A.thomasi

The Allure Of Nanos

2009-12-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

There is just something about these tiny little ecosystems we call nanos that many are drawn to. The idea that an entire world can exist in such a small space is very intriguing, and the fact that we constructed and maintain that tiny world can, perhaps, make us feel powerful. Setting up a nano can be a fun journey and for some people it is easier to enter the world of salt water keeping with

Selecting Your First Aquarium

2008-07-10T13:59:00.004-04:00

You've decided to take the plunge . . . you want an aquarium. So its easy right? You just go to the local fish store and grab a 10 gallon tank, a cheap filter, a heater some gravel and decorations, you think your all set. A couple of months later you are dismayed that your tank is full with only 8 or 9 small tropical fish, you have had to upgrade to a better filter and you couldn't get the

Otocinclus - The tiny algae eater

2008-06-26T12:52:00.002-04:00

Otocinclus are a favorite among planted tank enthusiasts. They are small in stature, never exceeding 2 inches, and do a great job and gently cleaning algae off of plant leaves and the aquarium glass. They are also fun to watch as they often swim together in groups, mid-water, unlike many other fish commonly used as algae control. There are 16 known species of Otocinclus, the most common being

Enrichment

2008-02-23T23:43:00.007-05:00

EnrichmentWhen people talk about enrichment and animals they are usually talking about enriching the lives of creatures like tigers, apes and parrots. Often not much thought is given to enriching the lives of fish. Many fish however have been shown to have some intelligence. Even guppies can count to the number four! Cichlids have often been considered very intelligent fish and many would do

Dealing With Burn Out

2008-02-09T13:26:00.000-05:00

Dealing With Burn OutBurn outNo, I'm not referring to water dripping onto one of your many electrical strips, I am talking about something that happens to many hobbyist at one point or another. As you are going along doing your water changes you suddenly realize that your tanks have turned into a chore rather than a pleasure. You used to get a thrill out of your tanks, seeing baby fish or a new

Montezuma Sword-Tails (Xiphophorus montezumae)

2008-01-25T20:00:00.000-05:00

Montezuma Sword-tails (Xiphophorus montezumae)Xiphophorus montezumae is a wild type sword-tail that gets an average of just over 2 inches in body length. They do occasionally reach 3 inches in body size. They usually have a black spotting or mottled color on a pale back color. As with many livebearing fish, males can be distinguished by their specialized anal fin. They also possess an

New Filter

2007-12-30T14:10:00.001-05:00

Fluvals I have . . . well, had . . . been a fluval canister enthusiast for a long time. They do a good job, catch lots of debris and work efficiently. There is plenty of space for media, they run quietly (when clean) and I have never had a problem with them leaking as long as the O ring was replaced when worn. They are however a pain to use. I always have had a hard time priming them. If I

Supporting Other Hobbyists

2007-10-14T19:24:00.000-04:00

Why Support Other Hobbyists When I go out looking to purchase certain fish the first place I think of is to go to a fish store (local of course). That is probably everyone's first thought. The second would be to look online. Lately however I have been a bit more thoughtful when I intend to purchase a fish. I would like my livestock to be captive bred. I would like to know it is healthy and

A few fishy overviews

2007-09-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

harlequin rasbora Trigonostigma heteromorpha -I have a school of 7 of these egg layers in my 60 gallon. They are great fish, very colorful and active. They do best in groups of 6 or more in a community to semi aggressive tank (as seen in the picture, with an angelfish). They should be kept in a well established tank, not put in a brand new tank. They stay small, usually about an inch long.

Pond Predators

2007-09-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

Many people set up a pond in their yard and sit back to enjoy it only to notice a few days later that one or two of their fish seem to be missing. They often wonder where the fish went but don't take much notice until a few days later . . even more fish are MIA. Where Are The Fish? The most common reason to fish disappearances are predators. People often forget that predators are still around

Potting Amazon Swords For A Goldfish Tank

2007-07-29T02:15:00.000-04:00

Potting Amazon Swords for A Goldfish Tank A Need For More The goldfish tank was looking pretty lack luster. The only plants inhabiting the tank were java fern attached to driftwood. It looked nice, but the tank was missing some variety, and some tall plants to fill the upper portions of the tank. Julie and I decided the tank could use some sprucing

Micro Worms

2007-07-29T01:42:00.001-04:00

Micro Worms Micro Worms I recieved a starter culture of micro worms yesterday. Today I set it up. Micro worms are similar to the walter worms and banana worms but are larger. They are easy to see; the walter worms and banana worms you can't really see, you can only see a shimmering on the surface of the culture media. Micro worms are a good first

Common Livebearers

2007-07-23T01:03:00.000-04:00

Common Livebearers - Guppies, Mollies, Platies, Swordtails Live bearers are often one of the first types of fish people get when starting out in the aquarium hobby. It is exciting to have new baby fish so easily! They are very colorful and active, which draws new hobbyist to them. The livebearers most people start out with belong to the family

