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Beautiful Nature - Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil [56K Warning] Natural Aquascapes

6K views 11 replies 11 participants last post by  BettaBettas 
#1 · (Edited)
I couldn't help but share these photos and videos. Some of you may have seen then, but some probably haven't.

Beautiful pictures and videos down below. I just want to talk about the waters themselves for a bit. All my information is from these two sites:
Please check them out for more details and more pictures. I believe it's highly worth it. There are also other sites about these beautiful rivers, and you may go looking for them. However, these two sites have been the most helpful for me.

As I understand, these habitats are Karstic Springs, they are rivers that literally spring from the ground due to all the dissolvable limestone geology.
In general, these specific rivers (Rio Sucuri, Rio Formoso, Rio da Prata, Baia Bonita...) are very clear, ground fed water. The water is high in dissolved minerals and CO2 due to it coming from underground. The water is somewhat chilly at around 72 F (22 C)

A representative sample of general water parameters from the River Baia Bonita:
KH: 7
GH: 11
pH: 7.2
CO2: 13 ppm
PO4: <0.01
FE++: 0 ppm

CO2 levels fall the further downstream you get from the source springs

Common Plants:
  • Heteranthera zosterifolia (Stargrass)
  • Echinodorus macrophyllus (A large swordplant)
  • Potamogeton illinoiensis (Potamogetons also commonly go by pondweeds. This particular plant is actually native to the US. Potamogetons are widespread. Potamogeton gayi is a popular aquarium plant)
  • Helanthium bolivianum (Previously Echinodorus bolivianus. Similar to Helanthium (prev. Echinodorus) tenellus. Pygmy chain sword. I believe it might be the same thing as Echinodorus quadricostatus. Not sure)
  • Bacopa australis
  • Hydrocotyle leucocephela
  • Hydrocotyle verticillata
  • Nymphaea gardneriana (water lily)
  • Naja guadalupensis
  • Chara fibrosa (a pretty type of algae)
  • Myriophyllum aquaticum (Parrot's Feather)

Aquarium fish found in these waters:
  • Corydoras aeneus (Bronze cory)
  • Hyphessobrycon eques (Serpae tetra)
  • Ancistrus genus (Bristlenose pleco)
  • Other tetras Moenkhausia, Astyanax, etc...
  • Laetacara genus (Neat looking dwarf cichlids)
  • Leporinus
  • Crenicichla (Pike cichlids)

NOW, ONTO THE PICTURES. Keep in mind these pictures are just a mix of my favorites chosen from both Aquamazon and Dennerle's websites, they represent about 3 different rivers. Each river had it's own unique characterstics. Read up about it on their website if you wish to learn more









Lots of Stargrass!










































Naturally pearling Echinodorus macrophyllus








Some tetras, not sure which kind, the website Aquamazon ( I belive) did say which kind, I just forgot




Wild Serpae tetra and Stargrass


More Serpae tetras


Chara fibrosa algae


Chara fibrosa algae creating a bunch of oxygen


Nymphaea gardneriana


Nymphaea gardneriana on right, Hydrocotyle leucocephela on top and left, and a curious cichlid in the mid-left!


Hydrocotyle leucocephela


Bacopa australis












Above Water Photos:









AND NOW THE VIDEOS TO IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE MOVEMENTS OF THE RIVER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8i6uE2AbI0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqE5pCdKTY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew8UQtcbcNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew8UQtcbcNk


The reason I posted this thread was because these pictures and videos absolutely make me happy. Something about the lush plants and the beautiful turqoise, blue, and green colors just make me happy to look at them.
These photos and videos and detailed journals from the websites where I found them have definitely inspired me to make a biotope type tank specifically based on these types of rivers.
I would have white sand, plants like stargrass, bacopa australis, hydrocotyle leucocephela, helanthium bolivianum, and a pair of Laetacara dorsigera or Laetacara araguaiae to breed.

Thanks to the fellows who went here and took these wonderful and skilled pictures and videos.
I hope that these photos and videos have either inspired you or made you happy.
These rivers can be swam through as Ecotourism is a big draw to the city of Bonito, Brazil. For now they take very good care of these rivers and access is somewhat restricted. If you pay to take a tour and swim here you are only allowed to stay for a couple hours (with a group guide), you cannot stand on the sediment bottom, and you cannot wear any sunscreen or lotion because it dissolves into the water.
I would absolutely looove to swim through these rivers one day.
 
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#2 ·
Wow! Thank you for sharing! These remind me of both the Ivan Mikolji fish guy expedition videos and swimming at the springs when I lived in Florida as a kid! My favorite ones are of the Golden dorados and the Serpae tetras. They were SO red! An actinic light that and blue background may help recreate this biotope.
 
#9 · (Edited)
The rivers and springs in Florida look beautiful too! Dennerle went there as well, so there's some pictures here: http://dennerle.com/en/service/travel-report/florida-2012

Germany too! http://dennerle.com/en/service/travel-report/germany-2012/plantahunter-returns-doorstep It seems like anywhere you see that type of limestone geology you will get crystal clear water with lots of dissolved CO2 and dense plant growth! The Germany pictures are beautiful!
EDIT - Here are some Germany photos. From Dennerle's website:








Here's another Serpae tetra photo from earlier :)


That's a good idea! I wanted to make a shadowbox for the biotope. I first learned about them on this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=759026
I would put frosted film over the back glass, make the little box area, attach some cheap RGB led's to the top of the box and set them to cyan/turqoise, and add some wood or rocks and tie them down with fake moss or use fake plants from Michael's craft store!

Love the photos! And I love the 56k warning, haha, bless the poor souls that are still on 56k in 2015.
Hehehe, I thought that too. I remember having 56K and feeling so jealous when people would post long 56K Warning posts and it would take so long for me to load each picture. Don't see the 56K Warnings much anymore :hihi: I mostly added it to let people know that there would be a lot of pictures in this thread :hihi:

Pretty pictures aside, did you all notice a few things?
Such as >
Direct sunlight.
Abundant plants
Very low fish population to water volume.
Constantly changing water.
Consistent water chemistry

and

No algae!

Here's a really really big man-made pond with plants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4esfOUBu8&feature=player_embedded
Great point Steve! The plants all look extremely healthy. Although, there was indeed some algae there. You can see the Aquamazon site mention it when you scroll almost 1/2 way down here: http://www.aquamazon.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=34&Itemid=84

This is what they had to say:
Algae, such as cyano bacteria and filamentous, that hobbyists have nightmares over, are also common in nature. That’s why I don’t think we should be overly concerned if we have them in small amounts in our aquaria; what we mustn’t do is let them proliferate out of control. In the next picture, you can see filamentous that I saw in several places (9).
That is a cool pond! I wonder how they got the water to flow from the bottom and bubble up the sand? It looks just like the source of the rivers I posted where the incoming water creates sand bubbles like those.
Also I wonder how the heck they keep that giant pond crystal clear!!!
 
#12 ·
absolutely beautiful photos! of course where there is natural growing aquatic plants, it would cost me a million dollars to go there. Lol, would love to go fishing in some of those photos!!!! jelous for the people who live near those crystal clear water areas. Who wants to share some cash and all take a trip to brazil?!
 
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