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Setting up a natural Amazon themed Aquarium   by Luke Cox

Most of the Freshwater Aquarium Fish we find in our pet stores originate from the tropical river of the Amazon in South America. The Amazon has more variety of fish and plant life of all the rivers in the world put together.

The amazing variety and beauty of Amazonian fish and plants is what drew me to this style of aquarium. I have fallen in love with creating Amazon community tanks and re-creating the environment and natural eco-systems of this river.

The diversity of the Amazon River and its many streams means there are infinite ways in which you could create an Amazon theme, and the style and decor of your aquarium setup will depend on what sort of fish you wish to keep.

Today I will focus on setting up an Amazon themed aquarium suitable for Angelfish or Discus. These fish can grow quite large so it is recommended to have an aquarium at least 150-200 Litres or more in volume. They are also rather peaceful fish, so are very suitable for the community tank, so long as follow a few simple guidelines.

For my theme I want to re-create the flooded jungle of the Amazon. Every rainy season the Amazon River bursts its banks to flood the surrounding jungle. At this time the fish head into the jungle to find a suitable quiet place to breed. This is the kind of aquarium I want to represent and will guide you through the process.

Collecting the Decor for an Amazon aquarium

For an Amazon themed aquarium the decor (gravel, rocks, driftwood, plants) should be as natural as possible.

For me this is a great excuse to get out into nature and explore some local rivers and streams. If you are lucky enough to live nearby to a clean natural river or stream like I am then this is the ideal place to get what you need for your Amazon setup.

The river near me has lovely brown/red gravel that is very fine almost like sand. I gather 2-3 buckets worth of this gravel for my substrate. You can give it a quick clean using a hose in a half full bucket, stirring the hose end through the gravel and pouring out the dirty water, but this is not necessary and it can be beneficial to leave the dirt and other bits of leaves and stick in there as this will help with plant growth.

TIP: Be sure to get the finest gravel you can, this will help plant growth as the roots can easily spread through the gravel, otherwise the plants and their roots will have a tough time.

While you are down at the river be sure to collect some larger rocks and lots of interesting looking driftwood. You can start planning your aquarium scape as you find bits of driftwood and rock. Be sure to gather more driftwood than you need though, as quite often I will bring home a nice piece of wood only to find it is far too large and would not look good in the aquarium.

You can give the driftwood a quick scrub with a new scourer if you like to clean them up. This can be a good idea as some of the wood may have traces of algae on them and often you can not see it. It isn’t entirely necessary though and should be fine as long as the river it came from is clean fresh water.

If you are not as lucky as me and can’t find these things in the wild, then you can find them from your local pet stores or garden supplies shops. If you buy them be sure to clean them thoroughly before using.

Soil for growing plants

Most people don’t think to do this, but to grow healthy aquatic plants, just like normal terrestial plants, you need good soil.

So the nest thing you will need to collect is some good clean soil. If you have some clean soil free of chemicals in your garden you can use this, although this can be risky as your soil may be very hard and have a high PH level which will not be suitable for your fish. It can be a good idea to test your soil out in a small aquarium first to make sure it is suitable for your intended fish and plants.

If you don’t have any suitable soil on hand you can buy some from your local garden supplies. I have heard of people regularly using Orchid compost which is said to be very good. Just be sure it is free of chemicals and you should be right, but again a small test run is always a good idea to be sure.

Your Aquarium, Heating and Flitration equipment

I am assuming that you have your aquarium ready in place and your heating and filtration equipment already purchased, but here are a few quick tips for your setup.

Filter: I recommend a small power filter(or two) placed in the rear corner(s) of the aquarium. Be sure to read how many liters of water your filter is suitable for before you buy it. You want to create a circular motion of water that flows right around the aquarium, evenly dispersing the temperature and nutrients around the aquarium.

Heating: The ideal temperature will depend on your fish and plants, but for nearly all Amazon fish, 27 degrees Celcius is perfect. The temperature may fluctuate a little over a cool night or a hot day but a couple of degrees either way is fine.

TIP: Always have a second back-up heater in case one fails, and if they do, usually you will not have time to replace it before your fish are all dead.

