In Other News

Well, if you go back you will see a posting I made about the 150-gallon and the rock situation. I am interested in taking out some of the smaller, lighter colored rocks and replacing them with more like the one on the far left side, a dark grey boulder-like stone, which is very large and a great color. I went to Pete Rose Landscape Supply today, where I got that rock, and their stock is very low... DUH! .... it is only the dead of winter and about 19 degrees. Who is outside building rock walls now? I was very disappointed, because when I get an idea in my head it is hard to shake, and I had already planned out how I was going to rearrange things. I will have to wait until the spring when they will have quite an assortment to choose from, and hopefully they will have the same type of stone I got there previously. I do love picking through rock piles!

Also, I have placed an order for six Apistogramma cacatuoides for my 40-gallon. I'm interested in a male and several females, so I figure this is the best way to get that, waiting to see what I get as they mature. I remind you that I am an aquarium snob and the cockatoo Apisto is one of the most popular and commonly available (a "beginner" Apisto), but I can't help but admire its looks, and I'd like to start out with them. They are a bit more adaptable to various aquarium conditions, and though I am keeping wild caught angels without difficulty I don't want to start my Apisto adventure with the most exotic or challenging. The bottom line is that I admire them quite a bit and I think they will make a very nice addition to the 40, which is a bit bare currently. There are no species that spend much time in the bottom areas, and there are lots of caves and zones for small cichlids to claim territory. At the same time I'm going to build my stock of ember tetras, which seem very happy in this tank and have great color. The rasboras may still get some size on them and I'm not planning on adding to their number at this point.

That is about it. Otis the F8 puffer continues to thrive and for some reason I'm able to grow Java moss in his tank now (it would turn brown and melt previously - go figure) and it looks cool, almost like a marine grass, since the tank is 'scaped with coral rock. The leopoldi angels are holding their own in the 37, with almond leaves tinting the water and willow sticks providing reedy interest for them. The frontosa, leleupi and Altolamps are all doing well in the 150, though the leleupi (no surprise) are quite boisterous and may be a bit much for the rest of the fish. I don't see any particular trouble, but they have a very dominant presence. This will change as the frontosa grow and they don't! I'm watching things carefully, like a mother hen, I tell you.

I have recently joined an aquarium club that is the spawn of the forum USAFishbox.com, and our local chapter has quite a few interested participants, even after just one meeting. It is something we've needed around here for a long time. We'll see how it goes as we get out of infancy and develop policy and routines.

Bubbles for the Advanced Aquarist

I added a fake plant and some driftwood to the goldfish tank in the kitchen to give it a bit more interest, but I'm still trying to keep it very simple. I had a bubble wand on hand that would go across the entire back of the tank, and would solve the "issue" of no tank background. I do not want a background on this tank, but something to add visual texture would help, like a curtain of bubbles.

For the life of me I can't understand why goldfish and bubbles seem to go together. I can't recall the last time I deliberately put bubbles in an aquarium, except when I got these goldfish recently. For me, the ultimate aquarium snob, bubbles are just tacky, don't actually add oxygen to the water, outgas precious CO2 in planted tanks, disturb the fish, etc. I've gotten to a point where I strive for natural appearance in an aquarium, where it might look like a slice of nature. I don't want to see hoses, cords, plastic of any kind, or other evidence that the tank runs on electricity. Bubbles were abandoned years ago!

However, I keep trying to put bubbles in my goldfish tanks. I don't understand it, but it is what comes to mind and I can't shake it. There is something goofy and "plastic" about goldfish, maybe, that demands the decor follow suit. Years ago (many) I had a rather fun goldfish tank, my first aquarium, with plastic decor and marbles. I had mostly plastic kid's toys, with some cake decorating toppers and other items that reflected a childish playfulness. And a beer bottle reflecting.... what? I was 21! What do you want from me?

I ought to come up with something clever like that again for this tank, but I will need to search very carefully for just the right items. Meanwhile, I do not care for the lack of background, with the wall needing to be painted and all, yet I don't want to tape a piece of patterned plastic sheeting on the back of the tank. I don't want to see something taped on, like kindergarten art on a refrigerator. No matter how carefully you tape it on, you can always see the tape, and the background never lies smoothly, and it bugs me - I want to rip it off. This tank is not tucked in a corner, but is quite visible on most sides, and when you walk by it you can see the back of the tank, so there is no way I'd be able to ignore the imperfection.

What I'd like to get is an Oceanvisions background, which is applied with soapy water and a credit card to squeegee out the bubbles, so it is sticking down completely to the back of the tank. I will have to mail order that item. You take a sharp knife and cut away the excess, so it is completely adherent to the back glass and a part of it, though it can be removed easily later.

