From the Fish Tank: June 3rd

Couldn't wait until sunset to take a photo.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember to do these posts. Keeping of fish is so much a study of minutiae, of day-to-day minor adjustments and tiny tasks, that one loses track of what is happening overall. Since our last update at the beginning of may, I've actually made quite a few changes - most obviously, having replaced the central plants with an explosively-growing cultivar I cannot remember the name of. Between fast plant growth, regular dosing, and the remaining pair of S lineolata loaches, I've got algae pretty well under control. Now I just have to deal with the traditional red algae, which I remove manually with a magnetic scrub.

Interestingly, the high light has actually changed some of my plants, narrowing the leaves of my amazon swords. This was predicted, but I did not expect it to go on so quickly.

Speaking in general, this tank has been having some growing pains. That sand there has turned out to be an artificial produce of macerated limestone and sandstone - the included limestone has been a strong buffering agent that has slowly, but steadily, been raising my pH. To counteract this, I have to dose heavily with acidifiers and step up my water change regiment - the filter's back to filtering over granulated peat, I'm going through tropical extracts like crazy. The result is dark water that the fish absolutely love, but no real change in pH.

Odessa Barb and Denison's Torpedo Barb frolic near the Mystery Plant.

As you know, however, I'm moving. The city I'm moving to has a very different tapwater - it's generally harder and therefore generally more alkaline than one would expect from the city water here where I live - it's much closer to our well water. Now, I can continue to keep my fish the way I have been - aggressively treating and pre-conditioning my water to drive the pH down. If I do that, I should probably replace my substrate entirely, preferably with another sand, in which case, such a tedious replacement only might help. The new sand could be full of carbonates, which would only exacerbate the problem, especially if I'm dealing with the harder, more alkaline water to start with. Now, it's possible (with a small army of buckets) to precondition my water-change water by steeping leaf litter or dried ketapang in it, to make it more acidic and softer, but that brings out the tedium and there likely won't be the space for it - not to mention that standing water is a great way to breed fruit flies.

Odessa gets an honour guard from most of the Denisonii barbs.

 There's no real upside in a situation like that. Without a miracle (like the water having a high GENERAL hardness but a very low Carbonate Hardness, meaning it's not as acidic as I think), it would be easier to take a dramatic change in direction. For those of you nearby, it's actually an opportunity. Those Sewellia loaches just aren't available locally anymore, and the barbs are grown on considerably more than what you'd find in the store (and, for that matter, you won't find the Denisons). When I get a pH test done in the next few days up there, I'll be make a final decision, but for now, if anyone wants to lay claim to any of my fish for a late-summer/early-fall adoption, they should start getting ready to let me know.

Need to hide that wiring better...

The 10-gallon is in the same situation. As I may have reported, Mongkut became impacted and died, but he has been replaced with a rather nice blue-white Super Delta, who we'll get a close-up of in the future. Those of you who have never kept a fish in recent memory will probably enjoy a beta. As it happens, the Betta will be the subject of a special giveaway that I will mention below the cut.

Having said that, this tank is doing very well. It killed my nerite snails somehow (probably a crummy acclimation, as snails are difficult to acclimate properly in my experience), but other than that, I've not lost a single fish except the beta - even the notoriously finnicky cardinal tetras are still in their full complement.

The Betta in question, and not a flattering photo. The white is more
pronounced in reality.

On to the Betta. He can't follow me to Fredericton. Not because I don't think he'd survive - the substrate in that tank actually softens and lowers pH - but because, if I go with my giveaway plans, I'm going to want this ten-gallon tank for a new purpose all its own. The Betta, however, is a package deal. He comes in a 5-gallon fish tank with its own air-driven sponge filter and a screen cover, along with a few select clippings of my favourite plants. You'll need to add a small heater to the system, but other than that, it's entirely ready to go for long-term care of a frankly, beautiful fish.

Also, the majority of my plants will be up for grabs, once I decide which ones to keep, in particular cuttings of the Egeria Densa and select clones of my Amazon Swords.

Fishkeeper 101: Introduction to Freshwater Chemistry

Anyone who's ever tried to keep fish more than idly has become aware that there's a number of chemical concerns when it comes to maintaining your fish in a healthy state. In general, the chemistry of fish tanks can best be explained in terms of two fields: additives and tankwater conditions.

Tankwater Conditions

Testing of tankwater conditions is best conducted with liquid drop test kits, such as those produced by Hagen under their Nutrafin line. I myself use the Nutrafin Master Test Kit.

Chlorine

Chlorine is not a chemical you can, or even should, test for. If you're on municipal water which contains chlorine, it can be removed after several days of sitting in an open vessel other than the fish tank, or, ideally, with the use of a dechlorinating tapwater conditioner (discussed below).

Chlorine is extremely harmful to fish - as a free iron, it burns gill tissue in the same way that chlorine gas burns lung tissue in humans. These burns are untreatable, never heal (only scarring), and are typically fatal.

Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide

Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide are the respiratory gasses used and given off by fish, respectively, and both are present in the water in solution. Neither can be readily tested for, but if your fish are showing a gasping or gulping behaviour, you should immediately add an air pump with bubbler to increase the oxygen content.

Oxygen is introduced to the aquarium through surface movement - a sufficient amount of movement from a Hang On Back filter can suffice for many tanks. Oxygen is also introduced by live plants, who convert carbon dioxide to oxygen when sufficiently stimulated. I'll talk more about carbon dioxide, live plants, and lighting in a future instalment of Fishkeeper 101.

pH, the Power of Hydrogen

The pH test is the most often administered test in both professional and amateur fishkeeping - it is the first most variable water chemistry condition after the ammonia level. pH testing methods vary depending on the test in question and you should always follow the supplied direction.

pH boundaries are determined by your fish stock, but as a general rule, a stable pH is always preferable to a dynamic one - you want your pH to change less than 0.2 per day, and 0.2 per day is a large change. pH can be adjusted in a variety of ways - my personal favourite method of lowering pH is to filter over (pure) peat moss), whereas I usually raise it using a commercial conditioner for that purpose. Vinegar and Baking Soda can be used in a pinch, but such changes are highly variable and not preferred.

Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates

Ammonia is another major fish killer - I've explained before how the nitrogen cycle works. You should test your ammonia and nitrate levels weekly on the day before your scheduled water change - an elevated level of Ammonia (basically, anything higher than zero) indicates either that something has happened with your cycle  or that your current biological filtration is insufficient for your fish load - add some zeolite to your filter media or consider upgrading to a larger filtration unit or even to canister filtration. A high nitrate level (over 20 mg/L) is considered dangerous - your water change should be heavier. If you consistently get high nitrate levels on test day, add more live plants to your tank. Nitrate is a nutrient used by live plants to manage their growth. Nitrites really only need to be tested during cycle monitoring.

Keeping nitrate levels under control with live plants also helps keep awfuchs growth to within acceptable levels.

Salinity

Salinity is rarely tested - testing it requires a hydrometer and presupposes that you likely added salt to your tank. For most freshwater fish, zero salinity is perfectly tolerable. Some fishkeeper, including myself, include a small amount of aquarium salt in even freshwater setups to maintain electrolytic balance. Everything I've seen on the practice has been apocryphal but I've seen some very promising results.

Hardness

There are actually two types of water hardness that are relevant to fishkeeping - general hardness, and carbonate hardness. Generally speaking, a majority of fish prefer their water as soft as possible, but always research the needs of your potential pets before purchase. Like pH, hardness can be adjusted - peat filtration lowers Carbonate Hardness, and general hardness with it.

In tanks with relatively high pHs, such as African Cichlids or Livebearer tanks, and even in Goldfish tanks, an elevated Carbonate Hardness can help "buffer" the pH from dropping over time. The two are separate tests.

Calcium

The calcium test is closely related to the Hardness tests - with both measures, you can obtain the ratio of magnesiun to calcium, which is useful for keeping marine fish. However, some freshwater fish need a certain amount of calcium in the water for healthy growth and development - especially invertebrates  Tanks with large-growing fish or invertebrates should have their calcium monitored and kept above 5 mg/L.

With the hagen calcium test kit, this testing accuracy can be achieved by testing on four times the amount of water called for, and dividing the results obtained by 4. Having said that, this test is really only necessary in Saltwater except as a cursory inspection every few months or so.

Phosphate

Phosphate testing is important in freshwater terms as allowing a vector of control over algae growth - in general, you want to have less than 1 mg/L to avoid algae getting too strong a foothold. This can be monitored with a simple test and growth in water phosphate levels is usually minimal if you feed low-phosphorous staple diets and keep up with your water changes. No data suggests a link between Phosphates and toxicity in fish.

In extreme cases, phosphate remover packets can be added to standard hang-on-back filters as additional media and used for up to two months.

Iron

There are actually two forms of iron you want to keep an eye on in your aquarium - free iron, also known as unchelated iron, which is toxic at levels above 0.3 mg/L. It's best controlled with water changes. Hagen's water conditioner, Aqua Plus, can be used in a triple-dose after the water change to chelate the remaining iron.

Chelated Iron, however, is more of a balancing act. If you have live plants, it should generally be present between 0.25 and 0.5 mg/L as an essential nutrient for plant health. The precise amount varies depending on plants, and I'll explain that in a future Fishkeeper 101 post.

Water Additives

Water Conditioner

Nobody should ever be without a good tapwater conditioner such as Aqua Plus. You'll use it to great extent if you're doing your water changes regularly, and if you're like me, you'll also likely apply it every time you acclimate fish. I use so much of it that I almost always go for the largest available bottle as value for money. A proper tapwater conditioner removes chlorine and chloramines, neutralizes heavy metals such as iron and lead, and, ideally, has a distressing agent that stimulates slime coat production in fish.

Cyclic Boosters

These products, like prime and cycle, often seem like a good idea. They're essentially bottled nitrifying bacteria. In my experience, their use does nothing to augment the speeding of your cycle - if they came with your tank kit, feel free to use it, but don't buy it if you don't have to.

Fish Waste Liquifiers

Some people use these (hagen makes one called Waste Control) to break up larger amounts of solid waste - such as produced by plecos or grown goldfish - which is then subject to uptake by the filter. I prefer to do a good strong gravel vacuuming.

Water Clarifiers

These products come in a variety of forms, and are too broad to discuss in full here. Some are toxic and need to be dosed carefully - what's more, there's no water clarity problem that can't be managed with polywool in the filter and phosphate/nitrate balance management. I classify these products as "quick fixes". They aren't inherently bad, and I'll use them for tanks I'm caring for for other people, but for my own tanks, I'm patient enough to do things the long, cheap way.

Fertilizers

These products also come in a wide variety. A staple fertalizer, like Nutrafin Plant Gro, is actually very useful to have around as it's one of few good ways to bolster the chelated iron level without raising the free iron level. Heavily planted tanks need these, and most other planted tanks could still stand to see them.

Again, I'll go into further depth with these on a future post.

pH Adjusters and Buffers

These are quite common, very useful tools for those who want to maintain species that they aren't ideal for. For example, in my present situation, I would need to use pH adjusters to keep African Cichlids or Livebearers happy.

More Pets!

I mentioned, several weeks previously, to several co-workers that I thought turtles were abyssmal pets - fussy to care for, tedious, and expensive. The smallest species of turtle I'm aware of grows nearly two feet in diameter and needs a tank of several hundred litres with additional special requirements to be properly kept.

I did, however, mention a fondness for tortoises (I was thinking European Box Tortoises), and low and behold, someone has come up with a pair of C. carbonaria Red Legged Tortoises for the store to carry and maintain for a while.

Tortoises are free-roaming pets indoors, so long as they have sufficiently warm areas to bask. They're "land turtles", in essence. And the price we have for them is fantastically inexpensive.

A few articles ago, I posted a picture of a school of baby Pink Tailed Chalceus. We've since acquired an adult, nearly two feet long, who went in with the Monster Tank where he could live and be relatively happy with a Green Terror, a trio of spotted Clarius catfish, and a Red Tail catfish. This might be the single biggest species of caracin I've ever seen.

Bunnies are in, just in time for Easter  but I caution all of you not to buy pets as holiday presents unless the recipient has expressed an interest in having one.

