Biotope help

[Terra]

Hi guys,

I've recently gotten into the aquarist hobby-quickly-turned-to-obsession. I purchased three established tanks from different people on kijiji.

I LOVE my tanks but the one I'm trying to turn into a biotope is my 55g. It's got this horrible neon blue/pink/green/white gravel in it right now (in it's previous life it was entertainment for a young boy). I've gotten rid of the fake plants and silly ornaments and put in lots of live plants (anubias, vallisneria, hygrophila, java fern, grass, cabomba and a few other things I don't know the names of). There is also lots of driftwood and two airstones. I'd like to turn it into a true biotope featuring central american livebearers (platies, mollies and swordtails). I currently have white cloud mountain minnows in there that seem to get along in the warmer waters, but realize they don't really belong in there. I also have an african dwarf frog and pleco. I'm looking for suggestions on proper

substrate and lighting, along with plant species true to that area. Also, should I put in the blackwater additive? I've been researching and some say the water is tea-colored but transparent. Thoughts?

I'd love to see pictures of what other people have done regarding any biotope stuff. Thanks in advance!

Edited June 26, 2010 by Terra

[Evolution]

Most Alternantheria sp, Bacopa monnieri, most Cabomba sp and Ludwigia repens are all C.A. I use brown sand in my tanks and sometimes add a bit of pea sized gravel for looks.

[Doc_Polit]

Check out Monga Bay.com

[jvision]

Not all of the waters in CA are blackwater. There are a lot of whitewater and clearwater rivers. And not all of the lakes are stained with tannins. So really, the addition of blackwater is not necessary.

A lot of the livebearers (swordtails, platies, and the like) live in waters that can be quite clear and hard/alkaline - many of the molly spp. tend toward the coast and estuaries.

I've kept a lot of different CA fishes (cichlids, livebearers, etc) in Edmonton tap water (just add Prime), and most of them thrived and bred just fine - I wouldn't adjust the water.

[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

Edited June 29, 2010 by Slough Shark

[jvision]

Regarding the Firemouths and livebearers, I once had just such a tank. It had a trio of T.sp "Blue Mextica" with a small group of W/C green swords. The blue firemouths were collected by Rusty Wessel and the swordtails were brought in by Spencer Jack. I'd suggest a 4' tank if you're wanting to keep more than a pair of cichlids - once they get full size, the 3rd wheel will need somewhere to hide.

[fishclubgirl]

I'm in agreement with those who suggested further research as conditions vary for the livebearers. Also there's lots of other CA livebearers that are fun to watch and can be obtained from hobbyists. My alfaro cultratus love to "play" in their current and I could observe them for hours. Let us know how it goes!!

[Terra]

Thanks everyone!

I'm too much of a scardey cat to try putting cichlids with my livebearers for fear of them being lunch! My tank is definitely a work in progress right now. I've got tonnes of plants tied to driftwood but am putting off putting plants in my substrate since I just want to change it soon anyway.

I also have a Black Ghost Knife in another tank that I want to build an Amazon biotope around. I have amazon-ish gravel in there and so I want to cover that with a moss or something to mimic the river bottom being covered with detritus. I know there's not many planted plants but I'm going to have lots of floating ones to mimic the shade given by the mangroves over the river. I think it will look sa-weet!

ALSO, I have butterfly goodeids that I plan on making a species only tank. Again no planted plants, just "caves" made out of stacked slate pieces and lots of floating plants.

I'll let you know how all end up.

Thanks again!!

Terra