Creating A Biotope

[algaeguy]

I think that it would also be cool to develop a biotop system around a specific group of fishes; for example, a goby biotope, a Centropyge breeding harem, a cave environment for Assessors or Grammas...The possibilities are endless!

Mike brings up a great point...You can try to replicate something in as much detail possible, paying very careful attention to everyting from the fish, rocks, corals, etc. Or- you can create a "niche" with animals from different parts of the world that are found in similar habitats. I guess there are really no "rules", per se. It's all about what you find interesting and how far you want to go. As is so often mentioned in these types of threads- we're dealing with a box of water- not the real ocean, so true "duplication" of an environment is not really a realistic goal. An attempt at replicating one is, however!

Great thread...Bring on the pics!

Scott

 

[NaH2O]

how far should you take it? How much detail are we talking about here? I scuba dive, and the rest of you who dive can verify this....often, while diving, the reef just a couple hundred feet away from a certain area is totally different....different corals, different fish, ect....how exact does one need to be when trying to create a biotope? And how would one go about researching/simulating this?

Good questions, Mike. IMO, you should take it as far as you want it to go. Afterall, who spends most of the time enjoying the tank? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder......I can remember reading one hobbyist actually liked the look of nuisance algae growing in the tank, and would ask his clients what they thought of the look of their algae problems before attempting to remove it.

To research, I suppose one would have to look at pictures, or go on a dive and write down livestock in one particular area, and how the area is 'scaped. Depending on how detailed one wants to get....you could ask - does this fish live in this niche, or is it visiting from another niche.....so I guess research would have to check territory of livestock, too?

Forestal - how did you come up with your plan? Where did you gather your information?

 

[Dewey115]

I personally feel that it isn't so much a question of if biotopes would be a good choice as a tank but more do you want your entire tank to be dedicated to one biotope. In most of our tanks we have higher flow areas, high light areas, hiding places in LR, shadowy low flow areas, etc... so most of them have a wide range of biotopes anyway, its just a matter of making those biotopes effective enough to make our children happy. I think it in general will come down to merely a matter of personal choice in how much of our tank and effort we want to put into enhancing that one biotope. I have put time into making sure that the places each of my babies "lives" is suited to them and I honestly dont feel that I could do a better job by dedicating my entire tank to one specific biotope. For example my goby/pistol shrimp have their own rock they live under with enough sand "lawn" to dig in all day and feel secure that they can see the other fish clearly, they are fed when they are most likely to eat and even have a LR rubble "home" under their rock buried in the sand so that they can do whatever they like to do under there. I may put more energy into that than others would, but thats not a matter of if a more specific tank would be better, but more if you are willing to put effort into each of the main biotopes in your tank or only for one. I also do realize that there are biotopes that may conflict with each other (like temps for example) but I still feel that it is more preferance than anything. I also happen to think that a specific biotope only tank would become boring unless you had a few tanks. Seeing nothing but gobies would get boring IMHO after a while, dont get my wrong I love mine very much and greatly enjoy watching them, but part of the addiction I have is that the whole tank is like a small world with everything interacting with each other in some (very natural) way. Of course this is all just my opinion, and it is almost 5am, but still...

Take care
Rick

PS Sorry for the rambling... it is 5am

 

[FishyinKy]

When I was in Japan, looking at tanks, they had what I would call dedicated species tanks. Tanks set up for only certain species with particular substrates, water currents and more specifically temperatures. They had dedicated spotlights to help certain corals do well. Is that a biotype? I think that's part of the point to this entire thread. All we can do is recreate particular sections or even multiple sections of a biotype, try to make it as accurate as possible and then do our best to strive to give the best water conditions for that area.
I personally would like to see something that referenced the salinity levels all throughout the world, along with a refernce to temperatures and salts contents in various places. Along that line, Does anyone know of a tank that's only done with corals from a certain area? Oh and the coincidence of this is that my daughter is working with biotypes at school and their definition was saltwater. So I guess a biotype can be as large or as small as one wants it to be.

 

[ScottT1980]

My first marine setup was a biotope, although mind you, not all that exciting. It consisted of the flora and fauna of the NC marsh lands, and was pretty interesting for some time. I had mock pilings, all the indigenous inverts and fish, and the best part, everything was free (although to be honest, I don't know the legalities). However, a spot, a croaker, and a pinfish along with some local anemones, crabs, etc... can only take you so far.

As far as a species specific tank (biotype is it?), well, I once had a lot of xenia...

Take er easy
Scott T.