bam Easy level

Igarapé Prosperitate, Rio Preto, Brazil

Brazil, Amazonas, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro

With this biotope aquarium I replicated the shoreline of the mouth of the igarapé Prosperitate. There are tree trunks submerged and a lot of roots and branches: this is the perfect habitat for the Taeniacara candidi. They hide between the roots and inside the leaf litter layer. Paracheirodon axelrodi live in large schools above the leaflitter.

Submitted by: Vern Van de Weyer
Approved by: Roberto Reis, Francesco Denitto & Donald C. Taphorn

GPS: -0.1630500, -64.1197205

Geographical region: South America
Drainage Basin: Rio Negro basin
River catchment: Rio Negro
Water body type: Igarapè
Water body name: Prosperitate
Water body part: River mouth
Water body course: Lower course
Water body: tributary of: Rio
Tributary name: Preto

Videos above and below water

Water Chemistry

Water information

Water type: Fresh water
Water color: Black water
Water transparency: Medium
Concentration of sediments
Water temperature: 24.5 °C
Water flow/curent: Slow

Chemical parameters

pH: 6.5
Conductivity: 154
GH: 30 mg/l
KH: 20 mg/l
Dissolved Oxygen

Aquarium information

Aquarium description

Set-up date

December 2019

Aquarium decoration

The substrate of the aquarium consists of pond peat bloks, a layer off 8 to 10 cm thick. This is very loose and fish can swim inside the substrate to hide or lay eggs. Two big trunks of driftwood to replicate the tree trunks of the Ficus trees. Braches and twigs I collected from oak trees. Guave leafes are used for the leaf litter layer because they look most like the leafs in the habitat. I only used one type of leaves because almost the entire area consists of Ficus trees.

Aquarium equipment

Eheim external pump 2213 with a pump flow of 440l/h. I used a spray bar with more and bigger holes, so the flow rate is lower. Sera siporax and sponge filters.

The aquarium light is a Aquatlantis Easy LED Universal 2.0 Freshwater 549 mm, on a Hight of approximal 50cm above the aquarium.

6800 k (kelvin)

2414 lm

%LEDs: 66,3% Cool White, 17,0% Warm White, 8,2% Blue, 8,5% Red. I’m not using any heaters, the room is constantly heated on 25 – 26°C

Fish care

Feeding only once or twice a week. I only added 9 Paracheirodon axelrodi, after a couple months I had 17 of them. Later, I added the 5 Taeniacara candidi and they hunted down the new borns.

Fish:

Paracheirodon axelrodi (9)
Taeniacara candidi (5)

Plant care

No plants.

Water care

The water in the aquarium is changed every 2 weeks in the amount of 10%. Always add water of approximately the same temperature.

Dimensions

Length: 90 cm
Depth: 50 cm
High: 45 cm
Volume: 200 L

Substrate in aquarium

Sand: None
Pebble/Gravel: None
Stone: None
Stone form
Silt/Mud: Reddish
Leaves: Adundant
Driftwood: Few
Submerged terrestrial vegetation: No

Bibliography

Cichlid atlas volume 1 - Page168-175; 122-123; 160; 652-656; 1068-1073 by Uwe Romer

Sitography

→ Google
→ Apistogramma Forum

Comment by the expert

Roberto Reis: Beautiful aquarium, based on one video showing most of the tank. Good description of equipments and water parameters.

Francesco Denitto: Nice and “natural” layout. My impression is that fish introduced into this aquarium and choosen by the participants to represent the BIN biodiversity feel at home!

Donald C. Taphorn: This tank has some of my favorite aquarium fishes. You provided good links to more details, so well done on that account.