Biotope Biologist

1. Yeah 1-1.5” is fairly accurate, they are a more full-bodied fish so they grow taller than wide 2. I have never observed aggressive fin nipping towards other species but they can pick on eachother sometimes. I only see this behavior when they are really stressed out though. But all tetra are capable of this behavior. 3. I believe them to be the only species of the genus to have a large blotch on the upper lateral line near the gill cover. Others have bars or are completely lacking. the species rosacius can have a diffuse blotching but they also tend to have white tipped fins rather than black 4. It appears that the redness of red phantoms is from the locale they were collected from as f0. They appear to retain these colors through the generations. The reddest ones being collected over blackwater habitats. Since almost all sweglesi are captive bred they are denoted with ‘strain names’

I don’t need to base it on any scientific articles because you won’t find any. Not one that studies a system in which there are too many variables to account for. Engineers can control for evaporative loss given several constants in a closed system environment. But fish tanks are not closed systems. They receive several inputs and have several things interacting that cannot be removed as variables. Something in which the equation lacks. Even the chemistry of the water plays an integral role which I believe is why the equation assumes a pH of 7.0 with no dissolved solids. Such fiercely analytical minds can be a cumbrance. If you have further issue with my findings you can DM me, but I would rather not detract from OP’s intent to find useful information on ownership of a shallow body tank.

I am going to tackle this from a biologist’s perspective and also clarify that we don’t actually know why fish jump. In the field at around dawn you can see fish jumping everywhere. In the ocean, streams, estuaries it doesn’t matter. People say they might be escaping predators, responding to stress, or catching bugs out of the air. But I don’t think this explains the behavior and here is why. I have seen full grown sturgeon breach. I have seen sharks like dogfish and salmon sharks breach. Even bottom dwelling fish like halibut. Then when I first had my tank open air no net, I lost shiners, minnow, and even a goby to these nighttime/early morning affairs. I have accidentally startled the trout into jumping, they are skittish. But the gobies and minnow didn’t make sense. Until I saw late at night my gobies playing near the surface of the water and breaching. It is something I can only attribute to play or comfort or a “jump for joy” if you will. It is not something I don’t think is actively being researched. But for now I will not keep open air tanks anymore without some sort of protection. As for the netting the fish are allowed to jump in the open sections of the tank the net is to keep them from breaching close to the edge of the tank where it might be fatal.

They are pretty tolerant of water parameters. The sensitivity I have seen comes from stress from other fish and not being able to hide. I am sure you are aware that it takes a bit of training to get them weened off live foods or frozen live foods. We kept ours in a species only tank with snails and otocinclus.

Engineers always have an equation for something haha, but again this equation doesn’t exactly show what happens in the real world. It predicts roughly based on a stagnant pool of water with variables that do not change drastically. But surface agitation, plant cover, shade, and turnover rate all play a role in evaporative loss. I think even tds and tss play a small role too. Again I agree that technically a major increase in SA should theoretically lead to an increase in evaporative loss. But those are not observed in the real world.

Ferns look happy! I have an ACO dimmable light (prototype). In the previous setup I mounted the light to the ceiling. in the setup after the move I mounted a 33” shepherds hook to the tank stand I really want the kessil tuna sun A360x as I saw it at the local fish store, aquarium zen, on their ADA jungle paludarium and was the closest thing to natural sunlight I have seen on the market. For the slope id use eggcrate or some sort of hollow structure so that the sand has a good strong anchor. You can also fill the structure with soil if you aim to plant mangroves or some other plants that are deep rooters. whatever stone you use if it’s soft enough make sure to grab 3-4 stones extra to smash with a hammer to add to the sand. It will create a more natural gradient

There is something like 250 species of ramshorn native to North America, so we can just settle with the colloquial “ramshorn snail” But anyway yes that appears to be a baby ramshorn snail

Weirdly not a lot of evaporative loss. You would think higher SA would do that but it also means better gas exchange from water to air. For light depending on the height of your ceiling I would advise a ceiling hook and frame wire to hang the fixture from. Or some brands have a telescoping light stand, like kessil. Not budget friendly though.

Its a 50g lowboy or frag tank. They are rather hard to come by nowadays but they used to be popular turtle and frag grow out tanks. Dimensions are 48x 26 x 11 I think. And I take most pictures when there is direct sunlight on the tank it cuts the glare, I appreciate the compliments! The bottom pic I was trying to take a pic of the goby in the root tangle, but as soon as I got my phone out he dipped. They only let me take pictures if food is involved 😅

I personally really enjoy the flattened look. I think the biggest thing you should consider is whether you want emergent plants. They will add dimension to the space. Sedge species are readily available in the spring in most pond sections and bog ferns are the first that come to mind. There are also a few anubias that actually prefer to grow emersed, including the ever popular anubias nana. I think con would be that you are greatly limited in plant selection. Anything that grows tall will look squished so your plant selection submerged needs to be smaller plants or slow growers like microswords and mosses and such. Another con is that fish get really comfortable in these enclosures with emergent plants. They feel safe and happy which means that even fish not considered jumpers will breach. Either use clear mesh netting over the water or allow for about 3-6” of space between the water level and the top of the tank. You can get clear mesh at BRS. Anyway this is my 50g sub-alpine creek biotope:

Nice! Love me a tardigrade. Actually want one of those shirts that says: ”you may not like it, but this is peak form” with a pic of a tardigrade on it

From what I understand cabomba branches in a fan shape whereas limnophila have smaller whorls of irregular branching leaves I am not a botanist and have never claimed to be but I do have to identify cabomba from time to time on watercraft.

