My First Attempt at an Amazon River Basin Biotope

[fddlss]

Hi guys, as I posted a few weeks ago I had my tank for sale and then I decided to give it a try and go from African Cichlids to an Amazion Basin biotope, since I've always liked oddballs and monster fish. I know my 120 (60x18x26 with 30 gallon wet/dry sump and corner overflows) will need to be upgraded soon, and I'm thinking on getting a 300 gallon tank (or bigger, maybe even 450) when I move.

I wanted to have some live plants so I decided to go with mineralized topsoil with a thick layer of pool filter sand on top. The plants I have so far are a few Amazon Swords and some Amazon Frogbits, It's been about 2 weeks and I have not seen a real difference in the plants, except that some leaves have died, and one of the plants might be growing, but I'm not sure.

I'm also looking for a nice, big piece of wood for the tank, something as similar to what would be found on the Amazon basin as possible, within reason, of course, so if you guys know where to buy online or where to get it in South Florida I would appreciate your help.

With that said, on Saturday 16th I got my first two fish, a 5.5" Silver Arowana and a 5" Black Ghost Knife Fish. I'm feeding them Hikari Jumbo Carnisticks (broken into pieces) and Hikari Frozen Bloodworms. The arowana now tends to like more the Carnisticks than the bloodworms and the BGK scans the tank for left overs when the lights go out, which most of the time happen to be bloodworms. I also have some Hikari Cichlid Excel sinking pellets from my Africans but I don't like feeding it to the Aro because I want to get her use to feeding off the top, to at least try to prevent dropeye, which I know it might not work. Please feel free to make any suggestions as far as how/what to feed them. I'm feeding them twice a day, but the BGK only eats when he goes out at night, so if there are no leftovers he won't find anything to eat, I'm trying to resolve this by turning off the lights earlier than the time I go to bed and feed them then.

Lastly, last night I got a very nice 9" L330 Pleco (Spotted Royal Pleco/Watermelon Pleco) and I got him a few pieces of driftwood so he can chew on as well as a cave form him to hide, which I think needs to be bigger. I also bought Algae Wafers to feed him, but he seemed to ignore it when fed. The only problem I'm having right now is that when I woke up this morning the water was super cloudy, and it is from the Pleco who has move the sand and uprooted the plants and who know if he got the topsoil on top of the sand, I don't know because the water was so cloudy that I couldn't see much inside the tank. This is not an ammonia spike, it's just the pleco playing with the sand. Is there anything I can do to prevent or reduce this? He was super hyper last night, even when the lights were on. Maybe more hiding spots? Maybe he was hungry? I'm not sure. Suggestions welcomed, as always.

Please see the pictures below with the progress, and I will keep adding pics as I continue with the project.

My possible future stock list: Red or Orange Pike Cichlid (Xingu I or Atabapo I), 3 or 4 Amazon Puffers, Amazon Leaf Fish, Silver Dollars, Red Hooks, Tigrinus Catfish, ??? Please note that I'm NOT saying that I will add ALL of these fish, these are just some of the fish I have in mind and I will have to do further research and see which ones and how many are compatible, etc., etc.

 

[flitabout]

What kind of pleco is that?

 

[fddlss]

What kind of pleco is that?

L330 Pleco (Spotted Royal Pleco/Watermelon Pleco)
Panaque sp, also listed as L27a

 

[Surfer]

Watermelons are naturally Di-urnal, if they're healthy but hungry, (as they usually are) they will be out and about during the day as well as the night. There's no way you can stop a rampaging royal from stirring up plants and sand lol... Waiting for the sand to age and settle quickly is your best bet.

 

[bettaowner]

The pleco is neat

 

[fddlss]

Thanks. The water is much clearer now, but still cloudy. I've added an extra filter pad on the sump and that seems to have helped. Anyways, I need to re arrange the sand again, making it higher towards the back of the tank to give it that depth effect. I have an extra 50 lb. bag, I might use half of it to make an even thicker layer of sand because I can't stand when I (or my pleco) move the sand and start to see the topsoil that's below it, it also makes the water dirty. I will probably do that this long weekend.

 

[jehenry89]

Have you thought about giving him fresh veggies? And as far as being hyper, he is probably just startled from being rehomed. It will pass. My bristlenose is always always full of energy. I don't know where he gets it, if he could talk, I would ask to borrow some lol.

 

[fddlss]

Have you thought about giving him fresh veggies? And as far as being hyper, he is probably just startled from being rehomed. It will pass. My bristlenose is always always full of energy. I don't know where he gets it, if he could talk, I would ask to borrow some lol.

