Minor Update

It has been a while since I have updated, but I've started a new job and time has gotten the better of me.

The festivus in the 150 continue to spawn regularly, but the fry do not survive for very long after the free swimming stage. The parents are extremely stressed when they have babies, and I wonder if they don't just eat the babies at some point to relieve their anxiety over the huge job of constant surveillance of so many fry with so many predators. They do a pretty good job of keeping the other fish over to the opposite side of the tank, but I plan to move the pair out as soon as I move the last of Frank and Agnes' juvies out of the 37-gallon.

The angel juvies are ready to go and I have a buyer (about 30-35 remaining) but I have not had time to bag them up and tote them over to the LFS. What I plan to do at this point is to empty the 37 of juvies and place the festivus pair in that tank, and leave Frank and Agnes to do their thing in the 40. If I get babies, I get babies. If I don't, I don't. F&A have a good track record of rearing their own, so I don't have to worry about them, but the festivus pair are not proven and I have to see what happens when they are alone in their own tank.

I don't have the time or inclination at this point to hand-rear fry, so they will have to do it on their own. They do need to be removed from the 150, though, because it is a stress to have them in there. That said, I have to admit it is not as bad as I thought. The other fish have grown accustomed to the cyclical spawning aggression of the pair, and I am sure I could keep things status quo for a while without too much trouble, but it is upsetting the dynamic, and it is not ideal.

I must get photos of everything and post them soon. The fry of Agnes and Frank are just stunning - they truly look wild, save the occasional solid gold morph - and I'd be proud to keep them, but no space. I am enjoying watching the single juvie of theirs grow in the 150, however, and admire this fish a lot. He gets along just great with the wild leopoldi and he resembles them slightly, aside from his nose being upturned, and theirs "downgoing," as Heiko Bleher describes them.

Otis, the figure-8 puffer, is fabulous as ever. He's just the best and I'm so glad to have him set up in the 10-gallon. All of the Anubias sp. plants I have in there have circular holes in them, but no matter - he can do what he wants. He has grown and has a steady diet of snails of all description, plus the very small cocktail shrimps - raw and thawed from frozen. You can hear the noise of his teeth on shells when he eats, so I feel good that his teeth are being kept ground down.

One reason I am posting today is that I learned someone is actually reading this blog! I had no idea anyone was still following this, and it prompted me to post an update. Thanks for the poke!

Fly! Be Free!

Free swimmers today, quite a cloud of the little buggers. The other occupants of this 150-gallon aquarium are jammed over to the far, far right, in an area about 1' wide by 2' high.

Spawn of the Nasties!

So mean, but so true. The M. festivus that I added most recently paired off and are being more and more aggressive to the other fish. I had decided to net out the pair and leave the singleton that was in there originally, since that one seems like a nice enough chap and never caused trouble.

Today I had a little time and netted out 30 juvenile angels to sell to the LFS (I thought I had about 40 but after netting out 30 I still have what appears to be about 30 babies) and thought this would be a good time to net out the pair of festivus in the big tank and take along with me to sell as a pair. They are not afraid of the net and are always close to the top, greedy for a feeding.

I went in there to net them, and what do I see? Wigglers. This explains why they were keeping the angels from eating, and showing stress bars constantly. The area where they spawned is where I typically put the feeding cone. In the pic you can see the dirty pile of babies near the stem of the Anubias leaf, and there are more babies resting on the leaf above the fish's head in the pic. I did not notice them because of the increased algae growth on some of the Anubias leaves recently. The wigglers blend right in. They are close to free swimming stage. (Click on the pic for a closeup view of the babies)

I decided to leave the parents in there, and feed on the other side of the tank. The worst piscivores in the tank are the festivus, so if they are the ones doing the guarding we may get some babies that get to juvie stage, at which point I could net them out and put them in the 37-gallon to grow out. We'll see. I don't particularly want the 150 to be a breeding tank, since it is a display and breeding cichlids can cause chaos in any size tank, but we'll see how it goes. These fish are capable of injuring my wild angels, and I don't want that to happen. I'll wait until these babies are independent and fending for themselves, and then I'll try to net the parents out, and either give them a dedicated setup of their own or sell them as a breeding pair. They are chunky, brightly colored Mesonauta species, with very bright yellow breeding colors, so I think they are great specimens, but perhaps not the best fit for my 150 display tank. I will leave the third festivus, who has never bothered anyone and continues to glide around with the angels, avoiding the strikes of the Mesonauta pair.

Gotcha!

I used a larger trap last night and was rewarded with a female bristlenose waiting for me this morning. I used a 2-liter plastic soda bottle instead of the 20-ounce, and this larger size means the fish can enter and swim around and have trouble finding the exit, whereas before the fish did not have room to move around much, so the exit was right in front of them.

I set the trap with zucchini before lights out, but managed to trap two festivus and the juvenile domestic angel! Why they were so very interested in zucchini I do not know, but I realized I needed to wait until lights out, and that was met with success.

I slowly acclimated her to the 37-gallon, since the pH is much higher and the temperature is about 5 degrees lower. Hopefully this will not bother her. I will attempt to trap the male now, and construct some simple caves for the fry growout tank, and perhaps the pair will spawn for me. Once I sell of the remaining babies (40+) then they will have no competition for whatever food I put in there, and they will have a spell on their own before the next batch of angel fry is introduced. Hopefully. If the planets align. I don't want to get ahead of myself (yes, yes I do!) so I will concentrate on trapping the wiley male bristlenose tonight.

Updates

No luck trapping the Ancistrus so far, but as my daughter saw one of them go in the trap, and zip right back out, this is not much of a trap.

I believe that the bottle is too small, so once inside, the fish turns around and finds its nose right in the inverted bottle opening, and can go right back out. I will plan on making another trap with a larger bottle, so the fish will go inside and have to swim around to find the opening, hopefully foiling its efforts. These fish may be too smart for this type of trap, but I would like to give it another try.

Also, I have decided to hold off on moving the M. festivus out of the 150, since they are really not hurting anyone, and I believe a pair bond is forming. It may be that the best course of action will be to remove the extra third fish, rather than removing two and leaving one. I will have to monitor their behavior and make sure they are not stressing the tank or injuring other fish in their efforts to defend territory.

The domestic angel babies continue to grow and I am slowly selling them off. If I cannot get the Ancistrus pair from the 150 to move into the 37-gallon growout tank, I will find another bristlenose for that tank, as I think that is a very appropriate fish to keep the tank cycled until the next batch of eggs.

Agnes & Frank still have not spawned again, and they continue to gaze at the fry tank, so I am anxious to move the babies out and inspire the pair to spawn again.

Otis continues to be his awesome self. He enjoys his snails and the single thawed frozen krill I give him every other day or so. Those are a relatively large meal for him but he relishes tearing it apart, and I can easily hear his teeth crunching up the exoskeleton, as is the case when he eats snails, so I am comfortable his teeth are getting the maintenance they require. I do hate the idea of trimming them myself. Ugh.

Bristlenose say whaaaa????

The bristlenoses are not having anything to do with my clever little fish trap that has worked so well for me over the years. They have not had their customary slice of zucchini for two whole days now, but they are not entering the trap, nor have they seemed to even approach it.

What now? I'm not willing to tear the tank apart to get them. We'll keep trying. I was careful to make the opening of the trap the right size for them, but maybe it is just too weird looking. I'll leave it in place a while longer and allow them to get used to it being there.

I'd sure like to get them moved, and once I make a decision like this I tend to obsess on it, but I need to be prepared in case I am unable to trap them and resign myself to leaving them where they are, and consider the cory cats the unfortunate ones in this scenario.

Ejected from the Game

I have decided to move the Ancistrus pair from the 150 to the 37-gallon angel fry growout tank. I need something in there to hold the cycle for me until the next batch of fry, and their diminutive size makes them good candidates, but they'll still have plenty of room. Perhaps, in their own private digs they'll spawn for me. I'll provide a cave for them and see what happens. I have left a good deal of brown algae on the glass of this rank, and there is a large piece of driftwood in there (it is not possible for me to maintain a bare tank) so hopefully they will be content. It is very sparsely planted.

I can't tolerate the bullying of the Corydoras in the 150, and I'd rather make them comfortable and eject the Ancistrus, though I do enjoy them in that tank. They are out and about more than other Ancistrus I have kept, and they seem to do a good job of controlling algae on the glass, though I don't know how much algae I am growing, actually. I will soon find out, if I can get them moved.

