S. Am. Biotopes, Edmonton

[biodives]

I have been born with the aquagene and have a life-long love for anything aquatic, in particular fishes. The closest thing to heaven is scuba diving in the ocean but for the remaining 50 weeks per year I need alternatives. I've kept aquaria off and on for the past 45 years and restarted a 90 gallon Orinoco biotope tank one month ago. I am hoping to find some like-minded local hobbyists to share experiences, tips, tricks and plants or fishes.

Here is the tank after one month

Current fishes:

16 red phantom tetra

7 otocinclus (I believe they are O. vittatus)

1 pair of Apistogramma macmasteri

I'll post more specifics in other forums once I get better at taking pictures

Cheers, Bart

[jvision]

I've done a lot of biotopes over the years - I tend to focus mainly on fish species, but have also kept tanks with plants specific to the regions as well. Right now, I have a 125gal Tanganyikan cichlid tank - not what I'd call a true biotope, as the tank isn't quite big enough for the true separation of rock-dwellers and open-water fish.

[biodives]

I agree that it is very hard and probably unrealistic to aim for total purity in setting up a biotope tank. In addition to depth/size limitations I have already bend the rules by including three plant species taken from Alberta lakes that survived Edmonton winters in my pond. To my surprise they seem to be perfectly happy at the current 26-27C tank temperature. I am equally surprised that those species, in particular hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) is known to occur both in Canada and the tropics. So in a sense it is appropriate for my biotope.

Another challenge is to find accurate information about what lives where and in what kind of habitat. That is part of what draws me to it. In addition to just enjoying their beauty I love to learn more about how they live and behave and a biotope tank gives an incentive to do just that.

Cheers and thanks for the response. Perhaps we'll meet some day at and ACE meeting or elsewhere.

Bart