Lol! Yes, I'm thinking on feeding him peas, zucchini, carrots, etc. but haven't tried it, yet.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Have you thought about a large center piece driftwood? That would be perfect for your setup! How big is the arrowana?

yeah 500th post!

 

[fddlss]

Have you thought about a large center piece driftwood? That would be perfect for your setup! How big is the arrowana?

yeah 500th post!

The Aro is around 6". That's exactly what I'm debating now, I cant find any decent sized pieces of driftwood anywhere. Stores don't sell them, they sell "large pieces for over $40, but they are not large enough, I would need about 4 of their "large" pieces... So I did some research and I'm thinking about getting some Mangroves from local parks, since that's about the only wood I can find locally in my area. I'm not sure if it's legal to do that tho... I know I've seen mangrove pods wash up on beaches before, I'm sure that's legal, but I would have to wait until they grow, if they ever get tog row in my tank. I also think that mangroves would be really cool because there are similar trees found in the Amazon...

 

[fddlss]

Update on my Amazon Biotope. New inhabitants are: Gold Severum Cichlid, School of 6 Silver Dollars, look like 2 out of the siz are spotted silver dollars and it seems like there's 3 males and 3 females. If you compare the pictures from Jan. 16 and Dec. 22 you can see some growth on the Arowana and the Silver Dollars, as well as better coloration across all fish, specially the Gold Severum and Silver Dollars, the Arowana is also looking very, very silvery now, with beautiful pink fins and greenish/pinkish tones in the scales. I know I'm still missing a big piece of driftwood and more plants, specially since the silvers have eaten the leaves of my Amazon Sword.

January 16th:



























Older Pics from Dec. 22nd:

 

[fddlss]

More images from the Dec. 22 batch:

 

[gilpi]

Oh man, how nice! Arowanas are the coolest fish, they are jumpers so beware.
The only issue I ever had with arowanas is that they will eventually outgrow just about any tank you give them.

 

[fddlss]

Oh man, how nice! Arowanas are the coolest fish, they are jumpers so beware.
The only issue I ever had with arowanas is that they will eventually outgrow just about any tank you give them.

Thanks, man! I'm really enjoying this tank (way more than I used to when I had African cichlids) and I still have a long way to go, as I'm just getting started, although I'm already fully stocked or very close to it. You're right Arowanas grow huge and fist, mine grew about an inch since I brought it about 9 weeks ago, which still seems to be below average, but I'm not worried about it. I have plans to upgrade when it gets too big, but we'll see, if not, I will have to sell it for sure.

My next goals are some really nice driftwood, maybe Mangrove wood since I live in Florida and trying to grow Mangrove pods found on the beach shore sometimes. I would also like to get more Amazon Swords and some other species such as Brazilian watergrass and elodea, something that will outgrow my Severum and Silver Dollars nipping them and to see if they leave the swords alone.

I would also love to get a 3D background, but they are really expensive.

As for the stock list, I would like to get a Festivum cichlid, an Amazon puffer and either an orange pike cichlid or an Atabapo red pike cichlid, and maybe something else, but like I said, I will probably be overstocked with all those fish, so I will have to see.

 

[fddlss]

Thanks, man! I'm really enjoying this tank (way more than I used to when I had African cichlids) and I still have a long way to go, as I'm just getting started, although I'm already fully stocked or very close to it. You're right Arowanas grow huge and fist, mine grew about an inch since I brought it about 9 weeks ago, which still seems to be below average, but I'm not worried about it. I have plans to upgrade when it gets too big, but we'll see, if not, I will have to sell it for sure.

Actually, my Aro already jumped twice out of the tank and directly to the floor, both times during feeding, because I have glass covers and my light fixture on top, but she's doing fine

My next goals are some really nice driftwood, maybe Mangrove wood since I live in Florida and trying to grow Mangrove pods found on the beach shore sometimes. I would also like to get more Amazon Swords and some other species such as Brazilian watergrass and elodea, something that will outgrow my Severum and Silver Dollars nipping them and to see if they leave the swords alone.

I would also love to get a 3D background, but they are really expensive.

As for the stock list, I would like to get a Festivum cichlid, an Amazon puffer and either an orange pike cichlid or an Atabapo red pike cichlid, and maybe something else, but like I said, I will probably be overstocked with all those fish, so I will have to see.

 

[PC1]

Very cool, Need some driftwood though. Especially for that beautiful pleco they love wood to graze on.

 

[Fishfanatic16]

Love your ideas...


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