# New scape: South american Biotope



## brrr (26 May 2011)

Aloha guys!

It has been a while since i Posted on this forum. I've kept reading thow and learned a lot!

I've always been a fan of a dutch style aquarium, but i missed the wood in it. So I'm planning on using 2 big pieces of mangrove wood in my 120L tank.
I have Hemigrammus bleheri, Paracheirodon axelrodi, Hyphessobrycon pulchripinnis and some Carnegiëlla strigata.

now my question is, since i love lots of plants kept in the dutchstyle tanks. What sort of plant should i keep. I do not realy like a tank with only the typical valisneria, cryptocorne and other small long leaved plants.
Is it possible to keep plants like lobelia cardinalis, bacopa's, cognac plant etc in a sort of biotope?

which plants do you guys think of?

I'm going to make this scape happening in 2 weeks or so. then i have 2 weeks free and I can spend a lot of time on the tank.
Will make a picture thread ofc, so everyone can follow the progress.

thanks for ur help

Bert


----------



## JEK (26 May 2011)

I suppose you don't want a "hardcore" biotope aquarium that mimics a specific habitat, but more a SA themed tank were all species comes from SA..? 

In that case I would recommend different Echinodorus species, maybe some larger species in the background and small species like E. tennelus and/or quadricostatus in the middle and foreground. 
Stemmed plants like cabomba and bacopa is also a possibility in the background together with/instead of echinodorus...
If i remember correctly is christmas moss from SA so that also a possibility to grow on the wood or on some small rock around the wood.

What substrate are you planning? A sand foreground would look nice in a SA themed tank...

Good luck with and looking forward to pictures!


----------



## brrr (27 May 2011)

You are suposing correctly. Th emost discus and overall SA biotopes don't realy have much difrent spieces of plants. So what I'm planning to do is keeping fish and plants which grow in the same conditions but aren't necercary from SA. Since I don' tlike a tank with only Echinodorus species.

I've thinking on some plants:
wood with christmasmos, windelov
foregroundplants like lilaeopsis, lobelia, hemianthus micranthemoides, poggostemon helferi.
aponogeton as solitare plant
background bacopa, zosterfolia, cabomba

but if you guys think that this would do wrong on a biotopebased tank, I will take more echinodorus species.

I've also got anubias nana, riccia fluitans, monosolenium tenerum.

so still not sure if i would use the plants i currently have together with mangrove wood. or indeed as JEK said echinodorus in the foreground and middle (still I would like more then just christmasmos on the wood)

substrate is sand, the one that is currently in the tank
will keep some open sandspots in front and some plant streets towards the back for depthsight.


----------



## JEK (27 May 2011)

Well, IMHO it's only a true biotope aquarium when the species coexist in the wild and the hardscape, water parameters and placement of plants (if there are any) mimics the habitat as much as possible. 
I think that's the most correct definition of a biotope aquarium, though others may disagree.
I you're planning to keep plant species from different parts of the world, then I would just call it a planted aquarium, but if you keep only SA plants and fishes it might qualify as a South American themed layout.   

But enough if this nonsense, now I will comment the plants you're thinking of.  


When I read you plant list I come to think of a dutch style of planted aquarium, except that you will use large pieces of wood and maybe not so many and and colorfull species as in a real dutch layout.

Windeløv is a plant that I think have a bit unnatural-looking leaves. It depends on how it's used, but under most circumstances I would reccomend normal microsorum pteropus or the narrow leaf or needle leaf form if you 're aiming for a natural looking layout. 

Lobelia cardinalis grows 20-30 cm tall, so I think it's too tall for the foreground. Maybe it's better in the middle...

Bacopa, zosterifolia and cabomba will surely work fine as background plants with the different leaf shapes they have.


This post has become far too long... Sorry.


----------



## brrr (14 Mar 2013)

this may be closed


----------

