Amazon Invertebrates, Amphibians

[barnesj2]

hi i have a amazon/ south american biotope and i wondered what i could put in there with my fish i would like a type of shrimp or frog from the region but also if you can thinnk of anything else i could put in my tank the help would be apprecited also could i put triops in the tank

 

[three-fingers]

I answered your triops question on another thread . But you know triops aren't from South America? While there is most likely quite a few species of triops living in South America, there are none officially living there.
There are shrimp from the Amazon but they are very rare in the hobby.
There are no fully aquatic frogs you can buy that come from South America.
There are tonnes of fish you could possibly add though!
And while your at it, why not only use real plants from South America too.

I can make some really good suggestions, and where to buy them.
But I need to know where you are located, and how big the tank is.
Also, what pH are you going to be keeping eh tank at and how?

 

[colbat0]

fire bellied newts erm baby tetra neon triops like anything thats the same size as it but they can get bigger

 

[eschaton]

Apple snails are native to the Amazon. There are also a large number of freshwater clams, but to my knowledge they aren't available to hobbyists.

I'm pretty sure "rubber eels," the aquatic legless amphibians, are native to the Amazon. They are almost blind and poor eaters in community tanks though.

There are aquatic frogs in the Amazon, but they're generally large, and unsuitable for community tanks.

And Ffire-belly newts are not native to the Amazon. I'm pretty sure there isn't a single warm-water newt species anywhere.

 

[three-fingers]

I wouldn't reccomend freshwater clams though, they are essentially not worth it as you need to target feed them, and this can be a pain in a large aquarium as they dig in the substrate..

 

[barnesj2]

I answered your triops question on another thread . But you know triops aren't from South America? While there is most likely quite a few species of triops living in South America, there are none officially living there.
There are shrimp from the Amazon but they are very rare in the hobby.
There are no fully aquatic frogs you can buy that come from South America.
There are tonnes of fish you could possibly add though!
And while your at it, why not only use real plants from South America too.

I can make some really good suggestions, and where to buy them.
But I need to know where you are located, and how big the tank is.
Also, what pH are you going to be keeping eh tank at and how?

the tanks 60 litres im located in portsmouth uk and the water ph is 6.5-6.8 will this help im keeping it at tis with test kits and powder form ph lower

 

[three-fingers]

Ok, I would stop using that pH powder, it's better not to use additives to lower the pH of your tank water, as this just makes it more unstable and more can go wrong.
Add bogwood to the tank, it looks nice, lowers the pH and its also 100% natural.
Another good thing to add to the tank is indian almond leaves, lowers the pH and will just generally hekp it.
If you want to use anything to lower the pH other than those two things, then I would use blackwater extract .

Most fish from the Amazon like pH 6-6.8. Some fish can have it lower though, some parts of the amazon are even lower at ~ pH 5!

What type of substrate does the tank have?
What about lighting (what type and how many watts)?

 

[barnesj2]

Ok, I would stop using that pH powder, it's better not to use additives to lower the pH of your tank water, as this just makes it more unstable and more can go wrong.
Add bogwood to the tank, it looks nice, lowers the pH and its also 100% natural.
Another good thing to add to the tank is indian almond leaves, lowers the pH and will just generally hekp it.
If you want to use anything to lower the pH other than those two things, then I would use blackwater extract .

Most fish from the Amazon like pH 6-6.8. Some fish can have it lower though, some parts of the amazon are even lower at ~ pH 5!

What type of substrate does the tank have?
What about lighting (what type and how many watts)?

hi i have got some bogwood in the tank now i got it through post yesterday put it in earlier lol the substrate is very small graval about a mm or 2 big and the lighting is a sun glo 40 cm 15 Wt tube is whitey yellow when its turned on.

 

[Kevin_D]

There are no fully aquatic frogs you can buy that come from South America.

As mentioned in another post, there are fully aquatic South American frogs available, they arent as common as Xenopus laevis and Hymenochirus boettgeri though. Pipa pipa (Surinam Toad) are usually available, as mentioned though they do get big, upto 8 inches long. Ive also seen available Pipa carvalhoi, a smaller fully aquatic South American Frog. Theres also Lepidobatrachus laevis, they are fully aquatic for most of the year, but then need a terrestrial setup of soil, so they can bury themselves and aestivate. I hope to keep the two species of Pipa I mentioned soon, I'll probably be keeping them in species tanks though, though I may try to keep large, non-aggressive fish with the Pipa pipa, and smaller non-aggressive fish with P. carvalhoi.

As mentioned by eschaton, you could try to keep Typhlonectes natans in your tank, as long as there isnt any aggressive fish in your tank, I keep Cardinal Tetra's with my ones and they are fine.