The problem is trapping them. I set up my usual clear soda bottle with the top and neck section cut off and inverted into the body of the bottle, with a nice slice of zucchini inside, and a rock to keep it down on the bottom. No takers. I omitted their zucchini feeding last night to be sure they'd be hungry, but they are not going in yet. I don't have a practical way to get them out of the tank other than trapping. I will wait them out, I suppose.

The tank is too heavily planted and 'scaped for me to try to chase them down with a net. I'd have to drain the tank and remove all objects to do it. This is a problem when you have a large tank like this. Any fish I want to get out must be trapped, or they have to be relatively curious and not easily spooked, where I can lure them to the net.

I have discussed this whole thing with Deborah, my catfish expert friend, and she finds their bullying tendencies to be unusual, but she is an advocate for the corys and is in favor of moving the bristlenoses out - there ought to be no issues whatsoever between them and the angel fry, no matter what the size of the fry might be.

She is also considering other options for me in terms of a suckermouth catfish for the 150, if I should desire to replace them. I also may wish to consider a replacement for my beloved Planiloricaria cryptodon that I lost not too long ago. I do miss that fish, and it might be a better environment for one now without the Ancistrus, which did seem to pester him a bit, though he did not put up with much from them. He was much bigger than they, unlike the little cory cats, which are intimidated by the Ancistrus. I could try to find another whiptail like before, or go with one of the twig catfish or Sturisoma species, but I need something that does not mind the balmy 82F water. I would not mind an algae eater, but I don't know that there are that many species that do a particularly good job of that, except for the Ancistrus sp. I may be very wrong about that, however, and will discuss it with Deborah if I do manage to remove the catfish pair and I find algae growth to be a problem. I will hold off on it and hopefully will see the cory cats scooting around in total comfort, knowing no spiny face will be coming after them and keeping them in hiding.

When Too Much is Not Too Much

Could an Aqua Clear 30 and an Eheim Ecco 2232 be overkill for a 10-gallon aquarium? Sounds like it, but it does not appear to be the case.

I do not intend to keep the AC on the tank, but for now as I grow brackish bacteria in the Ecco I want both filters running. Puffers are sensitive to water quality problems and I don't want to take chances. Are the plants blowing all over? Is the puffer being buffeted about? Nope. Otis actually appears quite perked up by the additional water movement, and the tank is definitely cleaner.

The rocks no longer have the fuzzy accumulation after I began using a toothbrush and in small areas at a time, scrubbing off the fuzz and silt (this stuff is still a mystery to me). Over time I have cleaned all the rocks, but whereas the debris used to fall to the bottom and I'd have to siphon it out, now the offending stuff is carried off to one of the filters. Love that.

In an effort to provide the angel pair more room to swim I pulled a large piece of wisteria out of the 40-gallon breeding tank, and since it was covered in wee tiny snails (the 40-gallon is my snail farm for Otis) I just chucked the whole plant into his tank and let him go to work on the floating snail barge. He is an active hunter type, so this was supremely enjoyable for him, if a puffer can be joyful. He seems to be smiling all the time....

I left the plant in place, hoping it will survive, and now I put his snails on the plant itself for him to find. This keeps him busy, which is good for a figure-8 puffer.

Meanwhile, I put the Emperor 400 on the 40-gallon in conjunction with the Eheim Classic canister, but the Emperor is just too noisy. I ordered a replacement impeller assembly for cheap and we will see if that helps. In fact, the Eheim ought to be plenty of filtration for this tank with just two fish in it, albeit relatively large fish. It is hard for me not to overfilter my tanks. Did you notice?

More Options for Otis...

The AC 30 is not big or bulky, and aside from the flexibility with how media is loaded this does not seem like it is any more powerful than the Penguin 125. It is certainly no bigger.

I run an Eheim Classic plus a small Eheim Ecco on the 40-gallon breeder tank, so what I will do is pull out the Emperor 400 from storage, dust it off and put it on the 40, keep the Classic, and put the Ecco on the 10-gallon, and see what I think. I can tuck it under my desk, and it might do the trick. I have been very disappointed with the two Ecco filters I own, finding them remarkably underpowered and cheaply constructed, but the lack of power may be to my advantage when putting a canister on a 10-gallon tank.

If that is too much current (I believe puffers enjoy some current) then I'll stick with the AC30, or maybe sell some more angel babies and get the AC50. That way whenever I upgrade the tank I'll have a filter that can be used on the larger tank, plus the canister would certainly be appropriate for the 20 if it is not for the 10. I doubt it will be too much for the 10, however. I admit it - I'm an Ecco hater.

I have been having some algae problems in the 10-gallon, and since it is definitely not brightly lit I know (or suspect) it is an excess of nutrients. The Anubias is not growing fast enough to combat it, and itself is covered in a fine fuzz. The tank looks horrible. I puts some hornwort in there but it promptly melted, as it is wont to do.

I will try very judicious dosing of Excel (no, I have not forgotten the disaster that I attributed to the use of Excel earlier in these pages) and will be very careful with it. This is easier to do in a 10-gallon, where we are talking very small amounts, so there is no casual "glugging" of the container into the aquarium. I will see if this helps combat the algae and the Anubias to do better. It seems to be struggling terribly in the tank, even though it is supposed to be a plant that does well in brackish water. I don't think it is the SG causing the problem, actually, but I sure don't know why it is not growing. If it has nutrients and light it ought to do fine.

I have a 13w CF desk lamp over the tank, but it is raised way up above it, and there is a fluoro ceiling fixture in the room as well, but that is not on all the time. I will try turning off the desk lamp when the ceiling fixture is on, and basically just cut down the artificial light. You would think the light would be low enough not to have algae be a problem, but as is often the case for me, I have unwanted algae that I can't figure out how to cure. In my tanks where I have been successful dealing with algae, I have A LOT of plants present, and medium lighting. I don't want to heavily plant this little tank, since Otis needs his swimming space, so I will have to figure out what is causing it.

Two-inch Tank Buster

Otis, the figure-8 puffer, is 2 inches of cuteness, and is busting out of his 10-gallon aquarium. The bioload of these guys is tremendous, and the little HOB (Penguin 125) is woefully inadequate to handle it. I need to do 50-75% PWCs every other day, and could stand to do them every day. The filter clogs frequently, and it is obviously not moving enough water.

I don't want to put him in a bigger tank because this tank is the perfect size for the location (my desk) and I do feel that it is enough space for his needs at this size. I realize that when he grows bigger we will need to move up (a 20-gallon tall would be perfect) but for now I'd like to make things work as they are.

I want to increase filtration and am researching my options. I think an AC 30 might do the trick (too big and bulky? need to go look at one), since it has a lot more media capacity and moves more water. I am also considering an extremely small canister filter, if I can find one. I need to get this done soon, though, because in spite of the frequent water changes the tank always looks (and is) cruddy. Amazing what a single fish can do!

Drama! Life in the ER!

I don't know if I have brought this up on these pages, but I am allergic to bloodworms. I have the usual airborne allergies, like pollen and ragweed, and have also relatively recently developed some allergies to certain fruits and nuts.

One other new allergen for me is bloodworms. I discovered that when I pop a frozen cube out of the tray and put it in a cup, if I don't wash my hands they would become itchy where they came in contact with the cube. Then I started sneezing when I handled bloodworms, especially the freeze-dried type, the particles of which can be inhaled as you shake out the treat into the tank. I decided to be extremely careful, and use gloves or have my husband feed the frozen bloodworms, or if I did use them I'd immediately wash my hands. The last time I forgot to wash my hands I rubbed my eyes and they swelled up, and I sneezed violently for a good 30 minutes.

I have not handled bloodworms myself for a month or two, and for some reason last night, late, I decided to give the 150-gallon a treat - frozen bloodworms. Everybody knows how fish go nuts for these bright red morsels, and it makes you feel good knowing how much they like it.

I forgot to wash my hands. It was bedtime, and I rubbed eyes, and they became itchy, and I realized what I had done. I washed my hands thoroughly and flushed my eyes thoroughly as well. I took 2 Benadryl immediately, but by then my eyes had swollen almost shut. Then my voice started going scratchy and I could feel my throat closing. I lost my voice almost completely as I was being driven pell-mell to the nearby ER. Not the way you'd want to spend your evening. I think if I had waited any longer I would have had to call 911, because it was progressing very, very quickly - by the minute.

I know it is not common to be allergic to bloodworms, but you do read about it. If you Google "bloodworm allergy" you will get lots and lots of hits, so it is not unheard of. The ER staff did not seem confused or surprised when I explained what had triggered this severe response.

