Otos and Pearls

Sounds interesting, right? Actually, I've had a monster diatom outbreak in the 125, which otherwise houses 7 juvie wild-cross silver angels and 8 Denison barbs (adore these fish!). I'm not interested in keeping a pleco in this tank, though I've got plenty in my 150 and could spare at least one. Deborah was looking at the tank, and I was complaining about the diatoms, when she suggested a troop of otocinclus (Otocinclus vittatus, most likely). What a brilliant idea!

This tank is somewhat sparsely decorated, with just a few pieces of wood and rocks, and the Buddha sculpture dominating the back wall. I want to leave plenty of swimming room for the angels as they mature, though I may want to create more areas for them to claim as territories. At any rate, otos did not occur to me, but YIKES there is a lot of diatom algae! I added 5 and they're not exactly "going to town" on the algae like I had hoped, but you can see where work is being done. Fingers crossed.

These fish are notoriously tricky to get established, and, like cardinal tetras, they either die off soon after getting them or they live a nice long life. They are rumored to be collected using cyanide gas in the water to slow them down, which can certainly cause lasting damage, but whether or not that is true they are certainly likely to be somewhat starved while being shipped and kept in a dealer's tank. There is not much to eat for them in these (typically) pristine tanks, since they need algae, which is not usually present. I tried my best to pick some of the more robust of the fish available.

I also obtained a trio of Trichogaster leeri, or the pearl gourami. These fish are in the 45 gallon, recently vacated by the juvie angels. This is a pretty heavily planted tank with a large vertical planted driftwood structure at one end of the tank, going all the way to the surface, and this is ideal for any gourami, since they like to orient themselves next to a structure as they move from the top to the other areas of the tank. Chuck at Azalea Aquariums was able to choose a male and two females for me, and after getting them home I'm sure that's what I have (thanks, Chuck!). They are typically shy and these are no exception. I'm sure they'll relax a bit more in the coming weeks but they colored up beautifully and are very attractive specimens. They are one of my favorite gouramis. I've been wedded to South American species for a good long while now and I wanted to branch out to some Asian species, and that's why I have the Denison barbs as well. I'm not terribly worried about keeping a biotope in either the 45 or the 125, though the 150 is an approximation of one.

I'm hoping my new additions will settle in well and thrive, and I'll try to get some pics and video of these tanks to show off my new additions.

My plants are not doing that great in either setup, though the 45 is having better luck. The 125 is new, so I know the plants need a bit of time to settle in, but I don't think the light is strong enough. With a tank that deep you can't use the typical "watt per gallon" estimation of how much light you need. I'll see how things go after I get through the new tank diatom phase and see if the plants perk up. They're not dying, but they're not growing, either. I have jungle val and regular valisneria, anubias and java fern/moss. The usual suspects! I'm still not sure if I'll add any geophagus or other cichlids to the 125.