Oddity biotope tanks

jflng

jflng

unRegistered abUser
Apr 23, 2007
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There seems to be a few relatively untapped environment types in this hobby. Maybe it's too difficult to actualize or too expensive a venture for most. This on top of unobtainable legal specimens no doubt explains the minimal information aquired from my searches.

I would like to see tanks that are given more unusual biotopes, themes, or characters. Something like: Arctic oceans, deep seas, Lake Baikal or other extreme cold freshwater environments, caves, etc. I was wondering if any of you have pictures or experience with anything like this.

I have heard some references of keeping certain rare aquatic animals, but was not given many details. Any info (especially aquarium pictures) would be appreciated.
 
Anyone?
Don't make me post this in the MFK site.
 
When I was in college in Maine, my work-study job was maintaining several aquariums, one of which was a big (don't know the exact gallons, but it was at least 6 feet long) coldwater, saltwater Gulf of Maine tank. All the inhabitants were local to the area, and included a small lumpfish, lobster, flounder, anemones, mussels, barnacles, etc.

Maybe not quite as extreme as you were thinking, but it was really neat. Definitely not something I'd want in my home, though. It had a huge sump with a chiller, needed lots of water changes, lots of cleaning. It was great for the university setting, though.

Probably the reason more people don't do the exotic tanks is the expense and difficulty in getting critters, and the expense of getting the specialized equipment (chillers, wave generators).
 
that sounds really neat. its probably harder to get the flora than it is the fauna, ha. I'm doing an 75 gal african drainage swamp now. Not that unusual, but I can really relate to the biotope bug
 
Well there is a good reason why there is not a place in the hobby for inhabitants of such extremes. The arctic and antarctic aren't inhabited year round by fish but mostly by mammals and the few fish that do reside or venture into those waters are much too big for any aquarium.

There are very few cave dwelling fish documented by science. Most have adapted to breathe air, have no eyes and no pigment. The rarity alone is why you won't see them being harvested for the aquarium trade. There is one cave fish that you can find, they blind cave tetra but those are captively bred.

As far as deep seas other than the cost of harvesting those animals alone being astronomical it would be near impossible to replicate those conditions in an aquarium. There is probably very little data on the pressures, salinity, temp. and so on.

I don't know about that lake you speak of but I would imagine the fish are ugly, or get too big.
 
Sorry, I don't have pictures of the Maine tank. College was 15 years ago!
 
Interesting input guys. Thanks, this is the kind of stuff I was talking about.

Soobie, that tank sounds cool. Too bad you don't have pics.

I would like to see pictures of anything you guys can pull up. There has to be some millionaire fish hobbyists, research centers, or schools out there that attempt such things. I've seen a few strange large aquarium exhibits, but I was wondering if anyone tried this on a smaller scale. Either way, if it has been done and it's unique, pictures would be great.

I figured conditions like pressure, etc. would be a problem for deep sea tanks, though I thought it had to have been successfully attempted somewhere.

FishMatty's
the fish are ugly
Click to expand...
theory was pretty funny. I know I've turned down certain species for this reason.
 
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