In the meantime, I spent quite a while trying to get the green Top Fin bubble wand to work. You know the kind I mean - it seems like it is made of dense styrofoam or something, in a tube shape, and can be connected together for varying lengths. No bubbles come out with the small pump, none with the medium sized pump, and none with the GIANT pump. OK, I'll try soaking it for a couple of hours. No deal. I blow into the air hose and can barely get any air to come out, so I know this was made too dense and won't ever work - product defect - and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this!

I poked holes into the entire length of the tube, and that, of course, did the job, but the bubbles are huge and disruptive, and I can't get the thing positioned properly, so I got annoyed. Who needs bubbles? I did have a round pressed sand airstone that I am now using on the far left that is adequately operated by a completely silent small air pump, so that will have to do for now. I did not like giving up on my dream, the ultimate competitor that I am (!) and purchased a flexible sinking bubble wand from Drs. Foster & Smith, my dear friends. This won't need suction cups and alleges to work right out of the box. We shall see. I think it would be nice to have a gentle curtain of small bubbles across the back of the tank, so that's what I'll have, dammit! What has come over me???

In other related news, I'm just waiting for the algae to take over this tank. It is the first tank I've had in many, many years, maybe ever, now that I think about it.... that gets natural sunlight to any degree. This tank gets full morning sun, and the fish really seem to like it. I think it is good for fish to get sun, which is what would happen to them in the wild. Well, not like these goldfish ever roamed the rivers and lakes of our planet, but you know what I mean. It is proven that fish raised in outdoor tanks in tropical locales have great color, especially goldfish, and when we put them in our tanks with only artificial lighting this great color fades. At any rate, when the sun starts moving across the tank the fish always keep themselves where the sunbeam is, like a dog or a cat might.

I am a notorious algae grower, and I currently have, for the first time ever, 5 tanks without algae problems! However, this is most certainly not going to be the case here, with the 20 in the kitchen. It looks pristine now, but just wait. I am going to do what I can, by not using the fluoro light in the hood, and by doing plenty of PWCs to keep nutrients in the water to a minimum, but if the tank belongs to me I can pretty much guarantee it will have algae at some point. I'm expecting the diatoms to arrive any time now, this being a new setup. More on that as the brown and then green slime develops....

20 high! 20 high!, 20 high!......

I have placed the three wee goldfish in a nice new home - a 20-high in my kitchen. This is more than suitable for them right now, as they are pretty small still, as you can see in the pic. You can see I took the pic not too long after setting it up, as those are bubbles on the glass in the tank.

It is a very simple setup, little in the way of decor, and I may keep it that way - not sure. I like things simple and clean-looking these days with my tanks, though I still have the busy, heavily planted ones as well. Somehow the goldfish inspire a simple, minimalist look. There is a bit of Anubias in the far left corner, along with some smooth river rocks. An Eheim Ecco canister is running the show, set on the lower shelf of a wire plant stand that sits next to the tank. It is not very visible, which is important to me.

Here is a pic of the tank in the room, the kitchen eating area, where I think it fits in pretty well. It will be nicer when the fish get a bit more size on them, as they seem a little lost in there at the moment.

I like how there is just about no equipment visible, which is important to me.

Don't know what to do with the decor - bubble curtain across the back? I want to keep things simple, without a fussy fake background. A mirror background would be cool if I can find a piece of mirror the right size.

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.

Altolamprologus Time

Back again, and the Altolamps have established residence. It will be another month or so before I will have any frontosa, so last month I decided to take advantage of some very good prices at the LFS on some A. compressiceps and a trio of what are alleged to be A. calvus "inkfin." I am not sure about the compressiceps, though they ought to be gold heads, but at the small size it is very difficult to tell what you have when it comes to comps. I got three that I thought were small at 2", but then I got another pair of comps that are much smaller, and wonder if it was such a good idea. The three larger ones are out in the open, waiting for food, but the smaller ones hide and are chased into rock piles. I have one very nice calvus that stays out with the comps, so it would appear that I have 3 2" comps and one 1" calvus, though there are two more calvus in the rocks and two more comps in the rocks as well.

I simply adore these fish. They have to be, without question, my favorite genus of aquarium fish. I used to be partial to calvus, but the comps have their place in my heart as well. There is something bulldog-ish and pugnacious about their jaw and head shape that I think is great, and I could watch them endlessly.

