For true algae eating fishes, it is far better to feed fresh vegetables Thanks Shane. What about semi-omnivorous planteaters like Ancistrus and Pterygoplichthys ? I know the latter has an immensely long gut and that eating large amounts of meat harms them, but I'm still unsure about how important &...

Also, Redrain, please don't put plecos in an illuminated bare bottom tank. It is just not fair for the plecos.. they want it dark, and the light gets reflected from all sites of the tank. There is no shade at all... I am not experienced with plecos, but judging from your tank pic I think that even ...

I have seen two different algae wafer brands, including one from Tetra, and the first five or so ingredients are all starchy plant parts like potato, oat, and wheat. Is this some marketing gimmick, or is the high proportion of carbs a calorie boost for plecos? I've been feeding some koi and other no...

They probably do exist here, but I assume they are all busy with things.

Correction: They do not have to be extremely rare, as long as there is not much information on them they should be suitable.

and perhaps some L-numbered plecos should be suitable examples

Hello all, After getting my poor "common" suckermouth killed a few days after Jools' last post in the topic ( http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44898 ), I took a break from PC partly due to my lack of catfishes. How do those of you with rarely-imported fishes care for them...

Shaming people into answering your questions is bad form...people here are generally very helpful. Maybe reword your question without all the extra bits. It is not a requirment that we answer...most of us do not have much extra time to decipher posts. Birger Sorry if I sounded impolite to anyone, I...

I have heard that captive raised fishes are often better suited and thrive better than wild ones in tanks. However this does not mean the change is always genetic, they may simply have gotten used to tank conditions. https://www.bluezooaquatics.com/productlist.asp?did=1&cid=361 http://www.liveaq...

Does anyone care to state why they haven't replied? Is there insufficient info to make a diagnosis? Did the additional questions in the edits go unnoticed?

There are two kinds of bad fishfood. One is expired food, and the other is low quality food. I may have both of them. My can of pellets, while not past the expiration date, seems to have changed its smell. The new smell is not unpleasant. Anyone have tips for: Getting rid of low quality food Detecti...

Genetic manipulation via selective breeding has been going on for thousands of years. Selective breeding of wolves produced the great variety of dogs we have today. And most of the crops and farm animals we have are the result of selective breeding. Selective breeding, which is a slow process, is n...

I have a 2' blind iridescent shark catfish, a free and non-stop swimming species. It does tend to spook easier and run into stuff (this is common in the species anyway) more than my other iridescent sharks but overall I think it's coping just fine. Blind ambush predators like TSN usually do just fi...

Well going back to the main focus of the topic (albinos) certain albinos, such as chickens (not necessarily fish though), are certainly not adapted well even for the average chicken yard. If you click the study near the top of the page, it says they have difficulty finding food and water and needed ...

Fish with harmful-in-the-wild traits that slightly affect them in the aquarium, like the roundbody goldfish which cannot swim well, may be happy and mostly unaffected by their phenotype in a tank. But we are not them, so perhaps they would be even happier if they had a normal shape and swimming was ...

Well, first I would try to figure out why the fin rot refuses to leave before any euthanasia happens. As an imaginary example, your fish may be unable to fight off the infection because its immune system is too weak. In that case, check the water parameters, feed it extra nutritious food, etc. Also,...

Any pics?

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My comment was more along the lines of testing the above. In the aquarium, I've not noticeably observed any quality of life detriment attributable to poorer eyesight. The quoted links don't suggest this either. Hypersensitivity to sunlight appears undocumented. On a personal level while I'm not gre...

It does have a sunken belly. Luckily it isn't too bad, because the fish has been eating goldfish sinking pellets.

Thanks a lot!

However, I did notice an orange dusty patch around the fish's vent, which wasn't there before. Is it a bleeding area from some disease? See pic coming soon

Never had cetopsids, but since you have no replies, I advise: why not ask/research about Cetopsis as a whole? C. orinoco is likely too rare, so few people have kept them. Surely its behavior is similar to other Cetopsis, probably, but do use caution.

Innes also says something along the lines of "Goldfish almost never encounter lettuce or steamed fish in the wild, but since their composition is similar to natural plants and protein it's not a bad idea". Exotic Marine Fishes coauthored by Herbert Axelrod also recommends lettuce, but says...

Pics:

Although I am not experienced with catfishes, you could try using a glass divider to separate them (but allow eye contact) and carefully watching the big fish's reaction to the small one. I got this idea from a story in Herbert Axelrod's Exotic Marine Fishes book, in which a pike and some perches we...

Does a tank with only one catfish (and plenty of non catfish) count as a catfish tank?

I started general fishkeeping from a very young age.

P.S. I'd probably say that such a tank certainly counts. Even feeding a common is fun!

Additional notes: Anyone know of what other precautions to take when moving fish? Edit: If the pleco swims around in the water column frequently like a "typical" fish, is it a sign of anything? Both this fish and a previous deceased one (the dead one probably had disease and was not starve...

It sounds like you are stuck with them for their and your lifetime and will need to keep upgrading their watery playground. In my ignorance, I've never heard of the diet you are offering to your koi nor do I think that feeding koi only/mostly quality pellet is wrong. As for "might miscare for ...

Yes, since P. shawi is known as a bee catfish.

Anyone have ideas about where I can move some of my koi (4-5 in.), which are getting large, and my common pleco (around 2.5 in.), which still has a long way to go but will bust the 50/60 gallon in the future? Main concern is that I need somewhere that cares about them. If the koi get sold to a pet s...

Hm, the bee cat looks like a small , which is related. Where will sturgeon go when it gets big?

If a common pleco isn't eating then there is something significantly wrong mostly likely with conditions. There is a major difference between having no appetite, and realizing your cousin ate all the ice cream from the freezer! The fish eats, but it competes poorly with its hungry tankmates. I don'...