Rio Xingu Biotope

[§tudz]

hey all,

Im getting some zebra plecs soon, to breed, but they are young so wont be ready to breed for a few years (apparently) so I'm looking at setting up a biotope tank of the Rio Xingu River.

Im not going to change the water to meet the rio xingu requirements, as the zebras arent wild caught.

Ive been trying to find some image of setups and fishlist for this river, but most contain large fish, which isnt an option.

The tank is a 33gallon, with an external fluval 305 filter, I'm going to add a power head to increase flow for the zebras, the only fish I have come up with to go in the tank are Lemon tetras, any other ideas, and any images of layouts for the tank, or pics of the under world of the Rio Xingu?

Any info will be great thanks,

 

[ALW]

Dont Golden Pencilfish,Penguin Fish, Agassizs Dwarf Cichlid, all come from the same area as the Lemons

Pencilfish- Nannostomus beckfordi
Penguin Fish- Thayeria Obliqua
Agassizs D.Cichlid- Apistogramma agassizii

Edit: Also the Xingu Cory- Corydoras xinguensis

 

[§tudz]

Dont Golden Pencilfish,Penguin Fish, Agassizs Dwarf Cichlid, all come from the same area as the Lemons

Pencilfish- Nannostomus beckfordi
Penguin Fish- Thayeria Obliqua
Agassizs D.Cichlid- Apistogramma agassizii

Edit: Also the Xingu Cory- Corydoras xinguensis

now penguines would be an option, maybe as shaol of them and shoal of lemon tetra, say 10 of each, and possibly a couple of corydoras.

Ive found that Corydoras xinguensis are from rio xingu (hence thier name) any other species of corys?

 

[ALW]

Yeh you could have like,

A pair of Zebras
A pair of Agassizs
5 Corys
5 Pencils
10 Penguins
10 Lemons

 

[§tudz]

Yeh you could have like,

A pair of Zebras
A pair of Agassizs
5 Corys
5 Pencils
10 Penguins
10 Lemons

Ive kept Apistogramma and they are nice, but I dont want to crowd the lower levels too much.

I think I'm going for this setup until the zeb's are old enough to breed:

• 4 zebra plecs
• 7 Corydoras - possibly C. xinguensis unless i can find another speices that comes from there, which are more colour full.
• 10 penguin tetra
• 10 lemon tetra

just need to stock up on river stones, or take them outta my 120gallon
I could then also breed the corys in that tank. win win I think.

I have 5 aspidoras but i dont know how they would far in the current.

I just need to sell these two Dats on now to empty that tank

 

[TwoTankAmin]

A few things come to mind here:

1. Small zebras should really be kept on their own.
2. In the wild they live in deep fast flowing water where almost no light penetrates. I doub't that most smaller fish could stay in place with those currents.
3. "The black-white and clear rivers--such as the Negro, Tapajós, and Xingu--have clear (greenish) or dark water with few nutrients and little sediment."
4. They live in a rounded rock strewn bottom with crevices and sand. This lets them move about without having to break cover.
5. They live in fairly warm water.

If you really want to do a true biotope you need a high flow river tank that is dark- ie you wont be able to see the fish.

In the gorwing out stage most of what is ideal for breeding is not needed. I keep zebras growing out in 3 smaller tanks. They use AquaClear filters as well as sponge filters. The tanks have wood and rocks. Two are babrebottom and the 3rd has gravel and plants since I appropriated it to use for growout by moving the inhabitants out and raising the temp.

Clean water, good food, hiding places and stable params are really all they need. Just realize that a happy zebra is a hiding zebra. If they are doing well, you will have to work to see them. Fortunately when smaller they like to cluster together. If you have too much current in the tank, insuring they find food may become an issue.

Considering what you paid for zebras, do you really want to put cheaper fish in with them. If a tetra or other fish mentioned in posts above gets ill and the disease spreads, you could lose not only the $2-$5 fish but the expensive ones as well. And do you really want to risk starving your zebras because the other much more agressive eaters never leave anything for your fry?

The only other fish I have put zebras with, and they are the two spare adults that are not part of the breeding colony, is with discus.

 

[§tudz]

Thanks for all the help, sounds like I had the right idea for the tank. yeah I know about the hiding, over the years Ive kept several different plec species and they all seem to hide for me, I didn't see them often, which I believe is a good thing
I'm going to create a set of caves covered with river stones I think, but I do believe there are some fish found in the waters of the rio xingu where zebras are found. Although they don't live as deep as the plecs.
All my tanks have sand substrate as I dont like pea gravel etc, plus sand is better, IMO, for the fish.