Posts Tagged ‘Ancistrus’

Newer Entries »

A Day in The Life of a Fish House!

Tuesday, September 6th, 2005

I read the news today oh, boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad……

(Lennon/McCartney)

Do you have days, when you have a great day at work, and then it all comes crashing down around you head?

I arrived home this evening, checked the fish house, and found that the Bueno Aires Tetra was dead, also the fish house was very hot at 35 degrees C room temperature, I also noticed that the venturi aeration device on the hyflo internal filter had stopped working, couple with a tank medicated with with MelaFix, two quarantine tanks were depleted of oxygen, 20 Ancistrus sp. were diving to the top of the tank, I assume to take in oxygen. 50% partial water changes and brisk aeration using airstones, the fish seem to be okay. I’m not too sure if this accounted for the tetras death.

I currently have 120l of HMA filtered water aerated and heated at 28 degrees C for partial water changes, another 158l of HMA filtered water on standby at room temperature.It takes approx 75 minutes to fill the water vessels.

I’ve also found the missing Danios, I found one dry and crispy on the floor underneath the quarantine tank, and bones of the other stuck in the Juwel filter. One zebra danio has disappeared from the quarantine tank with the single Purple Spotted Gudgeon, I suspect the fish was hungry.

I’ve recently filled holes in the garage walls where the fish house lives with squeezable polyfilla, to maintain the warmth over the winter, the only problem is, during these warm September days the temperature increases, I’ve opened the internal fish door this evening to decrease the temperature during the day, until winter arrives.

Overall, a very eventful day.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on A Day in The Life of a Fish House!

Anatomy of a fish

Monday, September 5th, 2005

Fish Updates
A quick update on the fish I’ve discussed in the last week.

Ancistrus Sp.
The 40+ common and albino fish are feeding and growing on very well, eating vast quantities of cucumber, courgette and Tetra Algae Wafers.

Various Angelfish
Considering they are currently housed in the same quarantine tank with the Kribensis and Orange Gourami feeding very well on frozen bloodworm and Tetra Prima.

Bueno Aires Tetra
Dorsal and caudal tail are showing signs of re-growth. Feeding well as always.

Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon
I fear I may have one casualty, the fish that I had removed to a separate quarantine tank, has a bacterial infection around the caudal peduncle. It appears very red and bloody.
The qurantine tank has been treated with MelaFix at 5 millilitres per 40 litres. I’ve also another Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon because it was being attacked by the sole fish. So this quarantine tank now has only one Purple Spotted Gobies/Gudgeon left in the tank. These are very vicious fish, I think I call this fish Sid!

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Anatomy of a fish

Additions to the Fish House

Sunday, August 28th, 2005

I’ve collected some Adult Angel fish, Syndontis Angelicus, An Orange Gourami and a handful of Kribensis from a local breeder in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, they have decided to concentrate on Discus. All the fish are sexually mature and will help the gene pool here at Angelfish house. These fish have all gone into quarantine for four weeks, until, they are moved to other tanks. All quarantine tanks are now full in the fish house, so no more fish purchases for a month, and I wanted to purchase a trio of Ancistrus. I’ll have to find some room, anybody got any space in the cupboard. Here are the fish as promised:-


Black Male Angelfish

Female Koi Veiltail Angelfish

Koi Angelfish – sex unknown

Male Half Black Angelfish

Male Koi Angelfish

Male Koi Veiltail Angelfish

Male Silver Angelfish

Syndontis Angelicus – not an angel fish, but a cracking catfish!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Additions to the Fish House

Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp.

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

I’ve just collected another 20 1″-2″ Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. from a local breeder, that’s a total of approx 40 I have now, these are ideal fish to keep the algae down in the fish house tanks, what I call biological control, no chemicals, no UV! I hope when they are larger, that I’ll at least obtain a pair of fish, I’ve got albino and the more common brown variety.

When I can figure out the blog code to add pictures, I’ll upload some pictures here also. I’ll also try and sort out the time stamps.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp.

Hikari Products

Wednesday, August 24th, 2005

After hearing rumours about import restrictions on Hikari Products, and the lack of availability of Hikari Algae Wafers that I feed my L’numbers and Ancistrus, I contacted the Sole UK Importer, and this was the statement they released

Hikari Stopped By EU Red Tape

PRESS RELEASE FROM PPI (sole UK Hikari distributor)

As you may already be aware, we have been experiencing difficulties with the import of Japanese fish foods which is affecting the supply of Hikari Fish Food in the UK and Europe

Many retailers are now out of stock of some of the varieties of Hikari while remaining stocks of other Hikari lines are now getting very low

This is due to import regulations laid down by the EU that have not yet been fully recognised by Japan. Kamihata Fish Industries (KFI), the suppliers of Hikari, have been working tirelessly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Japan and Europe to ensure they are able to approve KFI’s production facility so that imports can be resumed

In terms of compliance there is absolutely no problem with regards to the standards of manufacture of Hikari Fish Food, it is just a matter of getting the correct paperwork in place. We anticipate that we will be able to start importing again within the next few weeks and hope that we can minimise any disruption to supply

We are planning to fly in our first shipments from Japan and we will be contacting stockists as soon as we have an arrival date so that we can ensure stocks are back in the shops as soon as possible

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and can assure you that we are doing everything possible to ensure Japan’s leading fish food will soon be available to its thousands of loyal customers in the UK

So cucumber and lettuce it is, until the situation is resolved.

Tags: ,
Posted in All, fish house | Comments Off on Hikari Products

Newer Entries »