A biotope aquarium contains fish species (and plant species if applicable) that correlate to a particular environment, somewhere in the world. It is often difficult to replicate biotopes exactly, as we are all limited to availability of plants, rock types etc, so occasionally substitutions have to be made.
It is not necessary to exactly replicate the biotopes inhabitants, in fact in many cases an ecosystem will contain fish that prey upon each other, as well as cloudy water, mud and a whole host of other undesirable things!
The most popular biotope tank is perhaps the Amazon floodplain, followed closely by the rock-filled tanks of Lake Malawi. Have a look at some of our examples and see if anything inspires you!
Great first fish! Livebearers are unlike other fish in that they do not lay eggs; the young develop inside the mother and when born are significantly larger than the offspring of similarly sized egglayers. Species such as the guppy, platy and swordtail are incredibly prolific and are some of the best known, and most colouful aquarium species