I have been thinking a lot about whether to keep it a true Caribbean biotope. I still haven't decided!
Right now I'm leaning towards picking fish, plants, etcetera based on their looks, function and suitability to the ecosystem in my tank, rather than biotope rules. But I do love biotopes! I'm just finding sticking to the rules tricky, when also trying to fill ecosystem niches in my tank. Bottom line, the ecosystem approach is more important to me than biotopes.
The problem I've run up against with keeping a Caribbean biotope is a lack of 'ideal' representatives of certain fish groups I want to keep. For example, I really wanted to do a school of Blue Reef Chromis. Unfortunately these fish are VERY susceptible to disease, so I've written them off. There are other chromis and damsels from the Caribbean but all are either ugly or mean, and usually both. I've found a nice substitute, Allen's Damsel, that's from Indonesia, that looks a lot like a blue chromis, but should be sturdier. This would seem to be an ideal solution, but not biotope-correct.
So yeah, more to think about.
I guess, given the above bottom line statement, I should consider starting a new thread that more accurately portrays what I'm trying to do. Thinking back, I really only decided my tank would be a biotope because all of the plants I wanted happened to be caribbean. The true focus has always been to see if it's possible to build an ecosystem in a box that is 'complete enough' to more or less take care of itself.
I thought I'd decided I didn't need to start a new thread! Now I'm wondering…
The few macros I'm considering so far are all caribbean, but honestly, if I found something I think would be perfect for my tank, I wouldn't care. I'm hoping to enlarge the seagrass' footprint and shrink the macros', so I won't need a large variety.
I do plan to fix the fake root. Hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult. I may paint it darker too. It has been a great decoration and substrate for various things, as well as an excellent, functioning 'prop' to hide a powerhead. I've really enjoyed having it!
Thanks again, Sam, for more thought-provoking thoughts!
The more I think about this project, the more I realize I need to give it more thought! With another trip next month, I'm thinking I may just spend this month doing more thinking, then get to work on it when I return.