African Inverts for biotope?

G

Gierling

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May 11, 2010
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Does anyone know of any inverts available in the hobby that would be appropriatte for a Niger river biotope tank?

I know of Atya Gabonensis (Vampire Shrimp), which is found primarily in a river which feeds the Niger (which means there are probably more then a few crawling around the niger itself).

But as far as other shrimp or snails, I can't seem to find any. There are no real resources like Fishbase for inverts.

Im seriously mulling the niger river biotope idea, but I would like there to be more then one invert in there.
 
If you know the water chemistry, you can safely house any type of invertebrate that 'likes' the same. If you're trying to accurately recreate a specific ecosystem, I can't help. I am sure that there are shrimp, snails, and other invertebrates, that live in the Niger.
 
Thanks for the the heads up Ms.

I am trying to create a specific biotope but its going to take a lot of research to do it right, and it all depends how "accurate" I want to be.

Fishbase has been an absolute godsend in this area. I was able to quickly look at the fish in the ecosystem and figure out which ones are available in the trade (Debauwi catfish, featherfin squeeker, Blue gularis and jewel cichlids will be the core of the tank). Unfortunately there is no invert database so I have to try and cobble together info thats out there.

Do you guys know the names of other genericly African inverts? maybe I can find info on thier ranges elsewhere if I know which names to include in searching.
 
Gierling said:
Thanks for the the heads up Ms.

I am trying to create a specific biotope but its going to take a lot of research to do it right, and it all depends how "accurate" I want to be.

Fishbase has been an absolute godsend in this area. I was able to quickly look at the fish in the ecosystem and figure out which ones are available in the trade (Debauwi catfish, featherfin squeeker, Blue gularis and jewel cichlids will be the core of the tank). Unfortunately there is no invert database so I have to try and cobble together info thats out there.

Do you guys know the names of other genericly African inverts? maybe I can find info on thier ranges elsewhere if I know which names to include in searching.
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All of the Sulawesi species are from Africa, but not the Niger river. If you do find shrimp from that area, be cautious. You've got some aggressive invert hunting fish in your list.

With that said, here are some resources I've used to get technical information from.

http://db.angfa.org.au/ (Hit and miss, some information is detailed)
http://www.wirbellose.de/arten.html (Detailed database, for the species listed, but in German)
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/
http://decapoda.nhm.org/references/search.html (Excellent resource, but highly technical)
http://decapoda.nhm.org/references/newpdfs.html (Same site, but the list of new additions)

Good luck
 
pixl8r said:
If you do find shrimp from that area, be cautious. You've got some aggressive invert hunting fish in your list.
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Totally agree with this. Atya gabonensis shrimp are very passive and would be harassed, probably to the point of death, by jewel cichlids for sure. I would seriously research compatibility between the inverts and fish you want to mix, as they likely won't all get along peaceably. Wish I could answer your original Q concerning other types of inverts for your biotope. Good luck with the setup :)
 
I have done some more research and it turns out that some varieties of snail occasionally sold as Zebra Nerites would be appropriatte.

Specifically Neritina natalensis and Vittina coromandeliana.
 
Been reading some more and those species of Nerite may range into western africa, I can't find anything certain.

Although apparantly the species Pachymelania byronensis is from Gabon, but its very rare in the hobby.

Some Genara of apple snails also originate there but Im having a devil of a time seeing if they exist in the hobby.
 
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