Biotopes
From the wild to the tank
Black water
Rio Negro, the black waters of the Amazon
Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela
An Amazon tributary with tea-coloured water, very acidic and almost free of minerals, home to the cardinal tetra, pencilfish and hatchetfish.
11 fish · 4 plants
Clear-water rapids
Xingu rapids, the river of plecos
Pará, Brazil
A clear-water tributary of the Amazon tumbling over rock slabs, in warm, highly oxygenated water: the Volta Grande, the only refuge of the zebra pleco.
6 fish
Forest streams
Forest streams of the Gulf of Guinea
Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon
Creeks, swamps and streams under the coastal rainforest, from the Niger Delta to Gabon: the home of the kribensis, Fundulopanchax killifish and dwarf anubias.
8 fish · 6 plants · 1 invertebrate
Rift lake
Lake Malawi, the rocky shore
Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania
Algae-covered rock piles in clear, alkaline water: the realm of the mbuna, cichlids found in no other lake.
13 fish · 1 plant
Great Rift lake
Lake Tanganyika, the rocky shores
Tanzania, DR Congo, Burundi, Zambia
One of the oldest lakes in the world: very hard, alkaline water, rock rubble where Tropheus, Julidochromis and lamprologines live, and shoals of Cyprichromis in open water.
9 fish · 1 plant
Shell beds
Lake Tanganyika, the shell beds
Tanzania, DR Congo, Zambia
On the sandy floor of the lake, fields of empty snail shells serve as shelter and nest for tiny cichlids, the shell dwellers.
3 fish
Peat swamps
Black-water peat swamps of Southeast Asia
Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo
Under the swamp forest, brown, very acidic water almost free of minerals, home to tiny rasboras, chocolate gouramis and kuhli loaches.
11 fish · 2 plants
Shaded streams
Wet zone streams of Sri Lanka
South-western Sri Lanka
Cool, shaded streams under the rainforest of the island's south-west, refuge of barbs and rasboras found nowhere else, and of Wendt's cryptocoryne.
3 fish · 2 plants
Monsoon rivers
Rivers of the Western Ghats
Kerala and Karnataka, India
Rocky rivers running down the mountains of southwestern India and swelling with each monsoon: home of the Denison barb and the Malabar pufferfish.
5 fish · 4 plants
Large limestone river
Rivers of the Usumacinta basin
Mexico (Chiapas, Tabasco), Guatemala
The largest river in Mesoamerica, with warm, limestone water: the realm of the firemouth cichlid, Salvin's cichlid, swordtails and mollies.
7 fish · 5 plants
Springs and marshes
Springs and marshes of Florida
Florida, United States
Crystal-clear spring rivers and grassy marshes on limestone: a subtropical biotope home to the Everglades pygmy sunfish, the flagfish and the Florida crayfish.
5 fish · 11 plants · 1 invertebrate