Biotopes
A look at creating a riverine biotope based around Tomocichla tuba
Creating a biotope display aquarium is a great way of learning about the fish we keep . It gives the opportunity to find out what species live sympatric together , as well as the underwater environment including how rock formations look and aquatic fauna that maybe present in each waterway . Costa Rica is an interesting country to research and create a cichlid biotope from as the endemic species available is quite diverse . There is around 9 genera of cichlid that inhabit the many river systems of Costa Rica , giving us plenty of scope when choosing species and combining different cichlid species . Costa Rica boarders Nicaragua in the North and Panama to the South , River systems both have Atlantic ( Caribbean sea ) and pacific side drainages . The San Juan River is Atlantic side , one of the largest and is shared by both Nicaragua and Costa Rica . I have been planning a Riverine setup for some time , but was unable to source a suitable cichlid to base the aquarium on . I was very fortunate to grab a small group of Tomocichla tuba , these are very hard to find in the hobby and were lucky that my good friend Ross Evans had grown a large group on at the unit . Tomocichla tuba range extends into eastern Nicaragua , through Eastern Costa Rica to the very tip of Northern Panama . They are a riverine species and found in waters with high oxygen content and strong current . The underwater environment is mainly rocks / boulders with a sand – gravel River bed . I would regard T . tuba as a fish for the more advanced aquarium keeper . They need quite a strong flow in the aquarium , failing that provide water with high oxygen content by using a spraybar to break the surface of the water . My filtration system is very basic , perhaps crude as the background in the aquarium conceals a basic biological filtration system made up from sheets of filter
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