Home
 What's New
 About
 Preface
 Introduction
 Fish Anatomy
 Water Chemistry
 The Aquarium
 Plant Care
 Plant Species
 Food
 Disease
 Biotope Aquaria
   Ecosystems
   Country Database
 Fish Species
   Catfish
   Characins
   Cichlids
   Cyprinds
   Killifish
   Labyrinth Fish
   Livebearers
   Loaches
   Others
   Perches
   Rainbowfish
 Non-fish Species
 Breeding Fish
 Aquarium Photos
 Languages
   Chinese
   Croatian
   Finnish
   German
   Japanese
   Portuguese
   Spanish
 Bibliography
 Links
 Resources
 Rainforests
 Books
 Mongabay Sites
   Kids site
   Travel Tips
 News
 Contact



dog videos, cat videos, puppy videos, kitten videos, pet videos

South American Blackwater Creek

BIOTOPE AQUARIA -- South American Blackwater Creek

A biotope aquaria is an aquarium that is set-up to simulate a natural habitat. The fish, plants, water chemistry, and furnishings are similar to those that can be found in a specific natural setting.

Always check compatibility! Some species from a particular habitat are not suitable tankmates. For example, the Peacock Bass will eat small tetras since they are their natural food in the wild.

The biotope aquarium can be adapted by adding species from disparate areas that have similar water requirements.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
South American Blackwater Creek - near the Rio Sucasari, Peru
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This biotope description is derived from an interview I did for SimplyDiscus.com that was posted on February 28, 2003.

The Rio Sucasari is a small tributary near the confluence of the Rio Napo and the Amazon River about 5 hours downriver from Iquitos, Peru. It is an interesting area because of the diversity of habitats: the Rio Napo and Amazon are large whitewater rivers, while the Sucasari is a pure blackwater creek. There are also several Oxbow lakes, both whitewater and blackwater. I will specifically be describing a small creek off the Sucasari, which was under a nearly complete canopy shading.

Rio Napo, Peru 1996

Rio Napo, Peru 1996

Blackwater creek, Peru 1996

Blackwater creek after rain
Runoff causes the water to muddy. Prior to the rain,
the water was the color of black coffee.
Peru 1996

Blackwater creek, Peru 1996

Blackwater creek after rain
Runoff causes the water to muddy. Prior to the rain,
the water was the color of black coffee.
Peru 1996

In the Sucasari creek there were numerous downed trees. Submerged wood is generally very dark in color. There were few living roots, but fallen tree matter (trees, branches) was much more common in this specific biotope.
I only did a limited amount of collecting in the creek using dip nets, throw nets, and traditional fishing line. I snorkeled around a bit during the day and at night examined the creek using a floodlight. Pimelodids and Loricarids were abundant as were silver hatchetfish, Severum, and assorted small tetras in large schools (Hemigrammus, Hyphessobrycon, Boehlkea, and Thayeria). There were Apistogramma spp. and Brochis splendens among the leaf litter. I did not encounter any discus in that specific area.
In the forest around the creek there were a large number of frogs, toads, and snakes. I found mata mata turtles in the shallows of the creek under fallen logs. As for aquatic insects, I saw few "swimmers" but many insect larvae living among the wood matter and rotting vegetation. There were land snails, but I failed to notice any aquatic snails. There were lots of flying insects especially flies and gnats but not too many mosquitoes. In the vegetation along the river there were many highly camouflaged katydids, grasshoppers, and other insects.
Few aquatic plants -- mostly roots and submerged wood. At the time of my visit water levels were at their midpoint, so many semi-aquatic plants that grew along the water are probably submerged at some point during the year. In some areas there were reedy plants growing fully submerged. In this particular area there were no floating plants but in adjacent oxbow lakes they were water lilies, water cabbage, and duckweed-like plants. Sword plants were also present in nearby swampy areas -- these grew both emerged and submerged.
No rocks whatsoever!! In this part of the Amazon, rocks are treated as a commodity and are used for trading because of their rarity. The river bed is orange/pinkish colored clay with several inches of rotting leaf litter and debris. The leaves had sharply pointed tips consistent with typical rainforest leaf shape (the so-called "drip-tips" facilitate water flow off the leaf surface).

WATER:
pH 5.5-6.5, 0-4 dH, 79-84 F (26-29 C)

TANK:
Use fine gravel, sand, or clay for a substrate.
Ideally, woody material should be the most prominent decoration in the tank. Use scattered Amazon swords and reedy plants like Vallisneria.
Lighting should be subdued and filter outflows placed to create little current.

PLANTS:
Sword plants, Vallisneria

FISH:
Discus, Angelfish, Dwarf Cichlids, Tetras [Hemigrammus, Hyphessobrycon, Boehlkea, and Thayeria], Hatchetfish, Corydoras, Pimelodids, Loricarids.
"Pimelodids and Loricarids were abundant as were silver hatchetfish, Severum, and assorted small tetras in large schools (Hemigrammus, Hyphessobrycon, Boehlkea, and Thayeria). There were Apistogramma spp. and Brochis splendens among the leaf litter. I did not encounter any discus in that specific area."

PHOTOS:
Rio Napo
Blackwater creek after rain
Blackwater creek after rain

Altum Angelfish Biotope Aquarium Pictures
Discus Biotope Aquarium Pictures


`'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``'*:-.,_,.-:*'``

Other Biotope Resources


Recent news

Using fish as livestock feed threatens global fisheries

(11/18/2009) Fish doesn't just feed humans. Millions of tons of fish are fed every year to chickens, pigs, and even farmed fish even in the midst of rising concerns over fish stocks collapses around the world. Finding an alternative to fish as livestock feed would go a long way toward preventing the collapse of fish populations worldwide according to a new paper in Oryx.


ICCAT fails to protect critically endangered tuna—again

(11/15/2009) The International Commissions for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) ignored the advice of its scientists to end fishing of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. Instead ICAAT set a quota of 13,500 tons of fish. This is not the first time ICCAT has flouted its own researchers' advice: it has repeatedly set quotas well-above its researchers' recommendations.


Governments, public failing to save world's species

(11/04/2009) According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) 2008 report, released yesterday, 36 percent of the total species evaluated by the organization are threatened with extinction. If one adds the species classified as Near Threatened, the percentage jumps to 44 percent—nearly half.


Atlantic bluefin tuna should be banned internationally: ICCAT scientists

(10/29/2009) Scientists with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT) have said in a new report that a global ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna fishing is justified. ICCAT meets in November to decide if they will follow their scientist's recommendations.


The Yangtze River may have lost another inhabitant: the Chinese paddlefish

(10/22/2009) In December of 2006 it was announced that the Yangtze River dolphin, commonly known as the baiji, had succumbed to extinction. The dolphin had survived on earth for 20 million years, but the species couldn't survive the combined onslaught of pollution, habitat loss, boat traffic, entanglement in fishing hooks, death from illegal electric fishing, and the construction of several massive dams. Now, another flagship species of the Yangtze River appears to have vanished.


Freshwater species worse off than land or marine

(10/15/2009) Scientists have announced that freshwater species are likely the most threatened on earth. Extinction rates for freshwater inhabitants are currently four to six times the rates for terrestrial and marine species. Yet, these figures have not lead to action on the ground.


Home |About Mongabay |Rainforest |Tropical Fish |Travel |Contribute |Copyright & Use |Contact


what's new | tropical fish home | rainforests | news | search | about | contact



Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2009

The copy for fish.mongabay.com was written in 1994-1995. Therefore some information such as scientific names may be out of date. For this, I apologize. Feel free to send corrections to me.