Setting up a 75 orinoco river basin biotope tank, advice welcome

[Naturenut1233]

Hello everyone,

New member here and finally doing something I've always wanted to do. I'm setting up a 75 biotope of the orinoco river basin in south america.

I plan to have 150 pounds of play sand as my base and I have a cave that I'm putting below the sand so you can see when the fish go in it. It's pretty cool and I ordered it off etsy. I can't post links yet because I'm new but it's the neatest thing I've ever seen for burying fish. I plan to stock the tank full of driftwood, rocks and amazon swords. For fish, I have babies right now, and I realize I may have to expand to a larger tank someday. The biggest fish I have right now are 4 inches max and those are the pictus cats. So here is my current stock of fish that I plan to put in it.

2 - two inch oscars, one white and one dark.
1 - two inch green severum (the store only had one)
4 -three to four inch pictus cats
2 - baby common plecos

What else would you add, or would you remove anything? I'm considering silver dollars, acuras, angels, etc. Also I'd love to find another green severum. Is this too much?

The fish are all teensy tiny right now so I know it'll be ok for a while. But in time I am sure I"ll have to expand to a 125 or 150.

Thoughts?

 

[SilverArowanaBoi]

Hello everyone,

New member here and finally doing something I've always wanted to do. I'm setting up a 75 biotope of the orinoco river basin in south america.

I plan to have 150 pounds of play sand as my base and I have a cave that I'm putting below the sand so you can see when the fish go in it. It's pretty cool and I ordered it off etsy. I can't post links yet because I'm new but it's the neatest thing I've ever seen for burying fish. I plan to stock the tank full of driftwood, rocks and amazon swords. For fish, I have babies right now, and I realize I may have to expand to a larger tank someday. The biggest fish I have right now are 4 inches max and those are the pictus cats. So here is my current stock of fish that I plan to put in it.

2 - two inch oscars, one white and one dark.
1 - two inch green severum (the store only had one)
4 -three to four inch pictus cats
2 - baby common plecos

What else would you add, or would you remove anything? I'm considering silver dollars, acuras, angels, etc. Also I'd love to find another green severum. Is this too much?

The fish are all teensy tiny right now so I know it'll be ok for a while. But in time I am sure I"ll have to expand to a 125 or 150.

Thoughts?

First, welcome to the fun group!

Your idea for a biotope of the Orinoco River basin sounds awesome. Do you have a larger tank size? If not, I would highly recommend reconsidering the stocking options.

The pair of Oscars will quickly outgrow a 75 g as most Oscars will get long (12-14 in) and full-bodied; they have way too much bioload from the get-go as they are practical trash bins (while I haven't owned an adult Oscar, I've temporarily raised a juvenile, and it was the messiest thing). Two common plecos are the same deal, except that they can get larger than Oscars (max out at around 2 ft ) and are just as messy, if not worse. Again, much too large for that size tank.

The pictus are perfectly fine in the 75. I've had one in a 55-gallon and could've easily had more. The severum, while you could theoretically stick it in a 75-gallon for life, would ideally be better in a 125 or larger. They are much slower and "quieter" compared to the Oscars, so they don't need as much space as the Oscars. However, as any fish would, they fare better in a larger tank.

I wouldn't recommend silver dollars for that size tank. They are skittish and flighty, and 4 feet isn't enough for them. Not to mention, they can get pretty sizable.

You mentioned acaras. That would be a much better option for your tank in the long term. While I don't know what specific species come from the region, from a little bit of research, some of these options would be better:

Catfish/Bottom Dwellers: Pictus (which you already have), Striped Raphaels, Blue or Green Phantom Plecos, Bristlenose Plecos, and any cory cat.

Dithers: Most tetra species, such as Buenos Aires, Black Skirt tetras, Neon tetras, Diamond tetras, etc. Common livebearer species such as Mollies and Platys. Cory cats would also go in this category since they are smaller schooling/shoaling fish.

Centerpiece fish: Angelfish (they have to be with specific tankmates; they are delicate, although they are semi-aggressive), Electric Blue Acaras, Blue Acaras, Dwarf Acaras, Keyhole Cichlids, Rainbow cichlids, Convicts, etc.

I hope this helps! Also, a final tip: Research, Research, Research!

 

[duanes]

I agree with the comments above.
A 75 gal tank, is much to small for even 1 oscar as an adlult, (much less 2) and same with standard Plecos.

And not only because of dimensions.......
in a 75 with those fish, water quality issues will become quickly problematic.
Oscars tend to be susceptabkle to HITH disease if subjected to even slightly elevated nitrate (> 5 ppm), and in that size tank with those fish, I would suspect that a you'd need to do every other day 50 or more % water changes to keep nitrate down to a safe (non-HITH) level.
If you could keep tannins at an Oriinoco black water conscentration it might help, but I would imagine the tank size would need to in in 150 gal range, with a at least 30% overy other day water change schedule.

 

[Naturenut1233]

I've decided to go with angelfish, pictus cats, cardinal tetras, red eye tetras and cory cats.