Goldfish

The darling goldfish trio keeping the cycle in the 150 are now parked in a ten-gallon bare aquarium until I work something out for them. I am fond of them and they are very attractive specimens, but I just don't have a good place for them.

I could bring them to work with the mollies, but that is not a satisfactory arrangement - the tank at work is set up specifically for mollies, with some salt, which is fine for the goldfish, but it is too warm (80F) and has quite a lot of tender plants, which would be destroyed by the goldfish, most likely. The goldfish would also eat the molly babies that we have so far. That's not a huge issue, but the patients at work like seeing the babies in the tank, and it adds something to the mood of the tank to have little baby fish tooling around. I've become a snob, and though many people mix goldfish with other tropical species often enough without any apparent trouble, I think a goldfish tank ought to have sand, no live plants (except perhaps some hardy and thick-leaved Anubias), and be cool and unheated. The decor is lmited only by imagination and safety for the fish. You can get quite fun with it when it comes to goldfish, at least for me.

My coworker is interested in setting up a tank and it could be that she will get herself something set up soon, in which case she can start with these three goldfish. I recommended at least a 29-gal, which is going to seem big for these small fish, but they should grow, and she can get her cycle going, with assistance from some of the biobugs from one of my tank filters. She may be able to add a few more small fantails in the future, but goldfish need a lot of gallons per fish.

That said, I am going to do my best to keep my opinions to myself and let her do what she wants - if she decides to throw some tetras in there with them, so be it, and it could work out just fine - it is only for me, who fusses over every detail and agonizes over every tankmate, that things go south and fish die. People who have a more relaxed approach to life, or at least to aquariums, often have perfectly wonderful setups that go strong for years and years, even though they don't have experience with fishkeeping.

Anyway, the goldfish are a bit confused about the transfer, but they are doing fine so far. I have to say they made the perfect resident for the 150 all these months, almost four, while I have gotten my ducks in a row and waited for the funds to stock it like I wanted. They have held the cycle nicely and been charming little outgoing fellows.

The very best thing about them is that in this very large tank with rocks and hiding places they were absolutely no trouble to catch and remove once the time came. If I had tried using mollies or something else they'd have dashed for cover the second the net hit the water, but these guys just toddled right over to investigate - I had all three out and in a bucket in under 30 seconds. I was almost embarrassed for them, since even the simplest, smallest, most biologically primitive fish would hide from a "predator" like a net, but these goldfish, I suppose due to having been tank bred and raised by humans for a couple of centuries, no longer fear the net at all. Oh well - I am glad I chose to use them to keep the cycle in this tank. It worked out quite well indeed. Maybe someday I will convert the 150 over to a large goldfish tank and raise some quality supersized specimens of my own. They are enjoyable and easy to manage.

Mmmmmm... Tangy!

Everyone is settling in very, very nicely. The Moba fry arrived healthy and with great color already, and the leleupi are a lovely shade of yellow. I have a pic but it is a horrible one. It shows the color on the Moba, and how nice and fat they are, but it is blurry, with reflections and noise. However, the room is dim, even during broad daylight, the tank is dim, and I'm having a bit of trouble getting a good shot of the tank. I think I need to get a very strong light and put it on the tank divider, facing down, and brightly illuminate the tank for photos. The frontosa prefer a dim tank, since their wild-caught parents resided in deep, dim waters of the lake, and it is preferable to keep a dim tank for them, but for photos I'd like to show them off.

All fish are eating well and come out when I approach the tank, which is good. Usually these fish will be skittish and hide, which may happen later, but for now they know I might put food in the tank for them. The additions have even brought out the Altolamprologus, which are flaring and showing good color in response to the competition. So far no true aggression, but mild posturing as everyone stakes out their territory. I am quite pleased.

I am not very happy with the rockwork, however. There is a lot of it, which is good for all of these fish, but especially for the leleupi and the Altolamps, since they spend a lot of time in the rocks. Visually, however, it is messy and contrived looking to me, and in my tanks I strive for a balance of visual appeal and appropriateness for the fish.

In this pic you can see a large mostly black rock, with a small black rock to the right of it, and those are the rocks I want to get more of, and remove a lot of the small, flat river rocks. They are pretty and would be great for any tank, but I don't like how messy it looks in this tank to have a million flat rocks the size of the palm of your hand. Visually distracting and cluttered. I know I can get more of the black rocks from the local landscape supply, where I got these in the photo, and I want to get a half dozen that are watermelon sized, at least. Large rocks. This will greatly reduce the caves available to the small fish, however. I can keep some of the smaller rocks and build caves behind the larger rocks, and, as usual, try to achieve balance of what I want to see in the tank versus what the fish need.

That is for sometime in the future. For now, I'm going to leave things alone and let all members settle in. I'm very glad to have the frontosa, finally, and my large Tanganyikan community is ready to go. This has been a setup I've always wanted to have, and I'm thrilled to finally be getting there. I am NOT known to be a patient person, especially when it comes to my aquariums, so for me to wait all this time, cooling my heels, is unprecedented, and I'm quite proud of myself!

Cyphotilapia frontosa "Moba"

Well, kids, it is happening, finally - I'm getting my frontosa today. I found a source not too terribly far from me and will receive 10 Moba fry, plus 5 N. lelelupi.

I had decided not to get leleupi, one of my absolutely favorite Tanganyikan cichlids, since they most likely will be meals for the frontosa a year or two down the road, but it could be a while before that happens, and I will enjoy them in the meantime. There is a whole lot of room in this tank for the time being.

I will figure out something to do with the goldfish, though I wish I had a little tank for them, too. I have grown quite fond of the three of them - they are happy-go-lucky little bobbling things and I will miss them, though they sure don't belong in the 150, especially now.

I will post some pictures when I get them settled.





....yay.....

Angels in the River "Sticks"

I redid the angel tank, the 37-gallon, and removed all remnants of how it was when goldfish were in residence. That means no more bubble wand (!!), no more plastic plants, no more solid glass chunks, etc. I harvested some willow and oak branches and created an environment that seems to have made the fish more comfortable. This is more like the area where they came from in the Rio Negro, with floating plants, tall weeds and branches. It has certainly encouraged them to come out more and they appear more relaxed, less spooked and likely to hide. The pic is from my phone, so my apologies for the quality of the shot, but you get the idea.

The hornwort is melting since I reduced the lighting, so that will soon be gone, but the anacharis seems okay. I might get some more Anubias sp. to put in there as well, since I'm not exactly sticking to the biotope here, though I am making an effort.