Are Single-Species Tanks Considered Biotopes?

[dtfleming]

Tks, for raining on my new biotope Jermai.

[jeremai]

np

[KMG]

I guess my answer would be: "It depends." A single-species biotope doesn't mean just one fish. I think if you're creating a micro-habitat, it could be considered a kind of biotope. For example, say you wanted to create a biotope aquarium for coral gobies--so you get a pair or group of your chosen species, add a colony of the species of Acropora they associate with, and use appropriate substrate and live rock (that is, from the same region if possible--no Tampa Bay live rock in what's supposed to be a Fiji biotope). I think you could call that at least a semi-biotope.

 

Sure, the more (appropriate) conspecifics you add, the more accurate it will be, but obviously you're going to be constrained by availability, tank size, and practicality (you probably wouldn't want to add predators to the tank just for versimilitude. On the other hand, a group of chromis or cardinalfish that might also live in that same micro-habitat would add authenticity and interest).

 

Anyway. My $.02.

[hooligan_78]

+1.

 

I don't think we should get down to where the rock came from, but if we can get indo-pacific rock for indo-pacific species, that adds to the accuracy of the biotope. Let's go back to seahorse biotope. If you get an Atlantic seahorse and have the Atlantic macro, but your rock is from the Pacific I would say you still have a biotope. Creating the environement as closely as possible, I think is what matters.

 

By the way Jer, I've been reading your blog. Great stuff! I wish something as eas to read and understand as your blog had been around when I first started in the hobby.

[Oats]

This thread is Awesome!!!!!!!!

 

This is awesome you are trying to bring Biology conversations (bring them back) to N-R.

 

Imo the biologic part is the best part of the aquarium hobby. Thank you Jer for trying to bring in Biology conversations

 

+1

[johnmaloney]

This thread is Awesome!!!!!!!!

To me (I thought it meant this) a biotope is a tank that shows sa replacation of a habitat or ecosystem from one specific area. ex. Gulf of mexico or Hudson Bay biotope.

 

put it in Webster. Now to the next definition sump v. refugium

 

I politely disagree with the rock statement above. just my opinion that it is the substrate that makes the environment. It is true out in the ocean too. Mud bottom, large dense rock = oyster reef, you can already tell by the substrate that it is in an inlet or a protected bay, so now you know what critters make their home there....

 

If you tell me the substrate of the tank has halimeda hash and fine white sand with large solid/dense limestone rocks to me that immediately conjures up the Florida Bay or near shore hard bottom communities in the Keys. Flower nems, halimeda, turtle grass, pencil caps and nems. SPS reef would be out of place though...that should have more coral rubble and aragonite type rock...probably porous etc...just too much current out there for hash to settle out there, it all gets pushed inshore. If the bottom were coral rubble fragments, and the rockwork was mostly coral skeleton from Florida it would be broken small pieces that contain scattered porites and brain coral colonies with the occasional gorg. You find those places in the channels. Only heavier rubble settles in, but it is usually broken up by then. If you had large coral skeleton formations that turned into rock it would be out of place, you don't find them here like you do in the Marshall Islands and in Tonga. That would be more suiting for me at least for a deepwater SPS biotope. For me, the substrate is without a doubt in my mind the most important role in determining the particular habitat you are working with.

 

But in the channel biotope above, (scattered porites and brain coral - very high current), it would still be a legitimate biotope to me if the person used Pacific species of Porites and Brain Coral since finding those items legally on aquacultured Florida rock can be quite a challenge. In that case the law makes it a good excuse.

[Dmarmontello]

IMO, It is, only if the tank has LR, LS, Corals, from the same region of this 'single species'. If there is anything in the tank from a different region, it is no longer a biotope.

[rickjg]

oops voted yes when I meant to say know, IMO keeping a a single fish in any aquarium is wrong .... cause the fish gets lonely.

Do they? Schooling fish maybe, but many fish are very territorial and would thrive being the "only fish in the tank"

[Psychosis]

I may be the odd man out, but if you're disciplined enough to keep a true biotope, I'm not sure you're reefing right.

 

Lets face it, given the difficulty of determining any SPS species with out first killing the coral, I can't say I've ever seen any particular SPS biotope. Its clearly 10x as difficult with Zoanthids, since I'd say the vast majority are only attributed the genus name. These are the animals the majority of users focus on, and I've yet to see any one strive to keep any group of coral from any given place.