Lighting: This is a very important factor if you are growing plants. For an aquarium 200-250 Litres you will need 4 X flurescent globes that reach the full length of the aquarium. You can get special globes especially for growing aquarium plants from your local pet store and sometimes from light/lamp shops where they will usually be cheaper than the pet stores. Hardware stores also sometimes stock suitable globes.

TIP: Change your globes every six months for the best out-put. The human eye can’t tell from looking at it, but after 6 months the globes will start to loose their potency and plant growth will slow down.

Provide your aquarium with 8-9 hours of light per day. You can setup an electric timer for this. If you have problems with algae in the future you can reduce the light by an hour.

These are the only three things you need to run your aquarium.

What about Oxygen for the fish to breathe?

You do NOT need an “air pump” that blows bubbles into your aquarium. To start with, these bubbles do not really add oxygen into the water, it is the agitation and movement of the water surface that is putting oxygen into the water.

The plants growing in an aquarium will provide oxygen into the water, and to compliment this I place my power filters near the water surface so that a slight ripple of water disturbance is created, but only slight, too much agitation to the surface and you will loose other precious compounds like Co2(carbon dioxide) which is needed for plants to grow.

Plants: It is a good idea to do some research on what types of aquatium plants are suitable for the soft water of an Amazon aquairum. Good plants to choose would be Sword Plants, Anubius and Vallesneria. There are many other suitalbe plants also but be sure they are suited to soft water and a PH of around 5.5-6.

Water: The water you use is the most crucial element so you need to get this right. To begin with you can test your tap water for any chemicals using a water test kit. You can get these from shops that specialise in home water filters. If your water does containt chemicals then you will need to treat it or find an alternative water source. A good alternative, and really the best water you can use is un-treated rain-water. Some people are lucky and also have access to underground springs and bores which will provide even better water than rain-water, although this can sometimes be a bit hard and is best combined with rain-water if possible. If you want to treat your water a Reverse Osmosis system is the best for removing all the chemicals from your water.

You will also need a water PH test kit. The ideal PH for an Amazon aquarium is 5.5 – 6. This will mean that the water is soft just like the conditions in the Amazon river itself. You can lower your PH to suit if need be. The best way to do this is to add rain-water to the aquarium, catch it in a bucket if you have to when it rains. Rain-water is as soft as water can get and on its own can even be too soft. Another thing that helps soften the water is lots of driftwood, which we already have planned for the aquarium.

OK, Time to setup the aquarium

Now you have your aquarium, equipment, your soil, gravel, rocks, driftwood and plants. Now you are ready to begin setting up the aquarium.

Put about 2-3cm deep of soil into the aquarium. This can be a little deeper at the back of the tank where larger plants will grow.

Next place about 2-4cm deep of your gravel or river sand on top of the soil.

Now you can start to arrange your driftwood and larger stones into the layout you would like. Try to create anough space for swimming and plenty of hiding spaces and territories for your intended fish.

Driftwood can be stuck into the gravel substrate and held in place by larger rocks if need be to create the desired layout.

Once you have your rocks and driftwood in place you can start to plan where you will place your plants. Try to keep in mind how much room the plants will need to grow and do some research on how large each plant will grow. Otherwise you will find yourself having to move or remove plants as they get too large which can ruin the beauty of the aquarium and also the fish can have a hard time with no room to swim freely.

Start by adding about an inch or two of water. This will make it easy for planting the roots of your plants. Most of your plants can be planted at this stage. For some plants like stem plants which grow thin and tall it can be easier to plant these when the water is filled half way.

Once you have all your plants in place you can add the rest of the water and setup your heater and filter. Placing your heater beside your filter will ensure that the aquairium is eavenly heated.

Also remember the tip for placing your power filter near the surface to create a SLIGHT disturbance on the waters surface to let in oxygen.

TIP: Make sure your aquarium lid is not completely sealed shut, otherwise oxygen will not be able to get into the aquarium.

Now it is time to put the lid on and turn on the lights, heater and filter.

To read the rest of this article visit my website: http://tropical-fish-care.com/

About the Author

If you have any questions or would like to learn more you can visit my website: http://tropical-fish-care.com/
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