Post pictures of your beloved catfish aquaria here. Also good for pictures of your (cat)fish rooms or equipment discussions. If you are posting pictures of identified catfish, please do so in the appropriate husbandry and reproduction forum above.
Well, I've just setup a South American blackwater biotope. The tank was going to house discus, but apparently young discus need a bare tank to thrive, they're rather delicate, I can't find any natural coloured or wild discus here...so I've decided against them.
Can anyone suggest a suitable fish community? Biotope correct of course
The tank is furnished with fine sand (golden-ish coloured), driftwood and leaf litter. No plants, not a-lot vegetation in blackwaters I'm told, and besides, I haven't had a-lot of luck with plants
The tank already houses some blackwater Ancistrus (either A. hoplogenys or A. sp cf. dolichopterus, not sure).
Thanks.
Meanwhile, Homer catches a legendary catfish, General Sherman, but to prove his love for Marge he throws it back in the lake...
This sounds precisely like the tank I am planning to set up! At the moment my blackwater tank (upper Rio Negro) has no plants, lots of treeroots, whitish sand, "teawater", oak leaves, oak branch hanging down into the water, and inhabitants are Dicrossus filamentosus (Checkerboards), Paracheirodon axelrodi (Cardinal neon) and Corydoras adolfoi.
In my papers for the next and larger blackwater tank I have noted some possible suggestions:
Upper Rio Negro/connection to Orinoco
Carnegiella marthae ssp marthae or similar
Megalamphodus sweglesi (Sweglesi tetra)
Nannobrycon spp
Hemmigrammus bleheri (tetra)
Poecilocharax weitzmani
Nannostomus wavrini (same habitat as Cardinalneon)
L-numbers! Many species from this area
Corydoras
C. melanistius (Orinoco)
C. duplicareus (Orinoco/Inirida)
C. ourastigma (Orinoco)
C. incolicana (upper Rio Negro, Sao Gabriel)
C. robustus (middle course R Negro)
C. schwartzii (------"--------)
C. amandajanea (R Negro)
C. adolfoi (upper R Negro)
C. nijsenii (branches upper R Negro. Blackwater?)
C. davidsandi (Rio miua system)
C. postazensis (Rio Negro)
Aspidoras pauciradiatus (Rio Negro)
Callichtys
Apistogramma
A. diplotaenia (Rio Negro/upper Orinoco)
A. elisabethae (Rio Uaupes)
A. gephyra (Rio Negro)
A. gibbiceps
A. meinkenii (Rio Uaupes area)
A. mendezii
A. paucisquamis
A. pertensis
A. vaupesi (Uaupes area)
A. hongsloi (upper Orinoco)
Taeniacara candidi (upper Rio Negro)
Pterophyllum altum (upper Rio Negro/Orinoco) might eat some of the other species listed..
Iguanodectes species (long silvery spectacular schooling fishes!)
There are Arowanas, Piranhas, Pacus, cichlids, catfishes.
Bjorn H S
"Oh, uh, this..the moon is in the wrong position!"
Ozzy Osbourne
young discus most certainly do not need a bare tank to thrive. That's bunk. It makes it easier to siphon waste and leftover food, but discus can be raised just as well in a tank with substrate, plants and other fish.
Sounds like a nice set up. I would keep the fish simple. For a dispaly tank you could add about 7-9 Corydoras burgessi or C. adolfoi, a couple of pretty Orinoco L numbers (Like L 200 or Leproacanthicus triactus), and about 20 cardinal tetras. That would be a very attractive show tank.
-Shane
"My journey is at an end and the tale is told. The reader who has followed so faithfully and so far, they have the right to ask, what do I bring back? It can be summed up in three words. Concentrate upon Uganda."
Winston Churchill, My African Journey
spiny, Shane, thanks for the great suggestions! I'm more interested in the tank looking natural and interesting then seeing how many blackwater species I can cram into it. So keeping it simple sounds good.
Can anybody else give me another suggested list?
S.allen, I had assumed discus could be grown just as successfully in a furnished tank, theres no conveniently bare-bottomed rivers in nature! The discus experts told me not to try it because I would fail, and their whole attitude towards the subject soured me on getting discus.
Meanwhile, Homer catches a legendary catfish, General Sherman, but to prove his love for Marge he throws it back in the lake...
The discus experts told me not to try it because I would fail, and their whole attitude towards the subject soured me on getting discus.