Biotope Aquascape Build

Biotopes are often an underrated style when it comes to aquascaping.  Many aquascapers focus on creating tanks that often follow certain rules such as Dutch, Iwagumi, Nature Aquarium, etc.  In a biotope tank, the design and aquascape itself is subservient to the inhabitants residing within the tank.

The goal of a biotope tank is to bring the environment to as close as it can get to a fish or invert's natural habitat.  Not only does this give focus to the aquatic inhabitants but it also makes it easier to attain the water parameters that many natural biotope fish demand.  

Our teammate Orlando has a special place in his heart for Dwarf Cichlids such as Apistogrammas.  He utilized layers of El Jeje Stone (collected from our good friend Dr. Tom Barr) with many intricate and nonuniform branches and twigs of Manzanita Driftwood along with locally sourced guava leaves (from his own backyard guava tree) to mimic leaf litter found in the natural waterways. 

The biotope aquascape build utilizes a lot of creaks and crevices and resembles the many caves and corners that Apistos usually dwell in when in their natural environment in the wild.

Here are some pictures and documentation of the build during the first few hours of the aquascaping build of this gorgeous biotope tank Orlando worked on this week here at Hakkai Aquascape Gallery.