PNG Biotype

[Khai]

I'm interested in setting up a specific regional biotype, Papua New Guinea! The Most beautiful reefs in the world!

I've travelled through there and have some idea of what I'd like to create, but I'm finding it difficult to get information on the specific inhabitants of the reef.

I have a wave system setup that will create random chaotic flow throughout the tank, an attempt to model the upper reef zone. My light system should also be sufficient to grow about anything (500Ws of MH...)...The tank itself is a 46 gallon bowfront with a 20 gallon sump and a Tunze DOC 9005 skimmer.

The centre piece of my tank will be two Onyx Clowns...I think they're so amazingly beautiful (even if they are slightly cliche...). I'm looking into a S. Haddoni, but I don't want the bloody thing to eat everything and the clowns don't even host them naturally. I'm also thinking about a Yasha goby with a small pistol shrimp. Thats as far as I've gotten though...

My problem is that I can't find information on the exact species that inhabit PNG/Indonesian reefs. I'm also having trouble finding good live rock from the region for a decent price...Fiji rock seems to be about 1/4 of the price of anything from Indonesia. Does anyone have advice for creation of a specific biotype (books? sites?) and good tips on live rock acquisition from the area?

 

[Sm0kin]

i assume you have done a google search for Indonesian reefs?

 

[Khai]

Yeah...I came up with a nice publication by some government committee on the state of coral reef fish stocks...real light reading lol but not very helpful

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Hi there. I'm rolling the idea over in my head of doing a Hawaiian biotope. So, in my researching I have came across a couple of things that were really helpful. The only bad part is I can only find a list of PNG species of fish. No corals or inverts. But good old fishbase.org came to the rescue for fish info. This is most likely going to take a LONG time to look through each one, but you can make a list of beautiful fish that come from PNG and then research them individually to see if they fit your biotope and tank limitations. Then you can check availability in the aquarium trade.

http://fishbase.org/Country/CountryCheckList.cfm?c_code=598

Good luck!

 

[Matthew Speights]

Very interesting. I love PNG - visited there a few years back, but only got down to the beach for a couple hours, and no snorkling. I'm planning to move there within the next few years. It will be interesting to see what you kind of setup you come up with. I don't know too much about the corals reefs there, which are fairly unspoiled but also rare (many areas have too much silt runoff from the numerous rivers). I think that Rhinopias scorpionfish (beautiful but expensive!) are common there, and rare in most other places. They would probably eat your onyx clowns, though.

 

[Khai]

Thanks for the links and support; I will look into your link Travis. I think this project is going to take me a long time to setup...but the research should be worthwhile

Here is a link I recently found for inverts, the database looks to be interesting...but I can't get it to work:

http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/hexacoral/anemone2/index.cfm

 

[Matthew Speights]

Hey - check out this site: Beneath Papua New Guinea.