mixed Amazon biotope setup

[biotope69]

Here is my 125 gallon mixed Amazon blackwater Biotope. 2 Tefe green discus (5 1/2 inches) 1 Nhamunda blue discus (5 1/2 inches) 1 Rio japura green discus (6 inches) 2 dozen cardinals 3 coral red pencilfish 6 glowlight tetras 5 otocinclus 3 L134 1 L137 3 L333 2 L14 4 L201 2 L10a german true red lizards.

[Deb]

Nice work!
Tell me about that large piece of wood at the top. Is that fixed in there?

[biotope69]

the large piece of wood is an oak root from a creek in new hampshire it was even larger but I had to reduce the size due to the buoyancy exerted on the glass cover. The plecos munch the exterior and it helps with the water softness and beneficial bacteria.

[biotope69]

BTW it is free floating within the tank.... I was trying to mimic a root snarl within a river

[Bas Pels]

A floating piece of wood can look very pretty, but most wood will sink eventually

I once had a piece which remained floating for almost a year - but no more

You might want to hang it from something to keep it in the upper part of your tank.

[nvcichlids]

very nice looking tank, my only fear is that you stand a huge chance of hybrids within the plecos you are keeping...

[racoll]

my only fear is that you stand a huge chance of hybrids within the plecos you are keeping

I wouldn't say so, as they are all pretty different (

Peckoltia

,

Hypostomus

, Xingu

Hypancistrus

,

Scobinancistrus

, Orinoco

Hypancistrus

,

Rineloricaria

). The only risk would be the two

Hypancistrus

, and you would certainly notice if that happened, as the fry would look very odd indeed.

I would actually be more concerned about the discus hybridising ...

2 Tefe green discus, 1 Nhamunda blue discus, 1 Rio japura green discus

[nvcichlids]

I was more referring to the 201 and 333

[racoll]

Yeah, that would be the risk, although as I say, the fry would be unmistakably hybrids, and therefore easy to spot as such.

Now mixing the white/black Xingu Hypancistrus species--that would be a different issue altogether!

[Just used the bofw tags for the fist time on "Xingu". Cool feature!]

[biotope69]

This was a thought of mine when I purchased the L201's and I have actually been contemplating removing them from the main tank and having them in a 20 long. My main goal right now is getting my new male L134 to pair up with one of the females in the tank. I increased the cave spawning sites and added fieldstone slabs to the tank. The discus I am less concerned with; since variations of Discus species vary greatly in the wild and hybrid green/blue would still exhibit nice coloration. A heckel on the other hand I could agree with.

[racoll]

variations of Discus species vary greatly in the wild and hybrid green/blue would still exhibit nice coloration

The green, blue/brown, and Heckel's are actually each different species of discus (scientists agree on this). Crossing them is not something I would do, but probably many of the domestic varieties have been hybridised in the past.

Larry (Apistomaster) will certainly have more to say of this matter, being a bit of a discus buff.

[biotope69]

This, I am very aware of. I have studied numerous writings of the godfather of discus, Jack Wattley and of Dr Eduard Schmidt-Focke. The reason we have so many crazy color morphs is because of selective breeding. The heckel discus is a different species while the blue/brown are the same the green is it's own as well....so there are 3 distinct species. The same can be said for pleco's; distinct Loricariidae groups but varying species within that taxon. Hypancistrus is a prime example of that variability. I have always been a Discus pleco nut to the point of obsession.