A biotope is the fish's natural habitat. This involves many more factors than only water parameters, although they represent an important factor for the reproduction of the biotope and for the well-being of the fish.
The planting and the selection of the decoration, such like stones, woods and the substrate are equally important aspects for these habitats. With these components you, as an aquarium enthusiast, are able to meet the needs and requirements of the aquarium dwellers. Therefore the planning of a new aquarium belongs to one of its most important phases. That’s why good planning is one of the major contributory factors for an aquarium’s success.
Start researching. The JBL team carries out annual expeditions to the natural habitats of our aquarium dwellers and documents the measurement results and impressions in detailed reports. These provide you with your initial reference point. Browse at your leisure in our records: Expeditions
Just a small tip: don’t miss the application deadlines. Maybe you’ll be a part of the next expedition?! After all we offer, in addition to our team, group sizes of up to 60 persons.
But now back to the biotope aquarium. We would like to explain this by using Lake Tanganyika as an example. The records of the JBL expedition Tanzania 2010 can be used as the first point of reference. By studying the photos you quickly will recognise the structured habitat, the stones, no plants and the numerous species, which live together at very close quarters. Using the measuring data, you can easily see the water values you need.
Starting with this information you can go on large video portals and search for additional video sequences from local divers and nature lovers. Weather data will give you further information for your planned biotope.
Now you have all the relevant facts for the new biotope. You can start thinking about how to put the data into practice. We have prepared something for this purpose, which will show you the comparison between the natural biotope (on the left) and the transformed biotope- aquarium (on the right). Fascinating, isn’t it?
In further reports we will expand on the technical requirements, the procurement of materials and the maintenance. This, of course, includes eating habits and water parameters.
The approach we show is basically the same for every biotope in the world.
