New Additions, Plus Otis

Deborah and I took a road trip to Lynchburg to visit Pet and Aquatic Warehouse (P.A.W. for short), where they have an amazing selection of aquarium fish and supplies. It really is worth the drive out there to visit the store.

I wanted a tetra for the 150 to go with the geophagus, and they had some tetras that caught my eye, what they were calling "peppermint tetra." They are not always good about getting scientific names there, and the manager said he was not given the scientific name, but that they are relatively new to the hobby. I really liked them, being somewhat similar to the bleeding heart tetra. The lemon tetra is a species that is commonly found in the waters with my geos as well as with angels, but I'm just not all that fond of them currently, and these Hyphessobrycon sp. really appealed to me, with a pinkish body, red fins with white tips. The males were displaying very nice flag-like dorsals, so I purchased all they had, which was 8. The video above shows them off, but the geophagus are such attention hounds that I could hardly get a view of the new tetras! I'm on a hunt for more, and Rama at skoolzoffish.com is looking for them, in addition to the wild angels he's going to get for me. 


I also managed to get a nice picture of Otis the F8 puffer, which is no easy task, as I've been trying for 4 years to do it! 

As you can see, Otis has a ton of room in his 20 long, and he's fat and happy.

What Comes Down Must Go Back Up Again

To recap, I recently took down 3 of my tanks, a 45 tall that had only a single leopoldi angel in it after a TRAGIC mishap while I was at work (moved the leopoldi down with the geos in the 150), then I took down my 37 that housed a recalcitrant pair of N. leleupi that were not breeding for me (sold 'em), then, lastly, with heavy heart I took down my 40 breeder planted tank that has been so special to me for so many years. It just got to the point where I could not maintain all these tanks while working full time, and also I needed to clear out my office/fish room because we were thinking about giving that room over to one of my daughters as a bedroom. I moved all inhabitants of the 40 to the geophagus tank, including some electric blue rams, a bolivian ram, and various tetras and a small school of het rasboras.

This left me with the 150 geophagus growout tank, which includes an angel, rams and some dithers, and Otis' 20 long that remains in my office, as well as a 10g snail tank for Otis. I also still have the 20 high in the kitchen with my fantail goldfish - a tank that is doing great, with lots of color, activity and interest in a busy kitchen.

My plans include selling off a good majority of the Geophagus sp. orange-head "Tapajos," which would provide the necessary funds to purchase a small group of wild scalare or leopoldi angels. I have tasked Rama at skoolzoffish.com with finding me some wild angels, which he assures me he will be able to do, though not right away. I'm definitely in no rush as I wait for the geophagus to mature a bit. In the tank currently the geos occupy the bottom of the tank, and the lone angel occupies the middle and the top, and they seem to get along beautifully, so I think this combination makes sense. Even when geos spawn they don't get terribly aggressive to other fish like many cichlids, so I'm confident I can create a peaceful community, depending on the temperament of the angels. My group of wild leopoldi stuck together always and never paired off, which, as I've said, was almost a blessing in terms of an attractive display tank.

I will need a quarantine tank set up for the wild angels, since I like to treat for parasites before introducing wild specimens. I admit I'm not so fastidious about it with domestic fish. I also had an idea that I'd need a good-sized tank for a breeding pair of geos, eventually. This would be a dedicated tank once I identify a mated pair in the 150.

I therefore rearranged the furniture (I'm always doing this at home so nobody even noticed) and set up the 45 in the same room as the 150. This way when I do a PWC on the big tank I can easily move over and do the same for the 45 without much hassle. I got it moved in and set up last night, and spent the rest of the evening rinsing out sand from the 40, which was quite mucky, having been in the tank for years with rooted plants. Now I have a shallow layer of sand and nothing else, and tonight I'll hook up a couple of Eheim Ecco filters and get a fishless cycle started.

Today I found some awesome branchy, rooty (is that a word?) driftwood on ebay for under $10, so I've ordered that and look forward to getting it in the tank with minimal plants, maybe only floating plants. I have plenty of smooth river rocks to choose from, and that will be all the tank needs. For Q I don't like any decor or substrate, but I can't bring myself to leave the tank completely bare! I have to try to make it somewhat attractive, and the wild angels will appreciate some vertical branches of wood and the floating plants, with dim lighting.

CVAS Logo - Final Version!

We finally have the last edit of the Central Virginia Aquarium Society logo, as above. *Whew!*  Likely as not it would have been easier to have hired a professional, but here's what we've got. I think we are all just happy to have a site with a forum and building membership, but a logo makes it more official somehow, and gives us a visual identifier. 


Now we are anxiously awaiting our club meeting on 2/26/12, 2:00 p.m., at Cichlid Solutions, 6405 Dickens Place, in Richmond near Broad and I-64. We have quite a few people who plan on attending, and we're all ready to get back into things. 

Consolidation

Things are changing around here with my tanks and I am sorry to say that I've taken down two more tanks. The 37-gallon leleupi breeding tank never amounted to anything, so I gave up on the alleged pair and sold them as possibly two males, possibly a pair who never got the right mojo going. 

What's more disturbing is that I took down my beloved 40-gallon planted garden. I was really, really fond of this tank, but it needed new stock and the fact is that I'm not in my office (where the tank has been) very often anymore since going back to work full time last fall. I found that I was neglecting it somewhat, but it was SO pretty that I really hated to disturb it. 

However, I did just that, and moved all inhabitants downstairs to the 150-gallon, which is an appropriate setup for them, with the Geophagus "Tapajos." That tank has been doing great for the past two months as they babies have grown a bit, and not too long ago I moved the leopoldi angel down there, since the 40-gallon was much too small for that fish to be happy. I hope to get some more wild angels in the spring for the 150. 

Here's a video of how the tank is today:

One disclaimer:  I was foolish enough to think I could add a music track to the video, which is copyrighted material, and I've been flagged by Youtube for this crime. If the artist in question does not become alerted and nobody files a complaint I might be okay, but if not I'll repost the video with my kid playing her harmonica or something. Otherwise it's the sound of my breathing and the dog snuffling around, which is not conducive to enjoyment of the subject matter, or at least it isn't to me.... End disclaimer.


So, my office has only dear, dear Otis the figure-8 puffer, who shall remain in situ, as he is my muse. I will also, therefore, keep the 10-gallon planted snail tank, which is the smorgasbord to which Otis bellies up, so to speak. So now I have only those two tanks in my office and the 150-downstairs, my kitchen goldfish tank, my goldfish tank at work, and my 5-gal betta tank at work.

Another issue is the possibility of moving my home office to another part of the house. I have 11-year-old twin girls sharing a very small room, and things are starting to get a little difficult for them. I may move my office downstairs to the living area and return my office to its original purpose as a bedroom, or maybe put my office up in the playroom to the same end. These are preliminary considerations but the aquariums were posing a problem in terms of where I set up my office, so now I don't have that to worry about too much. I put the tanks in a newly emptied eaves space off the playroom, so I still have the tanks ready for when I need them again, which I'm sure I will. 


So 6 tanks total for now is enough for me to maintain, considering how much time I spend at work these days. I'd move another tank to my office at work, since I have room there, but I find PWCs to be quite a challenge in that office as it is. There is zero water pressure, sometimes not enough to start a siphon with a Python (if you can believe it!) and  that turns a simple PWC into a lengthy chore, without the ability to adequately siphon the substrate debris. Also, I hate to leave any delicate species on their own for the weekends when I'm not there. 

So, I'm not exactly out of the business, lol, but I've downsized and consolidated, and hopefully I don't have all my eggs in one basket! 

Website and Logo!

We have a logo! This is somewhat temporary until I get the details straight, but I'm working on turning the squiggly lines in the middle of the fish into the letters CVAS. I am getting very close to something I'm happy with, since the letters lend themselves to a somewhat zig-zag configuration. 


Otherwise, everyone seems to like this logo, so we are using it for the time being on our new forum website! Go to cvas.forumotion.com and you'll see that we've set up shop and are working on getting our Richmond and Tidewater membership registered so we can communicate easier.

This is a separate entity than our club website, which is not a forum but a regular site, and we've had some delays setting up the pages. It may be that a forum is going to serve our needs better, but we'll have to decide what to do about that. Everyone has been very supportive and excited about getting the club and the site up and running, and we've made a lot of progress.


Brian (Flippercon from the Tidewater chapter) and Ben have really taken initiative and gotten things done, and this would not be happening without their hard work, so I'm very grateful to them both, along with our other board members who have contributed.


Now, as to the logo, I'm figuring out how to work with nodes and other shaping tools to configure text into the shape I need. This is proving to be a frustration, since I've never used this type of program before but by accident I'm slowly learning what it does! I am arrogant enough and pigheaded enough that I think I can figure it out myself, but we'll see - I'm pretty close to turning it over to someone who knows what their doing! It remains difficult to admit defeat, but this is a character flaw that sometimes results in unexpected joy, so stay tuned.

Central Virginia Aquarium Society

Just like any "new baby," my fellow hobbyists and I are still trying to get our aquarium club on a schedule. The holidays proved to be too busy of a time to try to meet, so we finally managed to get most of the board members together and Sunday, February 26, 2012 is on the calendar for our next open meeting. This will be held at Cichlid Solutions, the business of Mark Snead, one of our board members.

He has very generously donated his shop to our club in the past, and it proves to be very well suited to our needs, so a big Thank You to Mark for his willingness to play host. Our members can bring livestock and float bags in his tanks, and it is always fun to see what species might be coming through the door. We also decided on a swap-type item exchange (bring something, take something) so we can all clean out our fish rooms and hopefully someone will find use for items we no longer need.

Our members are also invited to bring along livestock or items that they wish to sell, not swap, and this gives them an opportunity to network and sell some fish, plants, snails or equipment that they might have to place a Craig's List ad to sell. Our auctions have proven to be very successful in the past as well, but they tend to eat up quite a bit of time, and we need to streamline the process.

We typically have members from our sister chapter, the Tidewater Virginia Chapter, attend our meetings, and this is a boon for us; they are a group of dedicated hobbyists with a lot of knowledge and much to offer, so we appreciate them driving to Richmond. Our Central Virginia Chapter members also try to attend the Tidewater meetings as they get their own club off the ground. They'll be meeting this coming Saturday, 1/28, and since they're planning every-other-month gatherings we thought we'd schedule ours for February so there'd be no overlap.

The other item of business at our board meeting last night was getting our website off the ground. Mark has offered to work with me on it, and I do need some help. A related matter, and quite pressing, is the creation of a logo for the club. There are SO MANY options of how to go with this, so we're a bit stymied. We need some samples or mockups that we can look at to determine what type of logo we want. Do we want to go with something official looking, like the outline of the state of Virginia with our club name/initials inside it, and maybe the silhouette of a fish? Do we want something modern and stylized, maybe our club initials formed into the shape of a fish? We're not sure!

We could agree, however, that our logo ought to have the outline of a fish, and we settled on a freshwater angelfish, P. scalare, as a readily identifiable shape that anyone can identify as an aquarium fish. Many other species are simply torpedo-shaped, and could represent a sport fish, for instance, so we want to be clearly associated with the aquarium hobby in our logo somehow. The common goldfish would also work, as a backup plan if we can't utilize an angelfish. We decided that the board itself will come up with the logo (most of our members are on the board anyway!) and present it to the club once we have an image finalized, rather than have all our members try to agree on a design.

We can then get our website finished and also use the logo for a Facebook page, since that will prove to be a great resource to communicate with our members and announce meetings. We are certainly dragging our feet with this club, but we still manage to stay in touch and hold things together, so there's hope! Everyone has things going on in their lives that causes delays, but we'll get it established, I think. I'm always optimistic after a board meeting! We've got some great folks involved.

Figure 8 Puffer

Here is a dim and grainy photo of Otis' tank. I've had him about 4 years now, and not too long ago upgraded him into a 20-long, which suits him very well (if you click on the pic you can see him at the bottom near the left archway). I am currently having a bit of a falling out with my camera and he is too fast for me to capture a clear image.

The tank is empty-looking, for sure, but this is a messy, busy fish that is constantly exploring and poking around the rocks, and keeping the tank clean is a chore with a smaller tank. Even so, I have a constant battle with diatom algae and hair algae.


The tank is open on all sides, sitting out on a desk, so the rockwork is stacked in the center of the tank, and Otis goes through the openings from one side of the tank to the other. He does not seem to have a preference for one part of the tank or the other, and he's never still that I can see. From time to time I rearrange the rocks in a new formation to keep him interested, and to change his paths of travel.


Otis will actually come up out of the water if you put your hand over the top, and he will also splash the surface with his tail to get my attention to be fed, even if he has recently eaten. I know fish are pets, but this fish is the most pet-like of any I have ever owned.


This is a brackish tank, and this is not a problem at all to maintain. The only complaint I have is "salt creep," which means caked salt accumulates around the rim of the HOB filter, and will literally travel, adding onto itself, until it flakes off onto the desk. The heater cord also is a conduit for salt crystals, and it will travel down the entire length of the cord, if I let it. I generally keep on top of it by flaking it back into the tank as it accumulates. I keep an eye on the salinity and keep it brackish, which means my water changes will utilize varying ratios of fresh to marine mix water. As the water level in the tank goes down due to evaporation, the salt that used to be in the evaporated water is still in the tank, so you can't simply use the same ratios every time. 


Fortunately, he can tolerate some fluctuations in salinity (many swear these are full FW fish and keep them that way, though I'm convinced they are happiest brackish) so it is not terribly challenging to maintain a brackish tank for him.

I Have an Idea.... Keep the Fish You LIKE!

I know this is an obvious statement, since most of us are keeping the fish we like, right?


However, I've recently come to the realization that there have been tanks I've kept with fish that I did not necessarily like, but that were appropriate for a setup that I liked. There are quite a few common aquarium species that I simply don't like, and I avoid those, since it is easy enough to do, with the myriad species available these days. On the other hand, once you've kept this type of setup and that type of setup, the community planted tank and the rocky Malawi cichlid tank, the species tank and the mixed tank, you start to have a desire for specific setups that appeal to you, or just ones that you've not kept before.


A couple of years ago I got a great deal on a large tank, a 150-gallon, with hood and stand, and suddenly I had new options. Fish that I could not keep before suddenly became a possibility. I started thinking how cool it would be to keep a large "tankbuster" type fish that would come up to me, begging to be fed; a fish that could be given a name and treated like a real pet. I thought about Astronotus ocellatus, the oscar cichlid, but they can be tough on tankmates and tough on aquarium decor. As mentioned, I like my aquariums to be as much an attractive display as a habitat, and I've heard stories of objects being banged around by oscars, heaters broken, plants uprooted, etc. Hmmm. Maybe not for me this time.


I've always had a thing for Tanganyikan cichlids, and the idea of a frontosa tank began to take hold. They get large and are relatively peaceful. The concept was born. I began my research and saw photos of grotesque humps on the foreheads of mature specimens, and was not terribly thrilled. Some people really like the humps - the bigger the better - but this did not appeal to me. These seemed to be most prevalent in the Burundi variety, and I set my sights on some other collection points, like Moba and Kapampa, which have a richer blue and less prominent humps, typically. I admired the look of some of the Moba setups, with rocks, dim lighting, sand and the graceful large blue striped fish cruising around. The tanks have a minimalist, simple look to them that appealed to me, after so many busy, high-light, heavily planted tanks that I've kept. 


Since the frontosa get so big, it is not advised to keep smaller species with them, but often people have success with the Altolamps, (calvus and compressiceps), as long as you stick to the larger males. These are fish I truly admire, with their sloped foreheads and downturned mouths - the bulldog look that I like so much! So I set up the tank with frontosa and altolamprologus species, hoping that as the altolamps grew they'd hang out in the rocks for safety.


I had a lot of trouble with the frontosa. My first shipment of very young specimens died almost immediately - which was quite a bit of money down the tube, though the dealer replaced the fish. I was out shipping, and that was not a small amount, at least for me. I lost almost all of the second shipment too, but 4 survived out of 10. *Sigh*  So, nothing but stress from the beginning with these fronts. Constant worry about whether they'd survive and thrive, and whether I could get this tank to where I wanted it. I had the monolithic rock formations, the dim lighting and the sand, and all I needed was the fish to grow and glide around! 


