Trying To Do A Biotope

[xXKratosXx]

Hi everyone. I am wanting to do something in the hobby that I haven't done in the past, which is do a biotope (although a malawi tank could probably be considered one). I would like to do a peruvian river type biotope, preferably either the TUmbes or Esmereldas Rivers, with my showcase fish being a pair of Green Terrors. Where can I find information that would tell me what fish live in the same habitat as the terrors, as well as plants and other things I should know about the specific habitat? I don't have any fish or plants for this tank yet as I have not found any information (my google skills leave something to be desired) What I can tell you is that I am working with a 125g tank.

Any references or site with the information I am looking for would be great. Then maybe I can start my journal.

 

[Wills]

Always interesting tanks these your best places to search via river system is Fish Base and Planet Catfish

This is the page you need on planetcatfish

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/index.php

But they dont have much on your rivers.

Also had a search on fishbase for you and I couldnt find your rivers but this is a result on peru

http/www.fishbase.org/Country/CountryChecklist.php?showAll=yes&c_code=604&vhabitat=fresh

Hope they help

Wills

 

[xXKratosXx]

Yeah, I did find fish base a few minutes ago, and I am thinking I might do amazon, as I cannot find any other fish that live in the habitat as the terrors...maybe cause the terrors ate them all? I dont know. I thought about doing an amazon biotope with severums, but I kind of want plants in the tank.

I've seen your other posts, you have some awesome ideas. What can I do with with a 125g, biotope wise, that would allow me to have a larger centerpiece but still be able to have dither fish that wont get eaten? I don't want a tank full of big fish, I want it to look like a natural habitat.

 

[xXKratosXx]

So I got to thinking about it, and I am definitly doing an amazon tank. I know what stock I want, and willing to weak it with input from others. I am thinking:

6-8 Angels
10 Marbled Hatchets
30-40 Head and Tail Light Tetras
30-40 Bleeding Hearts
20 Skunk Cories

The tank is 4ftx2ftx2ft
I'm going to be running 2 Rena Xp4 cannisters on it.

Proposed plants and wood pieces to come.

 

[Wills]

I think jumping back to "The Amazon" as a biotope is a bit of a cop out compared to your first two

You could look at doing a specific river that is a bit more well known in the hobby like the Xingu or Rio Tapajo - Rio Negro are quite good as well

For me in that size tank maybe a big group of Geophagus sp. Tapajo Red Heads would be pretty nice and then get one large school of tetras and maybe some cories as well. I think one of the hatchet fish species is around there which would work nice. There are a couple of nice Plecs from that region as well got a slight feeling that L14 is from there which is a nice plec I think there is a tapajos bristlenose around at the moment as well which is more of a grey colour.

Wills

 

[xXKratosXx]

A cop out lol. It will all be new to me regardless. I have spent my whole fish keeping career surrounding myself with big cichlids and such so the appeal of a big tank fill with lots of little fish just sounds neat. I still have a while to go before I actually put all of this together. Still a lot of research needed while saving up the money I will need for it. I will take a look into the xingu rivers and such and see if i find anything that makes me smile

 

[Wills]

lol sorry if that was a bit harsh but you know what I mean

Small fish are great but the diversity of American fish are pretty amazing even the larger characins offer something for most tanks like headstanders, the larger disk tetras are amazing as well all the way upto Silver Dollars. This kind of tank can handle them.

Same with catfish, cories are great but there are a few larger Calyicthys type cats that work, wood catfish are really varied from massive predators like gulper cats to tiny little oil catfish (which would be cool in your tank ) Whiptails are really nice and pretty sturdy fish and again a few oddballs in there like llamonicthys with their massive trailing fins. And then the plecs are just incredible you can never get bored of them just fed up of the poop lol but a lot of the mid sized ones and some of the larger ones would work great. I really like Sultans at the moment and at 8 inches could work great in your tank.

Then for me the best part of any American tank is the cichlids - if your going for smaller fish there are a bunch to fit that - Cupid Cichlids, Krobia sp.Xingu, Laetacara Thayeri and Angels like you mentiond would all work - the Leopoldi Angels are always nice

You could go for the dwarf route though like Laetacara Dorisgera or any of the Apistogramma species, Nannacara would work as well and a group of Checkerboards are always nice

Big schools are always great but to make a real cross section of a biotope I think one big school with other fish in high numbers would look good. Given your tank size you can probably treat even your angels as a group rather than individuals.

So maybe

6 Angels - natural type Scalarae or if you can get them Leopoldi Angels
4-6 Cupid Cichlids or Krobia sp. Xingu Red Cheek or Bolivian Rams
6 Spotted Headstanders
8 Marbled Hatchets (try and get them as big as you can compared to the size of Angels you get as small hatchets with large angels might dissapear! )
10 Lemon Tetras - bit worried head and tail lights might get eaten by the Angels and Bleeding Hearts are massive and fast and might spook the Angels)
8 Skunk Cories (or any species you like)
5 Oil Catfish
3 Llamonicthys Lanerio (spelling) or similar Whiptails or small plec or maybe one larger plec like the Sultan I mentioned?

Just a few more species to get an idea of

Wills

 

[MBOU]

I found this website to be an awesome start!! Doesnt mention your rivers but does cover peru river and oxbow lakes

http/fish.mongabay.com/biotope.htm#Southeast%20Asian%20River

 

[leighton_87]

Again no Peru but some good ideas here - http/badmanstropicalfish.com/bio-type.html

 

[xXKratosXx]

I appreciate the help everyone. Like I said, I'm new to this idea, and I am willing to bounce ideas off of anyone as I really want a stunning showcase tank to be proud of. Wills, I didn't find your comment harsh at all. Amazon biotopes are plentiful and fairly easy. I want to do something different.

I am willing to bounce ideas off of anyone in hopes to put my ideas into play. I look farward to any advice,criticisms, and references I can get.

 

[leighton_87]

I think it's a great idea - my next tank is definitely a biotope whenever that may be

 

[xXKratosXx]

Yeah, im trying to do something different than anything I have done. I have never done a biotope and I have seen many on this forum that are stunning.

I think the one thing that scares me about mine is that I am using a HUGE tank for it. I want to stock it so you actually see the fish occasionally lol