# Asian, South American, African? Biotope Choices.



## marley77 (Jun 3, 2010)

So to start let me say that its Friday, no one is doing anything in the office, and I'm bored. I've spent the morning pondering what i will do with my next tank when I move into my new house at the end of.august. so far what I have is a 55g(48x12x21), stand, fluvial 305, 2x48" t5no light fixture mounted in plastic gutter with end caps(I'm pretty proud of how it came out) and way too much free time at work to think about what to put in it. The only thing I'm set on is no co2. I'm willing to dose ferts, excel,whatever. I'm new to the hobby, but I've been reading this forum constantly for about 2 months and currently have 2 small healthy tanks running. Both are sadly overrun with pond snails but my fish are active, eat a varied diet, and seem as happy as fish can seem. I seem to be adequate at caring for low light plants( nothing to be proud of LOL) but I feel like my next tank should be a step up in difficulty from anubias, Amazon swords, Java moss and wisteria(which I'm convinced is a voracious weed).
So here are a few ideas I have been kicking around. They are very broad and I could use some suggestions/guidance/advice/conversation(LOL).

South American
Angels
Pair dwarf cichlid
Corys 
Small school hatchets
Small school tetra(big enough to avoid being small school angel food)

Asian
6+ Dwarf chainn loach
4 dwarf gourami
Med school CPD
????(need suggestions a for another species)

African
I pretty much have no idea what's going on when it comes to African cichlids. Its kind of mind boggling to me to overstock to avoid aggression. If anyone could suggest possible setups for these guys or experience with keeping them it would be greatly appreciated(I understand it is a broad category, with drastic differeneces between lake habitats and fish behavior.)

The plant choices for each biotope would be pretty much copy and paste from sites that make plant suggestions based on regions. I have only kept a handful of species that are of the least demanding type and could really use suggestions here. I only know what I've read in countless trolling hours and feel like hands on experience is infinitely more valuable. That's where you wonderful people come in!

On a side note, 
Are there any other forums that are remotely close to this one in activity, friendlyness, helpfulness? I've found a lot of other forums have only few new posts a day and sometimes I run out of threads to read on his one!

Thanks everyone. I plan on starting a journal next month when I move and I'm looking forward to that. My buddy has a fancy camera so I should be able to get Some good pics. 

Also, I post from my Droid, so please excuse any spelling/ typographical errors as its hard to see what I'm doing LOL.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

2x 54 watts of T5HO is going to be a lot of light to run over a 55gal tank without pressurized CO2. I know, as it's the same lighting I run over my own 90gal and I have to work to avoid algae issues. I hope you're planning on suspending your fixture up at least a foot over your tank, b/c you're going to have to moderate that lighting somehow to avoid algae.

For your Asian biotope, I'd suggest either some Rasporas or some of the schooling danios (Danio nigrofasciatus is one of my own favorites).

www.mongabay.com is a great website for researching biotopes.

My own personal favorite forums besides this one are 
Tropical Fish Hobbyist- http://forums.tfhmagazine.com/index.php, and
UltimateBettas- http://www.ultimatebettas.com/index.php?act=idx

If you decide to set up an African tank, www.cichlid-forum.com would probably be a good one.


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## Josh123 (Jul 21, 2010)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_55g.php

Here are a few options for setups for 55 gallons from one of the sites lauraleelbp linked.


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## marley77 (Jun 3, 2010)

T5no Laura. I forget the wattage but will I be alright with that? Also do you have any suggestions for Asian biotope plants? Anything you grow that You prefer? I'm thinking of Ada aquasoil II as a substrate and getting ferts from pfertz.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Ah- T5NO puts you right where you want to be. I just can't read. :hihi:

You've got tons of choices for Asian plants- Crypts, Java ferns, mosses, Rotalas, Hygrophilas, are just a few good low light choices off the top of my head.


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## marley77 (Jun 3, 2010)

My original thougts on a centerpiecs fish was betta macrostomas. I have recently discovered hey are quite expensive. So two part question, what kind of rasboras do You find exciting and interesting and what can I do for a centerpiece fish?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I think your dwarf gourami sound like a good idea, though I'd probably only get one male and 2 females. If you go with a wild betta species (there are tons of others out there, macs tend to be some of the most expensive...) I would go with either bettas OR gourami- labyrinth fish don't tend to play well with each other.

I'd probably go with a big school of harlequin rasboras for a 55gal.


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## Tooterfish (Jul 16, 2008)

I second the harlequin rasboras! I have a school in my asian biotope and they're delightful.


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## aztx (Jul 6, 2010)

Keep in mind that your choices for an African biotope aren't limited to just the Rift Lake cichlids. There are some other species to fish to consider, such as Congo Tetras and Kribensis, to name a couple.


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

I disagree Luara.... S. American biotope all the way! Plants could be, swords, _vallniseria_, _Echinodorus _sp. and alot more that I can't think of. I have also seen a really cool looking African biotope that was centered around Killifish.
Regards,
Jake


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