For obvious reasons, I won't be feeding bloodworms in any form ever again. It is not worth it! My reaction to each exposure is more severe than the last, so next time I would be in even more trouble, I fear. I have also heard tales of people being allergic to bloodworms and blackworms, so I won't feed those anymore, either.

The only fish that worries me is my Figure-8 puffer. His diet is very limited, unlike my other fish. He enjoys snails, for sure, but I am not sure if that is a complete diet if it is all he will eat. He loves blackworms and bloodworms, but those are no longer on his menu. I will see how he does on raw shrimp and that kind of thing.

I know, from my research, that some people discover their allergy to bloodworms late, since if you have an allergic reaction like that you don't first think of fish food. You try to think of something you ate or drank as being the culprit, or an insect bite perhaps, and you may blame it on something completely different initially. Who would think frozen bloodworms could cause this? Not me.

So, if you find that you get sneezy sometimes when you feed your fish, you may correlate the symptoms to the use of bloodworms. If so, I'd nix them. Oftentimes allergic reactions are progressive, as in my case, and worsen with each exposure. If I had been stung by a bee and had this reaction, then I would just write it off to random misfortune, but I brought this drama on myself, and it could have easily been avoided. It is not worth my life to keep aquarium fish happy! It sounds so crazy to think that fish food could literally kill you, but I think, in my case, that could happen if I get exposed again and am not able to get help rapidly.

I reckon it is time for me to visit the allergist and address these sensitivities of mine, and perhaps be prescribed an Epi-Pen for emergencies.

Baby Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of the new addition to the 150 - the domestic scalare, which is about 2-1/2 months old (since free swimming stage).

Note how his stripe pattern closely resembles that of the P. leopoldi in the background.

Bullies : I've Got Your Number

No, not any of the cichlids, even though some of them are trying to pick on the new little juvenile angel recently added, this is more important.

I have been wondering about the fact that the school of C. trilineatus hide virtually all the time, even though I have what must be 11-12 of them (I lost track - maybe reading back further on the blog will reveal the actual number) but I never see them, except when the tank is dark, and only fleetingly.

The first time I noticed this was when I got my awesome Planiloricaria cryptodon (RIP), who one day launched himself completely out of the tank for reasons never to be revealed. After I introduced him to the tank, the cories hid. I figured the whiptail cat was just too big of a presence, and perhaps represented some sort of competitor for resources that they could only understand. Well, he's been gone a while, and still, no cories out and about like they should be. I have accepted this, and continued to feed them out in front of their lair (I can't see into the rock cairn where they hang out), but it has bothered me.

I was watching the tank today for a good long while, sitting very still, and lo and behold, out come the cories! Tres adorable! As soon as they start hunting for morsels, the Ancistrus, both of them (but mainly the male) rushes over and scares them off. Repeatedly. Roughly. Using undue force. I have found the culprits, and they have no whips on their tails, but rather a face full of them.

So, I am not sure what to do about this. The bristlenoses have plenty to eat - they have their choice. They enjoy zucchini, bell pepper, seaweed and cucumber in the veggie clip, always present and available, they enjoy veggie wafers that are dropped in once daily, and they also partake of the sinking particles of food or pellets that were intended for the more carnivorous occupants. They eat everything, including algae on the wood and glass - the male today was obviously eating the floating particles of daphnia (from the frozen cube fed to the angels) out of the water column, which is an interesting sight to see from a suckermouth catfish.

Why would they feel threatened by the cories, or otherwise be trying to prevent them from eating? It makes no sense to me, but I don't guess it should. I am sure it makes perfect sense to them. There is no question that they are chasing the cories off, however. I may wind up putting this pair, or maybe just the male, in the 37-gallon fry growout tank to hold the cycle when I don't have any babies in there, and he can't harass anyone. I like having an algae-eater in the 150, though, but I also like the cories (spent real money for every darn one!) and want to be able to see them, and want them to try to have a less stressful life, as much as can be possible in a glass box in my living room.

I am glad to finally discover a good reason for the cories to be hiding all the time, and now I just have to decide what to do. I will have to research Ancistrus type species (I will check with Deborah but there are probably hundreds) and see if there is something, or even some other type of dwarf pleco that would eat algae and otherwise keep to itself and mind its own business.

She has gone and done it now....

The domestic angels, Frank & Agnes, spawned again, a very nice sized spawn on their usual sword leaf. However, this apparently did not bode well for the remaining baby from the last spawn that I left in situ when I removed his siblings to sell (I left him behind because he was a bit smaller than they and I figured I'd give him another week or so).

I then noticed he was not coming out for feedings, and he was up in a top corner, uninterested in eating. Cichlids in top corners of aquariums are being harassed and are under stress - this is a very common sign and one that should prompt removal of said fish.

So, I did. I netted him out rather easily, as he must be too young to fear The Net. I was carrying him over to the adjacent 37-gallon growout tank when Liz's Evil Twin grasped her by the ear and dragged her downstairs briskly, and thrust the net into the 150! Oh no! What has she done?!

I had a momentary lapse of judgment, OR, this is no biggie - the jury is still out. There is plenty of room in the 150, and this baby looks remarkably like a wild scalare, with the slightly turned up nose and the bold stripes on silver. He has a very, very prominent dorsal fin that has a red tinge. He's gorgeous and though I should resist trying to keep fish that I'm supposed to be selling, I could not resist (newbie!). At some point I will learn.

My actions will inspire scorn from the purists - if you are keeping wild-caught P. leopoldi angels, they should have a dedicated setup, the correct biotope, and ought to be properly bred; they should certainly not be mixed with common domestics. Tsk tsk. It is like mixing Endler's with fancy guppies, or even, as the very serious hobbyist would no doubt think, like a major metropolitan zoo breeding a tiger and a lion together for one of those charming (!) ligers.

I have no idea if the leopoldi will breed for me and see no sign that they will (Heiko Bleher says they won't in this setup due to the water that is too hard and alkaline for them - I tend to believe him), and mainly just want an attractive display. I will be able to easily remove this individual fish if there are any problems, since he is so different from the rest, but given the amount of room available in this tank I wanted to see how these babies would turn out. He seems to be a real stunner so far, almost the size of a quarter. I have tried to get some pics of him but no luck yet - he's spending a lot of time in the weeds right now, as the most diminutive cichlid in the tank. His amazing sail of a dorsal fin, perfectly erect vertically and quite broad, makes him appear bigger than he is, and that gives him an advantage.

Alrighty, then....

After spending some time observing the goings-on in the 150, with the new additions of the festivus, I see that these charming little guys with the racing strips are rather tough customers, as I have been warned.

I note that since the addition of the single festivus a while back that I have not had the number of Endler's babies that I typically see in this tank. I have to net Endler's out of this tank from time to time, trading them and giving them away, and I have not had to do that since putting in the festivus, even though he's barely 2" long. OK, that's fine - I had too many Endler's in the past, and was disappointed that the wild caught angels did not reduce their number like I hoped. The festivus is up to the challenge.

Enter two new festivus. Feisty little fellows! They are lunging towards Endler's, they are lunging towards cardinals (someone on a forum commented recently that I might find myself without any tetras as the festivus matures) and they all seem quite interested in eliminating the snail population.

Hmmm. OK. I'm cool with this, actually. I won't cry if they wipe out the Endler's population -they are not appropriate for this tank anyway, and I can start a dedicated setup easily if need be - no problem. I have enough friends and relatives with my Endler's offspring that the group won't be lost forever. Better to not have a population explosion that is not being dealt with. I'm a bit torn about the cardinals, though. They get along famously with the wild angels - no sign that the angels have even the slightest piscivorous tendencies - and they look SO pretty. That will be a trick to get over, but I recognize that they might be eaten by the festivus as they reach mature size. The festivus have already shown strong tendencies towards hunting down small fish. I will have to switch to a larger, swifter tetra, and there are many species to choose from, so this won't be a big deal. I'll get over it! I still love the festivus, and want them to work out in this large tank.

Festivum for the Rest of 'Em

Or, more correctly, "Festivus for the Rest of Us." Festivum is an old moniker that I have trouble giving up.

Yesterday I spotted some very fine-looking M. festivus types at the LFS. They had excellent color, good size, and were reportedly eating anything that went into the tank.

Several months ago I expressed an interest in getting more when talking to the people at the shop, since I took all they had (3) and subsequently was left with only one, but as time went by they did not get any more in, and I thought I might just stick with the one, since they are likely to get bigger than the leopoldi angels, and I did not want pairing up of that species in this tank.

