Rio Liz spring area. Leiria, Portugal
75th place in Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2018
Portugal. Luís Gândara
Volume: 60 L
Dimensions: 57x33x33 cm
List of fishes: Achondrostoma oligolepis, Theodoxus fluviatilis
List of plants: Typha latifolia, Fontinalis antipyretica, Ludwigia palustris
Description of decorations: Rocks covered in moss (fontinalis antipyretica) and yellow sand with small stones, all colected in the first 100 meters of the river Lis.
Description of equipment: External filter Eheim 2213, Led Floodlight 10w 6500k.
Water parameters: Temperature is around 20ºC (room temperature), Ph 7.8 , kH 6ºd , gH 10ºd , NO2 0 , NO3 0.25.
INFORMATION ABOUT BIOTOPE
Description of the area surrounding the biotope: The river Lis(or Liz) spring is located in the bottom of a valley, the water comes from underwater limestone deposits. There are a lot of oaks, pines and wallnut trees arround the river, and after a few 100 meters there is a little village.
Description of the underwater landscape of the biotope: As the water comes to the surface it passes a area of loose lime stones ranging from 5 to 50 centimeters, in the first 50-100 meters they are covered in moss (fontinalis antipyretica) and have a few plants here and there , after thar during the summer everything is covered in green algae an cyanobacteria. The depth in this area ranges from 10 centimeters to 1 meter.
Description of the parameters of the habitat: In the summertime the water is clear, during the winter rains is muddy. The avarage temperature is 14,8ºC and I mesured the water from 18ºC to 20ºC in the hot summer days. The pH ranges from 7.8 to 8.2.
List of fishes and invertebrates occurring in the nature biotope: Achondrostoma oligolepis, Theodoxus fluviatilis, Cobitis paludica, Salaria fluviatilis, Atyaephyra desmaresti, Procambarus clarkii(invasive).
List of plants found in the nature biotope: Typha latifolia, Fontinalis antipyretica, Ludwigia palustris. These are the only ones that I could identify.
Threats to the ecology: The pollution is the major problem in the river, the spring area is clean, but after the first town is completely polluted, mainly from the pig farms. After viewing underwater footage from the last clean area in the river I got the idea to create a small biotope just to show people that we have beautifull underwater life in Portugal, an in the river Lis wich is well known for the pollution.
Sources of information:
Water agency: https://snirh.apambiente.pt/
Water tests from the water agency: https://docs.wixstatic.com/
Fish: http://www2.icnf.pt/portal/pn/
Plants: http://flora-on.pt/index.php#/
Some pictures I took at that area: https://drive.google.com/open?
Everything was collected from the river except the fish, my main difficulty was to ID the species, because the river is not well documented.