One thing about Tanganyikan cichlids is that many of them are shy and dash for cover when you approach the tank. This has never bothered me too much, since they get used to you and will gradually come back out so you can see them. For fish like Brichardi sp., this was well worth it, with their interesting coloration and fin extensions - gorgeous. Same for the calvus and the comps. Such an impressive look to them, and some with polka dots and red or yellow hues. I could watch a mature calvus all day long. 


Well, here I am with this large tank in my living room, and it looked completely empty! I had 4 Kapampa frontosa and about 11 various small Tang cichlids in it, most altolamps but 6 Paracyprichromis nigripinnis and one Neolamprologus leleupi. All of them hide, including the frontosa. While the fish were small they hid in the rocks with the rest of them, and would only dart out at feeding time, grabbing a mouthful and dashing back into hiding. Oh well, I told myself, once the fronts get big they won't be able to fit behind the rocks and they'll be forced to stay out in the open where I can see them. 


Then came the recent dreadful tank disaster (I still do not know the cause of this tragedy!) and I lost all the Tang cichlids in about 12 hours. The idea of starting over crossed my mind, but slowly I realized the truth:  I don't really LIKE frontosa! They have a blunt, bloated look to them that I don't like, but they needed to be the centerpiece to my Tanganyikan display tank, so I went with them anyway. Add to this the fact that Tang cichlids are sensitive to any change in water parameters, diet, etc., and I always had an underlying worry that something would go wrong with the tank; this was enough to lessen the enjoyment I got out of watching it. 


This came into sharp focus when I got my new additions, the Geophagus sp. orange head "Tapajos." They gave me a very familiar scare initially (I was instantly brought back to the failed frontosa shipment) but came around once I raised the temperature, and now they are doing great. These are hardier fish than Tang cichlids, and I don't see a reason why I won't get them to maturity. They come rushing over to the glass at your approach, begging for food, and will follow you back and forth. 


Also, I really LIKE the Geophagus and Satanoperca species complex, with the sloped foreheads, spangled and striped coloration, and oftentimes long, trailing fin extensions. Mature specimens are gorgeous. A couple of years ago I saw a mature Satanoperca daemon at a shop in Lynchburg, and ever since then I vowed I'd keep them someday. Fish that have a wild or native look to them definitely appeal to me more than some of the more ornamental species available now. No long-fins, balloon bellies, or koi colorations for me, thanks. I am not particularly opposed to hybrids, but I prefer fish as they'd be found in the wild. 


I am now evaluating my tastes and preferences more carefully, and realize that I really like wild or wild-type angels, be they scalare, altum or leopoldi. I don't have much interest in domestic angels. I have come very close several times to purchasing some Apistogramma species as well, since my 40-gallon is a very appropriate setup for them, but I now realize that Apistos are not very appealing to me, surprisingly. They can be gloriously colored and have interesting personalities, but I don't really like them, much like I don't care for Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher). I can't explain why I don't like them, but something about the torpedo body shape turns me off. 


I do like my Bolivian ram, perhaps mainly because he's actually alive (if you've kept rams before you may know what I'm talking about) and because he's wild I consider him to be like they'd be in nature. That's as close to a dwarf cichlid as I'll likely get anytime soon. 


Another admission I'll make:  I'm not such a big fan of catfish. I like cory cats in planted setups where I'm not trying to raise a spawn, and I had a whiptail cat that was absolutely fascinating and a gorgeous specimen (look back in the blog to see that amazing fish), but currently I have no catfish at all, and though I'm not ruling them out completely, they are not a species I need to have. For many years I considered some type of catfish to be essential to most any setup, to occupy the bottom and to "clean up" leftovers. I've had some interesting catfish before but I don't require them. Maybe I've just not kept some of the more interesting species, like Hara jerdoni, or the Asian Stone Catfish. My friend has those and they are absolutely adorable! Maybe I'll limit myself to Corydoras species and hold out for a truly interesting specimen catfish. 


This entire post is silly but I wanted to share my ideas and where I am in the hobby these days. I tend to set up tanks hastily, without a lot of planning, and just think it would be neat to have certain fish in a certain type of setup. Now I think I'll consider more carefully - not only because I have less time to devote to the hobby but also because I don't want to waste time on fish that don't make me happy. All my tanks, save the pair of N. leleupi that don't seem to want to spawn for me, make me happy, truly happy, including my two tanks of wonky round goldfish, and that's a good thing.