Lo and behold, they got more in. The chap told me he ordered them "specially for you..." and I immediately felt guilty! I should not have - these fish move pretty well for them, and they were stocking them long before I came along, but...... I was tempted. They really are very nice looking fish.

I went home and decided to trade some angel babies for the festivus. Today I netted out 4 of my largest babies, which could be considered quarter-sized, but not quite. I was hoping for a good price for them. They were very well received, and even though I was quoted a price much less than the price of the festivus, he took the 4 angels in a straight trade. He commented about how nice the angels looked, and how they had red in their dorsals, which is not often seen in domestics. These really do look more like wilds than you commonly see in the shops, so I know they will be good sellers. He wants all of them, and I assured him I had many more.

I am going to sell a few more that are of a decent size, but I still have many that are extremely wee, and I hope they will grow as the tank thins out a bit. Once they get a bit more size on them I will be happy to pass them on. This has been a very interesting experience, and I look forward to future spawns by Frank & Agnes. They are throwing very fine-looking fry, with hardly any culls.

Plant Choices

What kind of plants are good for a beginner? This depends entirely on the light available. If you have a typical hood on a typical aquarium, the lighting is likely going to be considered low, and that's fine to start with. More light almost always brings unwanted algae, and algae problems can discourage a fishkeeper enough to tear down the tank and post the thing on Craig's List.

If you start out with low light, you have options. The tried and true species are Java fern and moss (Microsorum pteropus and Vesicularia dubyana, respectively), Anubias, Cryptocorine, and Aponogeton bulbs. The javas and Anubias species do not use roots in substrate, but rather are tied to structures or jammed into crevices, where they will attach themselves. That makes them great for camouflaging filter intake tubes and other equipment. You can also try stem plants like Hygrophila species but they often get a leggy appearance without enough light. Floating hornwort is a fabulous nutrient hog, but can also have slightly higher lighting requirements, and when it does not have enough, its tiny leaves make a real mess in the tank. The last two plant types have been outlawed in many areas because they have invaded local waters and have choked out native plant species. See what is available in your area, or what you can get from other hobbyists. Plant a lot of plants and see what works in your tank.

Check out sites like Plantgeek.net are a great source for information about plants. You can select the light level you are dealing with and get some suggestions. However, I'd strongly recommend the plants listed above, since most shops carry them and they are not difficult.

Q & A - Undergravel Filtration

I would like to bring up the concept of undergravel filtration. I am not a fan. I do, however, think they can be beneficial in a non-planted, rocky type African tank when it is used as a reverse filter - water is forced up through the gravel from beneath. This keeps the substrate clear of debris, lifting anything resting on it into the water column to be picked up by the main filter. This is not practical in a planted tank, where you would not want to disturb root growth and there are too many obstructions in the tank to make it function properly.


For the same reason I would not use a UGF in a planted tank. The roots need to be able to grow in the substrate, and they'll clog up the filter plate beneath the gravel. Then there is the unavoidable situation of detritus collecting beneath the filter plates, which at some point needs to be addressed, and generally requires a complete tear-down of the tank to accomplish. That will almost always involve re-cycling of the tank, though not always.


There are so many filtration options these days, and alternatives to gravel as well. Don't tell anyone, as many would argue until they are blue that I am wrong (I very well may be), but it is my secret belief that the only purpose of typical aquarium gravel is to aid in the use of an undergravel filter, where the coarse texture keeps most large debris from falling down to the filter plates, but at the same time allows good movement of oxygenated water through the gravel, building bacterial colonies. Now that those filters have gone out of style, so to speak, everyone is still clinging to the use of gravel.


It is coarse and allows much too much debris to collect in it, no matter how diligent you are with your gravel vac, and it is a poor plant substrate (not horrible, just poor). Finer gravels and sands are what I prefer, though it has been only in the past 5 years or less that I have come to this conclusion. I have abandoned gravel to be used in the tops of my potted terrestrial houseplants - it covers the ugly dirt just great!

Q & A

I have received some questions that I would like to address, with the first being the proper cycling of a new aquarium. Keep in mind this is all anecdotal - I am not an official authority on the topic and have no fancy degrees - I am simply relaying information that I have verified through my own experience over 25 years. I have killed a lot of fish in my time! ;-p



If you set up a new tank, get the filter running, substrate in place, heater going, plants planted, etc., you are not technically cycling the tank. Even if you place beneficial bacteria in the tank it won't be cycled without a source of biological waste to feed it. The bacteria will die and you'll start over, with the process not beginning until you have a source of nitrogenous waste that will feed bacterial colonies.


However, if it is a planted tank you desire, there is a lot to be said for getting the tank "established" with plants - a LOT of them - prior to adding fish. Plants need nutrients as well, but they can certainly get started, especially with the judicious use of fertilizer, sparingly. The more plants you have to start with the better things will go in the tank. It is typical (I have done it plenty of times) to plant a few plants and assume they'll grow, fill in, and slowly create the look you are going for. I am of the opinion that a cycle goes much easier if you have a ton of plants. Go ahead and load 'er up.


Another benefit is that this will hopefully obviate the evil algae issue, as the plants will be starving out any algae spores that are present (they're there, trust me, just waiting for an excess of one or more nutrients and any available light).


If you DO have a source for beneficial bacteria, such as gravel, I'd place it in the filter, if your filter is one that can accommodate it (in a piece of pantyhose or similar bag) and do so when you add fish, stocking slowly so as not to overburden your beneficial bacteria. I don't find that placing bacteria-laden gravel directly on the bottom of the tank will assist the cycle in the most efficient way, since water needs to be moving over and through it quite well for it to flourish. Once the tank is established there is plenty of bacteria on and in the substrate, but for the purposes of cycling some oxygenation is helpful.


Some of the best bacteria that you can get from an established tank would be found on grody, gunky, slimy, nasty filter floss. That stuff is gold. That is what I use to cycle new tanks, and is one of the benefits of having more than one aquarium. You can cut the floss off of a used filter cartridges and rubber-band it to the frame of another, putting that in the new filter, or if your filter has a compartment for media you can just stuff it in there.


Again, this bacteria is valuable and you don't want to use it in an empty tank - it will simply die. Put it to use when you stock the tank. Start off slowly with hardy fish. It is impossible to describe the ratio of your beneficial bacteria culture start to a specific number of fish, but don't try to stock fully right away - depending on the size of the dirty floss you robbed from another tank, you could start with, say 3-4 platys for a wad of bacteria-laden floss the size of your entire hand.


There are also commercially available bacterial starts, my favorite being Bio-Spira (Marineland). This you add straight to the tank water at the same time as you are stocking your fish. It may take several days, but you are not going to have the drawn-out 6 weeks (plus) of cycle that is harmful to fish. I have done many tests with this product and use it anytime I do not have bacterial cultures already going, like setting up an aquarium for someone after I have recently cleaned out all my own filters, for example. With Bio-Spira you have the benefit of fully stocking the tank from the start, though I do not advocate doing that. (I do not work for or have any interest in the Marineland company, lol, just a satisfied customer)



I have learned over the years that aquariums attain (and require) balance, and this can only be achieved with Tincture of Time. I am not a patient person, and frankly I don't know that many patient people, but this hobby demands patience. A lot of it. Months of waiting. When I got my 150-gallon you can believe I wanted to slap a gillion fish in there pronto. It is hard to resist.


If at all possible, things will go SO much better in the long run to start out with the no-brainer, tougher fish, typically the schooling fish, and let them be for a couple of months if you can. It takes time for a new tank to settle and achieve balance, and you can't rush it. You'll have far fewer fish deaths if you can restrain yourself.

Here is a very nice photo of the leopoldi my husband got with his iPhone. Check out the blue opercula!

Sand Snags and Setbacks

Sand gets a lot of discussion in this house. You'd be amazed at the varying qualities different types of sand possess. When I was setting up the 150-gallon, when the issue of substrate came up, I knew I wanted to use sand, because I like it, but I also wanted to choose carefully, because though I had no particular catfish plans at the time, I knew that if I wanted to keep certain catfish and/or loaches I ought to have soft, beneficial sand for them to sift through. There are a lot of choices for sand in the aquarium, from Caribsea's Tahitian Moon sand to inexpensive pool filter sand.

I have tried keeping Corydoras cats for years with little success. I never knew why, until I realized that I was keeping them in coarse gravel tanks, where their little barbels suffer, and they are unable to do the sand sifting that they do in nature. I decided that it was easier to get appropriate sand at the beginning than it would be to change it out later, so the research began.

