Species Only Tank

[Back in the fold]

Everyone loves a community tank. It's lots of fun to have lots of different fish. Personally I like almost all fish. Their habits and movements intrigue me. I love watching groups of Corydoras cavort and large groups of tetras are an awesome sight. To truly appreciate any fish they have to feel secure. Scared and nervous fish die too soon and rarely exhibit their natural behavior. Community aquariums don't contribute to the fishes security in most cases. It's usually too many fish and types that never coexist in the wild. I have always loved species only tanks. Currently I have a twenty gallon high with only two fish. A pair of Pachypanchax playfairii Killifish. They are very young juveniles now but will grow to 3 inches. Being alone in there they were darting all over rapidly at first but have now settled in. They sit and look intently at everything. Makes me think they are an ambush predator. I don't think I would see this behavior if there were other fish of unlike kinds in there. Pretty and colorful fish are nice but I like fish with unusual behaviors. If you have never done so then do yourself a favor and set up a species only tank with the tank set up as closely as you can get it to their natural habitat. Then watch the fish.

 

[seangee]

I agree. Two of my tanks are close to species only. The little nano has CPD as the only fish. It does also have red rili shrimp and a single nerite but is fascinating to watch. The Thai tank has 6 dwarf chain loach (will be 12 from Friday - woohoo). Everything I read suggested that they do better with dither fish so I chose 25 microdevario kubotia which come from the same region. I know that's different to your killis but it really is far more rewarding having larger groups and less variety.

Even the big community tank only has 5 species (+ the BN). I only decided yesterday to buy 10 little friends for my lone sterbai cory who has been living with around 20 peppers. Aside from the bristlenose that will be my smallest group at 11 fish (also arriving Friday). By any of the common calculations the new additions will make it horribly overstocked but the species are carefully chosen, are all peaceful and occupy all levels. It also has loads of plants and religiously gets a 75% weekly water change so I am comfortable with the decision to get the extra corys.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Byron understands the true definition of biotope and can explain it correctly but I think it means fishes that occur together naturally AND by region or locality which is what you have. Your tank sounds great and mayhaps you will share some good close up pictures.

 

[Fishmanic]

My 29 gallon tank, while not a true species only tank, is mainly a tiger barb tank... In it are 9 tiger barbs, a BN pleco, and a bolivian ram who thinks he's a tiger barb as he regularly schools with them. The barbs actively swim back and forth and up and down and the bolivian ram often goes right along with them. Oh.. there are also 4 spotted Cory but they stay to themselves on the bottom of the tank.

My pleco is rarely seen during the day and he stays upside down on the underside of the huge piece of driftwood. Sometimes I wonder if he is even alive as even if a drop in a wafer during the day, he will not go to it. I hope he eats at night. I do occasionally drop in a wafer when light go out. The only way I know he's alive is that I shine a bright flashlight on the underside of the driftwood and tap on the tank and I can see him twitch under the driftwood.

 

[seangee]

the true definition of biotope

Mine are no more than biotopish
The nano was intended as a Lake Inle biotope. The plants I wanted turned out to be hard to get and then even harder to grow. When I decided to add shrimp I discovered the only shrimp in the lake are commercially farmed for food, so would not work in a nano - hence the Japanese cherries.

Ironically the community tank is the closest to a true biotope (if we were to call the entire Amazon basin a single biotope) with the only invaders being the anubias (african). Oops forgot about the MTS

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I agree. Two of my tanks are close to species only. The little nano has CPD as the only fish. It does also have red rili shrimp and a single nerite but is fascinating to watch. The Thai tank has 6 dwarf chain loach (will be 12 from Friday - woohoo). Everything I read suggested that they do better with dither fish so I chose 25 microdevario kubotia which come from the same region. I know that's different to your killis but it really is far more rewarding having larger groups and less variety.

Even the big community tank only has 5 species (+ the BN). I only decided yesterday to buy 10 little friends for my lone sterbai cory who has been living with around 20 peppers. Aside from the bristlenose that will be my smallest group at 11 fish (also arriving Friday). By any of the common calculations the new additions will make it horribly overstocked but the species are carefully chosen, are all peaceful and occupy all levels. It also has loads of plants and religiously gets a 75% weekly water change so I am comfortable with the decision to get the extra corys.

I agree. I really do like your CPD nano tank. (Jealous....! )

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Definition of biotope, “A usually small or well-defined area that is uniformed in environmental conditions and in its distribution of animal and plan life.”

(Pretty close @Back in the fold. )

Yes please! @seangee, will you post some pictures of your tanks?

 

[seangee]

Yes please! @seangee, will you post some pictures of your tanks?

Give it a few weeks. All change again this weekend.
Actually only small changes but I do have some new plants to put in so need them to either settle (or die ) before I unveil the changes.

I'm afraid my tanks are all going to be quite samey (I prefer to call it thematic) as I am so impressed with the light and dark zones in the community tank that I will be carrying that through to the other tanks. To keep my biotypes on the same continent both asian tanks will be getting cryptocoryne wendtii and the nano is also getting hygrophila corymbosa to provide more hiding space. I finally threw out the vals in this tank as they weren't doing at all well in the shade. No change for the SA tank - except to extend the dark zone, and I have already planted out the vals, which are doing quite well on the light side.

 

[Back in the fold]

My 29 gallon tank, while not a true species only tank, is mainly a tiger barb tank... In it are 9 tiger barbs, a BN pleco, and a bolivian ram who thinks he's a tiger barb as he regularly schools with them. The barbs actively swim back and forth and up and down and the bolivian ram often goes right along with them. Oh.. there are also 4 spotted Cory but they stay to themselves on the bottom of the tank.

