Slough Shark

I'll second a recommendation for http://fish.mongabay.com/ and first one for http://fishbase.org/

If you decide to try cichlids instead of just livebearers, Lago de Nicaragua is an interesting Central American lake to biotope. Some of the smaller species could go well together, here's a resource: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/cichlid_of_month/Lake_Nicaragua.html and this is a good cichlid biotope resource also: http://www.cichlidae.com/ (you can find good info using the search function on their forum). The Thorichthys species of Mexico is beautiful and well worth a biotope, and you may even be able to house them with larger livebearers (@jvision, what do you think?).

Mongabay is good for checking out other biotopes, as well as this page: http://www.aquahobby.com/e_tanks.php and good old google. I've also set a couple up myself, you can see here: http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showforum=89

Really amazing work Ryan, well done!

I definitely agree, they aren't really suitable as Nano fish. If you want something to fill the tank, try some dwarf Rasboras, shrimp, or a Betta. I wouldn't suggest splitting them up to fit either as they are a schooling species.

Hopefully I can get back to BA's soon to grab that filter and maybe a powerhead (hydor koralia?) and maybe, just maybe they will have some Hillstream Loaches too. Here's a couple new pics:

"One-eyed Wilhem" The only named fish I have, you can see his deformed eye here.

One of the larger Zebra Danios.

Such amazing animals, nice captures Patrick. What kind of dog is Sheena?

Alright, so today I went to BA's and picked up:

3 Garra rufa

15 Zebra Danios

1 Wood Shrimp

10 Glass Shrimp

1 Albino BNP

Wanted to pick up the new filter, but they were out of stock. Should have got a powerhead while I was there too. The new algae eaters should have clean the place up soon and I will post up a full tank shot. I'll take some pics of the new fish too, once they have their colours back.

Also, when I was looking in the glass shrimp tank I saw a couple of other North American species with them. There was a few darters and one Lucania goodei swimming with the shrimp. They must get their glass shrimp ordered from Florida. I asked if I could buy the fish but they said no :grr:

Thanks guys, hopefully I will be able to get into the city soon and can then update

Really nice vid and tank Paul, good job man

Freakin eh man, hope all goes well with it.

That's one sad looking polleni! Nice deal though buddy.

Beautiful fish.

It's amazing the colour we have on some of our native species! Makes me wonder why we don't keep more of them. You're welcome and thank you too Cate

Looks amazing Greg :thumbs:

Here's a shot I thought I'd share that I took out at Pembina River a couple weeks ago, using my underwater camera housing. I think it turned out pretty well:

We don't see enough pics of our native fishes

In that last pic you can see how the Darter positions it's pelvic fins in very much the same shape as a goby's modified pelvic fins (that form the sucker). This helps them to perch on the bottom, especially helpful adaptation for the fast-flowing streams they are most commonly found inhabiting.

Here's a couple pics so you know what I'm talking about.

Well, I usually do get tired of having the same setup for too long. So quite a while ago I retired the Livingstone Falls Biotope. While it was still running, however, I managed to order in some Iowa Darters, from the states. Interestingly this is a species I have dealt with here in the wild before, so I was not a stranger to their behaviour.

Let me say, I highly recommend this little fish. Essentially the North American equivalent to the Asian Goby, darters are a very diverse and vibrantly coloured group of native fishes. All the time, I had had my weather loaches in the 30 Gallon with the [now sold] Buffalohead Cichlids. Weather Loaches come from habitats with essentially the same water parameters and temperature as the darters, and actually co-exist quite well together.

So now I want to turn this tank into a full-on community, with coldwater species from around the northern hemisphere (and some others too). Gladly, there are some fish in other tropical regions that inhabit high-mountain lakes and streams. One of which is the Honduran Red Point. Plus I'm taking into account the adaptability of certain species, pretty sure most tetras can thrive in coldwater as well.

Stocking:

2x Misgurnis anguillicaudatus

16x Etheostoma exile

To add:

1x Amatitlania siquia

13x Corydoras aenus

20x Some Schooling Species

5x Botia striata (Possibly)

Filtration:

Fluval 4

Aquaclear 70

To add:

Rena XP2

Maybe a Hydor Koralia

I think I want to recreate a coolwater creek habitat, which is unchanged the world over. These fishes all exist in this biotope, so it should be nice. I want to add some hillstream loaches to clean algae if I do go this route. I want to have a few more plants than I have now (Pothos floating), probably just Java fern and moss.

I'm excited to have this setup set up! Should be a nice, colourful tank. Comments and criticism is welcome!

Thanks for lookin,

Taylor

Perfect! This is gonna be cool

I have 20 or so fish that occupy mostly the bottom but also the middle and upper strata, they are 1.5-2". Are these safe to keep with a single male or female HRP?

Thanks,

Taylor

What do you feed them Dustin? If you don't already, you should send some NLS their way

Thanks Paul. Yeah, I'm not getting the common Clown Knife (like The-Influence's), the species I'm getting is much smaller, reaching only about 40cm total length.

Just for future helpers to keep in mind, cost is not an issue with this setup.

Thanks again buddy,

Taylor

I've got a few questions regarding my "dream" tank, I want to set up when I have a shop (and the money for it). Firstly, I'll let you in on the hopeful stocking list:

3x Chitala borneensis (1M/2F if possible, maybe more)

3x Schleropgaes formosus (2 Green, 1 Red)

13x Chromobotia macracanthus

This tank is supposed to be a sort of Borneo biotope, I don't know if these fish actually co-exist in the wild, and don't really care in this case, they will go well together and thats enough for me. So with fish this size there will be a huge space and filtration requirement. I can't even visualize what size tank I will need, so could anyone tell what range I'm going to need? I will take your suggestion and most likely double it.

Will plants work in this situation, or will this have to be strictly a wood and stone tank?

Concerning the arowanas. Can anyone tell me which of the popular strains of red aros has the natural wild-type colouration?

I think that is all the questions I have for now, thanks for any help you can give me!

Taylor

Eff that's a nice community Paul, keep it up.

Beautiful work, as always, Ryan. Looks like you really outdid yourself on that hall table!

Glad to see you've updated your stuff, I will have to send you some pics of some of mine

That's so sweet! I would have gone with grey for the paint, but if you let algae cover those walls it will look great.