My dear friend, Deborah, is quite expert when it comes to catfish, and based on her research and discussion with other catfish hobbyists, regular old play sand from the hardware store (Quikrete makes it) is nontoxic, inert, and the granules are soft so they will not damage the delicate barbels of catfish. Burrowing fish and eartheater type fish will also do well with this sand.

I knew I put too much in the tank initially (it is cheap and I wanted to be sure I had enough) but as I was putting it in the cloudiness kept me from seeing how much sand was accumulating. After it was rinsed and rinsed and rinsed, and things settled, I saw that I had way more than I needed, but it looked pretty, and I figured with the rooted plants I had planned for the tank they'd need the depth, and the roots would keep the sand from compacting.

Fast forward 8-9 months, and we have some problems with this sand. It has many, many areas that are anaerobic, and bubbles are released when these areas are disturbed. These areas include those with dense root growth from Crypts, swords and other stem plants. Anytime I'd move a plant, or stir the sand in the open areas, I'd find black pockets that bubbled. Uh oh. Fortunately, there have been no problems with the fish associated with release of these bubbles, with the characteristic sulfur smell of anaerobic pockets. The death of the festivum noted earlier was not related to disturbance of the sand, and that fish death was solitary. I think more than one fish would die if toxic gas was a problem.

I have begun an ongoing project involving removing quantities of sand that are not required for plants, leaving a layer perhaps 0.75" deep- no more than that is necessary. In removing the sand, which I have done slowly over time, taking out perhaps a dishpan full at a time, the stench is profound! It smells just like low tide at the brackish bodies of water near me, which also have black anaerobic pockets in the sand. The sand coming out is black, and only the top layer has the whitish-tan color. I must lave a certain amount of sand in place for the plants, especially the Echinodorus, but I am trying to remove what I don't need.

The problem is that it has settled in places where, quite honestly, I cannot reach. I am short in stature and getting access to the back of the tank is a challenge. I need long tools to get there. There is no need for there to be 2" of sand or more under a pile of rocks or wood, so if I don't redo the aquascape completely I will continue to work on getting some of this excess out of the tank. Alternatively, I will leave things be and just remove it when I completely redesign the aquascape, since the sand beneath wood and rocks in the very back of the tank is not likely to be disturbed anyway.

Meanwhile, Deborah has provided me with a plethora of Malaysian Trumpet Snails of all sizes from her own tanks, hundreds of them, and they have all vanished beneath the surface of the sand to escape the light. She gave me some in the recent past, but we agreed that more MTS were my best hope for a compromise until I can resolve the issue of excess sand. I wonder if they will even venture into the blackened, anaerobic pockets? Will they avoid these areas? No matter - they will be helpful to whatever areas they DO occupy, and their nocturnal nature will mean they have some measure of safety from the M. festivum, Snail Slayer. I think their incredibly hard shells will protect them as well, and maybe the festivum will prey only on the ramshorns, with their softer shells.

We will see what happens. I must say that the coarser sands, inappropriate for catfish, do NOT compact, as I have used them for years in my other tanks, and do to this day. Various sands for the aquarium work great for planted and non-planted tanks, and I have no issue with them compacting or going anaerobic, though you can be sure that I am taking extra care to stir the sand in all my tanks after this experience in the 150.

Festivus vs Plants vs Snails?

I had heard that M. festivus were known to eat plants (there is too much info on the web sometimes, and here I am muddying the waters further...) but I have not found that to be the case in my very well-planted 150-gallon.

What I have found to be the case, and something I did not expect, is that the festivus is an avid hunter of snails. The ramshorns are having a very difficult time of it in this tank lately. I noticed the sand to be somewhat littered with empty shells, and thought the tank conditions to be less than optimal, causing a die-off, but after watching the tank for sustained periods I now see what is happening - the festivus hunts them down and eats them, snatching them right out of their shells. He employs the same technique that is used by my figure-8 puffer, with a slow approach and windup, then SLAM! right into the aperture for a meaty bite.

So, at least for this festivus in this particular tank, plants are safe, snails, not so much.

150-Gallon Stable?

Things are doing well in the 150. I have removed all calciferous rocks/shells and the KH is coming down a bit. I took down and rinsed out both the monster filters and I believe I was drawing air from somewhere, because now the filters are almost silent and there are no free bubbles in the water column.

The fish are all happy as can be. I have added another species, M. festivus, to the mix, though I lost one of the two not long after adding them. I am not sure what happened there - the fish simply stopped eating and was less active, then turned up dead. I examined it carefully and could find no evidence of ailment of any kind. I would have liked three for the tank (I don't like singletons or even numbers!) but the LFS had only three, and one died in quarantine not too long after I got them home . The other two spent about 3 weeks in Q so they seemed fine, only to lose the second one shortly after being moved.

The one that remains is a fabulous fish, however! He blends in very well with the school of angels, and his behavior is comparable. He has a similar look to the leopoldi, as Mesonauta are a relative of angelfish, with a somewhat blunt head, and the telltale trailing ventral fins. This is a species very commonly found with angels, though I am told that the portion of the Rio Negro where the leopoldi are found does not generally have Mesonauta species. They get along great, however, and that is the main thing. I am very fond of festivus and I would not mind getting a few more, though I hope NOT to get a breeding pair, since that will complicate the social structure in this tank, and I do not wish to do that - everyone gets along fabulously now.

I am not as concerned with the pH in this tank as I have been in the past. The fish have tolerated a period of wild fluctuations in pH, while I had issues with CO2 leakage (fittings were not tightened properly) and what I thought was an issue with my regulator, so there was no CO2 running at all for a couple of weeks, followed by re-instituting its use, and once again dropping the pH. At no time did the wild-caught angels appear stressed or in any way bothered by these pH changes. It made me feel a little less urgency about keeping them in extremely acidic water.

I know I ought to be using RO water (as I have mentioned) and mixing it with my tap to try to recreate their natural conditions, but the fish are happy and so am I. If they don't need me to jump through hoops I'm not gonna. I still like to use CO2 because the plants grow better with it (I noticed the difference when I was not using it) so I will continue to do so, but I am not using as much, since the amount of gas I need to get the pH down to under 6 requires very frequent bottle refills and becomes a bit of a pain.

Right now I am very pleased with how this tank is doing, and am enjoying it very much. This is a rare time for me as an aquarist, since most of my tanks have something that needs to be done, or changes that need to be made, or some sort of goal in mind. I do have changes in mind for the 150, but I am going to wait until I become dissatisfied with the status of the tank. This won't take too long, likely as not! There is nothing static - plants overgrow their location, other plants fade, sands shift, etc.

The next phase will involve abandoning the aquascaping technique utilizing the open central area, and create a central branchy structure, since the Corydoras and angels all would feel more comfortable. I currently utilize almond leaf extract, and may go back to putting the leaves directly in the tank for leaf litter, as this is something the corys will like, as will any future Apistogramma species that I introduce. As for the plants, I will eliminate the Hygrophila species, and keep Anubias, Cryptocorine, Echinodoras, and "the javas" as I like to call them (fern and moss). That will be it for plants, though knowing myself I am sure there will continue to be plenty.

I am currently on the lookout for branchy driftwood, which I will probably collect myself. Most driftwood available commercially for the aquarium is blocky, and I have plenty of that already. I will be looking for pieces that have multiple thin, reaching, branches, and may even wind up collecting sticks and tying them together. The Mopani driftwood I have in the 150 now is very attractive, but it does not "go" with the SA theme at all, though I do plan to keep it. The Ancistrus enjoy scraping in and out of the nooks and crannies created by the curlicue shapes of the wood.

All of these plans must, I'm afraid, involve taking down the tank to bare bones. I am loath to do this currently, but at some point I'm going to get annoyed with the tank, unable to create a visual balance, and in my frustration be ready to do things over. The fish will all have to be collected and placed in tubs. I have had the angels long enough now, and they have handled themselves very well in the past when I have disrupted their environs, that I think they will tolerate being moved out in this way. When I first got them they seemed to be incredibly delicate and sensitive, but I don't think they really are - they are like any P. scalare - one of the hardier SA cichlids.

This is a big tank and for me, at 5' tall, it is a chore to 'scape. I need to be ready and have a plan in mind before I redo things. I am torn between my desire for aesthetics and a comfortable, healthy environment for my fish. Currently the tank is attractive, but it has a Willy Wonka or Dr. Seuss feel to me than what a SA setup should be, with overly bright light, too bright green in the plants, and wood that is almost a caricature of itself.

