The Red Lizard Catfish, or Hemiloricaria sp. ‘Red’ (L10a), is my new favorite catfish. It’s a whiptail catfish, but stays much smaller than your typical whiptail. This fish tops out around 4 inches in length, making them a wonderful catfish for all but the smallest of tanks. I bought three of these fish last fall at the Catfish Convention from a vendor out of Erie, PA.

Native to the Rio Tocantins in Brazil, I thought that these fish would fit in nicely with my Apistogramma cacatuoides. They’re very active fish, constantly scurrying along the rocks, glass, and substrate looking for something to eat. They’re not aggressive at all, and the cichlids don’t seem to bother them, even when the cichlids are spawning. I’m really hoping that some vendors at AquaFest 2007 will have more of these so that I can stock several more in my tanks. I haven’t tried breeding them yet, but it has been done, so if I do get more, I may dedicate a small tank to that purpose.

I’ve kept Apistogramma cacatuoides for some time now in my 75G tank. I started with a trio of the ‘triple red’ color morph. After a few successful spawns, my brilliant male died of seemingly unknown causes. My local fish store had just gotten in wild A. cacatuoides so I decided to try one with my ‘triple red’ females. Before long they spawned, and I now have a small breeding colony of at least 12-15 fish in my 75G community tank.

It’s really been fascinating to watch how the triple-red coloration has mixed with the wild male’s drab color. Some of the males, like the one above, only retain a tiny bit of orange on their dorsal fin. Others, have darker bodies, with more pronounced color in their dorsals. (below)

Then, some of them have orange blotches on their tail fins. It’s quite possible that this one below is actually a female, but you can see the coloration nevertheless.

The black and orange checkerboard pattern is starting to show up on this male’s tail fin, and there’s more orange on the dorsal fin, with slightly more color on the bottommost fins.

Finally, I also have 1-2 nice specimens where the tail and dorsal fins are totally checkered with orange and black. This fish very much approximates the original male that I started with.

The females themselves are not ugly fish, but are very similar to other female apistogramma. I’m fortunate to constantly enjoy the breeding coloration of at least one pair of fish at any given time. I’m amazed by the small crevices these females fit themselves into in the rocks. They’ve located hollow areas in rocks that I never knew had hollow areas.

I’ve also found that these are not shy fish. Unlike some other apistos that I’ve kept, they come right up to the tank when I approach, and usually stare me down until I feed them. They’re not terribly aggressive fish, even when breeding. They’ll definitely try to defend their territory, but most of the time, I see 5-6 hanging around the same area. I’ve always liked dwarf cichlids because they give you the ability to keep colonies of a single species in a modest-sized aquarium. The behavior patterns definitely change in this situation, and that’s interesting to note.

If you haven’t kept cichlids before, Apistogramma cacatuoides is an excellent beginner cichlid. They’re easily obtained from most fish stores, will readily breed in most water, and exhibit all of the same behaviors that people love from cichlids.

I had the good fortune of hosting GWAPA’s April meeting this past weekend. Preparing for any aquarium-related meeting is always a challenge because in addition to the usual cleaning and setting up when any folks are coming over, you also want your tanks to look their best. This can sometimes require planning as much as a few months ahead. For example, in my 75G (updated picture below), I replanted the glosso about six weeks before the meeting, anticipating that it would take about that long to fill in.

Then, for the two weeks prior to the actual meeting, you have to time your water changes, and trimming sessions exactly, so that your stems plants will reach their perfect “bushiness” on the meeting date. Combine that with increased glass scraping, and more consistent dosing, and you’re looking at a bit of work. I’m not complaining because I enjoy all of it, and find that my tanks look the best because of my increased effort. The rest of the year is a crap shoot, however!

This month’s meeting had another nice turnout, reaching 15-20 folks. The weather was beautiful outside, which made talking about my raised-brick pond, much more enjoyable. It’s still too cold outside to actually grow many of my aquatic plants, so I had to cheat a little bit by covering the surface of the pond with lots of Phyllanthus fluitans from my 54G tank. I promise that I really do grow plants outdoors later in the year. I went through a brief overview about how I constructed the pond, and what my experiences were last year. After my pond talk, we all went inside for our auction, which was large and lively as always. The manzanita wood that the club purchased was met with very much interest, as were most items in the auction. I came away with a few goodies, namely an Eriocaulon species that I haven’t tried before. I also added another Red Lizard Catfish to my 75G. (Thanks Cristy!)

More pictures and info can be read on GWAPA’s website.

Kind of by accident (and as a product of my lazy trimming habits), I managed to find a plant combination that I really enjoy. Glossostigma elatinoides and Utricularia graminifolia appear quite nicely together once they become interspersed. The Utricularia adds a nice softening effect to the Glossostigma, both in shape and color. I’m currently attempting to replicate this look throughout the entire foreground of my 75G tank.

Another added benefit of this combination is that the Glossostigma helps to pin down the Utricularia so that it doesn’t become uprooted from the substrate. I have a large whip-tail catfish that loves to lounge on these plants, and has yet to caused any damage, whereas he always tends to pull up the Utricularia when planted by itself.

What’s still left to be determined is whether the Glossostigma will ultimately overtake the Utricularia, leaving just your standard “glosso mat.”

When your aquascape has a glosso foreground, just about every 6-8 weeks, you glosso will look like it does in this picture. The glosso will have formed a mat that’s about 3-4 inches thick, with portions of that mat floating up away from the substrate. Underneath the substrate, you’ll have a nice thick mess of mulm sitting there. And if you’re lucky, you’ll have from fry using this thick mat as a refuge from much larger fish.

Too bad for those fry, when this happens, it’s time to replant! I have to do just this, this week. In about 6 weeks, I will be hosting the GWAPA meeting. Hopefully, by that time, that new glosso plantlets will have matured into a nice 1″ thick glosso mat.

Timing is one of the key things to keep in mind for every aquascape. Whether you’re planning to show the tank to friends, club members, or take that perfect photograph for sharing online or to submit in an aquascaping contest, timing is everything. I generally tend to play things by ear, but one of these days, I’ll spend a little more time counting backwards. What I mean by that, is the advice of another GWAPA member, Ghazanfar, who suggests writing down every time you trim a plant. Then, whenever that particular plant looks “perfect,” note that on your calendar too. If you subtract the “perfect” date from the date you trimmed, you should know exactly how long it takes for each group of plants in your tank to reach its ideal look. Then, anytime you want to show your tank, you just need to count backwards from that date for each plant, and trim accordingly. By the tank your friends are over, every plant in your tank should look “perfect!” (Of course, YMMV.)