Fall in the Ozarks of Missouri, Osage River, USA

_st place in Biotope Aquarium Design Contest 2022

Volume of aquarium: 90 liters

Dimensions of aquarium: 100*30*30

List of fishes: Etheostoma spectabile, Physella acuta

List of plants: Ludwigia glandulosa, Ludwigia repens sp.

Description of Decorations and Substrate: The substrate is very similar what you can find in nature. It’s gravel, sand, smaller rocks, pebbles. The sand is from the local lake, I collected it. The colour is mainly grey and brown. The leaves are from birch and silver maple trees. The roots and the branches are from birch and maple trees.

Description of Equipment: External filter:JBL e700 Greenline
Lightning : JK Animals JK-LED900

Water Parameters: Temperature: 20 celsius, Ph: 7,8, Gh: 12, Kh: 9
Water is transparent and crystal clear.

Additional Info: I change 25% water weekly. In summer I use aquarium ventilator,because Etheostoma spectabiles need cooler water in hot days. There are only Etheostomas in this tank. I feed them nearly every day with bloodworms, white worms and grindal worms. They are very shy fish.

Aquarium video:

Description of the Area Surrounding the Biotope: In the Ozarks and by Osage River the flora and fauna is really rich. It’s a heavily forested area with lots of trees and bushes, for example oak, walnut, maple trees, cedar and elm. Ozarks cover nearly 47.000 squaremiles and it has two mountain ranges, Boston Mountain of Arkansas and the St. Francois Mountain of Missouri.
Osage River is 276 miles long and drains 444 sqare miles. It’s the tributary of Missouri River. It flows through Missouri and Kansas, mainly easterly than northeasterly and in the end of the last 80km it joins to Missouri River.

Description of the Underwater Landscape of the Biotope: The river mainly passes through sand, gravel/cobble and rocks. Stony soils are dominated. There’s not any silt, because of the flow of the river. The are so many nice little caves to give a place to hide for darters, and other smaller underwater creatures.

Description of the Habitat Parameters: Temperature: 1,5-27 celsius (now it’s around 4 celsius)
Ph: 7,2-8
Water is transparent and crystal clear.
Dissolved oxygen min. 98%

List of Fishes and Invertebrates Occurring in the Nature Biotope: Etheostoma caeruleum
Etheostoma cragini
Etheostoma blenioides
Triphotera
Ellipsaria linestata
Micropetrus salmiodes
Micropetrus punctulatus
Marone chrysops
Sander vitreus
Pseudaphritis urvillii

List of Plants Found in the Nature Biotope: Valisneria americana
Ludwigia repens
Ludwigia glandulosa
Ludwigia peploides
Echinodorus tenellus var. parvulus
Potomogeton pusillas

Threats to the Ecology of the Biotope: In the area there are many endangered species because water pollution and agriculture. Some of the endangered species like Etheostoma parvipinne, Etheostoma niangua, Ozark cavefish, Flathead chub (Faxonius tumpuntus) and Leptodea leptodon.

Sources of Information:
Lawrence M. Page, Brooks M. Burr: A Field Guide to Freshwater fishes: North America, North of Mexico
https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/darters
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24621272
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=LURE2
https://books.google.hu/books?id=ixA0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=ludwigia+glandulosa+ozarks&source=bl&ots=_wTueZ4uhn&sig=ACfU3U0JPT1HrKwHATV9UeTwIFsG7FBmDg&hl=hu&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimwI2rnaX1AhURg_0HHQ7BDQoQ6AF6BAgbEAI#v=onepage&q=ludwigia%20glandulosa%20ozarks&f=false
https://www.britannica.com/place/Ozark-Mountains
https://www.nps.gov/ozar/learn/nature/rivers.htm

Common Trees of Missouri

https://education.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/habitats/rivers-and-streams/ozark-streams
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Creek_(Osage_River_tributary)
http://bridalcave.blogspot.com/2020/10/missouri-department-of-conservation.html?m=1
https://www.google.com/search?q=osage+river+Ozarks+fall&client=ms-android-vf-hu-revc&prmd=imnxv&sxsrf=AOaemvLzfUDPHwRIxEh67824SPzqpHiWXw:1642883412372&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip983Rmcb1AhUNzaQKHUXxA7gQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=647&dpr=3#imgrc=8XJFXjgx4rlvpM&imgdii=DaZakzDxphPA1M
http://www.riverstudies.com/RiverFlows.html
https://mdc.mo.gov/field-guide/statuses?status=994
Wikipedia