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Badger's 150g Rio Negro/Orinoco Flooded Rain Forest

Good looking wood. One in particular looks very much like the fluted base of a Banyan tree. Looks better with no epiphytes,nice and clean.
I almost broke down and bought two of those like sparkly white Angels with black bars. But,I have large Rainbows and I know even Angels can't eat fast enough to really thrive. So,I am in the Aussy-Asian stream look for as long as the aquarium holds water. Wouldn't mind small Danios,barbs and maybe a few small species Loaches. No hurry.
Anyways,Its looking very good. Is it Co2 and all that?
 
WhistlingBadger said:
Well, here we go. Tore down the rainbowfish tank today and mucked everything out. Ever mucked out a four-year-old, densely stocked tank with a dirt substrate? Not too fun. But tomorrow comes the fun part: Building a new scape. The badgerling and I went out to the desert a couple days ago and found some extremely picturesque, anciently dead wood, and I've been stockpiling play sand, rocks, and other supplies. Tomorrow, a new journey begins! Stay tuned for pics.

Here's the plan. This is not going to be a strict biotope by any means. All the fish will be from northern South America, and most of the plants.

Livestock:
6 Blue angelfish (possibly reducing to a pair eventually, depending on what sort of personalities I get)
10 red phantom tetra
10 platinum hatchetfish
4-5 common whiptail catfish
9 adofo cories

Plants: (I usually start off with a ton of plant species, and see which ones adapt to the setup over time. Usually some die out and others become dominant)
Java fern (left over from the rainbow tank; used on wood work to complete the rainforest look)
Christmas moss
Dwarf lily
Frogbit
Spiral val
Melon sword
crystalwort
dwarf chain sword
dwarf sag
reinekki
Whatever else looks good tomorrow when I order plants. :)
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Saw some of your music! Is that you on the flute & doing vocals? Had no idea you were so talented. Takes me back to my folk music days. More into old blues & Dylan now.
 
JennySolano said:
Saw some of your music! Is that you on the flute & doing vocals? Had no idea you were so talented. Takes me back to my folk music days. More into old blues & Dylan now.
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Yep, that's me. :) Thanks for the kind words.
 
Stan510 said:
Good looking wood. One in particular looks very much like the fluted base of a Banyan tree. Looks better with no epiphytes,nice and clean.
I almost broke down and bought two of those like sparkly white Angels with black bars. But,I have large Rainbows and I know even Angels can't eat fast enough to really thrive. So,I am in the Aussy-Asian stream look for as long as the aquarium holds water. Wouldn't mind small Danios,barbs and maybe a few small species Loaches. No hurry.
Anyways,Its looking very good. Is it Co2 and all that?
Click to expand...
Thanks! Rocky mountain juniper. Releases an annoying amount of tannins for several months, but the stuff lasts forever. No CO2 except what comes out of the substrate. Dirt over sand, medium lighting, canister filter, and a heater...that's about it.
 
Hey Badger, I just finished catching up on this journal.

I LOVE this tank! As you know I'm from Venezuela (home to both the Orinoco and the Rio Negro) and my old 29 was stocked with fish from home. Mine wasn't a biotope, so I absolutely love that yours is, tanins and all! This is the tank I would have made when I started if I had the know-how. And looks gorgeous to boot!

I will enjoy this tank vicariously. Maybe I need to switch dentists 😆
 
Lost two of the twig cats. No idea why. Everyone else looks great. The angels have more than doubled in size since I got them in July, and the two biggest ones are acting like they might be forming a pair. Here's a new video! woop woop!

 
Neat video, not a huge amount of flow in the tank but yet can see some of the sword leaves swaying, looking good.

Spotting twig cats or shrimps or any elusive livestock is half the fun of looking at any tank, finally spotting the fish or shrimp is pretty rewarding, going oh there you are!! :lol:

Wonder how you lost two of the twig cats though?
Do angels bully bottom dwellers or twig cats?

But really good, nicely done!
 
Looks fantastic! Just wish that wood on the left broke the surface its so close!

Were the Twig Cats Farlowella? They sometimes have issues feeding properly in captivity, I read something a while ago that there was a suspiscion they ate some kind of bacteria in the wild that they developed from grazing and it helps them digest food and without it in the aquarium they can waste away sometimes. I prefer to go for Sturisoma species for things like this because of that, they don't always get as big and not quite as graceful but a bit easier to keep.

Wills
 
Ch4rlie said:
Neat video, not a huge amount of flow in the tank but yet can see some of the sword leaves swaying, looking good.

Spotting twig cats or shrimps or any elusive livestock is half the fun of looking at any tank, finally spotting the fish or shrimp is pretty rewarding, going oh there you are!! :lol:

Wonder how you lost two of the twig cats though?
Do angels bully bottom dwellers or twig cats?

But really good, nicely done!
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I agree about the sneaky critters. I like a tank that has some mystery, that rewards a closer look.

I have five angels, and so far they keep any bullying amongst themselves. They aren't fast enough to go after the tetras, and they completely ignore the bottom dwellers.
 
Wills said:
Looks fantastic! Just wish that wood on the left broke the surface its so close!

Were the Twig Cats Farlowella? They sometimes have issues feeding properly in captivity, I read something a while ago that there was a suspiscion they ate some kind of bacteria in the wild that they developed from grazing and it helps them digest food and without it in the aquarium they can waste away sometimes. I prefer to go for Sturisoma species for things like this because of that, they don't always get as big and not quite as graceful but a bit easier to keep.

Wills
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That stump on the left bugs me too. I cut these pieces outside on a picnic table with a hacksaw, and I'm afraid that my measurement methods were less than precise. The TLAR method usually works for me; sometimes not so well. I want to get a big clump of fern growing on top of it so it isn't so obvious. Oh well. Nothing's perfect. :blush:

Yes, common farlowella. You might be right about the feeding issue. I hope not, or the others are doomed too. Sturisoma, huh? I got the idea somewhere that they were harder than farlowella. If these don't make it, I'll look into them. I really like the twig cats, and people at the office have a good time hunting for them.
 
How about Rineloricaria eigenmanni? TWS has them in stock. Anybody kept those? They don't look as cool as twigs, but sounds like they're easier to keep happy.
 
I have had Rinelorica sp. Red whiptail catfish.
A fairly easy catfish to keep, happy to munch on algae wafers and blanched vegs, and leftover food though never much due to the shrimps and snails etc, but had him for about 3 years then died suddenly, never found out why, really liked him but does tend to hide sometimes so they will come out at certain times of the day for quite a while and seeing them up on the tank glass or wood decor etc then will retreat back to their favourite spots.

Having caves and hiding places is a must for these guys.

Well worth looking into imho.
 
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