4ft Amazon Biotope

[hardric]

Hi,

Just like to share my Amazon Biotope. It is a mighty effort from me as I had a previous 4 foot tank that leaked on me. I arrived home to find my a thin layer of water left in the tank and my study flooded. The cardinals had all died and the corys were 1/2 dead. (I had a guest, a Betta that survived also). Thankfully, these fish were part-time air breathers and I arrived home just in time. Another 5-10 minutes and I think these would be goners as well.

I got a new tank and slowly build this tank up. It has 6 Angels inside with 5 bronze corys. There are 2 platys inside, which were survivors from some time ago, and I didn't know where to house them, so they are inside. I also had 20 rummy nose tetras at first, but they kept getting swept inside my ious. So i had to give them up. I will be adding some more corys and maybe a pleco or whiptail. I know that there should be leaf litter on the substrate but I already find it difficult to clean my substrate already, so I decided not to add it on the floor. The leaves are inside my IOUS to though. I probably didn't put enough cause the water is not tanning.

Pls give your opinion on what else can I do to improve? Thanks.



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[Jon-san]

Great looking tank! Any chance you are adding any amazon-type sword plants in?

[hardric]

Thanks. Will not be doing so as it is supposed to be a blackwater environment with little or no plants.

[Ferraria]

Nice amazon scape. some corydorus against the sand will look very natural

[adrianng1996]

i think would look better with addition of some plants or at leasst more wood/rock...now looks rather bare...good luck

[hardric]

Thanks. I had 5 corys inside and just added 3 more to be 8. Maybe I will add some more wood. Still have some branchy borneowild diftwood that I have not added.

[freyster]

Great looking tank ...

[Ark]

hmm look kind of empty, will be good if can in more woods.

[royss78]

Thanks. I had 5 corys inside and just added 3 more to be 8. Maybe I will add some more wood. Still have some branchy borneowild diftwood that I have not added.

I think the addition of more corys is a good start to spice up the bottom part of the tank... makes it more interesting when this bottom dwellers go foraging around the sand bed. Nevertheless is still a nice setup!

[bryan]

Nice feel. Other floater you can try are pennyworts, I like them, you can plant them ,float them or grow it in the garden.

[stormhawk]

If you don't mind some leaves rotting in the tank, maybe a few pieces of ketapang leaf might make the whole thing look nice and natural. It is simple and efficient, I figure quite low maintenance?

[hardric]

It's quite low maintenance. I change 1 pail of water every 2 days, vacuum the gravel as well. Does anybody know who or which LFS has get a ready supply of ketapang leaf? I use those sachets of ketapang leave from Qiana hu inside my ious, but the leaves are all cut up.

[Shi Xuan]

For a 4ft Amazon biotope, I would try to plant the aquarium sparsely. That said, a few Anubias sp. & Java fern tied to the driftwood/tied to pieces of small driftwood placed near the trunk of the large driftwood would do well. I wouldn't keep domestic strains like your platies in this Amazon biotope. The color doesn't blend very well. Add some wild native Amazon faunas instead.

Best regards,
Shi Xuan

[beetroot]

You can collect ketapang leaves at a lot of places... parks... eg. West coast park, clementi woods, along clementi ave 2, opposite hortpark...

[sfk7]

Hi Hardric, mind sharing what light are you using? Would love to know the cost. Please pm. TIA!

[limz_777]

looks like a nice slot to put the tank , maybe some nice round stones to add to the scape

[Thirteen]

you got a superb looking driftwood..my opinion is some vallisneria sparsely planted at random.