Kinbote Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey everyone, I just discovered the forum and this is my first post here. Will look forward to getting to know my way around. I'm working on setting up an Amazon blackwater biotope, and I'm wondering what you could suggest for the most realistic substrate. In all the photos of the Amazon that I've managed to find, it looks like the bottom is leaf litter on more or less white (dirty) sand; here for example: http://www.amanotakashi.net/portfolio/a ... water.html. My tank's going to be fairly heavily planted, though, and I've never been able to find any pictures of the common South American aquarium plants in the wild, so I don't know what it's like where they grow. If anyone's seen it and has links, I'd be very interested, and if anyone has experience with using leaf litter in the aquarium, I'd like to hear. Here's a pic of my current 340 litre (obviously non-blackwater) setup, which is about 6 weeks old, but will be replaced as soon as I get a table for my new 800 litre tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blueether Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hi and welcome (from another new user here). There are a few bods that do leaflitter, Stella being one (see http://www.youtube.com/user/nznativefish?feature=mhum#p/u/3/p-ESu5xK_Pk) PS lice looking tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Welcome! It would be awesome if you added your location to your profile from the user control panel. Lots of info to be found on here if you do a search on the forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Welcome! I really like the look of your tank!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Thanks for the replies, guys. Here are some pics of the new tank waiting to be setup. It's 160x100x50cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshlikesfish Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 That's an awesome tank! This is off topic, but, did anybody else get a "live jasmine" pop up from clicking on the picture in the first post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 This is off topic, but, did anybody else get a "live jasmine" pop up from clicking on the picture in the first post? Yeah, the second one too :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hmm, sorry about that; I flagged it non-adult. :dunno: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Nice dimensions on that big tank, you will be able to create something very cool. I've used oak leaves (dead) with great success, they look really nice and give off tannins for the stained water effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Yehp. Amazon Biotopes are pretty easy to set up. Sand substrate + Leaves. Rocks. A piece or 2 of driftwood. A small amount of plants - Preferably only 1 species. Tannins and low light. Done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Nice dimensions on that big tank, you will be able to create something very cool. I've used oak leaves (dead) with great success, they look really nice and give off tannins for the stained water effect. The whole leaves? I bought some indian almond leaves crushed up in teabags; thought about sprinkling them on the sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Yep the whole leaves, looks really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 A small amount of plants - Preferably only 1 species. That brings me to the question again, do you know anywhere on the web that shows the common aquarium plants in the wild? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Amazon swords. Echinodorus sp. Come in all sorts of variety, so I suggest choose carefully and if getting more than one, get the same type. Also, hair grass, or elocharis - again, differents types, but they are much the same. This I'd plant close to the driftwood/rock outcrops as in the wild plants tend to grow close to the protection of sturdy objects, and fragile plants especially. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Theres some quick black water biotopes I would imagine are quite accurate depending on what part of the river. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Big difference between S.American and Amazon biotope. The Amazon doesn't really have a huge range of submersed plants. It's more woody. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... php?sid=31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos & Siran Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hi Kinbote and welcome to FNZAS. We're currently in the process off creating a South American biotope as well. Big difference between S.American and Amazon biotope. The Amazon doesn't really have a huge range of submersed plants. It's more woody. 44, is it possible to have a heavily planted but fully black water tank? What I mean is using peat to get that real brown look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 44, is it possible to have a heavily planted but fully black water tank? What I mean is using peat to get that real brown look. With the mix of the right plants and lighting you can.. I made my nano a 'blackwater' (not strictly true) but had the colour in the water to reduce the intensity of the lights and battle string algae - worked a charm. Plants did really well, but they were selected for based on the lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Yeah, the second one too :-? You will need to sort that Kinbote out or I will have to remove the images, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fruju Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 You could something I have always liked to try with that tank, populate it heavily with vegetation and wood so there are plenty of hiding spots. Then add heaps of small cardinal tetras or whatever other small fish, then put in a black arowana/silver arowana. I have seen it done before, the larger fish considers the small fish insignificant to the meals it receives from you, thus leaving the small fish alone. The contrast between the 2 sizes is a cool effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisP Posted December 22, 2010 Report Share Posted December 22, 2010 Big difference between S.American and Amazon biotope. The Amazon doesn't really have a huge range of submersed plants. It's more woody. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... php?sid=31 In all honesty, I don't think there is such a thing as a south american/amazon biotope. Hard scape may be accurate at times, but I don't think many of the fish will ever meet each other in the wild, or live in an environment that is like the scape. Theres just too much variety and diversity. Best to pick part of the river/region and try copy that, like a pool cut off from the river, or just have an empty, dirty tank and say its part of the amazon. I did see on tv, a large pool/lake that was crystal clear and hard heaps of fish and plants... Might see if I can find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 Big difference between S.American and Amazon biotope. The Amazon doesn't really have a huge range of submersed plants. It's more woody. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... php?sid=31 That's interesting, thanks. Yeah, what I have at the moment is just South American, and it's more of a geotope than a biotope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 You could something I have always liked to try with that tank, populate it heavily with vegetation and wood so there are plenty of hiding spots. Then add heaps of small cardinal tetras or whatever other small fish, then put in a black arowana/silver arowana. I have seen it done before, the larger fish considers the small fish insignificant to the meals it receives from you, thus leaving the small fish alone. The contrast between the 2 sizes is a cool effect. Arowanas are pretty sweet but I don't want to keep something that could end up being a metre long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinbote Posted December 23, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 You will need to sort that Kinbote out or I will have to remove the images, thanks. Do you know of any sfw image hosts? sfwimage.com definitely wasn't. These look good: http://www.amazon-below-water.com/index.php 'Neon tetras in their natural habitat' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted December 23, 2010 Report Share Posted December 23, 2010 A lot of people here use Photobucket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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