Amazonian Biotope ?s

[Seuin]

Im interested in building a biotope tank for discus, what types of plants and substrate should i use? Also info on decroration and examples of other fish species, that exist in the same biotope, would be appreciated. thanks

 

[quix]

i would think the places where some of the wild discus come from like Rio Negro will have very little plants in there..the water is really tea-coloured with pH below 6 possibly. There will be alot of underwater roots esp when flooding occurs...rotting wood and leaves...
other fishes found there should be tetras, hatchet fish, cories n such...OH! and not to forget... PLECOS!

 

[Seuin]

Thanks for the info quix, I actually managed to find photos of of the discus environment and your right little plantlife, lot of wood and leaf debris and of course roots. So Im turning away from the biotope idea in favor of a planted tank for my discus. A quick question though do plecos do well in planted tanks ?

 

[rallysman]

Thanks for the info quix, I actually managed to find photos of of the discus environment and your right little plantlife, lot of wood and leaf debris and of course roots. So Im turning away from the biotope idea in favor of a planted tank for my discus. A quick question though do plecos do well in planted tanks ?

depending on the substrate you may have a problem with a pleco digging plants up. Mine did anyway.

 

[Tucc185]

you really can build a planted tank around pracitcally anything if you're creative enough... I've had good luck adding about 3/4" to 1" of Estes natural #1 gravel on top of any plant substrate to keep the plants from getting uprooted. also, strategically placed slate can work wonders. A couple of interesting fish that I've seen kept with discus in biotope settings are Satanoperca leucosticta (previously Geo. jurupari), which although big, is pretty passive, biotodoma cupido (dwarf eartheater--rapps usually has them available), tigrinus cats, lima SN's , even FW barracudas (Acestrorynchus spp.) the eartheaters can be tough on plants, but if you stick with hardy and robust species like swords and Anubias, they don't usually cause too many difficulties. Good luck setting up the tank--
Mike

 

[discusfreak2005]

bristlenose plecos are the best in discus tanks, they dont harm the discus, they stay small, and they eat algae like nobodys business. they dont really dig or mess with the sand either. otocinclus are another great algae eater but are not as effective as the b/n's