Fish Tank Setup: Amazon Rain Forest Pond

Is it possible to bring the Amazon rain forest into your living room? Some fish tank enthusiasts do just that. With the proper aquarium decorations, plants, and fish species, your home aquarium can replicate an Amazon rain forest pond. These ponds are an ecosystem in South America. With low pH, relatively soft water, and a high, tropcial temperature, a fish tank enthusiast must take care in setting up the fish tank.

Fish Tank Style - Water and Temperature

Planning the Amazon rain forest aquarium requires consideration of temperature, water pH and softness, and light sources. Amazon rain forest ponds are usually overhung with trees and plants. Therefore, choose a low light bulb for the aquarium. Using a filter screen between the light and the fish tank itself will also replicate this habitat characteristic. Water temperature should be around seventy-five degrees and pH of six or six and a half.

Fish Tank Style - Decorations

Amazon rain fores pond style fish tanks should have dark colored substrate. Pea gravel in dark greys and browns or other dark colored gravel is ideal. To mimic the look of rotten leaves and debris at the bottom of the fish tank, sprinkle in black sand or coal dust in between the gravel pieces.

Decorating your aquarium with bogwood that suggests fallen branches or roots of rain forest plants creates a natural look. There are limited rocks in rain forest ponds, so adding some is not a great idea. Be careful to prepare the wood piece carefully to kill off any organisms that may be harmful to your fish tank inhabitants.

Fish Tank Style - Plants

There are an abundance of aquarium plants that do well in the Amazon rain forest designed fish tank. Start with a backdrop of water milfoil and fanwort. Both of these grow easily and have long, feathery fronds.

Good foreground plants for a rain forest pond fish tank include Amazon sword plant and dwarf swordplants. The Amazon sword plant can be a lovely specimen plant in the aquarium.

Fish Tank Style - Fish

To create the correct Amazon rain forest pond style in your home aquarium you need to choose fish that come from that ecosystem. Cory catfish are a good c oice for lower level swimmers. Some popular varieties include peppered cories and emerald cories. Mid-level swimmers that do well in the Amazon rain forest pond fish tank include tetras such as the popular neon, black-skirt, and red-eye tetras. South American cichlids are also a popular choice.