 

Now, you can recreate the rough conditions of a given area. We generally go by the more broad varieties of reef formations (see johnmaloneys post for examples) with relative success. I think the term "mixed reef" is a little misguided, and definatly the farthest from a true biotope as you can get.

 

All of that being said, a species only tank may very well be the only biotopes I've seen in Saltwater, or at least come the closest to the real definition.

 

To clearly state my stance on the subject, I keep a mixed reef myself.

[Jacobnano]

I may be the odd man out, but if you're disciplined enough to keep a true biotope, I'm not sure you're reefing right.

 

All of that being said, a species only tank may very well be the only biotopes I've seen in Saltwater, or at least come the closest to the real definition.

 

To clearly state my stance on the subject, I keep a mixed reef myself.

 

 

What about coldwater tanks where the inhabitants are all collected from one area? That is a true biotope correct?

[animalmaster6]

^^^ Yes

[johnmaloney]

I dont think it is hard to get everything from the same area, but then again it depends on the area... Maybe if it were all stuff from an area that people brag about....like if you had a Red Sea biotope. With some places they go out of their way to let you know where it is from.

[DaJMasta]

If the tank only has a single species (and basically none do) then it can't be.... it's just a tank with a single kind of critter in it. Otherwise they can be biotopes, but aren't necessarily.

 

Take an octopus tank for example: if you have a tank set up for an octopus then you have a species tank. If the things you set it up with mimic the region the octopus is from (similar corals, similar live rock location, appropriately sourced live food, etc) then it would also be a biotope. If you have critters from other locations or ecosystems then it shouldn't be considered a biotope - basically so long as you have livestock that somehow support or interact with each other from the same natural environment then it is a biotope. Also if you leave some common shellfish (for example) out of the aquarium because they're expensive and you don't want them to be eaten.... it still counts as a biotope to me - there's no requirement for including all of the critters found there (especially in a home tank), but as soon as you start adding livestock which wouldn't exist in the natural habitat, you can't call it a biotope.

[Guest TheBlueLorax]

If the tank only has a single species (and basically none do) then it can't be.... it's just a tank with a single kind of critter in it. Otherwise they can be biotopes, but aren't necessarily.

 

Take an octopus tank for example: if you have a tank set up for an octopus then you have a species tank. If the things you set it up with mimic the region the octopus is from (similar corals, similar live rock location, appropriately sourced live food, etc) then it would also be a biotope. If you have critters from other locations or ecosystems then it shouldn't be considered a biotope - basically so long as you have livestock that somehow support or interact with each other from the same natural environment then it is a biotope. Also if you leave some common shellfish (for example) out of the aquarium because they're expensive and you don't want them to be eaten.... it still counts as a biotope to me - there's no requirement for including all of the critters found there (especially in a home tank), but as soon as you start adding livestock which wouldn't exist in the natural habitat, you can't call it a biotope.

 

Well put

[Squared]

You could have a tank full of amazonian tetras, but fill it with asian plants.

[KMG]

I agree with johnmaloney on substrate, but I think the LR can also make a difference. The organisms that may sprout out of it--macros, corals, sponges, etc--won't be true to a Pacific biotope if the rock comes from the Atlantic.

 

However, I also agree that sometimes you have to crib a little, like in johnmaloney's coral example. Sometimes I think biotope tanks could almost be divided into at least two categories: true biotopes, and then the "best attempt" biotope that makes substitutions when needed. I'm doing something along that line: I'm thinking of changing my 34G into an orchid dottyback tank. However, since to my knowledge there's no collection of LR or substrate from the Red Sea, my LR is from Jakarta, and my substrate is just standard white Carib-Sea live sand. Additionally, they're found among Dendronephthya and sea fans in the wild. I'm not set up to take care of azooxanthellate corals, so I'm substituting a trio of cultured photosynthetic Stereonephthya for the carnation corals, and an aquacultured Gorgonia ventalina sea fan (native to Florida) for a Red Sea fan. Obviously this isn't a true biotope, so I'm calling it a habitat tank instead.

[johnmaloney]

You can probably get a red sea fan from that part of the world, you won't be able to get one from the Carrib. Protected here, but I think they are fair game there, I have seen some on LA, don't remember the origin though

[KMG]

Thanks for the advice... they actually are offering aquacultured Caribbean sea fans on Diver's Den now, and other aquacultured Caribbean gorgonians on LiveAquaria (good news for Florida and Caribbean biotope fans). I looked at those sea fans for a while, but I wouldn't really have the room to keep one long-term; and while I don't consider my tank a biotope, strictly speaking, I still think mini-sea-fan frags wouldn't really capture the look of that habitat. It would be stunning in a large tank, though.

