At the last CCA meeting that I attended, I picked up a pair of Apistogramma similis that the speaker had collected himself when in Bolivia. I’m hoping that they really are this species because they don’t exactly look like the pictures in my Cichlid Atlas Vol. 2, but they aren’t that far off either. In any case, Apistogramma similis is quite similar to Apistogramma inconspicua, with a different number of dorsal spines. The extent to which this species is distributed is unknown, being found a couple jungle rivers in the Bolivian province of Beni.

I don’t expect these guys to be terribly difficult to breed in my 75G aquarium, and hope that I’m able to garner a small population of them. These aren’t the prettiest apistos available, but still have their appeal, and if my juvenile specimens color up a bit, they’ll be nice to look at nevertheless. I’ll post updated pictures of these guys as they mature.

Across two months of GWAPA meetings, I brought home four Goo Obo Gudgeons from the auctions. The Goo Obo Gudgeon is a small unidentified fish that was collected at Goo-Obo Falls in Papua New Guinea. According to the documentation that I got from the seller, while unidentified, this is probably either Allomogurnda or Mogurnda nesolepis.

When I brought home the first pair, I was admittedly a little bit disappointed. Shortly after adding them to my 54G tank, they disappeared into the hardscape, and weren’t seen for at least another week. Eventually, I started noticing them, hiding in the shadows underneath large anubias or cryptocoryne leaves, or between pieces of wood and rocks.

That’s when I decided to try adding 2 more to the tank, in hope that with four total, I’d see one of them more often. Fortunately, this strategy seems to have worked. Also, I started feeding the tank blackworms, which has definitely drawn them out of their hiding places!

According to the Baensch Aquarium Atlas Vol. 4, these gudgeons “inhabit small, frequently swift-flowing, gravel to mud-bottomed rain forest streams.” They also enjoy the cover of vegetation and plant roots, which exactly what I’ve experienced in my tank.

As young fish, they were not very attractive, but since feeding them blackworms, they have increased in size (max about 3″), and have definitely gone from rather drab looking to fairly colorful with bright yellow fins. I doubt that they will be able to successfully raise any young in this tank due to some very active catfish, but they’re very interesting fish to keep. (And they’re great additions for rainbowfish themed tanks.)

Last weekend, I purchased a pair of Apistogramma hongsloi ‘Super Rostrich’ from fellow CCA members, TwoFishGuyz. I had been looking at a number of West African cichlids for my 75G tank, but I came across these guys, and decided to stick with my beloved Apistogramma.

Apistogramma hongsloi ‘Super Rostrich’ are a captive bred strain of A. hongsloi that are selected to have more vivid coloration than their wild kin. This particular strain also has longer lyre-tailed fins. As far as Apistos go, this particular species gets fairly large at 3-4″ for males, similar to other members of the Macmasteri group, such as A. veijita. Despite still being fairly young, you can see the potential coloration of the male in the photo above.

As usual, the female is much less impressive (shown above), exhibiting a somewhat awkward body shape, and having the typical black markings on the front of their dorsal and pelvic fins, with an otherwise, mostly yellow body. So far, mine haven’t really seemed to bond, but hopefully in time, love will set in. *laugh*

Despite the lack of mating behavior, they’re both fairly lively fish. The male is especially active, swimming up and down the glass, looking at me. Hopefully, after plenty of live foods, they will settle in, and produce a nice little colony of Apistogramma for my 75G.

In my 54G corner aquarium, I’ve got quite a few different kinds of catfish. All of them are different looking, and each has a unique character.

The Ancistrus sp. L279 bristle-nose plecos stay around 3-4″, and are usually found sucking on the driftwood in the tank. They’re fairly timid, but do come out often enough to enjoy.

The Siamese Algae Eater, SAE, is a very common algae eating fish. They are commonly confused is the Flying Fox, which is not nearly as effective an algae eater. Becoming popular once they were observed eating black brush algae, they are often recommended to new aquarists as a means of algae control. Unfortunately, most people do not initially realize that the small fish they purchase in the store, turn into 6-7″ blimps. Despite their size, they’re usually lazy enough, lounging around most of the time in their old age, that they do not disturb the aquascape.

The Botia sidthimunki loach is a fantastic little catfish that stays small, is constantly active, and is very social when kept in a group. I have five of these in the tank, and they’re always scurrying around, chasing each other throughout the aquarium. They do not harass other tank mates, however, well, except for snails or shrimp!

I have a couple varieties of corydoras in this tank. Cories are also very social catfish, constantly searching the bottom areas of the tank. Occasionally, you will see one shoot from the substrate all the way up to the water surface, and then dart back down. Apparently, cories have adapted to be able to breath air from the surface, allowing them to survive in poorly oxygenated water. I’ve also witnessed them playfully swimming upside-down at the water surface for awhile before swimming back down to the bottom.

Overall, I can highly recommend all of these catfish, for different reasons. The A. sp. L279 are great little plecos that eat algae, but don’t overwealm the tank. The SAEs get bigger, but are peaceful, and also eat algae. The “sid the monkey” loaches are a great, active, addition to any tank, and will eliminate snails from your aquarium. And corydoras are just plain fun to watch!

I just wanted to share a few shots of my Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish, or Melanotaenia praecox. I have a school of 13 fish in my 40G tank right now, and they’re great for photography, as they tend to hover in place against the current. The school I have right now is mostly females, and I haven’t had any fry survive, probably due to the Apistogramma that are also in the tank.

