Monthly Archives: November 2012

 Setting up a biotope aquarium is something many of us have considered but it’s a rare few who have actually built one. I don’t know why that is, but I’ve never heard from anyone who didn’t get excited about a well-constructed biotope aquarium. My only thought is that people don’t built them because they feel like they’ve devoted limited water volume to a one-dimensional display rather than the usual fruit basket of corals/fish and frag plugs. I’ve often threatened to build a biotope aquarium but simply never got around to it. But, every time I see a good one, my creative juices start flowing.
   I saw an outstanding biotope during a recent visit to the Steinhart Aquarium (California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco (If you’re in the Bay area and don’t visit the aquarium you’ve made a critical life mistake.)) This biotope is a Rich Ross creation. To build it, the Cephalopod King self deported to the freshwater side and created an environment that works on several levels.
The bottom half is water, populated by a group of Archer fish (Toxotes jaculatrix). The top half of the aquarium is a rain-forest/jungle environment, populated by Burmese vinesnakes (Ahaetulla fronticincta). Anyone who has kept more than a pair of guppies knows that Archer fish feed by spitting streams of water at insects crawling on branches above the water, knocking them into the water, and eating them. In other words, an aquatic animal attacking and eating a land animal.… More: