I have noticed some snails in one of the latest breeding tanks, I’ve setup in the fish house for the Dwarf Hoplo catfish Hoplosternum pectorale. This is the only tank with snails, so I am a little surprised as to where this single snail has come from.
Now there are two more, the fish tank, associated equipment and furnishings have not been used for over 18 years. It seems I’ve just added water, and a snail has appeared!
Female Platinum Angelfish
Recovering well, after a week of MelaFix, I’ve completed a 50% partial water change this evening with my new toy, more on that another day, on the tank, and added two Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus to eat the algae that the MelaFix has encouraged to grow in the last week.
Sturisoma Aureum
All the fry have hatched in the second batch, and are hanging around the tank, they are not free swimming yet, More have hatched in this latest batch. The first batch are ferocious eaters, and are eating well, on spinach. More have hatched in this latest batch. There is some doubt at present as too whether these are Sturisoma Aureum, need to take some better photographs to have them correctly identified.
Royal Pleco, Royal Parnague, Panaque sp. nigrolineatus L190
I forgot to mention a few weeks ago I purchased two small L190s from Tropica in Knaresborough (and if you’ve never been there your missing out!), when I purchased them, they were in individual tanks, the reason I was attracted to them, is they have different colourations to the existing L190 I have and have usually seen, these are a grey/blue slate colour. They were going to go into different quarantine tanks, but…due to fish moves, they went into the same quarantine tank. For the first 24 hours, they were fine, but then they started fighting like cats and dogs, and almost tore each other apart, so they were isolated, and have been doing very well since, on algae wafers and Sera Crisps, and Bogwood.
PFK has an article this month on L190s, and it’s featured on the front cover, so if you don’t know what one looks like, it’s on the December 2005 Issue, (scroll down the page – it’s on the right!)
I kept forgetting to upload these photographs after the Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. had completed their little task.
Most of the catfish I keep and have mentioned before consume algae wholly or as part of their diet. I use various prepared manufactured foods that contain algae that I feed to my catfish, but I do prefer that they have a chance to eat the real mccoy. It’s quite a challenge to grow alage of the correct type and quantity to satisfy the vegetarian catfish.
I’ve found that using a Sunglow & PowerGlo tube in combination stimulates high algal growth on two shelves in my fish house. I harvest the algae produced and use it as a food source in other catfish tanks and on occasion my catfish have an algae holiday.
Before the introduction of two albino Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. into an 18x18x18 cube, heavily covered in algae.
After 72 Hours. You can see one Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp. in the picture. There is still algae on the floor on the tank, that they not yet consumed.
I have also found with experimentation, that Bristlenose catfish Ancistrus sp., “Plecos” and other L numbers, become lazy, at eating natural alage in the aquarium, if they are reguarly feed on algae wafers!
The Sturisoma aureum fry are not yet free swimming, they will probably be free swimming late tomorrow evening or Wednesday, during this time, the fry will be absorbing the last of their yolk sac, then they will start to feed.
I’ve prepared something special for them, following the ingredients and method previously mentioned. A truly hearty vegetarian meal fit for Royal Catfish.
I’ve poured the mixture into a small ice-cube maker, I hope it sets, I wasn’t too sure on the amount of water to use. I’ll use a razor blade to cut small pieces off, to feed them.
Not one for liking fireworks, I’ve been in the fish house most of the evening spring cleaning and tidying it up for the winter.
I wish the neighbours would stop launching fireworks, I thought my fish house was under seige!
I’ve purchased some powdered Spirulina which is filamentous blue-green algae from ZM Systems to feed the newly hatched Sturisoma aureum fry, after reading an article by Adrian R. Tappin he made a food source based on Spirulina and agar to feed to the fry.
I’ve been told that UK Catfish Enthusiast/Expert/God David Sands has written an article in Practical Fiskeeping about feeding and rearing Sturisoma aureum, if anyone has the article, I would like to read it. Please contact me.
While I was in the fish house this evening, fussing over the Sturisoma Aureum taking photographs, I noticed the Platinum Angelfish madly chasing the Ancistrus catfish, which I have since removed, remember what happened last time! I quickly grabbed my camera (I’ve changed from the Sony Mavica 2 Megapixel to my Leica Digilux camera, yes I still cannot take pictures in focus, so don’t let the man in the shop tell you that a more expensive camera is better, it’s the person behind the lens!)
here are some pictures:-
Platinum Angelfish Spawning, Female is at the top of the sponge filter uplift.
Male Platinum Angelfish getting very agreesive with me, female in the background.
Male Platinum Angelfish, sparing at the glass!
Sorry for peeps, that don’t have broadband, this site isn’t dial-up friendly! Does any one do dial-up anymore? If you dont got to your local library and take the url with you!
This is a photograph of my First Aquarium recently rescued from my parents house, I don’t believe it was purchased for me, I think a friend of my fathers gave it to me, but my father insisted until I read about the subject of keeping tropical fish, I was not allowed to keep them, I had always kept Goldfish as a child, but was always fascinated by the Jacques-Yves Cousteau diving programs on the television in the 70s.
I think it could be a collectors item today, as it’s an angle-iron type frame but with chrome finish, the glass is sealed with putty, later silicon sealer has been added. Capacity of the tank is approx 25l, I originally breed Guppies, Platies, Swordtails, Bettas until it was the home of a small piebald catfish – A Walking Catish, Clarias sp. The keen spotters will notice a Practical Fishkeeping Magazine freebie LCD thermoeter, given away free with the magazine in the 80s!
I don’t have the heart to part with it, because this is where it all started!
I moved the Twig Catfish Sturisoma Aureum and Dwarf Hoplo Catfish Hoplosternum pectorale from their quarantine tanks into seperate breeding tanks, these are the new tanks I’ve just added to the fish house. I’ve also added some bogwood to the Sturisoma Aureum tank for them to graze on. Both these tanks are filtered with internal filters, Hagen Bio-Life 55 and Dennerle C400 internal filters, the Sturisoma Aureum like most Locarids are very messy catfish, and Sponge Filters cannot cope with the large amounts of waste these catfish produce.
Eggs have been eated that the Silver Angels laid.
Another young pair of silver angelfish have spawned.
The eggs that the Platinum angelfish laid have disappeared, a slight over-sight and I forgot to remove the Ancistrus catfish , I think the Ancistrus catfish, may have had a meal in the night!
I didn’t purchase any Red Angelfish from Petsathome, they didn’t look well enough to make the six hour journey home to Yorkshire, I was very tired after a long drive home, in wet and hazzardous conditions. So it was too much of a risk to transport fish home [long distance], although I did route via “Sunny” Scunthorpe and the Humber Bridge to collect the following:-
Here are some pictures taken by the seller “Walter”.
A pair of Platinum Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare
Male Sturisoma Aureum guarding a clutch of eggs.
When the fish have settled down, and I’ve turned the lights back on the quarantine tanks, I’ll take some more pictures.
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