Biotopes of South America - Black Waters - Blackwater

4. Black waters - Blackwater

source: http://all4aquarium.ru/en/events/jbl-biotope-contest-2013/entries - Achintya Shankar Adhikari, India

Physicochemical water parameters:

• transparency – 60-120 cm
• total hardness – 0-4 DH
• pH – 2.9-5.2
• temperature – 25-27 ºC
• electric conductivity – less than 20 μS/cm
• water color - brownish-red

Minimum tank size – 80 l, largely depends on the stock, longer than higher

Biotope description:

• herbal tea-red color resulting from the type of substrate;
• crystal clear water;
• substrate: light sand or very fine gravel shaped like a river bed - thicker layer of substrate on the sides of the aquarium, less substrate in the middle;
• no vegetation or single tufts arranged on the sides of the aquarium or in the background, or creating something like a loose meadow - vegetation should not be compact and should not dominate in any case;
• open spaces should dominate;
• single pieces of wood and a few leaves imitating forest litter (beech, oak or Catappa leaves);
• moderate water flow;
• well-oxygenated water;
• diffused lighting, not too intense;

Example fish species:

• curimatids: Curimatella dorsalis;
• anostomids: Laemolyta taeniata, Leporinus brunneus, Leporinus nigrotaeniatus, Pseudanos gracilis;
• hatchet fish: Carnegiella marthae (little hatchetfish);
• tailor fishes: Gnathocharax steindachneri, Heterocharax leptogrammus, Heterocharax macrolepis, Heterocharax virgulatus, Brittanichthys axelrodi, Corynopoma riisei, Hemigrammus bellottii, Hemigrammus bleheri (bleher's swift), Hemigrammus coeruleus, Hemigrammus stictus, Hyphessobrycon pyrrhonotus, Hyphessobrycon epicharis, Hyphessobrycon socolofi (tail light tetra), Paracheirodon axelrodi (cardinal tetra), Paracheirodon simulans (green neon), Petitella georgiae (rummy-nose tetra), Phenacogaster megalostictus, Tucanoichthys ucano;
• Acestrorhynchidae: Hoplocharax goethei, Acestrorhynchus falcatus, Acestrorhynchus falcirostris;
• piranhas: Myleus torquatus, Pygocentrus nattereri (Natterer's piranha), Serrasalmus eigenmanni, Serrasalmus gouldingi, Serrasalmus hastatus, Serrasalmus manueli, Serrasalmus rhombeus (spotted piranha);
• flyingfish: Copella compta, Copella meinkeni, Copella metae, Copella nattereri, Nannostomus anduzei, Nannostomus beckfordi (beckford's pencilfish), Nannostomus marilynae, Nannostomus trifasciatus (threeline pencilfish);
• Corydoradinae: Corydoras adolfoi, Corydoras amandajanea, Corydoras burgessi, Corydoras crypticus, Corydoras davidsandsi (yellow-black cory), Corydoras duplicareus, Corydoras imitator (mimic cory), Corydoras incolicana, Corydoras kanei, Corydoras nijsseni, Corydoras parallelus, Corydoras rabauti (rusty cory), Corydoras robineae (stripefin cory), Corydoras serratus, Corydoras tukano;
• Chalceidae: Chalceus macrolepidotus;
• Loricariidae: Acestridium dichromum, Acestridium discus, Ancistrus dolichopterus (blue ancistrus), Dekeyseria brachyura, Dekeyseria pulchra (striped whiptail), Dekeyseria scaphirhyncha, Farlowella nattereri, Hemiancistrus sabaji, Hypancistrus inspector, Oxyropsis acutirostra, Peckoltia braueri, Pseudacanthicus histrix, Pseudolithoxus dumus, Pseudolithoxus nicoi, Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps (sailfin ancistrus;
• Osteoglossiformes: Osteoglossum bicirrhosum (silver arowana), Osteoglossum ferreirai;
• Doradidae: Hemidoras stenopeltis, Leptodoras cataniai, Scorpiodoras heckelii;
• Cichlidae: Acarichthys heckelii, Acaronia nassa, Acaronia vultuosa, Aequidens diadema, Aequidens pallidus, Apistogramma diplotaenia, Apistogramma gephyra, Apistogramma gibbiceps, Apistogramma hippolytae, Apistogramma pertensis (amazon dwarf cichlid), Apistogramma regani, Astronotus crassipinnis, Biotodoma wavrini, Biotoecus opercularis, Cichla orinocensis, Cichla temensis, Crenicichla lenticulata, Crenicichla lugubris, Crenicichla macrophthalma, Dicrossus filamentosus (checkerboard cichlid), Dicrossus foirni, Geophagus dicrozoster, Geophagus winemilleri, Heros notatus, Heros severus (severum), Hoplarchus psittacus, Hypselecara coryphaenoides, Laetacara fulvipinnis, Laetacara thayeri, Mesonauta guyanae, Mesonauta insignis, Nannacara adoketa, Pterophyllum altum (altum angel fish), Satanoperca daemon, Satanoperca lilith, Symphysodon discus (discus), Taeniacara candidi, Uaru amphiacanthoides;
• Crenuchidae: Crenuchus spilurus (rainbow anter), Odontocharacidium aphanes, Poecilocharax weitzmani;
• Pike characin family: Boulengerella cuvieri, Boulengerella lateristriga, Boulengerella maculata (spotted pike characin);
• Heptapteridae: Brachyrhamdia heteropleura, Brachyrhamdia rambarrani, Imparfinis pristos;
• Potamotrygonidae: Paratrygon aiereba, Potamotrygon schroederi;

Example species of plants:

• Alismataceae: Echinodorus palifolius, Echinodorus bleherae, Echinodorus subalatus;
• floating crystalwort (Riccia fluitans) arranged on pieces of wood;
• Tape-grasses: Vallisneria Spiralis (italian vallisneria);
• Eleocharis acicularis (dwarf hairgrass)

Remarks:

• peat addition to the water will facilitate its softening and lowering pH (suspended mesh with peat in the tank or water filtration through peat);
• in aquariums with humic acids, do not use strong light or ultraviolet rays to avoid cloudiness.