 

I've started keeping four different color varieties of photosynthetic Stereonephthya, which resemble Dendronephthya, and I like those so much that I think I'm just going to build the aquascape with them and some Xenia (and maybe one really nice colony of orange digitata that I just like too much to give up). I got the orchid dottyback last week and she's doing great. Very peaceful so far--she hasn't harassed my clown goby or my cleaner shrimp at all. This is a habitat that I've wanted to do for a long time, so I'm glad things are working out so far.

[johnmaloney]

Thanks for the advice... they actually are offering aquacultured Caribbean sea fans on Diver's Den now,

link!!!!!! I love those things, have seen a million of them, but never allowed to take one home....link!!!

 

That is one of those Carrib fans/ pac. xenia/pac. dottyback/carrib. cleaner shrimp biotopes with the different coral thing. I think you may have stretched it as far as it goes with that tank. Everyone does though.

[AdrianBryce]

I see it as a biotope is, without fail, only organisms from a specific area. That isn't always possible to do with collection restrictions and such, so there for no one can create a true biotope from certain areas. They can just give it a their best shot. If you had a tank with all rock and animals from the pacific and ordered your CUC from a Caribbean supplier....you fail at achieving a biotope. You might call it a biotope, but it's not. A biotope is what it is, having exclusively life from one area.

 

my .02

[jeremai]

Given that, who defines the 'area'? Organisms from a single bay or an individual patch reef will usually be identical to organisms found in a similar location often hundreds of miles away. Is a location-based biotope no longer a biotope if it goes beyond the scope of an island chain (eg, Hawaii or the Florida Keys) and instead encompasses an entire sea - as in, an Indo-Pacific or Caribbean biotope? Who makes the distinction, and is the distinction even relevant?

[AdrianBryce]

Given that, who defines the 'area'? Organisms from a single bay or an individual patch reef will usually be identical to organisms found in a similar location often hundreds of miles away. Is a location-based biotope no longer a biotope if it goes beyond the scope of an island chain (eg, Hawaii or the Florida Keys) and instead encompasses an entire sea - as in, an Indo-Pacific or Caribbean biotope? Who makes the distinction, and is the distinction even relevant?

 

 

I see where you are coming from. IMO, a there is no such thing as a "Caribbean" biotope. it is too broad of an area. A Keys tank, or a Bonaire tank or a Haitian tank would be a biotope, given that there are animals/plants that are endemic( I think that is the right word) to those areas and are not found in other locals around the Caribbean. Also the same with other seas/oceans. A Pacific tank is not a biotope. It is simply too large with too many area specific ecosystems and inhabitants to narrow down to an entire ocean. As to organisms that that are very wide spread, say a fish in the Caribbean, you could put one in a Keys biotope even if it is collected in Haiti, so long as the fish from that local is the SAME EXACT as the type that occurs in the Keys as well. This is making sense in my head, so I hope it is on here

[KMG]

Good points--I agree with you.

[jeremai]

I see where you are coming from. IMO, a there is no such thing as a "Caribbean" biotope. it is too broad of an area. A Keys tank, or a Bonaire tank or a Haitian tank would be a biotope, given that there are animals/plants that are endemic( I think that is the right word) to those areas and are not found in other locals around the Caribbean. Also the same with other seas/oceans. A Pacific tank is not a biotope. It is simply too large with too many area specific ecosystems and inhabitants to narrow down to an entire ocean. As to organisms that that are very wide spread, say a fish in the Caribbean, you could put one in a Keys biotope even if it is collected in Haiti, so long as the fish from that local is the SAME EXACT as the type that occurs in the Keys as well. This is making sense in my head, so I hope it is on here

Say there is a blenny that is endemic to a certain island chain, like Vanuatu. If you design a tank based on this fish, it will include exactly the same rock, coral, algae and other organisms as most other Indo-Pacific locales, the only exception being the blenny. So, the blenny makes it a Vanuatu biotope. Take the blenny out, and it's an Indo-Pacific biotope, right?

 

I see what you're saying, but my point is that the distinction is arbitrary. You say tomato, I say... well you get the idea.

[animalmaster6]

Oooooh I get your point.