[Neverlander]

Aqua Fauna Guyana II

About My Tank

Dimensions: 75 cm (L) x 40 cm (W) x 45 cm (H)
Capacity without substrate: 135 lt (~35.6 g)
Height of the substrate: ~7 cm
Capacity when substrate present: ~110 lt (~29 g)
Type of the substrate: Common aquarium gravel
Woods: Mangrove and DIY woods
Leaves: Oak leaves
Lightning: Double hood. Each hood contains 4*Fujika ~20W E27 Daylight
Filtration: Life Tech 838 (4 ply) and Jebo 825 (3 ply) external filters
Heater: None
Oxigenation: Modified outflow from the external filter


Guyana

Simulation: Mangrove Forest at the Coast of Guyana

Fauna (Freshwater Fishes of Guyana)

Characiformes, Characidae
Hyphessobrycon rosaceus

Characiformes, Lebiasinidae
Nannostomus beckfordi

Perciformes, Cichlidae, Cichlasomatinae
Cleithracara maronii
Nannacara anomala
Pterophyllum scalare

Perciformes, Cichlidae, Geophaginae
Satanoperca jurupari

Siluriformes, Loricariidae, Hypostominae
Ancistrus sp.


Flora
Ceratophyllum demersum

 

[Jbrofish8]

That is really beautiful. Good job!

 

[Neverlander]

Thank you very much. I appreciate that you liked the set up.

 

[Calmwaters]

It looks nice but I think your tank is overcrowded. You have alot of fish in there for it to be only 36 gallons.

 

[BarbH]

I agree with calmwaters, the tank does look nice... but it does seem that the fish are overcrowded. The angels that you have in there right now look like they are small and will require more room when they get larger.

 

[Quantum]

I've come back 2 or 3 times to look at these photos. Really nice, those Rosy Tetras look so good in the blackwater.

I much prefer this biotope style set-up to the ADA/Amano stuff that seems so popular lately.

 

[brokenrules69]

looking sick!

 

[JImi]

Wouldnt those leaves need to be removed because they will just rot? Or am I wrong in thinking that?

 

[Neverlander]

Thanks for all the comments... Yes, I know the tank is overcrowded... But I am planning to move... That is stopping me from having a very large tank. But I promise, I will have 6 foot tank, if I move to a larger house. But I cannot promise that I will have again a tank full of smaller fishes in it. I want to keep Geophagus altifrons or Exodons, in my dreams... Then I will move all these fishes and set-up seen on the photos above to my existing (as a South American Medley Aquarium) ~55 g tank...

 

[Neverlander]

Wouldnt those leaves need to be removed because they will just rot? Or am I wrong in thinking that?

In the forums, it is always told that the rotten leaves will foul the water and is recommended that we should remove them. But I do not, have never removed any and the water of my aquaria did not get worse. Simply, the rotten leaves fall apart and mixed up with the sand. I observed no unwanted effect, especially in the water chemistry and all my fishes are healthy.

 

[JImi]

Ah nice, well in that case I stand corrected

 

[Byron]

I agree, the leaves will decompose over time but that is natural and not a problem. It is another source of food and organics.

One suggestion I would make though, and that is to introduce some floating plants to dim the light. The fish will appreciate that. As is shown in the small photo of the natural habitat in your first post, the amount of light getting into that water is very little due to the canopy. The best way to create that in the aquarium is with less overhead light and/or floating plants. These would obviously benefit in other ways too.

I very much like biotopes, except for the absence of plants which is very natural I know. Few Amazonian streams have aquatic plant growth. My desire for plants causes me to veer away from authentic stream biotopes and have more flooded forest biotopes or geographic habitats.

This is a fine example of a natural stream biotope. Very well done.

Byron.