South American biotope questions

[fishman9809]

To make a true SA biotope, do I need tea colored water and leaf litter on the bottom?

I like the realistic feel of the tea-color, but I love clear water because you can see every precise detail.

[Navarro]

Not necessarily there many lagoons and streams with clear water and aquatic plants in Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela etc.
Look for a place called Bonito Brazil this location is by far one of the most beautiful places on earth for us aquatic plant lovers.
The water comes out of a plateau so is as clean as air the flora and fauna is overwhelming there is videos on line about this place and many of the big names in the aquatic plant world are conducting research and documenting this wonderful place.
The black water is confined to the Rio Negro and small ponds and lagoons trapped in the jungle throughout the Amazon.
So there is many ways to create a biotope the river is huge so it goes from mountain streams with cold water from the Andes all the way to brackish water! Have you seen the Anableps anableps before?
Keep us posted and good luck.
Best regards,
Luis Navarro

[fishman9809]

hello Navarro, I am keeping Rams in my biotope, and I believe that would be blackwater, no?

I was planning on have

1 pr of Blue Rams
9 rummynoses
6 otocinclus cocama

but I was told by a member of Apistogramma.com that it was not a TRUE biotope.

Any ideas of a TRUE biotope, with otos and tetras in it as well as the Rams?

It is a lot to ask, but thanks,

-Nick

[Navarro]

Well, you are lucky there is youtube out there! Look for a video about Otocinclus affinis by “fishfromvenezuela” and you will se exactly what a biotope should look like.
They also have underwater video of wild rams and the water they live in is clean and if you look closely you will see Echiornia diversifolia and ericaulones spp. in many of their videos. they also have cardinals diamond tetras etc.
Regards,
Luis Navarro

[fishman9809]

thanks, that is great!!!! CLEAR WATER!!!!!!!

[John N.]

So now we know where Luis get's his biotope inspiration! Youtube!

The most common SA biotopes I've seen recently encompass large amounts of driftwood and dark tea colored water. Luis, or anyone do you have any examples of SA biotopes that are the contrary and what you described as clear water biotopes?

-John N.

[goalcreas]

Like Luis said, SA is HUGE and there are ALL kinds of water conditions and flora and fauna, so if you pick one of those that is clear and keep with the right flora and fauna, you have a biotope.
I think the black water ones are just more memorable because of the dark eerie feeling.

[fishman9809]

I picked a Llanos plains biotope, which is basically a run-off of the Orinoco, and floods and then recedes, the fish that are trapped there, usually stay there. Each leftover pond has different ecosystems, including dark to light water, or even clear!!!

[Luiz Augusto F. Costa]

Hello fishman9809

I reinforce what is said previously.
South America has a great diversity of biotopes that vary greatly from the water of Bonito that is absolutely cristal-clear to the black water of the Rio Negro that do not mix with the more clear water of the Amazon for kilometers.
There is an article in a site named www.aquahobby.com ,"Caracterização dos Biótopos Amazônicos" that describes the various amazonic biotopes, in special the species founded in each one. It might be useful for you. (there is no translation of this article to english but the lists are understandable).

Best regards.

[fishlover]

For a llanos biotope:
fish: panaque maccus, otocinclus sp,mikrogeophagus ramirezi, corydoras aeneus
flora:sagittaria, vallisneria, egeria, echinodorus to name a few

[fishman9809]

wow, all the prettiest plants come from brazil :/

haha