As I've said before, an attractive planted tank is pretty far from anything a fish would encounter in the wild, and I'm trying to have it both ways. The effort continues....

It has been a while since I have had time for updates! Everything is moving along quite well. The fry of Agnes & Frank are just about ready to go, and we had a bumper crop, as far as I'm concerned. There got to be too many (100+) for the breeding tank so I set up my 37-gallon and put the majority of them in there via soda bottle trap, which worked well, or too well. I was busy doing other things and every 10 minutes or so the trap would have a good number of babies in it, so I'd move them over ("hey, this is easy!") and did not realize that I had moved over almost all of the babies to the 37-gallon, which was not my intent. I wanted to split them up somewhat, so there would be adequate space for them to grow in each tank. I had 6 left in with Ma & Pa, it turns out, and I honestly wanted to leave at least 25. The tank is so heavily planted, though, and it was hard to see all of the babies at any one time, so I did not realize how many I'd moved. I then was worried that if I put some of them back in the breeding tank that the adults would reject them, so I decided to go with what I had, though I think it would have been fine. After they were moved, the parent fish would literally stare over at the fry tank (next to the breeding tank) through the glass, apparently pining for their babies. It seems far-fetched, but I am not making it up.

I lost one of the babies in the tank with the adults, as it somehow jumped out and I found it on the floor, but otherwise the remaining 5 are robust and healthy, with excellent finnage. They seem to be larger than the largest ones in the fry tank, which I am sure is due to the overcrowded status of the 37-gallon. In that tank there is a wide disparity between the smallest and the biggest fry, so I will sell off the bigger ones and gradually make more room so the smaller ones can catch up. Next time, assuming there is a next time, I will divide the fry more evenly between the two tanks. Agnes & Frank do extremely well with their babies and even now that the fry are juvies they are tolerated and not harassed in any way by the parent fish. It is a remarkable pair! Just about all of the fry are silvers, with markings similar to wilds (I am very happy about this, though I know these days the more elaborate morphs are much more popular) and there are about 10% solid golds. I have interest from several LFS in these fry, as well as several individuals, so I don't think I'll have difficulty selling them. It will be hard to part with all of them! There are a couple of them that have caught my eye as having particularly nice fins and markings, even down to the slightly reddish tinge in the dorsal - again resembling wild scalares.

Minor Improvement, Elevated KH

There seems to be a minor improvement in the "carbonated" look the 150-gallon has had. The bubbles are still present but not so many. I also tested my KH and found it to be 8, which is much higher than typical (4) and the tap is higher than usual as well at 6, though not as high as the 150.

I don't particularly mind higher KH, as it lends stability to pH, but I think it is time to remove the calciferous rock I placed in the tank a few months ago to deal with an almost unmeasurable KH - it took only one drop to turn the solution yellow/orange, and it seemed like it was turning even before the full drop was dissipated, which I would call a value of <1 degree KH. I did not like that and am not sure at all why it was the case. Tap, at that time, measured solid 4 dKH. I think perhaps the tap KH may rise in the summer versus winter, but I will have to measure this over a period of years to see if there is a pattern.

When I talk to the water treatment people they deny that there is any fluctuations and they seem to read from a script when answering questions. I don't think they understand the purpose behind my questions, but rather are automatically defensive when discussing the quality of water with their customers. Nobody I have spoken to can relate to an aquarist manipulating pH and trying to have an understanding of the chemical makeup of tap water.

I recognize, too, that I ought to be using RO water and treating it ahead of time, getting the values I desire before it goes into my tank. However, I am just not interested in keeping 30-gallon tubs of water in m living room. It is not practical. I don't keep a fish room, but instead my aquariums are living art that are part of how I decorate my living space. If I had a basement I might consider setting up a mini water treatment plant, but I don't, and my home is spacious but lacks any kind of utility space or storage space.

So, I can't keep delicate species but am trying to compromise when it comes to the P. leopoldi. I don't think my chances of them breeding are very high in this setup, but I am okay with that right now. I would like to be able to drop the pH and raise the CO2 concentration, as this has helped immeasurably in keeping algae at bay, and I have been able to do that for years in this and other tanks, so my current issues with pH and CO2 are puzzling. Mainly, I find the bubbles annoying!

Agnes & Frank 'n Fry

Here are pics of the breeding angels in the 40-gallon.

The plants in this tank have grown markedly in the past few weeks, I am assuming from the extra nutrients provided by the fry and the frequent feedings. The fry are numerous and all look like miniature angels, with ventral fins and all. Most appear to be marble, but they may wind up being silver if the striations consolidate into stripes.



Here is one of Agnes, and though the fry do not show up very well they are literally everywhere in this pic if you look closely.

They have turned out to be most excellent parents, and will bite you if they can when you put a hand in the tank. They attack the glass when you approach, and I am very pleased with how well they are handling their job.

I do believe I will pull the next batch of eggs and give them a break. They have spent so much time tending eggs and looking after fry, most of that time spent with lights on 24/7, that I feel they need a break. It must be a strain on them physically. I do try to keep their diet varied and high quality. I do daily PWCs on this tank.

Carbonation!

So the latest news is that the female Ancistrus has not expired, and I have seen her recently. She does not look that different but maybe perhaps a little less rotund. Not so much like a Weebil anymore....

Also, the 150-gallon tank appears to be full of carbonated water. There are tiny bubbles everywhere. This is not a case of excess waste that can contribute to a collection of filmy bubbles at the top of the tank on the surface, but this is in the water column. I did a big PWC after I found the dead cory (see below) and moved the CO2 diffuser into a less visible location, which was next to the intake for the Fluval XF5. It could be nothing more than the bubbles collecting in the filter and being dispersed, though the quantity of bubbles seems excessive.

I am, at the same time, having trouble getting my pH to drop with CO2. It would typically run for a while and then shut off, and turn back on only when the pH crept up past 6.4, but now it has to run all the time, and I can scarcely get it below 6.9. Not sure about that, other than that my tap water is moderately hard and alkaline (buffered) and this recent PWC sent the KH and GH up (possibly, did not test), making it difficult to manipulate pH with acid. That seems like a stretch but my chemistry is rusty. I have added more Indian almond leaves, which ought to contribute to lowering pH but no dice. Incidentally, I did calibrate my pH sensor and it was not off at all - it was exactly correct.

So, the tank looks cloudy with the tiny bubbles. The fish are acting normally. The tank used to be rather clear prior to this episode.

I have also fixed my old Rena Filstar XP4 that I had running on the 55 prior to getting the 150, and got some new tubing for it, and have started that running on the 150 as well in case that will assist with resolving the bubbles issue. It mainly has mechanical filtration to remove fine particles and we will see if that helps. There is right much water movement in this tank, which is not necessarily what the leopoldi would prefer, but it seemed like I was not getting adequate turnover with the FX5. This is likely my imagination, since the thing is the size of a large Shop Vac and must be blasting water in and out. I thought there was too much debris not getting filtered out.

Updates and Additions

I added 8 more C. trilineatus to my group of what I think must be 6-7 in the 150-gallon tank. The school hides so effectively and often that I go for days or a week at a time without seeing them. I am hoping these new guys will coax the rest out. The new ones are very small - almost half the size of the adults I have in residence. Almost a day later it does not appear to be working, but we shall see....

Also, I am dismayed to see that my female Ancistrus has some sort of bloat. Her belly is distended and she is on the sand, poised atop the belly so that her mouth does not quite reach the sand when resting so. I have been feeding zucchini and romaine, along with veggie wafers, but the bristlenoses do not seem terribly interested in them. I have put bell pepper in there from time to time as well with minimal attention by the catfish. The snails enjoy these offerings, however.

I am assuming she is not going to pull through but I have been unable to catch her, even to put her in another tank on her own to observe her. She will be out in the front and as soon as I approach she zips into the depths. I would have to dismantle the tank completely to be able to catch her and I am not willing to do that. More PWCs and hoping for the best.

The Drama Continues, sort of...

I decided it was high time I rinsed out the filters for the 37-gallon angel breeding tank. The two canister filters have been working overtime lately with all of the extra feeding of the fry, and the sponge prefilters on the intakes don't catch everything.

I have two Eheim canisters on this tank, one big old classic (love it - still going strong after ~12 years) and a newer Eheim Ecco filter (do NOT love it - very poorly designed and prone to problems). I thought it had been longer since I cleaned out the Classic than the Ecco, so rather than rinse them both out and risk triggering a cycle I'd clean out one, wait a week and do the other. I shut them down, clamped the valves shut and got the Classic out from under the cabinet.

