Basic biotopes to cut your teeth on

AFRICAN RIFT VALLEY LAKE TANKS: Malawi and Tanganyika are the favourites here. Find a particular ‘zone’ of the lake and you should be able to find the right sand and style of rock to make a realistic looking layout. For small tanks, think shell dwellers and cave lurkers. For big tanks go boulders and either Mbuna or Utaka type cichlids.

SOUTH AMERICAN ACID POOL TANKS: South America is vast and so are the livestock choices. Abundant leaf litter, stained water, tetra, pencilfish and dwarf cichlids lead the way here.

AFRICAN KILLIFISH POOL TANKS: Muddy substrates, some hardy plants and short-lived killifish can make a surprisingly pleasant set-up.

HILLSTREAM TANKS: These tend to be replicas of Asian streams inhabited by a mixture of loaches and fastwater cyprinids. Big flow pumps, river manifolds, lots of rounded stones and intense water movement make these suited to very few fish.

SANDY RIVER MARGIN TANKS: These tend to be Asian, American or African and all follow a similar theme of fallen wood and branches rather than rocks, a light scattering of leaf litter, clear or slightly tannin-stained water and a mixture of fish across different depths of the tank.