Half Beaks

2007-07-23T01:02:00.000-04:00

Half Beaks Half beaks are (mostly) a live bearing fish belonging to the family Hemirhamphidae. Half beaks have an wide range of reproductive modes ranging from egg-laying and ovoviviparity through to true vivipary where the mother is connected to the developing embryos via a placenta-like structure. Half beaks are a long, laterally compressed fish. Half beaks

Update on Killies and Pictures

2007-07-23T01:01:00.000-04:00

An update on my killies. My 2 A. Bitaeniatum "ijebu ode" are doing well. I lost the first 9 eggs I collected to fungus:( I'm sure there will be plenty more to come though. The female is still eating really well, the male is still a bit picky. The "dwarf baby tears" that I had planted in their tank all died. I will be getting something to replace it soon. The fish are starting to get a bit

Pictures of My Killi Set Up

2007-07-23T01:00:00.000-04:00

Pictures of my Killi set up I took some bad pics of my killie tank with my camera phone. I put a black sweater behind it for the picture because I haven't gotten a background yet. The container & the medicine bottle next to it have eggs in them (and some extra plant stems), I have like 12 or 13 eggs now. Plants are rotala magenta, bolbitis fern,

I Have Been Converted

2007-07-23T00:58:00.002-04:00

I have been converted to the world of Killies. Today Paul, Don and I went on a little road trip to a fish store in Buffalo. They had an awesome selection and they had killies . . . more than just the golden wonder killies I am used to seeing in stores. Actually, I don't think they had any golden wonders. Anyway, the two that caught my eye were blue gularis and A. Bitaeniatum "ijebu ode".

Starting Out With Goldfish

2007-07-23T00:58:00.001-04:00

Keeping goldfish can be a fun and rewarding experience if done correctly. If properly cared for, goldfish can easily live to be 15 years old, and have been known to live to be 43 years old.Size ConsiderationsGoldfish get very large. Fancy varieties often get 6 to 8 inches and the single tailed varieties often get up to a foot and a half long. Not only do goldfish get long, but they have a very

Keeping Goldfish Outdoors

2007-07-23T00:57:00.000-04:00

Goldfish were originally bred for and are best suited for outdoor ponds. Their large bio-mass and active demeanor means that they need a lot of water space per fish. More so than most tropical fish. Their feeding habits also make them more suited for outdoor living. Goldfish tend to feed through out the day, scavenging for little tidbits of food here and there. Outdoors bugs and plant bits

White Cloud Minnows

2007-07-23T00:56:00.000-04:00

White cloud minnowWhite cloud minnows (Tanichthys albonubes) is a member of the carp family (Cyprinidae). White cloud minnows are naturally found in China and Vietnam. The fish gets its common name from the mountain it was discovered on (White cloud mountain). This species was discovered in the 1930's. White cloud minnows are small fish, growing to an inch to and inch and a half. They are a

Goldfish Varieties

2007-07-23T00:55:00.001-04:00

There are many different types of goldfish. Even though they may look different they are all the same species of fish, and can interbreed and produce viable young. Just like there are different breeds of dogs, but they are all still dogs. Goldfish get large, with the smallest usually getting up to 8 inches, and the largest up to 18 inches. They are best

Amazon Swords

2007-07-23T00:49:00.000-04:00

Amazon Swords There are two plants commonly sold as amazon swords. They are Echinodorus bleheri and Echinodorus amazonicus. E. bleheri is sometimes called the broad leafed amazon sword, and E. amazonicus is occasionally referred to as the narrow leaf amazon sword. I have read and heard that E. bleheri is the more commonly available of the two. Hybrids and

Good List of Plant Books

2007-07-23T00:48:00.000-04:00

List of Plant Books Left C on the aquaticplantcentral.com forum posted this great list of recommended plant books. Left C said I could repost it here. Does anyone have any of these? Did you like them? I am also posting this over on the Book Club Blog.Aquarium Plants (Hardcover) by Christel Kasselmann (Author), Ulf Kotlenga (Translator)http://

Fish and The "Outside" Environment

2007-07-23T00:45:00.000-04:00

Fish and the "outside" environment Due to an eye injury in one of my two cats, my bedroom has needed to be in complete darkness. She has a scratch on her cornea and is being given a pain killer that is applied directly to her eye. This causes her pupil to dilate, so she needs complete, or near complete darkness or it will hurt her eye. Both the fish

Walter Worms and Banana Worms

2007-07-23T00:43:00.000-04:00

Walter Worms and Banana Worms The two live food cultures I had ordered for my baby killies (when ever I get some to hatch) are walter worms and banana worms. They arrived in little containers and smelled a bit like vinegar. I am guessing the seller sent me a portion of an older culture so that there would be plenty of worms. When they arrived, I

The Basics Of CO2 Injection For The Planted Aquarium

2007-07-23T00:40:00.001-04:00

The Basics Of CO2 Injection For The Planted Aquarium Providing some form of carbon to plants in a high light system is a necessity. Plants utilize carbon during photosynthesis to produce glucose, which is what the plants use for energy. In a high light situation the plants are growing quickly and require a lot of energy to maintain health and the quick growth, therefor they need a lot of carbon

Cryptocorynes

2007-07-23T00:32:00.000-04:00

Cryptocorynes are widely spread genus of plants. They can be found from Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia to India and New Guinea. The number of species that are known is increasing due to chromosomal research. Many plants that were thought to be varieties are actually different species. Many of the crypts available come from Sri Lanka. These include C. wendtii, C. walkerii (C. lutea), C.