For the record, "Mommy/daddy, I want a-" is not sufficient interest to merit attention. Pets, even rabbits, require sufficient research before and during care that their care is equivalent, more or less, to a moderately calm child. It is a daily, ongoing chore that you are adding to someone's schedule and you should be prepared to step in and take over if its standards of care turn out to be substandard.

A number of baby Savannah Monitors have been delivered to us. These fearsome lizards reach over three feet in length, have a viscousness about them, and act like perfectly adorable little puppes if appropriately hand-tamed and acclimated to human handling.

As a result, "play with the Savannah Monitors" actually appears on my nightly list of work-related tasks. Go figure.

 I finally have my own photo of Thai Glass Catfish to use on the previous Fish Profile article, so expect to see that updated presently.

For the record, I've heard some complaints that "they belong in schools of six or more" is a good way to bolster sales. While this happens to be true, it's not why I (or my coworkers) say it. It's because they belong in schools of six or more, and isolate individuals often refuse to eat and die a month or two later of otherwise perfectly preventable starvation.

This little guy (click to enlarge) is special. He's a PacMan Frog - a blue one. The blue colour strain was not isolated until relatively late in the 90s in captive breeding programs and, until now, has really only been seen in Asia, particularly in Japan, where these frogs are highly popular pets.

We have the first pair in New Brunswick. Period.

Fish Profile: Thai Glass Catfish

Say hello to Kryptopterus minor, the "Thai Glass Catfish", whose natural range includes Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, so "Southeast Asian" Glass Catfish might have been a better name. As the name suggests, these apparently-transparent fish are Siluridae... proper catfish.

For once, common names get it right in two ways - firstly, K. minor is actually transparent. This is not an illusory property of iridescence, but an actual question of their nature - the bits of them that can be seen are their proper internal organs and bones. This transparency has most to do with the small size of their body, their lack of pigmentation, and, being Siluridae, their lack of scales - when they die, the processes involved in decomposition very quickly turn them a milky white.

This scaleless property makes them somewhat sensitive - accordingly, it's very important to maintain proper water quality. While this is not difficult, their quirks, this included, serve to place them squarely in my "not for beginners category". They prefer cooler water by tropical standards - between 21 and 26 degrees Celsius (most fish would prefer several degrees warmer than that), which should be as soft as is possible, and within a relatively narrow range of pH 5.5-6.5. Soft, acidic water is acceptable for those building community tanks, and this species has no real problem with that, though there are some considerations which I will detail in a moment.

In addition to being rather chemically sensitive, this Siluriform has some interesting behaviour traits. For one thing, and in my view, somewhat unusually for their group of fish, these are absolutely schooling fish - groups of six or more are necessary, otherwise the fish get locked into what I can only describe as "pining mode" and will lose all appetite even to the point of starving to death. Even if they are eating, elevated stress hormone levels made them even more sensitive to contracting illnesses. Plan accordingly - if a glass catfish isn't going to be the feature of your tank, make the feature fish something passive that will leave room enough for your 6+ school of glass cats.

Having said that, most recommendations for tank mates are smaller animals - rasboras, peaceful tetras, the smaller anabantoidei (such as Dwarf Gouramis), and chemically suitable dwarf cichlids - care will have to be taken in the latter case when it comes to finding overlapping pH bands that are suitable.

They appreciate a high flow rate (which, if done properly, would only improve filtration and water quality), with floating foliage to keep the light diffuse and dim (as is preferred by them). Breeding is almost unknown in aquaria, but know to be seasonal - best guesses on triggering breeding behaviour involve lowering the tank temperature and heavy daily water changes. Accordingly, most specimens are wild-caught.

They're somewhat picky eaters - small, protein-rich flake is often accepted (such as Nutrafin Max Staple Diet), though they frequently accept live and frozen versions of brine shrimp, blood worm, and daphnia.\

All told, they're a nice fish when you can find them. We have them presently (as of the time of writing) at my store for $15.78 retail, with all sorts of fun specials and quantity discounts... but I've been working there for six months and this is the first time I've seen them.

Tank Logs!

Fish Profile: Acarichthys Heckelii

A. Heckelii sub-adult. A&G Photo

A few days ago I introduced my new 55 gallon tank, just a few short days after I had introduced a pair of A. Heckelii into the tank.

A. Heckelii is known by a variety of names, including Heckel's Cichlid and the Threadfin Acara. The adults are very colourful, rather large, and surprisingly laid-back for South American Cichlids - their behavior and size is akin to freshwater angels like P. Scalera or to the various Severums... making them slightly more suitable to community tanks than some other cichlids, though there's still some care to be taken when finding them tankmates.

I have a fondness for these fish, as you can probably tell - they're my first cichlids, and unarguably gorgeous in their full adult colouration and finnage. They're also relatively hardy in my opinion - I'd say this has to do with their origins in the northern part of the Amazon basin, but I could also just be blowing smoke. I'm a fish-keeper, not a formally-trained ichthyologist.

Their natural habitat are slow-moving sections of their rivers as well as flood planes, so they prefer a somewhat lower flow. This is their only complication in handling as they are sensitive to chemical flux, leading to problems like ammonia shock or "hole-in-the-head" disease months or years down the road. This is easily avoided with somewhat-heavier-than-normal water changes or the use of a sump with a highly powerful filter... in practice, this is less of a problem than one would think.

Their natural environment exposes them to 76-84 degrees F, and they respond to the higher end of that range somewhat better, with a pH near 6.2 preferred, and softer water preferred, in the neighbourhood of 10-100 mg/L of General Hardness.

Same Specimen, 1 Week Younger. A&G Photo

The fish you encounter in the pet store are usually juveniles  and even if they aren't, they tend to resist developing their adult colour if they are in too little water or crowded.

I've found them to enjoy a varied diet, though they eat food only once it has begun to sink. Blood Worms, Krill-based Predator Sticks, and ordinary Tropical Flake are all devoured readily, and the cichlid will readily hoover up any Algae Disks my tiger hillstream loach ignores. Their diet should include some vegetable matter - blanched spinach and spirulina are the most important sources keepers offer.

Aside from fin nippers and fish that need entirely different conditions, or are overly aggressive, just about any fish over a couple of centimeters makes an okay tank-mate for even an adult specimen, though keep water volumes in mind - the pair of these fish pretty much fill my 55 once they're full grown.

Sexing the fish is difficult, with no external features to rely on to provide a clue. Their spawning behaviour is particularly complex, and it should be noted that attempts to reproduce it in home aquaria usually fail. Having said that, even the impossible often happens by accident, and I'm told the fry themselves are easy to raise.

Fish Profile: Sewellia Lineolata

S. Lineolata Adult near-surface.

Last night I introduced a new fish to you all as one of the occupants of my 55 Gallon tank. The tiger hillstream loach - properly known as Sewellia Lineolata - is a native of southern Vietnam and a riverine fish.

Squat and wide, with fanned pectoral and ventral fins, S. Lineolata reminds many of a ray in miniature - such a resemblance is superficial, and while there are a few species of freshwater ray (mostly Chinese , few are suited to the freshwater aquarium, or at least one so small as any I have ever owned or worked in.

S. Lineolata is actually a loach, though it is more commonly identified as a pleco, with which it bears no resemblance other than a superficial one, and a similarity in tank role. Beyond being striking enough that a small school of these would be an excellent feature in a tank (if not an expensive one), Lineolata is a fantastic grazer of awfuchs, including a few strains that common plecostomus won't touch, such as blue-green algae, or brown algae, which are actually bacteria and diatoms, respectively. Because of this diet, it is best to introduce them into a tank with advanced biofilm development - if this is impossible or undesirable, they can usually be persuaded to eat a sinking algae wafer such as those produced under the Wardly brand, but, as alway, the natural route is preferred.

These fish like to be kept in large groups of six or more only if sufficient territorial markers such as branches, dens, and large rocks are provided. They are domineering and exhibit some (usually harmless) violence between con-specifics and similarly-shaped fishes. For this reason (and matters of financial practicality) I keep only one. Ideally, one such fish would live in about ten gallons of water at a minimum.

A relatively new fish to the hobby (first appearing in the mid-2000s), these fish can be somewhat difficult to source. Locally, Pets Unlimited carries a small selection of them when they are available from our breeders, usually for around $21.97 a piece, depending on what we paid for them. Their newness to the hobby makes them a little more finicky than more veteran species, and the best success is found in imitating their natural conditions.

Those conditions are fairly predictable based on their location - overfiltration (tank turnover of 15-20 per hour), 68-78 degrees Farenheit, soft water at about 6.0-7.5 pH.

Christmas, Rest, and Due Diligence

There's a halfway decent chance
this Alexandrine will
outlive you.

It's the day before Christmas, and I'm up at half past six getting ready to go to work.

Partly due to the fact that I'm pretty much inoculated against it these days, I'm used to having to work on and around Christmas Day, and I don't really have a problem with it. Whether I'm selling or cooking, this is simply the best time of year to ply my trades, and it would be silly to rail against that.

I am, however, growing tired, and I think all of us are. I know many people out there are thinking of getting pets for people for Christmas, and I wish you all would stop and think about the situation a little more clearly.

A pet is a serious responsibility. You're adopting a life, often a longer-lived one than you think, and giving it to someone else to care for. I don't really have a problem with pets as a family gift so long as the giver is willing to assume responsibility in the event the recipient cannot or will not. There's nothing wrong with a whole family adopting something like an Alexandrine, a Lorikeet, or a dog.

Where I get temperamental is when people give pets as gifts to, say, small children, and expect the children to take perfect care of them. They won't. They might try, sure, and an unusually responsible 12 year old might even do the research on how to care for a pet. But on average, I just can't trust any of your children to do that when you yourselves won't.

There are plenty of pets that this is especially pronounced for: every breed/strain of goldfish I know of exceeds six inches (often dramatically) in length and has a lifespan potentially measured in decades rather than single years - that's right, even those two-and-three-dollar feeder goldfish you've never seen live longer than six months. Goldfish need exorbitant care. If you are looking for a simple fish needing a minimum of care, look no further than a betta, but still expect to do frequent water changes - a well-cared-for betta can live for years.

Ditto for rodents. Hamsters are about the worst pet you can give a child and quickly go feral if not regularly handled - a task difficult at the outset as they start feral to begin with and have to be hand-tamed. A rat would be better, but expect it to live for a couple of years.

There's no pet I can think of (except perhaps a Mantis) who should not be expected to live at least three years, and most pets I can think of (and have kept) have had lifespans potentially reaching ten years or more. Birds and reptiles are among the clearest examples of this.

These turtles are called red-eared sliders. They're a common enough species in the pet trade that I've never actually seen another kind of pet turtle. They're cute and tiny now, but Red Eared Sliders live for thirty years or more and have an adult size approaching on a foot. Turtles, particularly aquatic ones, are some of the most care-intensive pets I can think of, and require that care, unfalteringly, for the better part of the rest of the recipient's life. If you give this to your child, they can reasonably expect to be caring for it while they're studying for the bar exam, or even, potentially, administering it.

"Affordable Dental"

Parrots are worse. The Alexandrine, above, has a lifespan exceeding 70 years, when properly cared for, and is about 18-20 months old. They're good little birds, and easy to maintain, but he's a lifelong companion for most who could afford him, and one you will in all likelihood be bestowing upon your friends or family when you pass on. That's a pretty big responsibility - many humans don't live as long as Alex will.

Conures, like this sun conure helping Mandy fix her loose crown (no, not really), have an average lifespan of 25 years. At their price, I doubt anyone would give them as an impulse gift, but it's still helpful to know what you're getting into.

As a family matter, pets are actually fantastic gifts. But the giver must always be willing to ensure that pet's standard of care, just as the adopter of a child must be willing to care for that child. That's why we try not to say you have "bought" this or that animal. You're adopting them. It's a life, and once you've let it out of the box it came in, you can't put it back in.

Fish Profile: Synsipilum Cichlids

Iranian Specimen of Vieja Synsipilum. UWOP.

Synsipilum Cichlids are a perfect case for two things: why cichlids are a niche pet, and why I hate common names. This species has about fifty to sixty trade names - locally they are sold as Tie-Dye Cichlids - which makes doing one's research, as one should before adopting any pet, rather difficult.

