Setting up a natural Amazon themed Aquarium - Article
- Thread starter dorris
- Start date
Dorris,I appreciate your enthusiasm and information.However,in my opinion,it is very risky collecting things from the wild to use in a tank.There is too much risk of parasitic as well as a host of other nasty problems that can arise from using items collected this way.Not to mention the potential legal and some would say moral repercussions that this can have.I would suggest only using wood,substrate,plants,in fact everything that goes into a tank to be for aquariums use and/or that has been proven and used safely in a tank.Just my ten cents...
South American puffers aren't BW at all: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/puffers-in-focus/sap/love it but i want something with more bite and more cute like this
can you give some advice on how to set up a tank for one of these "wolfs in sheeps clothing"
Oh cool, yeh I just found out about the SA Puffers. Could be interesting, but I am really not a fan. Plus the teeth problem, sounds like their specialist diet would be something difficult to cope with.
Spacefish: Of coarse it can be risky to use wild things in your aquarium, but if you know the source is safe and clean, and you clean the materials, and you run some tests, then I see no problem with it at all, and far prefer it, as it brings in natural minerals from the gravel and natural tannin from the wood. If you want to try and replicate something real, then imo there is no substitute for REAL real.
I am lucky that my local natural clean streams and rivers are exactly the same pH and water softness as the Amazon, the only difference is it is freakin cold here. So when this stuff is added to a tropical aquarium which heats it up, any bio-logical nasties that lived in the cold water will die off and be replaced by the aquarium biological conditions I create.
And how can you trust aquarium treated wood and gravel anyway. You don't know what they have done to it. I would trust companies like ADA but not many others with that sort of stuff.
Spacefish: Of coarse it can be risky to use wild things in your aquarium, but if you know the source is safe and clean, and you clean the materials, and you run some tests, then I see no problem with it at all, and far prefer it, as it brings in natural minerals from the gravel and natural tannin from the wood. If you want to try and replicate something real, then imo there is no substitute for REAL real.
I am lucky that my local natural clean streams and rivers are exactly the same pH and water softness as the Amazon, the only difference is it is freakin cold here. So when this stuff is added to a tropical aquarium which heats it up, any bio-logical nasties that lived in the cold water will die off and be replaced by the aquarium biological conditions I create.
And how can you trust aquarium treated wood and gravel anyway. You don't know what they have done to it. I would trust companies like ADA but not many others with that sort of stuff.
Dorris,I must call you to task on a couple of things.There are plenty of chemical and biological baddies that can make the transition from your local cold waterways to the warm tanks you create...That said,your comment about not trusting companies besides ADA about the safety of their products they make for tanks is just silly.There is no way,whether you live near pristine nature or not that items collected from the wild are safer than produced ones.And,most driftwood produced for the aquarium trade will release the same tannins and same results without the threat of parasites,etc. than any wood you could collect.My opinion is that if you are going to try to "teach" or share the amount of info your sharing,it needs to be sound,experienced,advice...
Bare in mind that my guide is a basic guide, and does not take into account every little element and variable. It is also a guide created from over 20 years experience in replicating a natural environment for Amazon fish.
Of coarse there is risk of contamination from absolutely anything you put into an aquarium. Which is why I recommend running a test with each item before placing it into an aquarium. The easiest way to test and see if something is ok (and some may think this is nasty) is to put the item into an empty aquarium of water and place a fish into the tank. If he is fine and dandy chances are it should be fine.
Of coarse there is still risk of contamination even with this test, of all sorts of biologicals as spacefish mentioned. But without risk, what is life, I always say.
I like to use the DIY approach as much as possible, so there's not much I can recommend other than what I know. And what I know has worked for me all my life and now I share my knowledge freely to those who seek it.
Of coarse there is risk of contamination from absolutely anything you put into an aquarium. Which is why I recommend running a test with each item before placing it into an aquarium. The easiest way to test and see if something is ok (and some may think this is nasty) is to put the item into an empty aquarium of water and place a fish into the tank. If he is fine and dandy chances are it should be fine.
Of coarse there is still risk of contamination even with this test, of all sorts of biologicals as spacefish mentioned. But without risk, what is life, I always say.
I like to use the DIY approach as much as possible, so there's not much I can recommend other than what I know. And what I know has worked for me all my life and now I share my knowledge freely to those who seek it.
There are plenty of people who buy wild fish....Those have to be collected you know....
He is just collecting for himself. I would be less worried about parasites, and more worried about the potential legal problems though. There could be a big problem as far as the legality of it though...that is worse than some parasites in your tank IMO. You can feed Pepso food or something to treat parasites in your tank, but you can't do that from jail, and you could be fined, which is no good. I agree with the above though, there are things in the water which can survive a temperature jump what those are though is a different story.
He is just collecting for himself. I would be less worried about parasites, and more worried about the potential legal problems though. There could be a big problem as far as the legality of it though...that is worse than some parasites in your tank IMO. You can feed Pepso food or something to treat parasites in your tank, but you can't do that from jail, and you could be fined, which is no good. I agree with the above though, there are things in the water which can survive a temperature jump what those are though is a different story.
Dorris,after reading your method for testing items to go in a tank,I can no longer take you seriously.In my opinion,that is the most ridiculous,irresponsible,and unnecessary piece of advice I have read in a long while.I'm done with it...
