Biotope Set-up.

[Mettle]

I will soon be downgrading my tanks, as mentioned in my classifieds post, and will be left with an 86 gal and a 55 gal. My cichlids will be moving up to the 90 gal and I'll be left with a free 55 gal.

I wanted to do a community tank, bio-tope set-up. I wanted to do a South American biotope and try and keep it as tight as possible. I was looking at some fish profiles and it seems that three of the main fish I want to keep in this community - Microgeophagus (Papiliochromis) ramirezi (rams), cardinal tetras and rummynose tetras - all come from Colombia. So I was thinking of sticking with Colombia as my setting.

I'm not sure how many of each fish I want to keep in the tank... I was thinking a school of 15 for each the rummies and the cardinals. And possibly several pairs of rams. (Though I don't know how the rams would work out - someone give me an idea maybe? Three pairs? Four pairs?)

What I need suggestions on... is some type of bottom dweller, a type of cory perhaps, that comes from the same areas, vaguely. Also perhaps a top dweller - though this doesn't matter as much. And plants. I definitely need help with the plants. I need low light plants that don't require too much care. Nothing incredibly difficult. (And the tank is tall - it's 48x13x21, so that's a consideration too!) I don't have to add plants RIGHT away. Driftwood is good enough for me for the time being.

For driftwood, I was thinking mopani but am not 100% sure. Should I go with the mopani or pick up some of the slated driftwood that are sold in pet stores? I've always been afraid of putting the slated stuff in my tanks as I don't like the idea of a screw rusting in my tank. Might throw off params a bit too much for my liking... Suggestions on this are more than welcome.

I think I'm going to be switching out the current pea gravel, natural coloured substrate for black sand.

The filtration will be a Fluval 404 which I will be adding the spray bar attachment to, to give a more gentle and even distribution of water back into the tank. (Currently I have two Fluval 404s running on the tank, but one will be needed for the new tank I'm getting.) So the tank IS fully cycled. It's just a matter of getting new fish in there once the old residents are out.

And lastly... I don't want to be picking up all my rams from the same place as I want some variance in their genetics. So anyone that has rams for sale or knows where and what prices they are - please let me know!

Thanks for any and all help!  

[darkdep]

I don't have much help to offer here, but anything you have attached with screws could probably be undone and reattached with silicone...

[BigDaddy]

If you've never kept Rams before... understock them.  I recommend 1 pair per 2 square feet of space for first time ram owners.

So, start with three pairs of rams.  If the tank will have lots of cover/plants/caves, you could go four.

I have 4 pairs of rams in a 36 * 12 inch tank... and there is a fair bit of aggression.  This is despite the fact that there are multiple terracotta pots and plants all over the tank.

[NjOyRiD]

www.fishbase,org to find the fish from columbia...

[kennyman]

I like this site  http://badmanstropicalfish.com/bio-type.html  Its prety helpfull and, although hard to root out all the info, has a good deal of it about biotypes. Ther are two S american biotypes mentiond there. One is plantless and both are slow moving water.

To me, substrate is the heart of the biotype. It is a huge part of the environmental conditions that helped shape the naturaly occuring biotype you want to recreate. Black sand looks pretty in some tanks, and I'm sure some natualy occuring aquatic communities have evloved on it, but I dont know what ones.

[aidensmomma2000]

I don't have much help to offer here, but anything you have attached with screws could probably be undone and reattached with silicone...

I was going to offer the same advice! Great minds think alike  :wink: