Thanks to everyone for the input! It helps a lot!

I am involved in an Aquarium Association, and am looking for subjects for presentations at our meetings. Some members are keen to learn about ‘black-water pleco tanks’. I am in NZ and black-water tanks are currently all the rage around here. Fancy plecos have been in fashion for ages, and that’s unl...

Thanks! I am an old guy, so I'll go with the old background!

I recently ran into somebody who claims that a bristlenose catfish is not a pleco. Of course it's not a common pleco (Hypostomus plecostomus), but the term pleco is more widely used for all suckermouth catfish / members of the family Loricariidae. Bristlenose catfish are Ancistrus sp., Ancistrus is ...

Hope this is in the correct forum! Anyhow, I have three hoplo cats that I am keeping in a 20G long tank together with a few Xiphophorus helleri (wild type). The tank is a bare bottom setup with lots and lots of Java moss, a Hydrosponge filter, and a heater. The hoplo cats built bubble nests pretty r...

Thanks for the input. I'll try to get some photos of them from the side. Some of them were pretty beat up, especially the fins looked like they had been chewed on by some other fish. They have settled in well though, and are eating like pigs. They are very unusual catfish - extremely active at all t...

I bought these at a recent local auction as 'Hoplosternum thoracatum'. I understand they are now more correctly referred to as Megalechis thoracata, right?
Can anybody sex these fish? Hoping to have a pair!

They are always cool, but the cute looks stop at some time. At the recent OCA Extravaganza Auction, Jonathan Strazinky of http://www.monsterfishrescue.com sold the 3' Redtail-Tigershovelnose-Hybird shown below. There were losts of 'oh's and 'ah's, but I didn't here anybody say: 'how cute' ;-) http:/...

At any rate, seems like a good thing what you are doing. You might also want to try the Ohio Cichlid Association forum (http://www.freeboards.net/?mforum=ohiocichlid) if you have another large fish to place. There are plenty of people on that forum with large tanks!

Frank

Not that I am the expert, but I'd think a female would be rounder. Here is a third vote for a male, so it's 3 for boys, 1 for girls right now!

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

Frank

On a more philosophical level, I don't think it's actually a good idea to 'rescue' fish from pet stores, since they will simply bring in another one as soon as you have taken the first one home. As long as somebody buys these fish - for whatever reason - chain stores and LFS will stock these fish, a...

sidguppy wrote:the brand-name "frontosus" is all the fad these days

Considering the popularity of Frontosa (Cyphotilapia sp.) it's easy to see why this name would have considerable marketing power - regardless what kind of fish you would want to sell!

Frank

OK, I have been living under a rock - or at least haven't visited this forum recently. Does that mean pretty much all the so called 'petricola' in the hobby are actually lucipinnis, and to have a true petricola would be quite unusual?

I guess there is still hope then, and I just got to be patient with them. They are around 1.5" now. Many thanks for the encouragement.

I recently bought a group of 12 syn. petricola of just over an inch (2.5cm) for my 240G (8'x2'x2') Tanganyika community setup. I was lead to believe that I could expect a group of that size to be out in the open and school around the tank for a reasonble amount of time. Instead, they simply vanished...

Today I received my 6 Amano shrimp from FloridaDriftwood, which shows that they are not the fastest place out there with respect to delivery - aparently they were out of stock and only got in a new shipment on Monday. However, all of them were alife and looked healthy as far I I could see. I did a q...

Sid - how about an update on these little fellas?

Wow - great video and a very nice fish. That's a dorsal fin!

Also, it took me a while to figure out that thet huge rock the eupterus is swimming around under at first is actually a pleco

What other fish did I see in the video - albino kuhli loach and a guppy?

Congrats - beautiful babies, Sid

Wow - many thanks for all the input. Good to know that S. petricola eat hair algae. I'll kep that in mind for my Tang tank, which is currently under construction! For my little 29G I decided to go the Amano Shrimp route. I just bought some of Takashi Amano's books, and am fascinated by his setups. I...

I have recently set up a 29G with 6 otocinclus vittatus and some tetras (6 hatchet, 11 neon). I never thought I'd have any problems with algae in this tank, but now I can't get rid of some nasty long hair algae on the top right hand side on the Java moss, just under the lamp. Picture was taken befor...

I've got 6 otos in a 29G tank, and they seem to be pretty happy in there. They often hang out together - maybe not all of them, but I often see up to 4 of them in close proximity of each other. That's more shoaling behavior than the 6 hatchet tetras show, which are in the same tank. Of course the na...

Well, if one thing's for sure, my otos are not going to be cut open. Guess I'll call them vittatus, and if they don't like it, it's up to them to correct me

Many thanks for the responses. So the verdict on vittatus is unanimous?

Regarding the camera, I had it since the mid 80's, so I guess I should have it pretty much figured out by now Just missing a cable to take the flash off camera, which I believe is crucial for good aquarium shots.

Some more pictures. The main difference between the two is that the first one is taken with a 50mm standard lens, and the second one with a 17mm ultra wide angle. The perspective given by the latter makes you feel like you are almost in the tank. My next step will be to use off camera flash - just g...

Thanks - I'll have to check them out!

I recently got 6 of these little guys at my LFS, and they are the focal point of my 29G tank, but unfortunately I still don't know exactly what they are. Still working on my camera setup, and couldn't use a flash yet, but I hope the photos will be sufficient for an ID. http://pic9.picturetrail.com/V...

I've lived in Australia for about 5 years. It's really not that special

It would never have occured to me to feed tomato, but I'll have to try it now! I have fed water melon to my otos. Not quite as popular as cucumber - their favorite! - but they ate it.