blackwater tank

[rubysoho]

I saw a pic of shawmutt's blackwater tank, and I thought it was awesome! I haven't settled on a design for my tank I am planning on getting as soon as I save enough money (being a broke college student doesn't help!), but seeing that tank made me want to research it some more. (btw, I think my tank is going to be somewhere between 30-45 gallons) Are there any helpful websites that I can go look at, or perhaps a book or two which specializes in blackwater tanks? What type of fish would feel most comfortable in this type of tank? my questions are endless, but I'll stop here so I don't overwhelm eveyone. Thanks!

 

[shawmutt]

Thanks for the compliment!

When I started researching, these pages helped a lot:

http://www.mongabay.com/fish/biotope_amazon_blackwater.htm
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/biotope/biotope1.html
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworld/catfishology/natural_catfish-aquarium.htm

These are just a few, google searches on "black water aquariums", "black water biotopes", and others should help a lot too.

One book that really helped was Creating a Natural Aquarium by Peter Hiscock. It's an awesome book that gives a bunch of different biotopes, and it has pictures of each one is set up in a 30 gallon tank.

In my tank, I had a school of 9 cardinals (Paracheirodon axelrodi)
, 4 cories (Brochis splendens) & (Corydoras paleatus)
, 3 hatchets (Gasteropelecus sternicla), 4 otos (Otocinclus affinis)
, and a talking catfish (Agamyxis pectinifrons).

 

[rubysoho]

a talking catfish? I have fallen head over heals for catfish (it started with cory's and has moved on to the upside down catfish + more) and was hoping to include one (maybe two if the tank is big enough) in my tank. Could you tell me more about the agamyxis pectinifrons? Thanks for all the links and other info

 

[shawmutt]

Could you tell me more about the agamyxis pectinifrons?

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/doradida/agamyxis/313_f.php

This gives a much better description than I can. Mine was only 5", and survived everything, including being out of the water for about 30 minutes once (long story), a pH change from about 7.2 to 6.4 (over time), and being dropped in cold chlorinated tap water (another long story). I had to give him away to the pet store, because I started my 30 gallon Lake Malawi setup and the 10 gallon I had him in burst. There's a happy ending--one of the employees fell in love with the catfish and took him to her place that day!

 

[rubysoho]

haha, glad to see they are a hardy fish! thanks