Expiration dates are not at all controlled by any U.S governing body. But they are required on just about every product. Which leads to things like fish food which is shelf stable having expirey dates. As long as it is still sealed it will last a long time. We even have expiration labels on pickles an item famously shelf stable for decades. I always offer the “smell test” humans are actually quite remarkable at detecting when food has gone bad or stale.

Just now catching up with the tank, right in time for the tear down… It looked great! I have a 50g lowboy/frag tank I found shallow depth easier to get good circulation and surface agitation. Hope you attempt it again I definitely agree smaller tanks for river style are much easier to maintain. I also use emergent plants to keep water quality up.

Looks like a tunicate. Im not sure how a marine animal got in the quarantine tank, but that is what it looks most like to me. Perhaps this is an example of a freshwater sponge to which I have very little experience with

That is my dream setup too! Amazon biotopes are my favorite and if I could get a larger tank with a group of Oscars and 1000 neons id be salivating Speaking of Amazon, centipede knife fish have managed to elude me. Was going to do a tank for them in college but couldn’t track them down and of course when I was taking a long break with this hobby, walked into ACO and there was a school of 20 of them! Maybe if we cross paths again I might attempt that setup again. Shoaling knifefish are a rare sight in the aquarium

Appears that way. Drain fly larvae. These flies are rather small and mostly nocturnal so they can slip by undetected. They are rather indiscriminate about where they lay eggs, hence the name sink flies. A puddle in or under a sink can harbor the larvae, which feed on detritus and other debris. same is true for aquariums especially in cool areas.

Yeah it can get pretty stuck on there. The coop sponges are pretty good at removing them. They are just magic erasers without the chemicals! Snails have rasping serrated teeth, they are quite good at getting stubborn algae off of rocks and glass. But they tend to mow haphazardly so it would never be a permanent solution.

We moved again in the fall just a little ways away from where we lived previously. Hopefully this will be the final move for these fishies. One goby was incredibly stubborn about leaving the caves I provided. It took tremendous arm strength to lift the cave system out of the water and hold it there until he finally plopped out and was fished out with a net. anyway still get plenty of light on the tank so I took a photo of the java fern. It seems to be the new hangout for the minnows

It is very unlikely that you have a high amount of copper. Fertilizers that provide micronutrients for plants have such a small amount of these metals that it would take quite a while for them to accumulate in the water, even without water changes. I advise you check the ingredients of your fertilizers however, micronutrients especially metals are wasted on your water if they are administered at any sort of frequency. Humans also need things like cobalt and manganese to survive, but in such small amounts that it is extremely rare to have deficiency in them. Copper is used as a transport ion in plant roots I believe, but it is not required in large amounts. I digress, there are many hobbyists who have been successful in maintaining a water change-less system for decades. It can be done as long as all waste is properly recycled. As for your stocking, I would go ahead and do water changes on a schedule. Despite being classified as beginner fish neons are sensitive to poor water quality and guppies can be finicky if the water becomes depleted in needed ions. Measured by your gh and kh.

I would use an acrylic tank. Preferably one with only one seam along the bottom or back. Then for a stand something with sturdy construction and I would make sure that joints can move but not give. For example my tank stand allows for some movement in the legs without collapsing.

White cloud minnow, ricefish, a handful of barb species, and most danio species. You can use a low watt heater in the tank. Heating to 68 F doesn’t take a lot of electricity. And if your basement is 50 ambient the tanks will probably sit around 58-62. Water is a thermal insulator.

I can provide updated photos. Trying to replicate the creeks in south east asia where you might find my fish I use mostly emergent plants that are very slowly creeping into the water. I have a narrow leaf java fern that loves the stump it has just about taken over the entirety of it. You can run this setup with a lot higher flow but need to provide eddies and shelter for fish to get out of the current The orange fin hill trout were lethargic at the LFS but as soon as I dropped them in this tank they are 24/7 energy Since I can’t run many aquatic plants due to the flow, I let the algae and Christmas tree moss build up on the rocks.

Inline heater- dependent on your filtration are more efficient at heating the water as the water is forced to interact with the heater rather than waiting for the water to circulate to the heater. Water is a very good insulator so I imagine your inefficiencies are with the heater and not heat loss to the room. You are not losing much heat to the ambient air through evaporative cooling either so insulating the lid does very little for you I would imagine. For human comfort you should definitely insulate your house! 😋 I like the house cold- 60 F. But 55 and below is rather uncomfortable

Carbonate salts. I think seachem alkaline buffer has this but you can find them readily at any major pet store if you don’t have it on hand