Not to get too far off topic, but the pavon in the photo is pavon mariposa ( Cichla orinocensis ) which is the same spp. pictured in the photo of you tank above. C. monoculus is a very distinct sp. that in Venezuela is restricted to the upper Orinoco, Casiquiare, and Rio Negro. C. ocellaris is restr...

Not to take this topic too far off post, but what Dinyar says about Asia is one hundred percent applicable to South America. Many Venezuelan pet store owners were shocked that I collected my own aquarium fishes. There are pet stores in Caracas importing diamond tetras from Florida when less than two...

Dinyar, Second, while the flower pot and marbles approach described in the S. cf. petricola Catfish of the Month article is certainly worth trying, AFAIK, no one has successfuly obtained petricola fry through this method. So it should not be considered a proven technique for breeding S. petricola. L...

Konig, No problem with the X-Ray. I have had a ton of fish go through them. Don Kinyon brought back a number of Corydoras venezuelanus , C. venezuelanus "black", and wild rams that we collected when he visited me in Venezuela. He has since spawned all of these fish. My worst problem was on...

Whatever prepared food you use be sure to check the ingredients closely. You will be very surprised that many brands of "algae wafers" on the market have almost no algae in them. That said, I like Barbie, prefer fresh foods and the bulk of most of my loricariid's diet is cucumber, zucchini...

Zack,
That pavon (peacock cichlid) will get pretty big as well. My friend Beth snagged this young male while we were fishing in Lake Camatagua, Venezuela.
-Shane

Yann and Christian, This fish is a mystery to me. I never saw it in my two years in Venezuela and never meet a Venezuelan that had seen one. Most of the fishes identified as "Venezuelan" in Aqualog are actually shipped mainly from Colombia. It is illegal to export any fauna from Venezuela,...

I am not a genetics expert, but I would tend to agree with Heok Hee. Someone probably got a few sports in a commercial breeding facility and saved them up until they had enough to start some breeding experiments (as was done with a Corydoras recently). It may be a very rare recesive, but this could ...

Dinyar, I "cut" the slate with a simple file. My wife has a large metal file that she uses to sharpen her trowels (she is an archaeologist). Reminds me of a rasp if you are familiar with horseshoeing tools. Anyway, just score the slate with the file, place the part you do not want out over...

Dinyra (and others), Taking the slate photo tank in your car to the exporters would not be so bad (Erwin has explained his set up to me). The real problem (for me) is putting it in a rucksack and packing it, cameras, test kits, nets, et al down to a collecting site. Even my little one gallon weighs ...

Yann (and others), I can not claim credit for the slate photo tank idea. I took it from Erwin Schraml. Look at the Aqualog loricariid book and you can see that he uses the same set up for a photo tank. The only drawback is the that the thing is heavy when you finish and so can not be used in the fie...

Ronnie,
What powerhead are you running? All of the powerheads I am aware of come with a venturi device. This device is key or extra O2 and for keeping the tank's temp down.
-Shane

Tim,
Tank looks great. I especially like the slate. I did the same thing on a small one gallon tank (lined it with slate) and it is great for taking photos since the slate absorbs the flash vice reflecting it. So what is going to live in there?
-Shane

The common name in Venezuela is bagre garbanzo (chickpea catfish) or hipe. According to Roman (Peces de Aqua Dulce de Venezuela II) it reaches one meter in length, has tasty flesh, and is not commonly encountered in the Apure. It seems to be more common in the Orinoco delta.
-Shane

Ben, Mystery clown 2 looks like LDA 68 to me. You have to remeber that 90 percent of exporters are business people and not fish people. Most are making their IDs based on a few old TFH books they have had for 20 years. They look for a fish that looks close to what they have for shipment and that is ...

I remember reading somewhere (I'll try to find the ref) that "grass cutter" comes from their machete like shape. Picture the long anal fin as the blade of a knife.
-Shane

Actually, my wife is pretty good with the fish and even fills in by doing water changes when I am too busy with work to do them myself. She has also, frankly, become as much or more of a disease and medication expert than I am. While taking care of my tanks while I was out of town on business (somet...

Please post a picture or a written description and I will try to help.
-Shane
PS Why does everyone spell Colombia wrong? Not to pick on you Aly, it is also spelled incorrectly throughout the Aqualog book (which was noted by all Colombian pleco people).

The common name "butter cat" is usually applied to members of the genus Schilbe. Take a look there in the Cat-E-Log.
-Shane

Dinyar, It has been my experience that there are three types of trichomycterids. Leaf litter spp, sand spp, and piedmont spp. I think that leaf litter and sand burrowers just scrounge around for whatever they can find while piedmont spp. scour among the rocks and gravel. I would guess small aquatic ...

SH,
I would be happy to help with ideas for Venezuelans or Colombian armored cats.
-Shane

SH, Another option would be to just buy some pine and make your own wood hood. Take a look at the nice wood hoods at a few local fish stores. Their design is incredibly simple and anyone with even a very basic knowledge of saws and hammers can make one in a few hours. A little sanding and a clear co...

Saara, Although we do not experience the same seasonal fluctuations here that you would in Europe or North America, the environment here is not static. Water chemistry values can alter radically between the dry and wet season and it is usually this change that sets most spp. of fish to spawning. I w...

I use all of the above except large gravel. It depends on the fish and where they come from. There is no "one" proper substrate. I mostly use bare bottom tanks for breeding Ancistrus and fry raising as they are easiest to keep clean.
-Shane

Bernt,
The next step after Ancistrus is usually Farlowella, Sturisoma, or Rineloricaria. I would also recommend Panaqolus spp and/or Peckoltia.

All of the Ancistrus spp. that I am aware of that are black with white spots are blackwater fish and should do fine in your tank. They also should not be too hard on your plants. If they do feed on the Discus, (which I have never actually seen happen) just think of it as extra food for the Ancistrus...

Oneoddfish,
Dave is correct. All of those C. julii you see in the states are actually C. trilineatus coming out of Colombia and Peru.

Large black shoulder spot... Come on guys, I am no Corydoras expert, but that sure looks like C. venezuelanus ! I do not know of a case of this fish ever being sold under its true name. It is always confused with C. aeneus , so you are all forgiven. BTW Svetlana, I am collecting C. venezuelanus in m...

Craig checked the Cat-E-Log and confirmed that his fish is H. brachysoma. He then asked if the price ($100) was fair and that was an even harder question to answer.

Rereading Craig's description leads to believe you guys are correct. For some reason the $100 price tag threw me off the track. These things were less than $20 last time I was in the states. That said, there was a time that they and Mystus leucophasis were going for $750 each about 15 years ago. I'l...