My pleco is rarely seen during the day and he stays upside down on the underside of the huge piece of driftwood. Sometimes I wonder if he is even alive as even if a drop in a wafer during the day, he will not go to it. I hope he eats at night. I do occasionally drop in a wafer when light go out. The only way I know he's alive is that I shine a bright flashlight on the underside of the driftwood and tap on the tank and I can see him twitch under the driftwood.

I was about to say your Tiger Barb tank is very , very close. That many Tiger Barbs together looks really cool too. Wouldn't be the same at all with fewer barbs.

 

[Byron]

@Byron understands the true definition of biotope and can explain it correctly but I think it means fishes that occur together naturally AND by region or locality which is what you have.

PheonixKing2 got it in post #7. I would say the same thing with more words...a true biotope tank contains only the elements and species found together in one specific body of water. It may sometimes be completely authentic, using only the substrate, leaves, wood, rock, plants, fish found together in the habitat being copied. But more often we use replica items, meaning local leaves and not those in the habitat, sand in place of mud, etc. But the plants (if any) and the fish species must be those that can be seen in that habitat. One can use different plants that convey the same effect, which is getting a bit further away from exact biotope, but aside from the fish species themselves this is usually expected. It is not easy for most of us to collect the actual substrate/wood/plants etc from the habitat we are recreating.

Geographic tanks contain only the fish and plants from a specific area (with appropriate hardscape items) but this can be a much larger geographic area than the specific confines of one body of water in an authentic biotope. For example, an Amazon blackwater aquarium could have fish that occur in such water even though they might not be found together in the same body of water.

Judging from some of the groups I belong to, there seems to be an increasing interest in the hobby for biotopes. Heiko Bleher runs one such group, and I doubt anyone knows more about habitats than Heiko. In more than 45 years he has explored all of them in the tropics and in the process collected more than 6000 fish species, hobby fish and others, and has discovered many new species in the process. In 2005 he discovered a new species of "neon" tetra, as yet not described/named.

 

[Back in the fold]

Thank you @Byron. I think I finally have the definition clear in my mind. A true biotope with the correct plants and fish would be great. How do you research that ? For example, what floating plants naturally occur in the habitat of Aplocheilus blockii ? I saw a video by Dan's Fish that shows them swimming up out of the water and wriggling across the leaves to hunt fruitflies that were trying to escape. The plant was Ceratopteris thalictroides but who knows if that is a correct plant. I guess you look up plants and fish and then compare. Anyway, I just have to see that sight with my own eyes.

 

[Back in the fold]

Oh WOW !!! Unbelievable !!! Everyone, you just have to look up this guy Heiko Bleher that @Byron was talking about. This guy is like the Indiana Jones of the Aquarium World. I was all set to buy his book but the $205 dollar price tag kind of made me choke. Please look this guy up and prepare to be totally blown away.

 

[Byron]

I have corresponded with Heiko over the years, and he has assisted me in identifying a couple of species I acquired from a local store that did not know the name, as they were new discoveries. Collecting is in his blood, and his mother, Amanda Bleher, also traveled to South America as an explorer primarily for aquatic plants. The most common form of the Amazon Swordplant, Echinodorus bleherae, was initially named after her by Karl Rataj [although more recent phylogenetic analysis by Lehtonnen has determined this is not a distinct species but a "variety" of Echinodorus grisebachii]. The Ember Tetra, Hyphessobrycon amandae, was discovered by Heiko in 1986 and described by Gery & Uj (1987) who named it after Heiko's mother. Heiko also discovered the third and most colourful and now common form of the Rummynose Tetra, Hemigrammus bleheri in 1965 which Gery & Mahnert (1986) named after Heiko.

To your question of researching habitats...this is not always easy, but there is more and more detail appearing about specific habitats, thanks to groups like Heiko's that are centered on biotope aquaria.

About the closest I have come to an authentic biotope was my 33g set up for a shoal of Black Ruby Barbs, pictured below. This species is endemic to the Kelani and Nilwala river basins on Sri Lanka. The substrate is sand with chunks of wood and a thick layer of dried leaves. The plants I used in this tank may or may not occur in these rivers, I could not ferret this out, but they are native to the region so it is possible. Everyone knows I always have floating plants because the streams in the tropical areas are usually shaded by overhanging terrestrial vegetation if not floating plants and the fish "expect" this shade.

 

[seangee]

Oh WOW !!! Unbelievable !!! Everyone, you just have to look up this guy Heiko Bleher that @Byron was talking about. This guy is like the Indiana Jones of the Aquarium World. I was all set to buy his book but the $205 dollar price tag kind of made me choke. Please look this guy up and prepare to be totally blown away.

Some shipping cost!
Its £89 on Amazon in the UK

 

[Back in the fold]

@Byron , thank you for those items of interest on Heiko Bleher and his exploits and discoveries. So many times the aquarium hobby seems like a simple and enjoyable pastime to amuse us in our free time but what gets forgotten is the discovery and science of it all. This back story of scientific exploration has made our hobby possible. All of us as individual aquarists continue it in our own small way by keeping and studying the fish even more in captivity. This man , Heiko Bleher , is to us like Sir Edmund Hillary is to the weekend rock climber, an inspiration to be the best at what we do.
And that picture of your aquarium is nothing short of stunning Byron. Thank you for sharing that.