As you can see, they're very colorful fish. The specimen to the left is 10", though these fish can be expected to grow to about 17". The are relatively peaceful, but show considerable aggression with each other - it is best to keep them in a sexed pair or singularly.  The best way to include these fish in a tank is in a South American Cichlid community tank, provided with ample territorial spaces - caves, bogwood, and plantations. Even in such a space, success is not assured and you must take care to ensure your fish are not fighting amongst each other.

You're looking at about 55 Gallons for a single adult fish, and as South American fish, you are best off in the range of 6.8-7.8 pH with neutral hardness and a temperature of 79 Fahrenheit. They're from slow-moving sections of the Rio Usumacinta and appreciate a relatively low floor.

A good diet for these fish include cichlid pellets and algae wafers, augmented with prawn or mussel meat in adults and live blood worms or brine shrim as juveniles.

Tie-Dye Cichlid Juviniles. A&G Photo.

Breeding is said to be relatively easy, when a compatible pair are found. The parents do not turn against the fry until they are ready for a second spawn, and the fry feed easily on brine shrimp and common fry staple.

Regarding my point about the niche pets, these fish are a wonderful example of what I hate about cichlids. The picture to the right is far closer to what you see in the pet store.

Fish Profile: Red Bellied Piranha

Red-Belly Piranha Juvenile. Auditor and a Gentleman Photo.

Among the many fish species that never fails to get an excited response from child and adult alike are the Red-Bellied Piranha. They seem to be a staple of fish shops in the area, but they are poorly understood at bed. Pygocentrus nattereri have some special care requirements that are belied by their apparent simplicity at the store.

In spite of the small size at which they are purchased (usually on the order of about three inches), these fish can reach 13 inches in length with a weight of about 8 pounds. Close relatives of tetras, they do best in groups - a group of 4-5 can be kept comfortably through adulthood in a 70 gallon tank, though this tank would likely have to be a species tank, as these fish are carnivorous.

The terrible reputation of the red-bellied piranha for violence is overstated - even large ones are more likely to swim away from a human intruding on the tank than to attack them. Having said that, it is preferred to feed them live food wherever possible. I feed an alternating pattern of live insects and frozen blood worm, though it is possible to keep them plenty healthy on a diet of predator sticks. Resist the urge to feed such as mice or larger fish as neither, kept as pets, are nutritionally balanced for these animals.

Adult of the same species. Wikipedia Commons.

These tropical fish prefer waters of 78-79 degrees Fahrenheit, with a pH between 6 and 7, and moderately soft. They are, after all, amazonian fish.

These fish have a terrible reputation that is largely unearned. Though oft-feared, they are just as docile a pet as any snake, reptile, or rodent I've ever handled, and more docile than quite a few of the latter - hamsters spring to mind.

Fish Profile: Plecostomus

Common Plecostomus, Lynn Smith Photo

Plecostomus might not be as abused as B. Splendens, but they're easily as misunderstood. There's actually quite a few genus in the grouping and even more species - all simply called "plecos" at your local fish shop. The photograph to the right here is of what's known as a "common pleco" - any of about a dozen species in two genus that happens to look just-so.  There's also a variety of other fish in the group, each looking more exotic than the last.

Plecos are an unusual fish - fans of plecos are few and far between, and yet they are ubiquitous in both the industry and the hobby. They are renowned for the habit of juveniles of the species to be voracious consumers of awfuchs - the algae that cakes onto items in the tank. They are usually kept for just that purpose, with their owners having no idea how large they get as adults (we're talking a foot or more), or that their eating off of the glass diminishes with age. A few keepers keep them because of what they are - big, placid armoured catfish.

I'll be the first to admit that's actually pretty cool, but I'm learning I have a soft-spot for large catfish.

At any rate, it's difficult to talk about the ideal conditions to raise plecos, because there are, as I mentioned, quite a few species that are all slightly-different. There are, however, a few general rules. The depth and volume of the tank is not nearly so important as the length, and the longer the better - an adult should be in a tank no shorter than 4 feet and should have about 50 gallons of "breathing space". The adults eat wood, rather than algae, of which mopani is preferred - real drift-wood should be present in their tanks at all time as both a digestive aid and a decoration. They prefer dim lights with places to hide. Aquatic plants will usually get eaten, but consider surface-plants. They prefer quite a bit of flow and high oxygenation - if I was doing a dedicated river-fish tank, I would consider a bubbler and use a power-head for flow.

These fish are amazonian. They prefer corresponding temperatures (in my experience, they are quite happy at around the 79 degrees F mark, though I've heard anywhere from 70 to 80, water that's relatively soft (5-25dH), and a pH in the neighbourhood of 7.2, though they tolerate everything from 6.5 to 8.0.

I've had some success feeding larger plecos blanched zucchini in addition to their regular diet, but this breaks them pretty quickly of their cleaning habits.

There are, of course, more interestingly-coloured and exotic species of pleco, that carry more cost and correspondingly more or less difficulty in handling.

But wait, you say: My pleco is doing just fine in a (10, 20, 30, etc) gallon tank. Okay. I'll believe it. When you're considering replacements, however (he'll either stunt or get to big, trust me), consider Ancistrus spp., or Bristlenose Plecos. They're smaller, and never lose the algae-habit. Plus, their little bristles make them look cthuvian, and that's always a plus.

Fish Profile: Betta Splendens

A Crowntail Betta enjoys his garish
(and hastily-constructed) home.

After I made a snarky remark recently about Betta Splendens being the most abused pet in the hobby, I've been challenged by three separate people to explain myself. It helps a bit that I've just recently acquired a Betta of my own.

Bettas are the last "bowl fish" in the industry - they're the last fish that professional fish-keepers still consider appropriately-kept in unfiltered, unoxygenated water.  They are, in this respect, very useful from a commercial perspective as a good "introductory fish", since their needs are the simplest, their constitutions the heartiest, and their looks the most attractive. I've often contemplated a "desk betta" (I used to have a far larger desk), specifically because they do well in small volumes.

Saying a Betta will survive in a bowl is a lot like saying  a dog will survive in its kennel. Yes, the fish was shipped to the store from Shanghai in less water than you need between lunch and supper to stay healthy. Yes, it has survived weeks on the shelf in heavily-medicated water with no larger a container than a plastic cup. Yes, it can live for months in a well-maintained bowl.