Wait, what's that I see through the translucent outer body of the filter? Are you kidding me? Fry in the Ecco? Yep. OK. I guess I'm rinsing out both filters then.

I open the Ecco and pull out the trays that are snapped together, and in the space beween the tray assembly and the filter body about 25 fry are swimming around, apparently in good health. I have had the sponge prefilters on the intakes for a while now, ever since they became free swimming and started moving around the tank, so I don't know how to explain it, other than shortly after wiggler stage they traveled the distance through plants and behind large rocks to get to the intakes, and got sucked in, then continued to develop while inside the filter. Amazing. I netted them back into the tank and rinsed out the filter, which was not at all dirty as it should have been (due to what I consider a poor design - lots of open space where the water does not get filtered at all).

I opened the Classic, and of course that one was very dirty. There is no open space - the water must be shoved through the layers of filtration - nowhere else for it to go. Also, there would be no spot for fry to survive either, but quite honestly I'd rather have an efficient filter.

In the bottom of the bucket I had used to collect the fry, after I had gotten them out and emptied it the rest of the way, there was a bit of debris left in the bottom, and I noticed one particle was moving. Now I apparently have leeches. Or some sort of flat worm. It looks like a flattened out earthworm, except the head is vaguely spade shaped and the tail is more pointed, but you have to look at it VERY closely to determine that. Otherwise it is the shape and size of a thistle seed or something, except dark reddish brown. I figure it came in with the live blackworms I have fed the adult angels. *Sigh*

I am sure this is not the only one in the tank, but hopefully they will not do too much damage. I might have to go ahead and get the babies out and into their own tank. I still have many, many babies - too many to count.

What's That Sound?

Thank goodness my husband had a grueling flight out to Portland, Oregon, filled with many hours of delays, his plane sitting on the tarmac for a ridiculously long time, and an arrival in Oregon at 3:15 a.m. EST.

Why would I be glad of such a nightmare travel experience? Well, he gave me a call at that wee hour of the morning to let me know he had finally arrived, and literally 5 minutes after I got off the phone with him, drifting back to sleep, I suddenly heard the sound that no fishkeeper ever wants to hear - the sound of a garden hose full blast on the floor - in my office???

Rush out of bed, tear into the office and hit the power switch on the surge protector strip and shut the valves to the canister filter that was draining my 37-gallon tank contents onto the floor - this was done in record time.

The outflow hose had somehow come loose from the suction cup connection to the top back of the tank. If I had not already been awake I don't know that I would have heard the sound of the water at that hour of the night. It was serendipitous, to be sure, though I doubt my husband would agree that his horrible experience was for the good.

I pulled out the contents of the tank stand and mop up the mess (too close to the wall to try to get the Shop Vac back there) and leave the stand doors open with a massive floor fan running on it. I reconnected the filter outflow in a more secure fashion (I hope!) and got things up and running. Took me a bit to get back to sleep after that, though.

Swamp Filter!

I hate to say it, hate to, because I am a grown woman, but OMG is all that comes to mind.

I have a Rena Filstar XP4 that I have had for almost 10 years, and has served me very well. A most excellent filter. It was running on my 55-gallon tank when I transferred the contents of it to the 150-gallon, so I used the XP4 on my 150 initially (along with the brand new Fluval XF5 monster) to seed the new filter and jump-start the cycle on the new tank. I never noticed a cycle, since all of the objects, plants and fish in the 150 came straight from the 55, with nothing new, so with gradual additions I slowly built my biocolonies and never had a spike of any ammonia or nitrite. Over time, the new filter was seeded and I did not really need the old XP4, which seemed miniature in comparison, so I kept it running but figured I'd use it for very specific media, like peat, polishing, etc.

At some point not too long after I had the new tank up and running, I noticed the XP4 was getting loud. It was obvious that with the new substrate of play sand that tends to get into the water column initially, some grit had gotten into the impeller and was making more noise than I cared to put up with on a continuous basis. I shut it down and took it completely apart, removed the impeller, flushed everything out, greased the gaskets and started over. No dice. Still a loud, grinding noise when the filter was running. I was in a hurry, or something, shut it down, and left it where it was. Bad idea.

I got inspired last night to take the filter down again and clean it out a second time, giving things another chance. I disconnected everything, managed not to siphon the contents of the 150 out onto the floor in the process (don't ask) and hauled it to the sink. Everything stank to high heaven with that swampy, anaerobic sulfur smell you get when you dig into stinky black sand at the beach, and indeed, everything was covered in a fine black film. It reeked. The entire house reeked, and the kids were holding their noses for hours, even after I bleached everything and took all offending components outside, including emptying the trash with the floss. I also dumped baking soda and dish soap down both sides of the sink drain.

It took me a while to resolve that issue, late into the night, and even so, I still have the ceramic "noodle" filter media that has a black haze on it, and I am loath to soak that in bleach, since I fear bleach will get into the pores and be difficult to dechlorinate. I will rinse them and leave them out in the sun and see if good old UV and O2 will handle that problem. I am in no rush to set up the filter again, though I would like to do so at some point.

I hooked the filter, sans media, up to a large cooler I had on the deck, and ran it to be sure it was running properly and to flush out any residual soap or bleach that might be contained within, and at some point the pump seized. I bailed on the project, as it was after 11:00 p.m. and I was too tired to fool with it any more. I left the pump assembly out in the sun today and then packed everything up and put it away for another time, when I shall again take it apart and flush it out and see if I can get it running, or find a replacement pump housing. I don't need an entirely new filter, but only the very top part that holds the actual pump.

This weekend, hopefully (busy social schedule) I will try to get into the Fluval filter and see if it is indeed obstructed or if it is moving water like it should. I had a dream that there was a clog in one of the intake pipes and I might take that stuff off the tank and flush it out as well, though I can't imagine what could clog such large diameter hoses. They are like vacuum cleaner hoses, so it would have to be quite a bit of debris!

Time (Not) on My Side

Well, it appears that if these babies continue to grow as they have, in two weeks I'm going to need to split up the batch of them, but that might work out okay. I think that will be enough time in quarantine for the festivum. They will be small still, but there is plenty of cover for them in the 150 and I think they will do okay. These are cichlids, closely related to angels, so it might be different with them, but currently the leopoldi have eyes only for each other, and essentially ignore all of the other species in the tank.

I am not happy with the flow from the giant canister filter that is the Fluval XF5. I will probably clean it again, having done so a few weeks ago, but when I turn off the powerhead the water almost appears stagnant, though I know it is not so. You can feel decent pressure from the outflow. It may be that there is too much obstruction from plants and such, though I placed the intake at the center of and behind an archway of driftwood, so it is in deep shadow and not really visible but is not physically obstructed. I will look into it. I have my Rena Filstar XP4 (a wee tiny and adorable box next to the monster Fluval) that has grit (sand) in the pump housing, I believe, from when I used it on the new 150 setup. It works but is VERY noisy. I need to investigate cleaning that out and maybe using that for additional water flow and to house almond leaves or peat or something.

In my spare time....

Make Mine a Double

Lost one of the festivum today. It was not eating and swimming in a crazy manner, much thinner than the other two, and had been acting oddly for a couple of days. I will go back and replace him, since I do not like even numbers, and I think three will work well in the 150.

The other issue is the angel fry. It has been almost exactly two weeks since they were free swimming, and I don't appear to have lost hardly any. At least not enough to be detectable. What on earth will I do with them? I assumed that in this nontraditional breeding setup, with plants and sandy substrate, canister filtration, etc. that I'd lose quite a few, and I was warned of this. I figured I'd wind up with maybe 20 fish if things went well.

I don't want to jinx myself (that could happen!) but the babies seem quite hale and hearty, and are all eating well and growing. There must be more than 100 babies. You can discern their coloration now quite easily, and they are beginning to get the lateral compression that will soon identify them as angels. They do not yet have the ventral fins.

I guess anything could happen at any time, and two weeks is not very long, so I should quite borrowing trouble, but when I look in the tank I wish I had a spare 55 gallon in addition to the 37 gallon waiting for them (once the festivum are done in quarantine). There is still plenty of time. I will have to look into the typical growth schedule of baby angels and see how long I have, if things go according to plan, before I need to spread the babies out between several tanks. I'm already doing a lot of PWCs in the 40 to keep things under control.

I will get another festivum, hopefully in the next day or two, and be sure all three are healthy and in good shape, and wait until I need that tank to grow out angels before moving them into the 150, so they are as large as possible before having to fend for themselves with the leopoldi.

