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.