Throw a betta into the ideal conditions, however, and it can live for up to 4 years. Now, that might not sound like much, but when you consider that a ballpark life-span for a betta in a litre of water is six or seven months (unless the casual aquarist is being meticulous about his water-changes), you're talking about improving that lifespan by a factor of eight.

Betta Splendens is a species name that refers both to a particular species, and to a species complex of a dozen or so other closely-related species from the same geographical area. For the purposes of this profile, I will be writing exclusively about the specific fish.

Chemically, Bettas are undemanding. This should not be surprising considering just how stale and inhospitable the water in those little cups you see can get. Ornamental Strains (the kinds you see in pet shops - such as my crowntail, or even the "basic" Betta) are very tolerant of pH and accept water ranging from 6.0 to 8.0; bear in mind that transitioning pH should be done slowly to avoid shocking the fish. Captive-bred fish are also highly tolerant of a range of water hardnesses, but in my experience, colors are best in relatively soft water. Unsurprisingly, they tolerate a range of temperatures from 71-82 Fahrenheit, but I prefer to keep mine (when alone) at 79.

An adult betta with its full pride on will have a length of 6-7 cm, which is a good couple of inches. They're also fairly active under dim lighting, and appreciate a good amount of plant cover, both in the water column and across the surface. For that reason, I find a ten-gallon tank with a base of a foot by a foot and a half to be the ideal for maintaining them.

Taking food can be a bit of a task. Pellets are the easiest to feed (no more than 3 of the nutrafin max pellets per day), though live food should be supplemented often to get the best colour and condition out of the fish.

While there is a certain amount of myth behind the idea that the males fight to the death, keeping males together in anything other than the largest and most well-planted of aquaria is the poor choice. That being said, keeping a male with a small group (colloquially, a harem) of females is a good way to have the energy of a community tank without the difficulty of finding suitable tank-mates for the beta.

These fish also tend to live in standing water that becomes discoloured by decomposition (in the wild), and appreciate additional organic compounds in the water as a result. Treatments containing the extract of beech, oak, or ketapang almond leaves are available. Hagen manufactures such a treatment called Tropical Extracts, under their Nutrafin brand. It's also possible (though energy consuming), to find dry leaves of the mentioned types and litter them across the bottom of the tank.

Let me give an example tank setup, based on the way I intend to retrofit my current betta tank to better suit the poor guy's needs.

Mongkut's Palace
Mongkut, meaning "crown" in Thai, is a fitting name for a fine crowntail Betta. After being rescued from an unfortunate heater-burn accident, Mongkut could not have been expecting to move into such an attractive new home!

Tank Parameters:
   pH: Stable at 7.0
  Temp: 79 degress Fahrenheit 
  Volume: 10 Gallon (Hagen Marina "10" Kit Tank)

Filtration: Hagen Aquaclear 20 HOB, lowest setting, with wonderfully-scrungy foam sponge for media
Lighting: Stock hood with Life-Glo fluorescent tube (I believe it's 14W)

Plantation and Decoration: "Valley" design with tank sides planted in with Vesuvius Swords and back lined with Green Cabomba. Bare natural-gravel substrate with a bit of driftwood for a visual contrast. Duckweed as a floating plant to provide some top-cover.

Maintenance: 10% biweekly water changes and occasional removal of duckweed. Plant-Gro dosed regularly with water changes. Use of small amounts of aquarium salt and Tropical Extracts, respectively.

Feedings: Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 2 pellets in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday - Pinhead crickets or Bloodworm (as available). Sunday - Fast.

Tank "Difficulty": The main difficulty here will be keeping biological filtration powerful while keeping the water flow as low as is practical. Ideally this would be done with an air-powered sponge filter, but having no experience in constructing or running these devices, I'm sticking with what I know. Apart from that, this tank is about as simple as they come.

Tank Design 102: Population Selection

Junior Gorski's very attractive, very large African Cichlid tank. Aquahobby's July '12 tank of the month.

I noticed an awful lot of hits coming my way on the tank selection page, so I figured I might do a second fish-related article. I also have a tea-related article for later in the day, too, but I can't spend all morning writing as there is some very real housework that I need to get done.

Today we'll be talking about designing stocking lists for freshwater community aquariums - that is, ordinary aquariums of the household variety, containing more than one species of fish. There's an awful lot of thought on the subject, and I've seen everything from united-nations like assemblies of fish from the world over to small, painstakingly-crafted slices of the amazon (the latter is a special sort of tank I'll get to at the end).

As always, research is key, and I point hobbyists to seriouslyfish.com and aquahobby.com for their extensive listing of fish care sheets. There are, however, a few generalities I've picked up that aren't immediately obvious from care sheets, which I wanted to share.

Law of Shared Space

One of the things you'll notice on Seriously Fish's care sheets is that the tank capacity required for an ordinary group (or sometimes a single) fish of that species is always given. It is important to note that the fish in question does not need that much space all unto itself (or themselves), but that this is the appropriate amount of space for them to get the right amount of activity to reach adult size and still be comfortable in their environment.

With exceptions made for notedly solitary fish (which aren't suitable to the community tank), this space can still be shared. At that point, the hard limit becomes more a study in filtration capacity. As a general rule, once tank size requirements are met, I allow one square-inch of fish surface area per gallon. Usually, though, the fish will so signs of stress when overcrowded. Use your own best judgement.

Law of Gradient

Different fish occupy different depths in the tank. Loricariidae and corydoras catfish, for example, prefer to be closer to the bottom, as do many species of barb. By comparison, stately gouramis prefer to occupy the area near the surface. Plenty of fish prefer the middle. The Law of Gradient is an adjunct to the Law of Shared Space that specifies the law most applies to cases where fish sharing an overlap in tank capacity occupy different depths. The design equivalent of the Law of Gradient is the Pesciphile Law of Thirds which states that an odd number of species should occupy each of the top, middle, and bottom depth slots.

T. Trichopterus var. "Opaline" - my first feature fish.

Step One: Feature Fish

A feature fish is a fish, often a single specimen, intended to be the focus of the tank. In many, but not all cases, it is a larger, visually-striking focal-fish, such as an angel, discus, or larger-species gourami. Feature fish are a common feature in increasingly-larger tank size categories because they catch the eye and bring attention in for the smaller fish that they cohabit.

