Building a SA biotope tank - Oct/18/2010

[charles]

A number of people have asked me, what kind of fish I can put together in my tanks. Through out the years of my fish keeping hobby, like most of you, I started with just buying and putting any fish together without thinking if this will go with that or if the water parameter is alright with those type of fish. Nowaday, I would almost always suggest a biotope tank and build around the type of fish you desire. (monster fish tank is pretty much an exception though you can still build a community monster biotope tank).

So with my limited experience, I hope sharing my point-of-view can help you decide on what to do for your next project.

This is a general information according to my own experience. It is just a suggestion. Please do your own research and see what works well with others.

small size fish build

And let's not confuse that you can only do this in a small tank. In fact, I would highly recommand you try to do this in as large tank as you can and you will truely see some of the unique behavior of the small community fish.

Here is an example... choice of fish = Cardinal tetra...
With this type of fish, because of the size, it is difficult to add anything else with them. But you still have option...

I will break this down to small tank build, medium tank build, and large tank build...

Small size tank build... 10 - 27 gallon or 20" - 30" in length of tanks...
I don't usually recommand setting up tank such as 10g. It is very difficult to monitor water parameter and if something goes bad, it goes bad fast. But I understand space is limited for some so as long as you understand your bacteria level, it is not that hard...

But in general, you can do something like this.
8-12 cardinal tetra for mid water level
6 hatchet for top level
1 oto or a couple amano shrimps for aglae control
6-12 dwarf cory for clean up

For tank like the 20 gallon long with 30" length and the 27 gallon also with 30" length, you can try adding a pair of ram or apistogramma, and you might want to increase the number of cardinals and other tankmates.

Medium size tank build... 33 gallon - 90 gallon, tanks with 36" - 48"

This is one of the most common size tanks you will find. And it is much more fun to build as you have the length 36"-48" and the depth 12"-18" to work with...

Mid-water - 12-30 cardinals, 12-30 rummynose (or any other of smaller tetra family)
Mid-water - 12-18 dwarf pencil fish.
Top-water - 12-18 hatchets or/and killies
Mid-bottom water - rams or 1-2 trio or all males apistogramma.
Bottom - 12 Standard size cory or 24-30 dwarf cory.
Bottom - from bristlenose pleco - hyprancistrus like zebra - panaque like tiger or papa (without plants as they might up-root your plants)

You can add an oddball or two. Just adjust the number of fish accordingly.

Large size tank build - 108 gallon or anything at 72" in length...

This is a true painting... You can build a tank as your heart desire. And my experience with 6 foot tank almost always show the small community school better and act more natural than any smaller floor plan. Because of the more open space, the smaller fish always like to form tier school.

You can choose 3-4 types of mid-water tetra, cardinals, rummynose, loreto, true blue, glowlight, gold, emperor, lemon, etc...
Then add the type of top water fish + mid-bottom + bottom dwellers...
Make sure you add a big amount. In a tank that size, 20-30 cardinals doesn't seem so much. If budget is allowed, I would say at least 50 per type.
Get a couple of different look corys. A standard + dwarf. Or two different standard, or even add a few giant corys... Add a few rams, add a couple of different type of apistogramma, add a few plecos, a different type of pencil fish like coral red and gold pencil.

The goal is to find fish that will occupy the space in the tank. I do not believe in 1"/gallon rule. Most people know me, have talked with me, knows I can easily fit 200-400 fish in a 50 gallon tank (not telling you to do it) without much issue but the tank still doesn't look crowded. It all depends on where you put the fish and understand your bacteria level and your water parameter.

Try this approach and see what kind of fun biotope you can put together. It is not a formula to follow. It is just my experience of putting tanks together through my years of keeping and setting up fish tank. And I always like to do biotope tank as almost always the types of fish I pick will have the same water parameter. It is just easier to work with. And best of all, doing a biotope is like taking a snap shot of part of the river and put it in your aquarium.

Lastly, you can do plants or without. I like doing it without plants but with wood. most I would do is a few sword plants and that is about it.

Next we will talk about the medium size fish build...

[charles]

Medium size fish build...

[charles]

large size fish build...

[Dunbar_Painting]

I like this, except in even the smallest tank you really need more than one Oto. Otos are schooling fish and should not be kept a lone.... 3 of them can easily get enough food in a 10 gallon.

[Rayne]

Looking forward to the other builds. I much prefer the biotope tank as well.

[2wheelsx2]

Pretty cool thread Charles. Perhaps you can get some customers to send in pics of their tanks and also have pics of the fish you're talking about to help people who aren't as familiar with the fish species.

[charles]

Anyone is welcome to post a question here. If you want to build a tank about your favorite fish, let me know here. I can share my limited experience.

[tomaslue]

remember, next time will asked u, thks

[Byron H]

I am a firm believer in aquaria set up as Charles describes; although I would perhaps suggest "geographic" rather than "Biotope" as the type. Strictly speaking, a biotope aquarium must contain only fish, plants (if any), substrate and decor (wood, rock) that would be found together in nature in a specific watercourse. "Geographic" on the other hand to me means that everything in the aquarium occurs in the same general locale. Biotope tanks can appear somewhat "dull" to some, whereas geographic aquascapes allow the aquarist considerably more diversity in fish but certainly in plants.

There are certain benefits to this type of aquarium. The life within it will in most cases all require the same water parameters and environment; by the latter I refer to plant types, wood, rock, filtration (water flow), and light. Not all fish will be at their best with all other fish, and preventing stress is a major factor in healthy aquaria.

As examples, I'm attaching a photo of my 115g Amazonian Riverscape, and my 90g flooded Amazonian forest aquaria. You would never find such an extensive variety in fish or plants in any single watercourse, yet all are Amazonian.

[summit]

Great idea for a thread, as a beginner its tough to figure out the proper combinations to build a compatible tank. I know we had talked a bit about my tank, and you mentioned a knife fish as a candidate, my first question would be is if I would have to sell it when it reaches adulthood in a 40" long 69 gallon tank?

I have looked into some possible tank mates, I would like to include 3 angels, 3 long fin gold rams, bristlenose pleco, zebra pleco, and some ottos or cories as cleanup. Even though its not a SA species, would 3 pearl gouramis also work? Another possible combination I was thinking about was the severum, if I dropped the gouramis might a single red severum also work in this setup?

I would like this to be a planted tank, one reason why I am trying not to include the geos as I would rather not be restricted to plants that grow on driftwood.

Thanks for any suggestions!