#138: 284L Biotope Aquascape Nkhata Bay, Lake Malawi Biotope

Ted Yeatts Gainesville, United States

Comments

This one is almost there! The sandy substrate and rockwork looks very natural at first glance. Keeping the rocks facing one direction shows attention to detail. Nice touch adding the driftwood too.
Closer inspection shows a too large selection of rock types. The Rift Lakes are a diverse bunch geologically as well as biologically. Even so reducing the number of rock types to one or two would be more accurate. Just as many plant biotope creators reference floral records looking up a geological survey of your intended area would be a good step in creating an accurate Rift Lake biotope.
— Phil Edwards
When chosing one medium to work with one must be precise and artful. This layout is haphazard and perhaps that was the intent but it comes across as distracting rather than atrracting.
— Ricky Cain
It looked very desolate without any plants.
— Takashi Amano
A nice attempt and I appreciate all the background information. It makes it much easier to assess a tank like this. I am heartened to see that several people put some real work into accuarte biotope tanks this year. Obviously you have done your homework however even when creating a biotope tank there is some need to think about aesthetics. It would still be possible to place your wood and rocks artistically and not compromise the veracity of the layout. While I am not an expert on the rift lakes from a geological standpoint it seems unlikely that one would find the variety of rock in one small area that is seen in this tank.
— Karen Randall

Aquascape Details

Dimensions 122 × 46 × 53 cm
Title Nkhata Bay, Lake Malawi Biotope
Volume 284L
Background Deep blue aquarium background
Lighting 48 inch flourescent strip, single tube
Filtration Sump with wet/dry trickle, approximately 12 gallons.
Plants No plants. Algae grows on rocks and driftwood.
Animals Pseudotrophues sp. "Acei" (6), Labidochromis caeruleus "Nkhata Bay" (4 + uncounted fry)
Materials Driftwood: from Africa; Substrate: sand with gravel of varying sizes mixed in covers base rocks of different shapes and sizes; Rocks: varying shapes and types representative of those in the Lake.
Additional Information Many "Lake Malawi" biotopes are, in fact, not biotopes at all. They include fish from many areas of the Lake which would never meet in the wild. This, however, is a true Malawi biotope of one area of the Lake: Nkhata Bay. Two species from Nkhata Bay are found in the aquarium: Pseudotrophues sp. "acei" and, from slightly deeper but still overlapping depths, the beautiful white Labidochromis caeruleus "Nkhata Bay". It may seem strange to include driftwood in a Malawi biotope, however, it is crucial to this aquarium. In the wild, shoals of Pseudotrophues sp. "acei" can be found feeding on epixylic algae growing on sunken driftwood. In order to be true to the biotope, driftwood is included. A biotope including "acei" without driftwood would be incomplete. Ph=8.1, 8 dKh, 10 dGh. Ph is easilly maintained through regular partial water changes despite the driftwood. The substrate covers many rocks which are uncovered naturally by the cichlids as they manipulate their own environment.

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