Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Western Ghats biotope for the endangered Zebra Loach

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Conservation, Uncategorised 4 Comments

Koyna River is one of the five Indian rivers which find their source at the Pachaganga Temple in Mahabaleshwar within the Sahyadri mountain range (also known as the Western Ghats); they’re also home to one of India’s few evergreen forests. This range forms a barrier to the Deccan Plateau for the monsoon winds and as the clouds are forced to rise when they meet the mountains, this leads to large amounts of rain fall, particularly during the rainy season (June till September) and give rise to the formation of rainforests. The area is known as one of the most biodiverse places …

Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Sri Lankan rainforest biotope for Cherry Barbs

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Uncategorised 2 Comments

This aquarium simulates a riverbank in a small stream of the Nilwala basin at an elevation of around 200m above sea level. At this elevation Pethia nigrofasciata and the Cherry Barb Puntius titteya can be found together, they are endemic to the wet zone in south western Sri Lanka and inhabit lowland tropical rainforest streams. Huge amounts of rainfall occur in the wet zone because of the monsoons between March and August. Due to the fact that the island has been isolated for a long while and due to the moist, warm climate, there is a very high rate of endemism, …

Biotope 101: An authentic upper Rio Araçá biotope for Rummynose and Cardinal tetras

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Biotopes of South America, Uncategorised Leave a Comment

The Rio Araçá is an affluent of the Demini River, which is a tributary of the Rio Negro. The Araçá is a 390 km long blackwater river originating high up on the Serra Tapirapeco Mountain in the forests of the Guianas and flows through the Serra do Araçá, a state conservation unit near to the border between Amazonas and Roraima states.  The river is also situated in the wider area of the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, within which the indigenous Yanomami and Ye’kuana (The Canoe People) reside. In the centre of the Serra do Araca can be found the Cachoeira do El Dorado …

ram cichlid biotope

Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Rio Meta biotope for Ram Cichlids & more!

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Biotopes of South America 1 Comment

The Rio Meta is a whitewater western side tributary of the Rio Orinoco which traverses through eastern Colombia. It’s source originates in the Cordillera Oriental (also known as the Eastern Ranges), the most sizeable branch of the Colombian Andes. It travels right across the region of Orinoquia and Los Llanos Orientales (the Eastern Plains) where it forms the Meta River Plain and moves into southern Venezuela at Antioquia, where it begins to form the border between the two countries. It forms it confluence with the Orinoco River at at Puerto Carreño. The waters eventually culminate at the Orinoco delta releasing vital nutrient-rich sediment into the Atlantic ocean …

Biotope Aquarium 101: An Australian billabong biotope for Rainbowfish, BlueEyes & Gudgeon

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope 11 Comments

This biotope aquarium simulates the transitional zone between the edge and the deeper parts of a permanent billabong near Nimrod creek in the Wenlock river basin. A billabong is more commonly known as an oxbow lake and is formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch behind.  These billabongs can have different characteristics, from permanent to temporarily, freshwater to saline, shallow to deep. Nimrod Creek is a tributary of the Wenlock River with a length of almost 70 km and is one of the largest tributaries of Wenlock River. Wenlock River is situated in …

Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Guyana biotope for the Golden Dwarf Cichlid

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Biotopes of South America Leave a Comment

The origin of the Demerara River is comprised in majority by the confluencing of the Kuruduni, Kuruabaru and the Mauri Rivers and lays in the rainforests of the Makari Mountains in the “Upper Demerara-Berbice” region of eastern Guyana. It acts as the dividing line for the regions of “Essequibo islands-West Demerara” to the west and “Demerara-Mahaica” to the east and its flow moves northward eventually spilling into the Atlantic Ocean at Georgetown, the country’s capital.  The last stretch of the Demerara lies in the flat alluvial coastal plain and is host to a great deal of economic activities and trading …

Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Indragiri River basin biotope for Clown Loach

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope 2 Comments

Creating a home for the beloved Clown Loach (Chromobotia macracanthus) is no easy feat, information on their natural habitat is scarce (even on the vast internet) but it is a challenge and I dread to think of the amount of Clown Loach lives that would have been saved but for an article such as this one… The Indragiri River is located in the Indonesian province of Riau and is formed from at the confluence of the Ombilin River and the Sinamar River; at it’s delta it empties into the Strait of Malacca which is a narrow channel located between the …

Biotope Aquarium 101: An authentic Guyana biotope for Glowlight Tetras

Jeroen Vanhooren Biotope, Biotopes of South America Leave a Comment

The Rio Takutu is a river in one of the most interesting and biodiverse places on earth: the Guiana Shield in northern South America. It was most famously documented during the expedition by Robert H. Schomburgk from 1835 – 1844 to mark the borders of territory of “British” Guiana on the orders of Queen Victoria. It was subsequently used as a base to develop large-scale sugar plantations maned by countless African slaves and was only returned to independence in 1966 from whence it became known as Guyana. The fish fauna of this area are highly endemic as a result of the …