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Flooded forest in the El Tuparro National Park, Rio Orinoco

Sponsored by
The Home Aquarium Brand

Colombia, Dipartimento di Vichada, Puerto Carreño

The El Tuparro National Park is the biggest river catchment area to west of Rio Orinoco. The biggest part of it consist of flooded/non flooded savannas and as we head closer to the main stream the fooded forests are more typical.

The habitat that I want to introduce is next to the borderline of Venezuela and Colombia near Isla Santa Isabel. It is a flooded forest biotope, circa 200m far from the main branch of the Rio Orinoco.

I found a video from the 1990’s, which tourned out to be my greatest motivitation to create my biotope aquarium. In this habitat several fish species can be found like Paracheirodon axelrodi, Axelrodia riesei, Hemigrammus rubrostriatus. And some cichlid species too, such as Dicrossus filamentosus and Aequidens metae. Specific submerged plant e.g. Najas guadalupensis. The substrate is not too visible because of the leaf litter, algae and mass of bacteria.

This palm tree Mauritia flexuosa is very important to the native warao indians.

Submitted by
Péter Rózsahegyi
Approved by
Roberto E. Reis & Flávio Lima
GPS
6.1879711, -67.4894638
Geographical region
South America
Drainage Basin
Rio Orinoco
River catchment
Caño Guio
Water body type
Wetland
Water body name
Flooded forest
Water body part
Flood plain
Water body course
Lower course
Water body: tributary of
River
Tributary name
Caño Murciélago

Videos above and below water

Water Chemistry

Water information

Water type
Fresh water
Water color
Clear water
Water transparency
Medium
Concentration of sediments
High
Water temperature
26-28 °C
Water flow/curent
Slow

Chemical parameters

pH
6.2
Conductivity
GH
KH
Dissolved Oxygen

Substrate in nature

Sand
White
Pebble/Gravel
None
Stone
None
Stone form
Silt/Mud
Beige
Leaves
Adundant
Driftwood
Few
Submerged terrestrial vegetation

Aquatic Biotope

Date of collecting
Collecting area
Water depth
2,0m
Air temperature
28 °C
Sunlight
Partial shade

Environment

Environment
Affected by human activity
Affected by human activity
Pollution
Pollution
Little
Surrounding area

In the surrounding area there are more flooded forests with slow moving water and to west you can find the main stream of Caño Guio.

Underwater landscape

The landscape cosist of white silica sand, but it isn’t too visible because everything is hidden by fallen leaf, algae and mass of bacteria. There are several branches in the bottom and scatteredly some root systems too. On the edge of stream bed you can find lots of submerged trees, palms and bushes.

Fishes:

  • Paracheirodon axelrodi (Characidae)
  • Pristella maxillaris (Characidae)
  • Hemigrammus stictus (Characidae)
  • Hemigrammus rubrostriatus (Characidae)
  • Axelrodia riesei (Characidae)
  • Nannostomus unifasciatus (Lebiasinidae)
  • Aequidens metae (Cichlidae)
  • Dicrossus filamentosus (Cichlidae)
  • Apistogramma sp. (Cichlidae)

Aquatic plants:

  • Najas guadalupensis
Threats to ecology

Riparian zone

Trees near the aquatic habitat
Many - Mauritia flexuosa
Trees near the aquatic habitat
Few - Philodendron anisotomum

Bibliography

Sitography

→ Podarilove
→ Podarilove
→ Wikipedia

Comment by the expert

Roberto E. Reis: Fair research on the Rio orinoco in Colombia, with many fish species included.

Flavio Lima: Considering that a good reference for reconstructing a aquatic biotope is aquatic footage from the biotope, I think that the participant has used an appropriate source. No other sources were cited but in fact references for aquatic habitats in that region are sparse in the literature. One mistake was the inclusion of Pristella maxillaris in the tank – this species is restricted to the lower rio Orinoco and does not occur in the region from where the participant took his inspiration to buld his biotope.