Since the feature fish is often a favourite, almost always getting named, and frequently the focus of the owner's affection, I usually advise people to start selecting their tank stock based on that one feature fish. 

Step Two: Apply Bounds

My favourite tool for making stock lists is a digital spreadsheet (I use Microsoft Excel, to the chagrin of my linux/open-source circle of friends) - a template can be found here. The reason for that is that combining fish makes the acceptable water condition balance more and more specific with each new species you add. Essentially, the tank's pH and Hardness should be as close to the middle of the overlap of the range of all the fish as possible.

If you picture each range as overlapping lines, you want to be as close to the middle of the segment where every range overlaps as possible. In general, this is not difficult to do, though a few species will make it difficult.

Step Three: Introduction

I introduce fish according to size and numbers. I try never to introduce more than a half-dozen fish at a time to give the tank time to adjust to their bioload, and I start with the smallest first, which is more a matter of preference than anything. Always acclimate fish to your new tank conditions and always keep an eye on new fish for undue aggression or stress. I advise people who have the room to have a second tank available as a quarantine, and to introduce new fish only after the quarantine fish have been shown healthy for a few days. Where I work, we do a pretty good job of quarantining sick fish ourselves, but we're not always perfect, and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

On Utility Fish

There are a few fish that seem doomed to be kept in inhospitable conditions - the loricarridae - specifically because they are known to eat awfuchs, the buildup of algae and biofilm on glass and tank contents that many consider unsightly. The Loricarids are particularly popular for this purpose, supposedly because they are among the only species to clean glass itself. Unfortunately, your average aquarist doesn't have the tank capacity to care for one of these fish properly, and so these fish wind up being stunted and die prematurely.

Ancistrus spp. The common Bristle-Nose

For those with very small tanks I recommend snails as the most effective and simplest-kept solution for cleaning glass. If you're anything like me, though, snails are about as boring as they come, breed too easily, and are too difficult to be rid of. If you absolutely must insist on using a fish in a smaller (sub-0 gallon) tank in the role of an "algae-eater", focus on Otocinculus spp. (the so-called "midget suckermouth catfishes") or Ancistrus spp. (the Bristle-Nose Plecos). These are fish that stay small naturally, eat awfuchs voraciously, and are much better suited to small tanks.

Establishing a Theme

When I go for a theme, I usually go for contrasting colours, though an increasingly popular (and, in my opinion, much nicer) trend is to build a biotope aquarium. A biotope as closely resembles the conditions of a given body of water as much as humanly possible - Amazonian is a popular example. Biotope tanks are a challenge, because sourcing aquatic plants endemic to a specific region is much harder than selecting fish. It is, however, considered rewarding by many.

In point of fact, I know of a few species of fish that can only be kept safely in conditions so specific as to force the owner to create a biotope tank for them. These are all very visually-interesting fish as well, and it's an option worth considering.

Introductory Fishkeeping: Tank Selection and Setup

Jewel Cichlid Female (H. Bimaculatus) with Fry
SeriouslyFish.com photo

It occurred to me that even after running the Fish Cave blog for quite a while I've never actually gotten around to compiling a guide on taking care of fish. As it happens, taking care of fish is something of a passion of mine - one I don't mind doing for hours and hours on end. Of the various species it is possible to keep as pets, fish are possibly the most alien to our considerably powerful mammalian brains, and under the right care conditions, I've yet to find a fish in the hobby that wasn't gorgeous in some way, shape, or form. From the grace of a shoal of Dojo Loaches to the visual flattery of Discus, there are very few fishes that inspire a "bleh" reaction from me, and there's certainly the right fish out there for anyone.

Firstly, if you're reading this guide without having bought anything at all yet: great! Research, particularly when it comes to living things, is a great thing. Kudos to you. Hopefully this guide will help, just a little bit, in choosing your build and getting it going. In this article I take it as a given that we're discussing a freshwater, planted aquarium.

Size Matters
There are, frankly, three things to consider when selecting the size of the aquarium itself:

• The Fish you're planning on keeping,
• How well it will fit in the room, and,
• Cycler's Law - larger tanks are chemically more stable than smaller ones.

If you already know what sort of fish you want, it's a good idea to check out sources like aquahobby.com or seriouslyfish.com in order to determine what they require in terms of water volume and tank base size. If you don't know, feel free to ignore that rule, but remember in general that a larger tank will leave more doors open in the future than a smaller one.

Tanks are More than Size

There's more to selecting a tank than what size they are. What sort of lighting are you going to need? Do you need a cover? What substrate should you use? What sort of filter will be best for your fish and your tank size?

The Filter: Your Tank's Beating Heart

Your filter is perhaps the single most important component of an aquarium after the glass itself. A proper filter is going to be circulating your tankwater, converting ammonia to safer compounds, adding motion to the water, and in many cases, oxygenating it. Whether you choose to go with a high-end canister filter or a hang-on-back variety, there are a few general tips I can give:

• Always choose a Hagen product. Both the aquaclear HOB filter and the Fluval canisters are the most resilient  enduring, and practical filters I've ever worked with
• Ditch activated carbon on the first media change. Seriously, whenever you finally have to change the filter media, replace your activated carbon package with foam media or a biological substrate like Biomax. I'll explain why in the following section.
• Ensure that your tank size is within the limits of the filter you are choosing, and ensure that all intake and output passages are inaccessible to fish.

A canister is, by design, always more effective than the corresponding grade of Hang On Back filters, but for some well-behaved (read: low-waste) fish, an HOB is more than sufficient for all but the most diehard aquarist.

Concept: Nitrogen Cycle

If you're anything like me, your first thought after hearing the words "nitro-cycle" will be to remember the motorcycle-like penny farthing from Wild Wild West. Unfortunately, the real thing is invisible to the naked eye, but it should not be ignored. If the filter is the beating heart of the tank, than the nitrogen cycle is the circulation it drives.

As fish excrete waste, and as uneaten food and dead plants decay, they give off ammonia (a nitrogen compound), which is toxic to fish. In a properly "cycled" tank, bacteria called nitrosomona actually digest this ammonia and produce Nitrites. Nitrites are less toxic than ammonia, but still pose a risk to fish, and another bacteria, nitrospira, further digest the Nitrites into nitrates, which is (mostly) harmless to fish and actually serves as nutrients for the aquarium's plants. Nitrates do, however, continue to build up, but this problem is corrected with partial water changes.