Oscar care

2007-07-21T18:45:00.000-04:00

Oscars (Astronotus ocellatus) Oscars are possibly one of the most widely known and most popular of the cichlids. Many people who are not even into fish know what and oscar is. Their popularity is due to their great personality and their great appetite. Oscars quickly learn to recognize their owners and are more than willing to just about anything they

Trying a new fertilization regime, Estimative Index

2007-07-09T03:14:00.000-04:00

I am going to give the estimative index fertilization a try. I do not want to do such large weekly water changes though so my doses are going to be a bit lower than recommended. I am planning on weekly 30% water changes on my 60 gallon tank (so roughly 18-20 gallons a week). Estimative Index recommends 50% weekly water changes. I do not think my crypts will like that, and I just don't want to

Some fish foods contaminated . . .

2007-06-29T15:59:00.000-04:00

Some fish foods have been found to be contaminated with melamine. Whether or not melamine has a negative impact on fish is not known, but better to be safe than sorry right? If you are worried your fish food may have melamine in it, read the label if it has any wheat products in it, toss it, or call the company that makes it and ask where their wheat products come from. Some companies in China

Jordanella floridae

2007-06-13T20:17:00.000-04:00

Soon I will be in possession of some very young american-flag or florida flag fish (J. floridae). Currently they are eggs, by the time I get them they will probably be a week or two old. I plan on either keeping them individually in gallon jars and changing half the water daily, or putting them into breeder nets in my 60 gallon planted tank, which will be their eventual home. I have yet to

African Cichlids

2007-06-09T01:50:00.001-04:00

African Cichlids When a person thinks of African cichlids, they usually think of the cichlids from the three great lakes of east Africa. These lakes are lake Victoria, Malawi and Tanganyika. These lakes are also known as the rift lakes as they are in and around the Great Rift Valley. Lake Malawi lies in the eastern region of the Great Rift Valley. Lake

Aquariphiles.com

2007-06-04T15:45:00.001-04:00

We have launched a new website called Aquariphiles.com. It is a social networking site for aquarists. Its not a forum, but has communities, blogs, you can upload pictures, have friends. I think it will be a great site for meeting other people interested in aquarium keeping, and a great site for bouncing ideas off of other people. Its easy to use and for everybody . . . beginners and advanced

Ancistrus

2007-05-25T16:05:00.000-04:00

This is Nigel. He lives in our 56 gallon fish tank, along with 2 goldfish. This bristlenose pleco is about 2 inches long currently, and has a few more to grow. He has proven to be a very effective algae eater and doesn't bother our goldfish, which is nice:) He enjoys the algae that grows in the tank, as well as sheets of algae (intended for salt water fish), algae wafers, thawed blood worms,

Water Changes are important!

2007-05-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

Many new comers to the aquarium (fish) keeping hobby seem to disregard the importance of regular water changes. Regular water changes are probably one of the most important aspects of successful fish keeping. It is not something to put on the back burner. Changing your carbon does not mean you do not have to do water changes for the fish. Getting a bigger filter does not mean you do not have

Pterophyllum scalare

2007-05-14T15:32:00.000-04:00

This is my Pterophyllum scalare (angelfish) Bull. He (fish) is about 4 or 5 years old now (as of 2007). This angelfish started out in a 20 gallon high tank, the size of a nickel or so. Within 8 months this proved to be to small for him (angelfish). Then he (fish) was upgraded to a 29 gallon tank, which he quickly outgrew. This gorgeous fish now resides in the 60 gallon and so far this seems

Supporting Local Fish Stores

2007-05-11T09:20:00.000-04:00

I like to support my local fish stores (LFS) over the big chain stores when ever possible. I know of many people who will go to the big chain because their products are dollar or two cheaper, but then go to the small local fish store for advice and fish only. Did you know that petstores (fish stores) generally make very little or no profit on the live animals they sell? Local fish stores (LFS)

Anomalochromis thomasi

2007-05-10T21:18:00.000-04:00

The picture is of one of the 4 Anomalochromis thomasi (fish) that lives in my 60 gallon planted aquarium. These little guys (fish) are full of personality and are very amusing to watch. They are one of my favorite little fish. The one in the picture is the more bold of the four. He or she will stick around to check things out (like the scary camera phone!) a bit longer than the other 3 fish,