My rationale was that if I had to wait so many months for the frontosa, which are almost guaranteed to be about 1.5-2" in size themselves when I get them, then that would give me time to grow out some Altolamps if I found some at a good price, which I did. Finding 3"+ adults is harder, and the price is high for them, typically, due to what has been a lot of food and care put into getting them to that size. I probably don't need to point out that this genus is veeeerrrry slow growing. Very. Startlingly. A fish a year old looks like fry of other types of fish. Therefore, I risk losing these fish if the frontosa grow up quickly and decide to make lunch out of the altolamps. I hope the rockwork I have in place is adequate.

Now, if you notice from prior posts, I have not mentioned the goldfish. I had three rather sizable fantail fellows, great chaps, full of energy and good humor, quite attractive, in fact, and three of the same sort but smaller versions. I had to remove the three larger ones, because they seemed quite interested in the comps and calvus, and I was worried they'd try to eat them. The goofy goldfish do not take the cues of these pint-sized cichlids (okay, fingernail sized....) and I felt they were being stressed. Plus, goldfish have completely wrong energy for this tank, but I kept them in place to feed bacteria until I got my fronts. I sold them back to the store, reluctantly, because I found them so attractive, but had nowhere for them to go. :(

Now I have the three small goldfish still in residence, but they do not belong there, sadly. I don't know if they are contributing the wrong thing to the tank, with their filthy goldfish-ness. I don't wish to detract from their appeal, because they are very nice specimens and have beautiful finnage and lively behavior, but they JUST DON'T GO with Altolamprologus. I am sure I'd be hauled away in chains if any cichlid snob happened by the house - you just don't do this kind of thing! However, for the time being I'm keeping them together, as incongruous as it appears. I don't think these three goldies provide the same bioload as 10 1-2" frontosa fry, but it sure helps.

I have tried to get some pictures of the new additions, but they dart into the rocks when I bring out the camera. I need to get them used to it. Another issue is that the tank is very dim, by design. Well, it is not so dim as to not be viewable, but it is dim for taking pictures. The ideal frontosa tank, to me, is dimmer than your average aquarium. What I will need to do is mount some sort of lamp inside on the glass divider to put extra light when I want to take photos. This will spook the fish, though....

As for lighting, there have been changes, and I've got mixed feelings. I had amazingly simple puck lighting in the hood, which consisted of a round "puck" comprised of 50-60 LED bulbs, connected with a detachable 12" cord, which was in turn connected to another puck, etc. I had about 6 of them dotted around the inside of the hood. They provided almost a spot-lit effect, pretty dim, but nifty looking. You could unscrew and remove any individual puck without putting out the rest of the string.

Well, it was designed for under-cabinet use in the kitchen, and I suppose the humidity of an aquarium hood was too much. One by one each puck started going out. There was no scorched cord, no short that I could see, nothing visibly amiss, but obviously this was not going to work. I decided to rethink the prospect. I once again went online and began shopping for LED fixtures meant for the aquarium. Sticker shock! Really? Must I pay such prices for a light fixture? I suppose at some point they will become more popular and the price will go down, but honestly, I can't justify it. I'd sooner take one of my old fluoro fixtures and stick it up there.

Fortunately, or not, the Christmas Season is upon us, being a couple of days past Halloween at the time I was looking into things. The other fortunate thing, or not, is that LED Christmas lights are wildly popular now, and you are almost criminal for buying the regular old-fashioned kind these days. LED = Green, and, like Kermit says, it is not easy being green. Expensive, really. However, a string or two of LED lights, simple round balls, was not too much for me compared to the cost of a full LED aquarium fixture. For stringing around my tree and possibly (or not) throwing out with the tree, it is highway robbery. I digress.....

I spotted, at a very reasonable price, a ROPE LIGHT that had white LED bulbs inside. I have a rope light already, purchased several years ago with the intent of lively holiday decoration, but never used it. I plugged it in and it looks downright yellow for the aquarium application. The box of Christmas lights, all kinds of them, specify whether they are "warm white" or "bright white," so I chose bright, and installed the rope inside my hood. It came with the clips that hold the rope, so I had everything I needed. The light is perfect, though a bit on the dim side. How about two? Okay, better, but still...... I wound up with one of those net lights that you plop upon your unsuspecting azalea or boxwood, making your neighbors think (lol) that you individually strung your bushes with lights. I stapled one of those (LED, bright white) up inside the hood, and now we are, as they say, cooking with gas.

These lights, rope and net, all promise indoor as well as outdoor applications, meaning they ought to be able to handle some humidity, nay, pounds of snow and subsequent melt, or rainstorms, so they ought to work inside my hood, right? Let's hope. I am certain that they will last a few months, at least until the Christmas aisles are all vanished from the stores and the rain boots and fertilizer is on sale at Target, and then they'll give out. We shall see. I am determined not to pay several hundred dollars for an LED fixture for this aquarium, however.