West African Dwarf Cichlid Biotope

[Christian Walker]

Hi there, I am wondering if anyone has had a crack at a biotope aquarium for West African dwarf cichlids at all ? Or if not, can anyone point me to any articles or images of any ? Thanks.

 

[TOO]

I would think similar to e.g. South American for dwarfs, i.e. not many plants, but lots of dead leaves and driftwood or stone. And of course soft acidic water. Pretty simple actually to be biotopically precise here. Many WA dwarfs are more territorial than SA dwarfs, so pretty large tanks are needed.

Thomas

 

[Michael W]

I believe the kirbensis sp. are African and relatively easy to care for and they're dwarf cichlids.

 

[Christian Walker]

I would think similar to e.g. South American for dwarfs, i.e. not many plants, but lots of dead leaves and driftwood or stone. And of course soft acidic water. Pretty simple actually to be biotopically precise here. Many WA dwarfs are more territorial than SA dwarfs, so pretty large tanks are needed.

Thomas

No, it depends on the river of course, but they actually have quite a lot of plants which is one reason why Im interested. Aponogetons, Anubias etc. I would disagree with the need for large tanks too. Most Pelvicachromis species are perfectly ok in a 60L tank, along with nanochromis. Hemichromis would probably want a bit bigger though. PFK did a nice article on WA biotope. I was hoping to see more examples of what people had done thats all. 🙂

 

[TOO]

There is no reason to argue about appropriate tank sizes 🙂 , but I think the widespread conception is that WAs are (generally) more aggressive than SAs. Personally I would never keep a rather large and active fish such as Pelvicachromis in 60L. I once had a pair of taeniatus in a 128L, which definitely was not too big. As for plants, Anton Lamboj, in The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa, writes that water plants are rather rare in the habitats of West Africa (p. 16-17). Of course plants and fish do coexist, but it is not the general pattern. In the end it also depends if you are after a strict or loose biotope.

Thomas

 

[Christian Walker]

There is no reason to argue about appropriate tank sizes 🙂 , but I think the widespread conception is that WAs are (generally) more aggressive than SAs. Personally I would never keep a rather large and active fish such as Pelvicachromis in 60L. I once had a pair of taeniatus in a 128L, which definitely was not too big. As for plants, Anton Lamboj, in The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa, writes that water plants are rather rare in the habitats of West Africa (p. 16-17). Of course plants and fish do coexist, but it is not the general pattern. In the end it also depends if you are after a strict or loose biotope.

Thomas

Hey Thomas, not arguing mate, just expressing a different opinion 😉. Mine is based on what I know several very experienced breeders and aquarists have told me and some experience of my own in the past, so Im happy to run with that, but recognise even individual fish of the same species can have different requirements 🙂 But each to their own. I think that Lamboj's comments are somewhat generalised as well. I was recently at a talk given by Ted Judy who actually went on a fish finding tour of the Congo and in his video footage there was very definitely a fair amount of plant life, along with fishes coexisting. I appreciate your input though. Again, what I am really after is images of what people have done (or have not it would seem). This is a link to a nice article that I found in PFK... and that was the sort of thing I am after.

How to set up an African biotope aquarium | Features | Practical Fishkeeping

 

[Brian Murphy]

Kribs breed like rabbits and I couldn't wait to get rid of mine even though I love their characteristics but they kept breeding lol. They also nibble on leaves and uproot plants if they don't like them or if they are in their way.

 

[TOO]

Hey Thomas, not arguing mate, just expressing a different opinion 😉.

Actually I did not imply you were arguing, but rather that the theme of size is quite subjective 🙂. Did not mean to come across as rude here, sorry if it sounded like that 🙂. I agree that of course plants and fish coexist in the wild and that you could create a credible biotope with such a combination. The issue is rather how we define a biotope. The PFK tank, while nice, I would not define as a biotope, but rather an African theme tank.

For me a biotope, in the strict sense, is as accurate as possible a reflection of a natural habitat and space, including a combination of fish and plants that are proven to geographically coexist in the wild. The combination of fish and plants in the PFK tank do not live up to that. But then again that is a pretty academic discussion and not what you were asking for 🙂. Sorry about derailing the thread a bit.

Thomas

 

[Christian Walker]

No problem Thomas, and you did not come across as rude mate. I think we were both looking at it from a different perspective is all, and what you say about "biotope" vs "themed tank" is probably on the money 🙂 There was a website that had loads of different images of biotope scape entries as part of a competition but I cannot find it at the moment. Im sure that would have a lot of ideas I could consider. If only I could remember what it was, lol...

 

[Christian Walker]

Found it....

It was this place. Now all I have to do is look through the years to see what/if any West African entries there were 🙂

2009 AGA Aquascaping Contest - Entry #215

 

[Phil Edwards]

Christian,

What a surprise! I never expected anyone to refer to that tank as a resource for setting up their own biotope. To be frank, I wouldn't call it a very good one either. I'd gotten cheesed off by past judges scoring "pretty" tanks with biotope-correct species over entries that were both correct in species and in reflecting the appearance of the type environment. This entry was scaped to look pretty while also maintaining accuracy of location for species.

You might also try looking at the 2003 entries. I submitted a 10g W. African biotope; "What's a Nubian?", that sadly didn't do so well due to lack of fish. It was difficult to get any Pelvicachromis species other than pulcher, in my area at the time, let alone any of the schoaling fish available now and I wasn't going to compromise.

W. African riverine biotopes are fairly easy to source plant-wise. Anubias, Crinum, and Bolbitis will do the trick. Just make sure to use legitimate species and not cultivars if you're going to submit to a competition. Kasselmann's book "Aquarium Plants" is a fantastic source for location info for most common species. I referred to that quite a lot when planning past biotopes.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Christian Walker]

Thanks Phil. I liked it however you look at it. I admit I prefer the more open appearance of the PFK article tank somewhat, but nevertheless its good to see West African biotopes becoming more popular. Mine is still at the conception stage and I regret to say at the moment the only "live" plant in there is one solitary bolbitis, lol. But its early days. I doubt I will be able to call mine a true biotope though, so its just as well I am doing it for my own pleasure rather than to enter into some competition. As you say, the judging on these things makes a mockery out of some people's entries which is why I never have bothered. Perhaps I will one day, just to satisfy myself that I can 😉

 

[Kev_M]

I've not got anything to add on the biotope front but I can say that I agree with the opinion that most Pelvicachromis spp. will do well as a pair in a 60l (assuming it's a 2' x 1' foot-print).