Biotoping

Posted by John Blatchford Feb 5, 2008

Ret Talbot and I are continuing to write about the idea of trying to set up marine aquarium systems that are as natural as possible. Reef Aquarium introduces the hobby, and the two articles that follow (‘Biotopes and Habitats’ and ‘Marine Aquarium Biotoping’) go a little further to explore the idea of Biotoping.

Specific biotopes are discussed in a bit more detail in ‘Mangroves and Seagrasses’ and ‘Growing Mangroves for Aquarists’ – with the first looking at their roles in nature and the second explaining how to build these biotopes into the tank system.

The last article (so far!) goes much further by suggesting how the hobbyist might set up a series of tanks based on a very specific natural reef system (‘Replicating Habitat in the Tank’). When this is attempted we begin to move towards the situation where amateurs can really add to our understanding of natural reef ecosystems. - by working out how individual plants and animals contribute to maintaining water quality and keeping corals and reef fish happy we can help people who are trying to save what is left of the world’s coral reefs.

As always we would encourage hobbyists who experiment with these systems to contribute to the discussion so that others can learn from successes and failures.