how to set up a asian biotype aquareum

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livefishguy124

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i would like to set up my 40 gallon long as a Asian bio type aquarium, specifically the area a zebra loach comes from, fish? plants? decor? Links?
 
If you're centering around zebra loaches take a look at this link for some good info and natural habitat photos.
 
There's a lot of good information on loach biotopes in the book "Loaches: Natural History and Aquarium Care". I highly recommend it; there are some good pictures but I would feel guilty posting that from a copyrighted book.

The two ways I would go would either be a river pool tank design, or a river tank design. River tank would work like so:
River-Tank Manifold Design — Loaches Online
River pool is a little harder. The goal is to use decorations and your filter/water flow to create a moderate "swirling" of water in the tank, like what you would find along a bend in the river or behind a rock. HOB filters and powerheads are your best bet here, along with some big rocks/rock piles and driftwood to break up the flow.
Both of these are pretty good simulations of natural zebra loach habitat, which is clear mountain streams in India. (suggested from the loach book)
Substrate should be a mix of rocks, gravel and sand.
I don't know about what plants are native but I know that it should be only lightly planted.
Mid sized barbs or rasboras would make good native tankmates.
I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting so ask away; I know a fair bit about loaches...
 
the river pool sound cool, would their be plants, would a power head be usefull?
it their a pictur or link i could look at?
 
This is the best I can do for a picture; it's from the book I mentioned.

A powerhead would definitely be useful. You want to simulate a break in the unidirectional flow of a river or stream; you need strong flow in the first place to simulate that.

You could do some plants but for the most natural look not too many. Plants don't grow best in super fast moving water. I'm pretty bad with plants but do research on native asian plants that do well in high current.
 

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i lloked at the water flow picture, i can do that, i would only have 1 because it is only like 12 wide and i have a pool water pump, a guy gave it to me as his filter :huh:. but it will work great
 
i lloked at the water flow picture, i can do that, i would only have 1 because it is only like 12 wide and i have a pool water pump, a guy gave it to me as his filter :huh:. but it will work great

Just don't make the flow too strong. Botiid loaches don't quite like hillstream-loach levels of flow. Definitely have lots of rocks to break up flow so they have places to rest. And in that style of tank plant very sparsely or not at all. Driftwood and rocks are good. Gravel substrate or coarse sand is the most natural for this as well.
 
i will be sure to not have to much flow, but the pool filter will also be my filter, what about drift wood? i really want to do a good job on this tank with realism.
 
well i know they like hiding places, but is it natural? how do i counteract the ph mansineta lowers?
 
Yeah it's natural. Fallen trees and branches happen in streams, they don't all get swept down. And you want a lower pH. Natural loach pH is in the mid 6's to 7. And their native waters are quite soft.
 
I also recommend around 10 zebra loaches at least. Although 5 is the minimum number for happy loaches, huge numbers will bring out the most natural behaviors for your biotope; in the wild they tend to live in big shoals. The more loaches the better, but 10 would leave you about 50% stocked.
 
i have a piece of drift wood in my tank and ph got down to 4 at one point.
for fish i want to do gouramis, glass catfish, danios and barbs are a few ideas, which come from this area. what plant species come from this area.
 
Gouramis definitely not. They come from stagnant water, hence their labyrinth organs. They would get blown around in a river tank. You'd have to do research on the others; I know some species of danio and barb are native to the same habitats. I don't think glass catfish are.
 
the pump is a Little Giant 1-MA 1/200 Horsepower Small Submersible Oil-Filled Pump.
it does 170gph
can i use it?
 
As long as it's aquarium safe that'll work; I would actually use a little more flow. Around 10x turnover per hour.
 
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