Here’s a close-up of one of the males in the tank. These fish are still relatively young, and haven’t fully developed the steep forehead that’s common among adult rainbowfish. The males seem to develop a slightly more pronounced arc than the females do.

Below is one of the females, identified by the yellow in her fins, whereas the males fins have a reddish hue. The iridescent blue tint of their scales are even more intense and shiny in person, than in these photos. If you haven’t kept these fish, they’re perfect for planted aquariums, and wonderful community fish — just make sure to keep them happy by having schools of 6 or more.

A few weeks ago, I stopped by my local fish store on the way home from work, looking for some regular Otocinclus to help eat some algae in my 40G tank. Unfortunately, the store was out of Otos, but the owner recommended a curious little fish called the Pitbull Pleco, or Parotocinclus jumbo.

Of course, with the reputation that pitbulls have, I wanted to be sure that this little fish would not be a mean killing machine if let loose in my aquarium. So, the owner kindly helped me lookup more information on the fish, and as it turns out, the name is a bit of a misnomer. The fish was originally named after a pitbull due to the fact that its eyes are more on the top of it’s head, rather than on the sides, similar to the canine.

Satisfied, I promptly bought a half dozen of them, and brought them home. Once accustomed to my heavily planted 40G aquarium, these plecos are really quite attractive fish. They’re roughly the same size as an Otocinclus, and according to many sites only, they will not grow too much larger. In fact, they really look like a different colored Otocinclus, especially when hoisted on the glass, as seen below.

So, the next important question was whether they would actually eat any algae. Fortunately, it didn’t take me long to find the answer to this question, as they went straight to work, clearing the glass, rocks, and leaves of any of the spot, dust, diatom, or similar algae. They seem to leave alone the hair and fuzz algae, but that’s what I have Amano and cherry red shrimp for.

All in all, I would recommend the Pitbull Pleco to anyone looking for a similarly sized, but different algae eater, than the Otocinclus. They’re attractive, peaceful fish, that seem to group together, and do a fine job keeping the glass and hardscape clear. They seem to tolerate similar water parameters as most corydoras, making them ideal for 90% of the aquariums out there. Highly recommended!

Over the past few days, I have noticed that my two females in the 40G have been bright yellow in coloration, and have remained very close to their caves. These are tell-tale signs that they’ve been spawning. It looks like the first female’s fry are now free swimming!

Right now, there is a sizable group of fry, with at least 20-30, but it could be even more. They move around so much, and they all look the same, that it’s near impossible to count. They spend most of the day grazing on tiny organisms and detritus throughout the tank, and especially on the porous mossy rock that contains all kinds of nooks and crannies for them to sort through.

Some of them even seem to take refuge in the small holes formed in the volcanic rock. I don’t plan on trying to remove the fry from the tank, so essentially it’s up to their parents and the cover of these rocks and plants to grow them up. I will, however, prepare a batch of baby brine shrimp for them this week to help them grow up big and strong.

I noticed some increased fin flashing activity in my 40G tank, and decided to try and capture a few good shots of my Apistogramma sp. ‘Rotpunkt.’ Some of the shots are better than others, but there’s no doubt that these are some pretty fish, whose colors especially pop under the new 2x96W lights!

Apistogramma sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Flashing Fins

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Front On

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Female in Spawning Colors

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Close Up. Notice how brilliant the blue on the face is.

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Non-Dominant Male. Not nearly as impressive, huh?

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Coming at You.

I should have used a flash above the tank to shoot at a better quality ISO, but I always end up spooking the fish in order to set that up.

Thanks for looking! Any comment/critiques are welcome, as always!

Remember back in the summer when I brought home the wild Jewel cichlids from Florida, and they immediately spawned? The fry were so tiny back then.

Now, only about 6-7 months later, the then fry, are now nearly as large as the adults. What may be even more amazing is that the two parents are living peacefully with their 2 remaining children in a 20H. I gave the other fry away when they were only an inch or two.

While not quite as large or colorful as their parents, they are starting to look fairly decent. The “jewels” are becoming more visible and intense on their face, and their body is staying a nice dark cobalt color.

I imagine that they won’t ever look as good as their dominant parents until they move on to a tank of their own. I’m trying to maintain the peace by regularly feeding them large meals of blackworms, spectrum, or the occasional feeder guppy. They’re voracious eaters, but don’t seem to fight each other for food.

When we went on our short weekend trip for four days, I didn’t line up a special feeding regimen, however, and they didn’t beat each other up, so I must assume that they’ve worked out a living arrangement amongst themselves. Hopefully that’ll last for a long time. I imagine that if they ever spawn again, trouble might result. Until then, they’re a fun, and personable group of fish that seem to recognize me, and watch me from the right corner of the tank, whenever I’m in the room.

After much consideration, I finally decided upon this Pelvicachromis pulcher ‘Super Red’ pair to occupy the other side of my 75G from the Nannochromis nudiceps. These fish are a color variation of your common P. pulcher kribensis that are far redder than the normal variety.

Purchased from SCALES in Silver Spring, MD, I was informed that this pair had already spawned in store, yielding a small group of fry that were taken home by an employee. Already in my 75G, I witnessed plenty of fin flashing and body wiggling between the pair. Even weirder, I’ve seen the female display the same motions toward the male N. nudiceps. Clearly this female is both confused, and ready for motherhood!

The female is by far the more beautiful fish of the pair. Her belly is a ripe red color, with some really nice spots on her fins. The yellow is also quite intense. The female kribensis has a very interesting body shape, as her belly seems slightly out of proportion from the rest of her. Hopefully I’ll be able to report a successful spawning sometime soon!