Rio Orinoco Biotope.

[james_fish]

Well it’s about time I got this thing going!

Hey,

It’s not got plants in yet, but I’m putting this in the planted section. Ian will shout at me if I don’t!

I’ve been waiting on my substrate to get the project underway, and finally after 2 weeks it arrived at about 10am this morning. So here’s the specifications of the tank to give you an overview.

Tank: Fluval Roma 200
Volume: 200 litres
Heater: Fluval E300
Filtration: Aqua Manta EX300
Powerhead: SunSun JVP 100

Note: All the pictures i've took are with my phone, so aren't the best and don't always represent colours etc.

I’d been wanting to set up a nice dedicated biotope for a while now, and since I’m a big fan of South American fish I chose the river Orinoco in Venezuela. I already had some fish from that region, Keyhole Cichlids, Cardinal Tetra’s and my Peckoltia Lineola (spelling). So after research and help from some of the guys here on the forum (thanks guys! ) I was ready to go give it a shot.

Once the new substrate arrived I was ready to get underway. First job was to remove my current sand (which was a bit of a pain to get all of it) but I got it done.

Empty tank, just a few little fishes ready to be netted and removed. I split the fish I was keeping with the fish I was offloading.



I started to get the sand out with a small jug, as I had a 2” thick layer across the tank. Once I got most up, I siphoned the rest.

On it’s way down!



I had a chance to give the tank a scrub whilst the water level was done, and just give my equipment a bit of a clean. My powerhead for example.



Once I got most of my old sand out, I was ready to add my new substrate. Caribsea Eco-Complete for the planted aquarium.



And here is the Caribsea just after I added it, will have to watch for pH instability in the upcoming days. The water, as predicted went quite cloudy.



My external filter, EFX 300 by Aquamanta (made for Maidenhead Aquatics] A good piece of kit, and not bad at all for just over £80 with a 4! Year warranty
I have filter media, phosphate pads, sponge & peat media in it.



Next thing I did was get the water running through the filter.



Whilst I let that settle up and get the water moving I had a cheeky trip to McDonalds for a spot of lunch and got a free glass, RESULT.



Once the water was starting to settle I added the wood, and predictably it floated I’ve got some nice pieces however.

[



Meanwhile all was going well in the shrimp tank. It’s crawling with Cherry’s at the minute, and a few females are carrying eggs again. The fish in there are 3 spot Rasbora’s and Chilli Rasboras



Once the water had cleared up abit more, I was ready to add the fish.

6 Keyhole Cichlids
1 Peckoltia Lineola
15 Cardinal Tetra (got more to up the shoal)
2 Pim Pictus (much debate about minimum tank size for these due to their active nature, but after much debate and second opinions I decided to try a pair. Especially when I realised they were native to the Orinoco! They look fantastic over the black substrate, really happy with them.

This is how I’ll have to have the wood for the time being until it saturated and becomes sink wood.



Peckoltia Lineola (L202)  Spelling alert!



Another shot of the tank.



Few fish knocking about



Again, sorry for the poor pictures quality, they don't really do the setup justice.

Future:

Wait for the wood to sink, add various plant species and increase the stocking.

Comments welcome!

Cheers everyone, James.

 

[ian]

nice start to a thread James, a very good read. If you get bored of waiting for the wood to sink, add some stone to weigh it down Looking forward to see it planted.

 

[james_fish]

nice start to a thread James, a very good read. If you get bored of waiting for the wood to sink, add some stone to weigh it down

Thanks Ian, I've got the piece of wood to the right wedged so it stays underwater. & the other two are being held by an old piece of wood I own which you might be able to make out.

Looking forward to see it planted.

I'm looking forward to getting it planted! The tank will really come into it's own once it's got some green in it!

James.

 

[JenCliBee]

Nice start mate... the only thing i can see being a pain... is the cardinals being a nice snack for the pims .... just be prepared to wake up with a few gone at a time once the pims are big enough lol.


I had a few in a 350l a couple years back with a group of 50 cardinals and within 3 nights i didn't have a single tetra left .... pims are one of my fav fish so if it was a choice of having the cardinals or the pims there really isn't any contest


The pims by the way are very social, your better to keep them in a slightly larger group (neons get eaten quicker then lol)


Look forward to future updates mate

 

[GrayScale]

Very nice start. What plants do you have planned out? Looking forward to seeing this progress.

 

[Didge007]

I love pim pictus! I lost mine (named pictus) when I popped him in my 80L downstairs until I could decide where to put him. Next morning he vanished - my tanks seem to be a little 'Bermuda triangle' like lately. I was heartbroken because he was awesome. I hope to get a big group one day and agreeing with the above comment, they are great for picking off tetra numbers lol.

 

[stu40]

Whilst I let that settle up and get the water moving I had a cheeky trip to McDonalds for a spot of lunch and got a free glass, RESULT.

Either you've been a good boy 'salad' or a bad boy 'gone large'

Nice start.

 

[james_fish]

Thanks guys!

Cheers for the heads up Jake, I'll just have to keep my eye out and see what unfolds. They are great little fish, can't believe I've never kept them before!

And I'm not 100% yet GreyScale, but I think I'm going for amazon frogbit as a floating plant and Amazon swords along the background. I'll have to look into a nice foreground plant that my Keyholes won't dig up!

James.

 

[minnnt]

The Pims look fantastic against the substrate!! Keyholes kind of blend in though... Cardinals look excellent too, but like Jake says, i think they will be at risk with the Pims. Is there anything a little larger that you could replace them with?

 

[james_fish]

There are the one lined pencilfish, but the plan was to have them in conjunction with the cardinals. There are other types of Tetra but nothing common in the hobby. I'm gutted to be honest, and did ask when I bought them. The Pims look spot on, and so do the cardinals. I'll have to have a re-think whether to keep it like it is or offload the pims (which I really don't want to do)

The keyholes do kind of blend in, but they look pretty good when they appear from the roots. I'll see when the wood has sank and arrange it properly, I'll upload a new picture tomorrow.

Cheers, James

 

[minnnt]

When i asked about some Pims at one of my LFS he did actually tell me not to stock them with anything small (which was suprising as the LFS is poor!) as they will take them in the night.

 

[coldcazzie]

Shame about the pictus, they're gorgeous fish but like to be in groups and grow 5-7 inches and can and will very easily fit a cardinal (or several, as Jake says ) in their mouths.

Other than that, great start can't wait to see it planted

 

[james_fish]

Again, I'm pretty gutted about the Pims. But I think they'll have to go (don't want to take them back to the store). The only suitable replacement I think I can have are the Mouse catfish (nemadoras leporhinus) whether I can find them, is another story.

James

 

[james_fish]

When i asked about some Pims at one of my LFS he did actually tell me not to stock them with anything small (which was suprising as the LFS is poor!) as they will take them in the night.

To be fair I did ask, because I bought more
cardinals at the same time! & I specifically said can they be kept in the same setup considering the current size (of Tetra's). But as a fishkeeper I've only got myself to blame as I should of reaserched beforehand. That's fishkeeping though right?

If anybody sees any of the Mouse Catfish in the Lancashire/greater Manchester/merseyside area let me know!

James.

 

[james_fish]

Just an update.

The peat, wood & leaves have kicked in good style now! I'm all of a sudden waking up with a blackwater in my bedroom



Still no plants, maybe this time next week i'll have some in there! All going well so far, will check if the wood has saturated in the next few days, doubt it though. I imagine it will take a few weeks.

James.