That's the normal stress color for both of the species listed. Pics after the fish has settled a bit will be needed for a proper ID.

Larry

The only reliable way I've found to sex from my group is the shape of the ventral fins and males seem to have a slightly longer hard dorsal ray, and even then it's only a slight difference. They don't seem to fatten up as much as a lot of other species. The only one I have which gets fat, I'm not ev...

Welcome to the site. I can't really tell from the pics, but doesn't look like a bacterial infection, so I'm doubtful of the effectiveness of tetracycline. I could be wrong, but better pic showing the fins clearly would be helpful in diagnosis.

Larry

I'm not trying to get involved in the discussion to any great extent because I'm a bit under the weather at the moment. However, a good historical point of what I think Racoll is trying to say would be Corydoras kanei . There was a great deal of discussion on the old catfish-l mailing list, prior to...

I don't know about getting both from a cross of the offspring because I never tried it. I do know that super red crossed back to one of the fry will produce both brown and super red. It should also hold true crossing albino to the brown fry will produce both albino and brown.

Larry

I've dealt with exporters in a similar manner by shipping to Miami, but the information directly regarding the local farms and being common practice comes from the exporter. This has been several years ago, but I'm assuming the same method is still in use today.

Larry

I suspect the farms don't even know where the fish are going. One of the advantages which drew farms to the areas around Miami, Tampa, and L.A. is the number of importers and exporters working in the industry in those areas. I've always thought it was funny that most US hobbyists complain that their...

Maybe there is place for a new cat-elog sub section "Frankenfish - man made breeds and hybrids." There seem to be more of them everyday. -Shane While I don't support the idea of trying to force a naming convention, I actually believe this may be a reasonable idea. Something else for Jools...

Age isn't really a concern here. Head shape is more relative to the body than whether it's narrow or pointed. Although it can be useful, mature/well conditioned fish are a necessity for any educated guess. The same can be said for vent comparisons. Having said that, odontode growth is substantially ...

I would be more apt to say 2 male and female. The top fish appears to be female, middle definitely male, bottom appears male but not certain.

Larry

Larry

The problem with naming domesticated varieties is getting anyone to actually conform to them. You used dogs as an example, so I'll follow suit in this explanation. Yes, Dobermans, Pugs and Golden Retrievers are all recognized varieties of the same species. However, it's only so because the AKC recog...

I can see a couple of flaws in this system almost immediately. There is more than one strain of albinos on the market. This is in point because of my second point. Spot size has regularly been bred for by a few dedicated hobbyists. Even in my tanks right now, I'm continuing a line of large spot albi...

Photo marked "catfish 4" is definitely neither species, based on head shape and pattern, but I wouldn't begin to venture a guess as to the species.

Larry

Not really common. They don't even come from Colombia. However, I haven't seen L127 in several years, so they're at least a bit on the scarce side. Colombian zebra has also been used as a sort of catch-all name for any small stripey pleco which the importer didn't have a positive ID on, so it's like...

I don't want to get too far away from this topic because I'm enjoying reading through the references which have been posted here. However, you should know that getting manatees for that purpose isn't as far-fetched as you would think. In the earlier part of the 20th century, there was legislation pr...

I'm not exactly sure why the nitrates bottomed out after adding the filters, but have a couple ideas as to what may be helping it. First is the pre-filter on the exit of the settling tank. I'm using 30 ppi one inch foam. This blocks most of the particulate matter from getting to the skimmer where it...

The nitrate levels read the same on all my racks currently with the same design, regardless of TDS. Single tanks, which don't get the same filtration luxury and my tap, both read 20 ppm. I'm assuming water changes are the reason there isn't a testable difference in those. Even with one gallon per ho...

Got a much better pic this morning while doing my check, so thought I would share.
Larry

A lot of questions both through the site and email, so I'm going to address the two most common here. I'm sure there are others with the same questions, and just not asking. First is the protein skimmer and filter design. The original filter is VERY simple aside from the skimmer. Even then, it's jus...

I'm going to start by saying this was completely accidental, and the fish had even less care than if I were going to try to get them to spawn. This one is strictly luck. Three and a half years ago, I bought a group of eight tank raised L184 from Dr. Stephan Tanner of Swiss Tropicals. I know they're ...

Not a Peckoltia. female

Larry

Edit- catelog lists them as Peckoltia, but I'm not so sure because of differences in the shape of the head.

Just a quick note. Water hyacinth are considered invasive, and illegal to sell, purchase, or transport in California. This holds true for most states within the US as well. I don't know the disposal method used in California, but know having one found in your tanks or ponds in Arizona results in the...

Sintered glass does have more surface area, but has the problem of fragmenting over time because of the violent action within the reaction chamber. The glass also colonizes a lot faster. In the end, a lot of the media ends up getting dumped into the tank where it can be a real nuisance though. Larry

I've been using them on my tanks for almost 20 years in some form or another. I've been relying on a mix of kaldness K1 and bio chips for about two years now. I wouldn't set up a system without one.

Larry

I just noticed that nothing had been mentioned of temperature in this tank. A temperature even slightly too high will cause the embryo to mature at a faster than normal rate. I read a paper somewhere, don't remember the reference, which showed a doubling of the metabolic rate with only a four degree...

This answer really has to be based on the size of the fish, the size of the spawn, and how fast you'll be able to thin out the fry. It's completely possible to spawn fish in tanks which appear extremely cramped for them (I've spawned bristlenose in 5 gallon tanks several times). However, the fry wil...

This is where TDS, conductivity, and osmotic pressure play a role. Eggs are semi-permeable. This means they selectively transport waste, gases, and other assorted items through the membrane while preventing other necessary (or potentially dangerous) molecules from passing through the membrane. As a ...

I have another specific reading from a collection in 2010 by Nathan Lujan which was temp = 28.6ºC, pH = 5.7, SpCond = 12.7 µS/cm, DO = 82% sat, 6.4 mg/l. That's pretty high DO for warmer water...Jools Haven't been on for a while, but think I have an idea of what is going on in this case. However, h...