I was wondering if it’s possible to do a ecosystem tank, just off the top of my head have some shell dwellers that are established and breed and have a predator fish that keeps the babies in check but won’t kill the whole tank. And if it’s achievable can it be done in a 50 gallon
Ecosystem tank?
- Thread starter Jag586
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An ecosystem is a closed, selfsustaining environment. I do take you plan on feeding the shell dwellers? The fish you wane keep as predator is gone eat the same food as the shelldwellers probably. So you just want a fish that keeps the population of shelldwellers in check right?
Its possible but 50 gallon might not be enough since shelldwellers are territorial. Kinda depends on what species you wane keep with it. If it eats the same food as the shelldwellers (which it probably does) it does not matter since the predator fish has enough food either way. So then i dont see why it would not be possible, except for that the tank is a bit small to keep multple species.
Its possible but 50 gallon might not be enough since shelldwellers are territorial. Kinda depends on what species you wane keep with it. If it eats the same food as the shelldwellers (which it probably does) it does not matter since the predator fish has enough food either way. So then i dont see why it would not be possible, except for that the tank is a bit small to keep multple species.
It sounds great on paper, doesn't it? A truly "balanced" tank where plant life and animal life is in sync, with each side utilizing the waste produced by the other side as nutrition. In that type of ecosystem, you would literally never feed anybody, just add energy in the form of light to power the whole wonderful la-de-da thing. Easy to talk about...hard to create. The required balance of animal/plant is critical and heavily weighted towards the vegetation; most people just won't accept such sparse stocking levels of fish. So, it's a precareous balancing act, and success (if achieved) seems kinda anticlimatic.
The tank you are describing is even tougher to do. You want a colony of small fish living and reproducing, and want a population (likely number: 1) of some predator that will "maintain" that colony at some level that you find attractive. Sounds natural, right? Yeah...except, in nature, the prey isn't forced to live out their entire existence within a few inches or at most a couple feet from the predator, 24/7/365. It would be like trying to re-create the Serengeti ecosystem, simplified down to two species: zebras and lions...but trying to do it in an area the size of your living room instead of the entire Serengeti park of many thousands of square kilometers. The lions don't eat according to a carefully calculated formula to maintain your goals; they just eat. The zebra don't monitor their own population and breed only enough young to maintain the status quo; they just breed.
Nice idea; completely impractical in reality. Best you can hope for is a colony of adult "prey" and one or two small "predators" that can only eat the new fry but can't handle the adults. Might look nice...won't be an ecosystem by any stretch of the imagination.
The tank you are describing is even tougher to do. You want a colony of small fish living and reproducing, and want a population (likely number: 1) of some predator that will "maintain" that colony at some level that you find attractive. Sounds natural, right? Yeah...except, in nature, the prey isn't forced to live out their entire existence within a few inches or at most a couple feet from the predator, 24/7/365. It would be like trying to re-create the Serengeti ecosystem, simplified down to two species: zebras and lions...but trying to do it in an area the size of your living room instead of the entire Serengeti park of many thousands of square kilometers. The lions don't eat according to a carefully calculated formula to maintain your goals; they just eat. The zebra don't monitor their own population and breed only enough young to maintain the status quo; they just breed.
Nice idea; completely impractical in reality. Best you can hope for is a colony of adult "prey" and one or two small "predators" that can only eat the new fry but can't handle the adults. Might look nice...won't be an ecosystem by any stretch of the imagination.
Being very much into biotopes, and even loosely simulated balancing, this is my thing.
To me the term ecosystem would be a system, where one would also want at least 10 times as many plants, as fish.
So for your 50 gal African shell dweller tank, attaching a 100 gallon sump with enough terrestrial and aquatic plants to consume nitrate, and maybe a small population of self sustaining shrimp or other invertebrate,in the sump, to help break down melting plant matter.
I attempt to partially do this, with my Panamanian biotope tank.
A 180 gal main tank (also with plenty of vegetation), connected to a 125 gal heavy planted sump.
In the sump above aquatic plants like Vallisneria, floaters like Salvinia, the terrestrial, and semi terrestrials like mangrove trees, use a portion of the nitrates, and other deleterious waste material, (although I still need to do regular large water changes to keep nitrate at natural levels)
Where I live natural nitrate levels in unpolluted streams are undetectable, a grab sample in the Rio Pacora below.
The main tank contains about a dozen fish, probably a bit over a proper balance population density.
To maintain my <5ppm nitrate i still try to do at least a 100% water change per week (more when possible)
I realize in an African shell dweller tank, plants are not part of the normal biotope, and why I would suggest a separate , but attached, planted sump.
To me the term ecosystem would be a system, where one would also want at least 10 times as many plants, as fish.
So for your 50 gal African shell dweller tank, attaching a 100 gallon sump with enough terrestrial and aquatic plants to consume nitrate, and maybe a small population of self sustaining shrimp or other invertebrate,in the sump, to help break down melting plant matter.
I attempt to partially do this, with my Panamanian biotope tank.
A 180 gal main tank (also with plenty of vegetation), connected to a 125 gal heavy planted sump.
In the sump above aquatic plants like Vallisneria, floaters like Salvinia, the terrestrial, and semi terrestrials like mangrove trees, use a portion of the nitrates, and other deleterious waste material, (although I still need to do regular large water changes to keep nitrate at natural levels)
Where I live natural nitrate levels in unpolluted streams are undetectable, a grab sample in the Rio Pacora below.
The main tank contains about a dozen fish, probably a bit over a proper balance population density.
To maintain my <5ppm nitrate i still try to do at least a 100% water change per week (more when possible)
I realize in an African shell dweller tank, plants are not part of the normal biotope, and why I would suggest a separate , but attached, planted sump.
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Maybe ecosystem was the wrong word but yes pretty much small group of fast moving fish where only the strong survive and one or two predators that keep them in check, yes I’d feed both
Most fish love to eat baby fish, wouldn't even need to be a traditional predator. ,ost ichlids, and catfish will gladly gobble up fry, probably even eat the eggs before they hatch if they can get to them.
If you feed both then its defiantly possible. I would look at a small calvus species. and then the shelldwellers. I would def only keep 1 calvus. And not more species then those 2 since your tank is quite small for multiple territorial species of cichlids.
If you want an ecosystem i will gladly explain how i did it for a research. But shrimps would probably be the top predator in a 80cm ecosystem.