This cycle can be encouraged with the use of a Nutrafin product called, unimaginatively, Cycle, which is little more than a cocktail of nitrosomona and nitrospira. Even still, establishing a nitrogen cycle takes time, as we will see below.

Lighting

An important part of choosing lighting is going to be staying within the bounds of what your canopy will support. Whether you have a simple light-bar or an actual enclosed tank-top, it's going to be set up for a certain length, type, and wattage of bulb. In general, I try to encourage people to stay away from incandescent bulbs and favor longer-lived (and more versatile) florescent ones... choose your canopy accordingly.

With the exception of some fish which prefer low-light, it's hard to overdo lighting, but it does take some tuning. You need to adjust for the level of plantation, particularly with the Plant-Gro bulb, because unused nutrients are almost always hanging around a tank and an unused amount of energy could result in an inadvertent algae bloom (which is also why we try to keep our tanks out of direct sunlight). These blooms are both ugly and potentially dangerous to fish, but easily averted and easily-enough corrected.

As it happens, I do maintain a few tanks in direct sunlight. I keep the algae level down using what's called a UV filter. The filter sucks water through and zaps it with high-energy UV, killing the algae, which then get eaten up by the proper filter. Between a Fluval canister and this UV filter, one tank under direct sunlight went from being an opaque green to being almost perfectly clear essentially overnight.

Substrate

Most of us are familiar with gravel-bottomed tanks. For many fish this is actually ideal as it prevents them from swallowing up substrate and becoming impacted, but for many other fish gravel is too rough and too large-grained for their purposes. Do your research on your fish, and don't be afraid to mix and match. Personally, I like sandy substrates with "islands" of natural-coloured gravel; I find it looks more natural.

Heating

Always make sure you have a heater rated for the tank size you are using. This should be sufficient to reach any temperature you need, comfortably, and such heating is essential for all but three species of fish that I can think of which are commonly available in the hobby.

Chemicals

As I mentioned in the section on the nitrogen cycle section, you're going to find that the most important parameters of your tank are all going to be absent of your senses and you'll need some help figuring them out and getting them working properly.

The first chemical we need to talk about is a water conditioner - I use AquaPlus - which is for dechlorination of water and usually does a few other things too, like neutralize heavy metals. As a general rule I dose this whenever I add water to a tank, add fish to a tank, or even when I seem to be having white clouds (which is an issue with phosphate content of the water). Early signs of disease? Give it a squirt. Packaging fish for a move? Bet your bottom dollar they get a dose.

We already talked about cycle - a good off-label use for that particular chemical is in attempting to clear up the afforementioned white cloudiness issue, before moving on to an actual phosphate remover. Since this usually works I almost never keep the latter at home and I rarely have to open it at work.

Next comes your test kit. The hard part is selecting one, since not every keeper needs every test, or needs it often enough to have it be part of the main kit rather than an addon. In this respect Hagen makes a very nice range of tests under the Nutrafin brand. At minimum, everyone should be able to test for pH, ammonia (NH3/NH4) and hardness (KH). If you're going to be wandering beyond Swords, Anubias, and Java Fern/Moss by way of planting, having tests for the other two nitrogen-cycle compounds as well as iron and phosphates isn't a bad idea. Test regularly and often. pH adjustment chemicals are encouraged but unnecessary to those with a fundamental understanding of chemistry and suitable caution. Keep the books around, too - some tests are more complicated than you would think, and even without that, you need the charts on the back of the book to reliably interpret the results.

The last chemical we need to talk about right now is salt. Believe it or not, even the freshest setups require a little aquarium salt, and many tropicals we consider to be "freshwater" are actually brackish and require a little marine salt. If you're working with the latter, you'll also need a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the water-marine solution.

Putting it All Together

Now that we have what we need, it's time to start putting together the tank. The first step will be to rinse everything in warm water to clear it of dust. At no time should you use surfactants like soap or detergent on anything going in your tank. Wash all components with warm water before construction and wash all decorations before adding them (any "found" decorations like rocks or driftwood should be vigorously boiled to sterilize them).

Assembly is going to vary according to specific parts, so in that respect I defer you to the manuals, with the strong caution not to add water until the tank is positioned exactly as you want it. Add room-temperature, conditioned water (and do so slowly in order to avoid disturbing your substrate and requiring you to wet-rescape). Allow the filter to run the water through overnight, which should eliminate the clouds caused by stirring everything up.

Now the waiting begins. A nitrogen cycle can take a few weeks to establish, during which you should still feed the empty tank. Watch the ammonia go up daily and wait for it to crash back down to zero. During this time, it's also possible to adjust the salinity and acidity of the water to suit the tastes of the fish you're considering. If you still aren't sure what fish you want, steer toward 7.0 pH, with as low a hardness (KH) as you can managed, at a temperature of 76-78 Fahrenheit. This is a "neutral" starting point for most species of tropical and a common set of water parameters for community tanks. Obviously, if you have fish picked out already, now's a good time to get the parameters down to what they like.

After the nitrogen crash, begin planting, which will start the nitrates being eaten up. It is now okay to begin slowly introducing fish to their new home. As a general rule I try never to add more than 10 "small" fish at once (such as tetras, livebearers, etc) and I usually count feature fish (sharks, discus, cichlids, large tetras, labyrinth fishes, and so forth) as two or three depending on their size.

Allowing the full time to elapse between first adding the water and establishing the nitrogen cycle should keep your fish as happy as possible and minimize your losses. Always remember that some pet salespeople are salespeople first and pet-keepers second, and that nobody knows every animal; cycle your tank. If someone tells you that a given fish could handle living through the cycle, remember two things: they might actually be right, and that's a bad thing.

You're more than a haver of fish. You're a fish-keeper, responsible for their wellbeing and longevity. I can't think of an aquarium fish with a captive life of less than three years and I can think of at least five species I know of that live longer than 20, in the proper conditions. Fish are alive, and just like how you would never abuse a dog or abuse a baby, you should never abuse a fish.