There seems to be 2 schools of thought on whether WC fishes do carry parasites. It's pretty much a given that any adult fish in the wild has parasites. This is normally not anything which bothers the fish -most parasites appear quite well-adjusted- and you pretty much have to dissect the fish to fi...

I have now heard from a reliable source that any CITES listing for Hypancistrus zebra is at least a few years away, if at all forthcoming.

Hi They look very healthy specimens, can you let us know what you are feeding them, a few basic maintenance tips?? thanks Nothing special, really, they get the same treatment any pleco-type fish would... They're in an established planted tank, get a random blanched veggie every other day, and are f...

My six leopard otocinclus have now acclimatized, fattened up, changed color, and generally become quite strikingly beautiful fish, so I've now snapped some shots of them, and posted them at my website: http://mikes-machine.mine.nu/otocinclus_cf_flexilis.htm Basically there are three possibilities: t...

Caol_ila wrote:As a community we should protest about the electronorte dam and not the ban

I whole-heartedly agree.

Janne wrote:Phosphate buffer is the easiest to use for keeping pH stable at low conductivity but you have to be aware that phosphate drops the pH very low if the conductivity is to low

OK, I'll mix the distilled water with tapwater to get about 50 uS/cm, then add phosphate buffer.

With most of the loricariid's that is not neccesary to go lower then 100-120 µS for spawning and in that level it's more stable in the pH, if you go lower you need to change water quite often so the pH dont drop to low and at 10 µS it's impossible to keep the pH stable if you dont change water co...

a ban according to whom and to what penalty? Who is "publishing" this "ban". I have no information on this particular species, but a large number of fish species are about to enter the CITES list, some of which are presently common aquarium fish. The portuguese document linked t...

A drop in conductivity, simulating dilution by rainwater, is said to be a key trigger for many loricariids. However, does the "starting point" matter? Is it the absolute value of the endpoint, or the size of the drop which matter the most? Example, which would be most & least likely to...

Hi JJ! I think its a misconception that hobbyist fishkeepers endanger wild populations. I just read an article in "Das Aquarium" (german fishkeepers magazine, invented LDA Numbers) that in most cases pollution and loss of habitat is the reason for extinction and not some hundreds of fishe...

I always fed my Zebras and L56 with bloodworm, and they seemed very happy and healthy. After a period of one month, they suddenly died with a large belly. My experience is that you can kill anything with bloodworms - if they've been handled improperly before being frozen. Unlike e.g. mosquito larva...

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I'm wondering if someone could straighten out some "?" I've got regarding how to simulate wet/dry season cycles to induce spawning in loricarids? I gather that the "wet season" consists of daily large water changes with cooler water with low conductivity - but I'm unsure of what ...

I have never had any success with feeding Otocinclus. They would not accept manufactured foods I tried like Sinking Algae or Spirulina Wafers. Well, I'm far from an expert, and I've had lots of trouble getting my otos to eat, but I'll tell you my experiences. IME they tend to be leery of anything w...

The otos have now started feeding. It took a week, but at least two are feeding. They compete with the apple snails for the zucchini and brussel sprout, but haven't touched the lettuce. Once/if they've settled in I'll ID them and take some photos of them for Planetcatfish. No, although they're suspi...

Silurus wrote:So the otos are new additions to the tank?
Sounds like you may have gotten lousy stock from the shop.

Yeah, they're in poor shape. I knew the odds were bad when I bought them. That's why I'm so worried about getting them to eat something, anything, to get them going.

No, this isn't working. I've now gone through two brussel sprouts + a 1" piece of cucumber, and I'm just feeding my apple snails - I don't think the otcincluses have eaten any of it at all. The ottos are scared silly of anything I put in the tank, and wont go near. I have four large apple snail...

Whew..... I'm glad we got the SIMPLE reply then.... is there an even simpler one? Sure: there is no qualitative difference between species and subspecies. The dividing line is arbitrary and subjective. The explanation why that is, is a bit more complicated though. Whether distinct but similar popul...

You might do some searching for the articles on the devastation being caused to native fish in Malaysian waterways before you include flowerhorns in your broad based theory....Barbie Last I heard there was considerable uncertainty whether those "flowerhorns" are really Amphilopus trimacul...

So you are serious? Im sorry but can you give me an idea to what degree you want to breed the fishes that they cant enter natural habitats anymore? All tanks will be filled with flower horns, balloon mollies, corys etc, pidgeon blood discus, bloody parrots, longfin Ancistrus....and how much "n...

Hi! Are you seriously saying that spreading and producing hybrids will help our nature? I am saying that domesticated breeds have a smaller chance of becoming established when introduced into environments where they dont belong, than do the wild type. If your primary concern is introduction of alie...

Then go ahead and kid yourself. Like it or not, people DO dump their unwanted fish in rivers, canals, streams. Yes, but if anything that's an argument FOR mongrels and domestication. Severely modified cultured strains of fish are unlikely to establish themselves in nature. There are no wild populat...

I have not had much problem with feeding my group of otos. I've fed them pieces of zucchini or peas thatI put in a glass of water and nuked in the microwave until the water was boiling and then put the vegetable in. Unfortunately mine are much, much, too suspicious for that. They still wont go with...

Silurus wrote:veggie clip

Aaaah... No, I haven't, I'm ashamed to admit. Never occurred to me. Good tip, will try immediately!

Once again I find that I'm having problem getting supplemental feed to my Otocinclus. They will absolutely not search for food on the bottom of the tank - so how can I feed them? I'm guessing I'm not the first to have this problem, so: how do you guys feed your ottos? Do you have some nifty tricks f...

Any comments? Serious hobbyists who want purebreed wont buy their mongrel fish, although I suppose the "parrot cichlid" and "flowerhorn" crowd might. Personally I dislike mongrels because they dilute the purebreeds, making it harder to find and identify pure species, other than ...

If you bought yours recently they are all coming from the same shipment from São Paulo, it was years since they last was selling them in the lfs. I'm not any expert on Oto's so therefor I put the question up to be sure of what I get. I've never seen this species before. I got mine two days ago, fr...

Same as these topic maybe http://forum.planetcatfish.com/viewtopic.php?p=39733#39733 I have a bunch of them too, they are not imported so frequently so they can be hard to find. Janne It looks almost identical to mine, yes! Your fish, if it is a described species, should be Otocinclus mimulus, as i...

I chanced upon some strange, large, Otocinclus flexilis yesterday. I've read Schaefers monography, and Kullanders paper on Otocinclus mimulus (which, incidentally, is a very interesting read, and available on the net: http://www.pfeil-verlag.de/04biol/pdf/ief14_3_08.pdf ), and, well, I'm not sure wh...

I've got 10 zebra-otos which I've been feeding quite heavily with spirulina-pellets, frozen artemia, and shrimp mix, in the hope to get them to breed. A few days ago I noticed that one of the largest fishes had grown very 'fat' - that is, had a very distended belly, and I thought it was a gravid fem...