An Authentic Amazon Tank?

[stevey11]

I have a 55 gallon tank and was planning on making it into an authentic amazon tank for a shoal of 5-6 piranhas (i know ill pry have to upgrade to a 125 gallon once they start getting bigger). My question is what will i pry all need substrate type, rock type/driftwood, plants, filtration, heater, powerheads, lighting, etc. to make it as authentic as possible. any advice would be helpful.

 

[thefishguy7]

I've seen red-clay like substrate that looked absolutely amazing. There were tons of roots and large sword plants in the tank too. It looked great, but maybe you'll want to save the difficult aquascaping for your 15?

 

[209 srt]

I would say try to create a forest type bottom....cause there natural habitat is basically flooded forest land....which consists of trees, roots, stumps, branches, plants, sand...ect

 

[stevey11]

so it sounds like a lot of driftwood and roots for sure. is there any particular kind/color of sand/substrate that is unique to the amazon? other than swordtails what other plants are unique to the amazon? thanks for any advice

 

[leviathon13]

that all depends on whitewater/ blackwater. blackwater would be the easiest, as with the above mentioned. if you wanted to , you could filter with peat (fluval peat granules work well) it'll soften your water , lower your pH, and give the nice dark "tea" color associated with "black water"

 

[frasertheking]

yeah fill it with drift wood and amazon swords and it will look great

 

[WeeNe858]

this was my tank before i changed it. you can try something similar to this with the tree stump. just on a smaller scale. and use some leaf litter on the substrate.

 

[ductTAPE]

beautiful tank weene..

 

[ol78hunter]

Thats a great looking tank!

 

[Dulcet]

amazing tank.. best one ive ever seen