Rio Orinoco dry season riverbank

The 42nd place in the qualifying stage of the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2015

 Romania. Radu-Mihai Andreika

Volume: 468 L
List of fishes: Pterophyllum altum, Corydoras paleatus, Corydoras panda, Ancistrus sp.
Biotope description: The aquarium was set up based on biotope of Rio Orinoco black water. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling tea. It resembles the dry season with more clearer water. The Orinoco river is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 kilometres. Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers 880,000 square kilometres, with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. The Orinoco is extremely diverse and hosts a wide variety of flora and fauna. For my biotope I’ve used Altums as my main attraction. Most Altum angels are more frequently found in the well oxygenated, extremely soft waters of Upper and Middle Orinoco tributaries shed from the Guiana Shield Highlands, preferring a pH range between 4.5 to 5.8. These are very transparent blackwaters with almost nil conductivity.