Festivum and Plants?

With the little trio of festivum in quarantine currently I've been, of course, reading all I can find about them, and something I have run across here and there is the issue of whether they will eat your plants. There is conflicting information in this regard.

Quarantine tank has a large wad of floating hygro, which takes up half of the top of the tank, and some A. nana here and there. I am not seeing any plant eating, but these guys are well fed so far.

It may be that wild caught specimens are more likely to eat plants than domestically bred, which mine certainly are, and it could also even be related to various species of Mesonauta, as several are commonly sold as "festivum" and you need to count stress bars and fin rays to determine what you have. I am not terribly concerned, but mine do appear to be M. festivum. I will have to see.

Another thing I am discovering is that though any fish profile you read about festivum indicate adult size of 4", hobbyists are reporting that they are 7-8" fish. That is quite a disparity! I think if they get anywhere near that size then I am good with only 3 and will not try to add to this number. There is no way for me to sex these babies, of course, though one has a beefier, heavier appearance, though not really much bigger than the other two.

I must also mention that one of them had something hanging from its chin after I brought them home - something I had not noticed in the shop. If you've ever seen a fish that had what appears to be nostril ridges, like some catfish do, then it looked like that, but on the chin, and only on one side. I would describe it as a skin tag if it was on a person.

I fretted over this thing, which I assumed to be a parasite of some kind, for about 10 minutes, netted the fish out, and attempted to snag the thing off with tweezers. I could not tell if I got it or not, but time out of the water was up and I returned the fish to the tank. Now you can see a tiny nubbin there but the majority of the thing is gone. I am, as mentioned, treating this tank with Ich-Attack and Melafix, and I am confident I won't have any particular trouble with whatever this little thing was. I'll be watching it.

So, I have not abandoned care or interest in my other tanks or other species. Otis, the F-8 puffer, is doing great, and I continue to slowly raise the sailinity in his tank. He is eating frozen bloodworms, live snails and live black worms, all with relish. I feed him twice a day until his little belly is round.

The leopoldi angels in the 150 are doing very well also (I do wonder how they will react to a trio of another cichlid species - it might be problematic!) and they spend their days picking tiny fights with each other. They are not overtly aggressive, but rush at each other, back away, turn, posture, and then glide off to do something else. There is no actual fighting, but just bickering. They all look happy and healthy. They enjoy a mixed diet of the frozen and live food that Otis gets (sans snails) along with New Life Spectrum pellets. My school of cardinals is growing as well, which is nice to see in the tank.

Also, I had not seen my cory cats (C. trilineatus) for possibly as long as a month in the 150, and was, in my pessimistic way, convinced they were all dead in a cave somewhere, but the other night, late, I saw 6 of them go trooping across the tank, follow the leader style, sifting through the sand for tidbits, quite merrily, I might add. There ought to be 2 more but they could have been rummaging somewhere that I could not see, which is easy in that large tank with so many hiding places. At the time, I was so relieved I jumped up and shouted "I see the cories!" and startled the family, with whom I was quietly watching a movie. Nobody quite understood what the fuss was about so I restrained myself, but I am quite excited to see that they are still doing well. I do not know why they are so secretive. I need to get some more of them and that might give them the confidence they need to come out when people are in the room. I'd really enjoy seeing them more.

The domestic angels in the 40-gallon are continuing to look after their babies, which are definitely getting bigger, and I do not think the numbers are decreasing, at least not noticeably, though I am sure I have and will lose some along the way. I realized that if the parents spawn again soon, which they likely will, I will be leaving the fluorescent strip on 24/7, which means none of these fish will ever get any "rest," and it is very unatural (not that there is anything remotely natural about a modern aquarium!). Last night I decided to take a chance and turn off the lights on the tank overnight. I have been told that turning off the light will cause the fry to drop to the bottom, where they rest, and come back up to the middle and upper levels when the lights are on. In gravel tanks, they get stuck in the gravel and run into problems, so many breeders leave lights on, or even if they have bare-bottom tanks (much more typical) they don't like the babies to come in contact with the bottom of the tank, which has bacteria that can perhaps increase the mortality rate of the fry. I have sand and LOTS of plants, in which the babies could become entangled, but I wanted to try it. This morning I could not see very many babies and was worried, but after about 10 minutes they all came out of hiding or whatever, and the parents had rounded them up, so to speak. I think I might get some sort of remote desk lamp to shine on the tank at night, not nearly as bright as the fluoro strip but something to keep problems from happening.

I have a lot going on with my tanks, and it is keeping me interested and busy. It may seem that I am fickle and obsessed with one tank one day, not caring a thing about it the next day, but I monitor conditions in all my tanks every day, and some days nothing notable happens, which is good! I do get bored easily, however, and that is why I like the fact that every tank is a "work in progress" and the only problem will be when things are done, or I have reached my goals for the tank, which will happen with the 150, and will happen with Otis. The quarantine tank is up in the air, as is the angel spawning tank.

Otis, in particular, ought to hang tight for many, many years, since he will hopefully to live a long time and his requirements won't change (other than possible beak trimming down the road?) and he won't be getting tank-mates (unless I upgrade his tank size and try a goby or large brackish snail species).

The 150 could evolve past the time I am done stocking it, due to the possibility of spawning behaviors from the leopoldi and/or the festivum, assuming that works out. My own plans for this tank are for a few more cardinals, more cories, and very possibly another P. cryptodon if I get my nerve up (and get some cash saved!) though a large school of cories does not seem to get along with this big, sedentary catfish, as much as I love them both.

The 40-gallon angel spawning tank will be constantly evolving as they breed, and I am not sure at what point they just wear out from breeding. How long can that go on? It must be exhausting to spawn, tend eggs, tend wigglers, tend babies, raise and corral fry, then do it all over again, month after month. I will let the fish be my guide in that regard, and I can inquire with my angelfish experts on the forums to see what they say about that.

Cardinals

Scored 4 cardinals today at a new PetsMart in the East End on Laburnum. Dosed the 150 with prophylactic treatment of Ich-Attack and Melafix and they blended right in with the rest.

Mesonauta festivum

I was out and about, checking stock in the various local fish shops, but not expecting anything interesting, as "interesting" is not typical. My final stop was to be at PetsMart, where they almost always carry cardinal tetras, as it has been over a week since my last additions and I am ready to had two or three more to slowly build my school in the 150. I am not sure ultimately how many I want in there, but I have 8 (or 9?) and am not done yet. I have found adding larger groups at one time seems to result in a higher casualty rate, and am following the sage advice of my friend, Deborah, who suggested I get 2-3 at a time, and increase their number slowly.

I was at the Broad Street Fin & Feather, a relatively new store where they are slowly building their own fish department, and spotted a trio of very small Mesonauta festivum, and was tempted. I have seen them in this shop before, but I had decided, I thought, that their similarity to angels made them a poor choice to add to the 150, detracting from the "feature" fish currently in residence. I really wanted to get more P. leopoldi, but their price tag is a major factor. I know people spend a heck of a lot more than $30 on fish (saw some wild caught discus recently being offered for $100 each) and many would consider that to be a reasonable price for a relatively rare wild caught species, but for me, right now, I have trouble justifying it.

I thought I had decided that I would get an Apistogramma sp. pair and add them to the 150, but in my research, viewing photos and seeing them in shops, they are just not sparking my interest at this time, for some reason. Fish need to grab my attention when I pick a new species to try, and these little dwarf cichlids are, currently not doing it for me at the moment. That is not to say they would make a lovely little addition to the 150, since it is a very appropriate tank for them, with all of the plantings, leaf litter, wood and caves behind the stands of stem plants. One day I will see some that will grab me, but not this time.

I have the 37-gallon in my office, in between my desk (with the 10-gallon tank containing Otis, the figure-8 puffer) and the wall with the 40-gallon angelfish breeding tank. The 37-gallon is aquascaped in a very spare and subdued way, but is very attractive, and is just sitting there with apple snails gliding by. It will be a while before I need the space for the angel fry to grow out, assuming I still have as many as I seem to have now.

To make a long story longer, I left the Fin & Feather shop to see what else was out there, to get my cardinals, and to see if I would talk myself out of the festivums. I went all over town and there is not a cardinal to be had, unfortunately. After I left the grocery store and was heading home, I decided I'd go ahead and get the festivum, and put them in the 37-gallon. What the heck. I really like them and want to keep them. They are small, about the size of a quarter, and are eating and doing well so far.