personally i havent yet tried to create an aquarium that simulates a certain type of river or lake in a specific area of the world (a bio-type aquarium) but it is something i'd like to do in the future.

currently i like South American fish and would love to build a tank that has only S.A. fish and plants. i believe Kana has a similar desire.

today i stumbled across a great web page that has an amazing list of biotypes. it contains info on water conditions, fish types and plants that are found in specific rivers and lakes from around the world. i have bookmarked it for further reference at a later date when i have more time, space and money.

for anyone that is interested in a bio-type aqarium i think this is a fantastic site and well worth a look.

here is the link

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the website is called Monga Bay and looks like it has a lot of good info on it.

nice find very informative should keep us reading for a good time

Nick, you tease! For a moment there, I thought you were gunna get into it! I actually had 'mongabay' earmarked as a possible Fish Health reference.

Here's my two cents worth. I won't rehash what I've covered in

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. But I've always wondered 'how far' do you go to create your 'Biotope'.

For example, those of you familiar with my Tank, know that I was happy to be generic. SA Plants, and SA Fish. But Just looking at South America, out of all of the worlds aquatic environments. South America is a huge place, and selecting to biotope a mountain stream in Columbia, against a similar stream in Argentina, would each incur their own logistical requirements.

Now, I've done no research on this, beyond any normal reading of interest. But I'm guessing, the best you could hope to match between the two sites, would be water temperature. Then you have your water Hardness and ph. And not only do you have the geographical segregation influencing what fish you can have, there is the localised effect of water parameters.

And plants will generally follow the same pattern. You can expects plants that are plentiful in Columbia, to be not so plentiful in Argentina, if in fact they are there at all. So, biotoping has dramatically cut down your choice of Fish and Plants. Now, how serious are you going to be with your Rocks, and Wood (if any). If you know your Geology, and Minerals, there is a very good chance you could replicate a gravel and rock environment, sourcing local supplies. I doubt you could do the same with wood.

Obviously, biotoping an environment with a soil, mud, silt base is a filters nightmare. And I'm personally not going to tackle that one at this time. Except to point out, you may have to forgo that Biotope, in favour of another, straight up.

And I'll wind up, about here, with Water Flow. Probably the most straight forward of all the Biotope elements. Fast flow, gentle flow, 'still' flow. The choice is generally in the placement of the filter inlet and outlets. And perhaps any additional powerheads. But if you've biotoped correctly, you'll have a water flow in harmony with your Plant species, and with your fish species. I'm assuming the relationships don't need to be explained.

part of the appeal of being a fish keeper i suppose, there is so much choice and degrees to which u can take the hobby.

if i had a tank room or just lots of tanks i think i'd try to recreate a roughly accurate enviroment for one or several specific species or maybe try to roughly recreate a biotype with the fish and plants that u'd get in a certain area.

i can see what u r saying Peter and i think to take the biotype too literaly is more hard work than most can afford or have the desire to do. at the same time it is great to have the 'exact' info available so that one can try to match it as best as is possible, if the desire is strong enough.

at the moment i look at the monga site as a rough guide to what goes together and what doesnt. at a later date i may, hopefully, have a more serious attempt at having a general South or Central American tank. later still i might try to be more specific.

i think it is probably impossible for most people to match an exact biotype but as long as one doesnt try to be too exact i think most of can have a go at getting it say 80% right, which is probably a 75% better match than the general fishkeeper, including myself, has at the moment.

i am reminded of something i read regarding Mr Amano, instead of trying to recreate a (say 1 metre) section of river, his philosophy, so i read, was to try and do a scaled down version that looked like a larger section of river in minature. again another choice that we can make.

i have fancied a 'river' tank for a while. i was looking at river tank setups on Planet Catfish. there were some nice setups, well explained, there. for me at the monet though i dont have enough time, money or space to take on a river tank project but it is nice to know that the method isnt too difficult to achieve if one had the time, space and resourses. back burner for me at the moment but hopefuly not a badly plumbed pipe dream

sorry to tease. when i do setup a 'proper' biotype, i'm sure u'll get a blow by blow account

You may have hit the nail on the head there, Nick. Is Biotope the domain of the Species Tank?

I reckon a River Biotope would be right up your alley. Particularly if it has a sand & stone base. You seem to have an 'eye' for that sort of detail. And you share my dislike for 'visible plumbing'. As much as I believe you can go over-board with your Biotope, I still think, if you've made the effort, then 'hide the plumbing'! Over at PC, there was a nice slate River Tank, complete with threes banks of one inch poly-pipe, sporting Gang-values!

I would have liked to have set up some nice terra-forming in my SA Tank, but I knew the perils of a large Cory population! Amano-san's tanks tend to be a 'bitsa', when it comes to plants. There is too much diverseness to be a true Biotope.

I have three Aquarium Biotope books on my shelf, all worth a look.

The Natural Aquarium, by Satoshi Yoshino, & Doshin Kobayashi.
There are 16 Biotope set-ups C & S America, SE Asia, and E & W Africa. As well as 6 Species Tanks. All photos are printed in Glossy format. If you can't afford an Amano book, then buy this one!

Creating a Natural Aquarium, by Peter Hiscock.
12 Biotopes, off the usual continents, plus Europe and Australian rivers, a Mangrove Swamp, and Cave. Although the layouts are quite good, with the correct fish, plants have been chosen for their aesthetic value, and not on their geographical distribution. Includes some good background material on waterways, swamps, acid-pools etc.

Aquarium Designs, by Peter Hiscock.
Basically an expanded, and larger format version of the book above. 18 Biotopes, including a Chinese stream, European Lake, Indian river, and Congo white water river. Plant selection remains inaccurate.

Sometimes I say 'terra-forming', and sometimes 'Aqua-scaping'. But everytime I've made a nice undulating gravel surface, the Cory's just level it out. I did some Laser-Leveling work many years ago, on paddocks, with Computers, Lasers, and Tractor-Graders (Scrapers). It now seems to me, that what we should have done, is flood the paddock, and tip in a few thousand Cory's!

Your tank looks good, it's actually very close to one of the Biotope examples for SE Asia

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. It's just wall to wall Java Fern, with about 5 species of Rasboras. You can't see the mounds, they're just overgrown.

I've actually began to spread a few of my young Sword Plants around, going back beyond middle tank. Hopefully in a few months, I'll have moved toward a more natural plant dispersion. I've got three poly-pipe caves awaiting a gravel coating. 2 at 65mm (Keyholes), and 1 at 100mm (for who-ever). And there is also wood to add. If I stack the wood against the pipes, it should provide some good hidey-holes.

It may be time for me to go back over those books!