Congratulations!

I've been seen fishing for Steelhead and trout throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, Yellowstone National Park and all around YNP.
Never been to California though.

Dan Dihn wrote:One more question. How old may an Adolfoi be?

I think about 8 years assuming they are at least close to one year old at first so that makes it 9 years. 10 years would be my guestimate for some longer lived individual specimens.

Gert, Very nice setup. Your L260 look large/old enough to breed to me. I've had mine spawn as young as 16 months old. Their fry are very poor competitors. At least that is my estimation. I always used setups closely resembling yours but I also include pieces of stacked slate separated about 0.5 to 1...

Hi bekateen, You have been given very good advice and explanations here from some very skilled aquarists and more than a few scientists. About all I feel I can contribute here is to advise you to buy an reverse osmosis water purification unit since collecting rain water isn't a viable option for you...

I have seen smaller blisters on a fin which appeared to be very similar. Nearly all of those I've seen were on a Corydoras. I do not know the cause nor cure but I suspected a virus was the culprit. My affected fish never acted sick. It has never seemed to be contagious. These blisters would often sp...

Rainbow Trout polyploids are infertile and tend to grow larger and faster. This may be because they are not diverting energies towards reproduction. I would not be surprised it the same wouldn't apply to a polypoid Cory. I have the most experience with inbreeding lines of domestic Discus. I never ha...

The prognosis is not good. A fairly delicate species as this which is so far gone due to starvation and/or parasite load is usually going to die. There isn't any specific treatment which is likely to be successful. Just providing good care and careful feeding in a quarantine tank is probably your be...

While I've found earthworm sticks to work very well the important thing, imo, is that the food is high protein and doesn't rot fast. Nearly all these foods still have a significant amount of Spirulina and other ingredients. These fish are primarily carnivorous yet are grazers and so ingest considera...

I would recommend trying earthworm sticks as the primary food for your fry and juveniles less than 5 cm long. To the best of my knowledge, Sturisomatichthys spec., may be treated exactly like those of Sturisoma. I found that early in their lives the fry seem to do best in shallow water with a brisk ...

kruseman wrote:Interesting.
In what way were these delicate? The food? Or waterparameters?

Hi kruseman,
This species is new to me but as a former fish shop owner, I look at the fish in the photo and one thought springs to mind. I bet those don't ship well.

Check this Characin out.
http://phys.org/news/2013-03-blue-belli ... .html#nRlv
I would call these an odd one.

I really like your setup. The combination of Dicrossus filamentosus and Farlowella is a good one. Both are old favorites of mine. Perhaps not for actually breeding either but a nice display for both. I also concur with others about enriching the Farlowellas' diet being enriched with some live or fro...

Wrigglers ejected would need the protection isolation provides but for fully developed fry in your group of community fishes shouldn't be subject to any predation.

Treetopper,
Why not write about your fish in the first person directly and ditch the cutesy language?

If all you are doing is trying to maintain the one aquarium I doubt you need to spend money on any RO unit. There must be 10's of thousands of successful casual aquarium hobbyists in the Metro Montreal area who use only tap water without incidents. In any case, it has been good advice for you to fir...

I suspect that natural hybrids have occurred infrequently over the millennia. However, as the habitat is degraded by the Belo Monte Hydro project and species populations increasingly diminish, then hybridization incidence is likely to increase. Of course, I am merely speculating but I think that the...

Vanillarum, I think you are offering an uncommon Hypancistrus species at a very nice shipping size and price. I had a group of wild adults which I sadly lost due to a power filter failure 6 years ago. I highly recommend adding these to anyone's pleco collection. They not only do no harm to Anubias p...

Nice microphotographs of some species of Chilodonella. Note; there are many species of Chilodonella. A few infect fish while others need other animal hosts. The Chilodonella species I have observed under a microscope taken directly from infected plecos had a shape more consistent with those of known...

Looks like Chilodonella to me.
Verify by viewing skin swab or scraping on glass slide under a microscope.
Parasites appear to be slightly heart shaped through a microscope.
Velvet usually looks more like fine dust.

Darrel, Great information about the worms. I began collecting "Nightcrawlers" about 55 years ago. "Nightcraweling" on my hands and knees through wet lawn with a red filtered flashlight. They are very light sensitive and quickly withdraw into their tunnel but they aren't as sensit...

I should have written: Avoid the "earthworm" species Eisenia fetida.
They can be confused with some of the tastier species of smaller worms.

If you are only going to be gone less than one week do not worry about feeding.
Far more fish are lost when others take care of your fish when you are gone.

Raise earthworms. I know no better food for conditioning fish large enough to eat them.
They may be grown in many different containers. No need to tie an aquarium up.
Note: Avoid "Red Wrigglers". Breed Lumbricus terrestris AKA "Night Crawlers".

I would recommend .
I consider them to be the Hypancistrus equivalent to the common Bushy Nose.
Very easy and prolific. The fry are a breeze to raise and they grow fast.
Often begins spawning by age 18 months.

Hi Jools,
That's a big 10-4 regarding this home page display bug.

You either segregate the sexes or use the eggs/fry as fish food otherwise BN will over run any breeding tank.
They are extremely prolific as you have discovered.

I only used microworms in a pinch. BBS were the key to my fry thriving. Actually bbs were what I considered to be the staple food for all ages. A simple BBS hatchery setup can be covered with an inverted plastic garbage bag. The cysts hatch within 20 hours. I place a low wattage CFL to supply heat b...

I raised about 1000 C. hastatus over a 2 year run from a permanent colony set up in a 20 long. Soft water is helpful as your tap water seems to be but I would want to see a pH between 6.0 to 7.2 and water temps of about 82 to 84*F. I introduced the use of Eheim pre-filter tubes as fry refuges. I als...

Feed Peckoltia fry high protein foods.
I've raised nearly 900 Peckoltia compta on earth worm sticks but they grow fast and can soon take live or chopped black worms and frozen blood worms. Peckoltia aren't much of an algae eater.