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Im hoping to setup a 125g South Americam tank soon and have some qs. It wont be quite pure South American because I have a few loachs and a red tailed black shark that have to be moved as well. Im planning on having 10 peppered cories, a clown, BN and Rubbernose plec, and some banjo cats. Can anybody reccomend what number of banjo cats to keep? Im also looking to get a larger plec like a common or royal. Any reccomendations on species? I might also add some schooling fish like tetras. Anyone have feed back on this idea?

I would get rid of the loaches and red tail black shark, leave the Rubbernose out ( they like a lot of current and cooler water).Fill the back of the tank with a lot diftwood using suction cups.Leave the bottom as a leaf litter.Get the royal, add more cories and clowns( 2 or 3) and get around 7- 10 Banjos.Add some hachet tetras or a nice school of cardinals. Get alot of filtration going. And perhaps even let the surface of the water cover itself with a floating plant. Then sit back and enjoy.

Eduardo

I currently keep my rubbernose with the others and he does fine. I may remove the shark and loaches but i have not decided. why so many banjos?

Why not? Banjos are cool and in a leaf litter you won't notice them much. I just gave you that number because I like them a lot and they stay around 6" so they won't increase your bioload to much, then again 3-4 might be better. Now that I think about it, some altums might look good, but it's your call.
BTW, I love rubbernose and they will love you if you setup a tank for them. A 20 gallon long with fist size ruond boulders and a lot of current and temp between 68-72. Think about it, this could be your next project.

Eduardo

Hey chupa, that sounds like a really cool idea! What about some suggestions for tank mates in such an environment? Would you want to have any plants at all? Substrate? I would think maybe a little bigger tank might be cool, too - something like a 50 gal, perhaps . . .

metallhd, check COTM and Shane's articles that should give you a very good idea. You could use some sand in between the boulders but I would'nt use it if theres a lot of current. Leave the plants out Chaetostoma sp. requiere a lot of current and very oxygenated water, plus it keeps thigs simple and realisti, and very intresting with only smoth rocks. As far as tankmates, Shane mentions guppies and fast water tetras. Regarding the tank its your call but I would use a long style tank. Remember that if the tank is big you can keep them with other fast water loricarids.

I'm also starting a Chaetostoma tank but its hard keeping the temp around 70 deegres when outside is around 85-90.

BTW in spanish chupa=sucks so think about that whe using it.
chupa piedra, is the action of the loris when holdind to rocks.

Eduardo

would you suggest a sand substarte? Im kinda wary about leaf litter as I dont know much about it and have heard that it is hard to keep the tank clean with it. Do you know any places with go SA biotope tank pics?

Apologies, chupapiedras, my Spanish is poor. Guppies? What about some river-going c*****ds? I'm thinking a long tank with a good current is going to be a little turbulent for too many little guys, especially without plants. I have a sort of vision of a river bottom, and I was actually sorta fishing for some sort of 'glue' substrate ideas to hold all the big rocks together (and enable me to make some caves), but not something so fine as sand, mainly in order to avoid damage to the impeller in the power head. I guess a couple of descending grades of gravel would be good.

dude123 - see above re sand, I agree. Having said that I have sand in both my tanks, but in the big tank it's all down one end to be away from the intake. I also think a river setup to be accurate might want maybe just a little lumber, and you could sorta hang some leaf matter off the wood as one might expect to find in the wild.

Here is an awesome site with all kinds of biotype info, especially for SA but international in scope. Good luck!

Thanks metal. The link doe snot work though Well, in this tank there would not be a hug amount of current so sand may work. * thinks some more...

[Moderator note] I fixed the link in the previous thread. It should work now.

metallhd, theres no need to apologyse since you did nothing wrong.
As far as tankmates go, in a river setup is going to depend on the current but you could try hachetfish, danios depending on the tank Silver dollars. Regarding substrate in their habitat in between the rocks most likely you will find small gravel as sand is swept away.

Dude123, you can certainly try sand. But, be carefull on the grain size and depth. 1/2" should be enough.

Eduardo

Can you guys tell me if what parts of SA the following fish come from, ie what rivers,stream lakes, creeks, ect, and if they would be found in the same areas together? Thanks.

Peppered Cories
Clown Plec
BN Plec
Rubbernose Plec
Banjo Cats
Royal plec
common plec aka Liposarcus pardalis

one of my next projects will be a fast water tank. i know they're not biotope, but congo tetras and blockhead cichlids would be a great addition.

i strongly suggest that you get "the complete aquarium" by peter w. scott. they have it at amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... ce&s=books

it really gets the creative juices flowing!! there's also lots about the ecology of the habitats.

Peppered Cories-Widely distributed from Southern Brazil, through Uruguay south to Northern Argentina
Clown Plec-P. maccus is found throughout the Orinoco drainage in the Venezuelan and Colombian great plains known as theLlanos
BN-Widespread throughout South American Rivers
Rubbernose Plec-Mountain streams of Colombia.
Banjo Cats-Amazon Basin
Royal plec-Southern Colombia, Peru, Venezuela & Amazon Basin
Liposarcus pardalis-Widespread throughout the amazon

The info came from COTM and Cat-eLog

Eduardo

Thanks chupapiedras.

Glad I could help!
Don't forget to take pics guys.

Eduardo