Many of the freshwater aquarium fish we find in our pet shops originate in the tropical river of the Amazon in South America. The Amazon has more number of fish and plant life of all the rivers within the world come up with.
The amazing variety and elegance of Amazonian fish and plants is what attracted me to this type of aquarium. I've fallen in love with creating Amazon community tanks and re creating the environment and natural ecosystems of the river.
The diversity of the Amazon River and its many streams means there are infinite ways that you may make an Amazon theme, as well as the style and decor of your own reptile shop adelaide setup depends on what type of fish you want to keep.
Today I'll focus on establishing an Amazon themed aquarium ideal for Angelfish or Discus. These fish can grow fairly large so it is recommended to have aquarium a minimum of 150 200 litres or more in quantity. They are also quite peaceful fish, so are quite suitable for your community tank, so long as follow several basic guidelines.
For my concept I want to recreate the flooded jungle of the Amazon. Every wet season the Amazon River bursts its banks to flood the nearby jungle. Currently the fish head to the jungle to locate an appropriate quiet spot to breed. This is the type of aquarium I want to symbolize and certainly will lead you through the process.
Gathering the Decor for an Amazon Aquarium
For an Amazon themed aquarium the decor (gravel, rocks, driftwood, plants) should be just as normal as possible.
For me this is a wonderful excuse to get out into nature and explore some nearby rivers and streams. In case you are lucky enough to live nearby to a clear natural river or stream like I am then it is the ideal spot to get exactly what you need for the Amazon setup.
The river near me has beautiful brown/red gravel that's very fine almost like sand. I collect 2-3 buckets worth of this gravel for my substrate. You can give it a rapid clean using a hose in a half-full bucket, stirring the hose end through the gravel and pouring out the dirty water, however this is not vital and it can be valuable to leave the soil and other components of leaves and stick in there as this can assist with plant growth.
TRICK: Remember to have the finest gravel you can; this will assist plant growing because the roots can easily spread through the gravel, otherwise the plants as well as their roots will have a rough time.
As you are down in the river be sure to accumulate some bigger rocks and tons of interesting looking driftwood. You can start planning your aquarium scape as you find bits of driftwood and rock. Make sure you gather more driftwood than you desire though, as quite frequently I am going to bring home a nice piece of wood just to find it is far too large and also would not appear good within the pet supplies adelaide.
You can give the driftwood a quick scrub with a brand new scourer if you want to clear them up. This is sometimes a good idea as some of the wood may have traces of algae on them and often you cannot see it. It is not entirely essential though and ought to be fine as long as the river it originated from is clean fresh water.
If you're less lucky as me and can't find these things within the wild, then you can find them from the local pet shops or garden supplies stores. In the event you buy them be certain to clean them thoroughly before using view soure.
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