with algae that looks almost like seaweed.


fauna:
Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis(very small juveniles)

freshwater shrimp (Gammarus pulex)

unknown river worms and snails.

and some ramshorn snails and mystery snails that were in the tank previously (not exactly in keeping with the biotope but a bugger to get out)


feedback n comments are welcome.

Some Macro Shots.










and finally the obligatory FTS.

 

[Ficious]

i really like it. i love doing biotopes...i tend to get bored of them too soon and always want to make the next one.


now a room with biotopes from around the world would be awesome.

 

[freerunner416]

Thats a great idea. Did you miss even include the bikes/shopping trolleys etc as well??

 

[fozziebear]

surprisingly at the part of the thames where i got this from theres is very little rubbish, about the only thing you see is the odd booze bottle or bits of polystyrene washed up, the port of london authority do a great job cleaning the river, they are out everyday picking up the floating rubbish and picking up the debris at low tide.

 

[flash22]

as above you need half a tank of brown stinking mud with the odd shopping trolly, bike And a few mini eel traps wouldnt go a miss either

not far from the thames myself the grotty/busy end tho