I end up seeing one once a year or so. Then I don't get it (because where would I keep it?).

Next one gets to live in the sump until I sneak a new tank in.

It has finally warmed up enough in the Pacific Northwet to keep some fish outside until September or October. Any favorites? I'm going to put my Platydoras out, but I think I may need some guppies too for mosquito control. Even at night they don't swim the top of the tank as much as my last (15cm lo...

Is that a ?

Any info on what it looked like where you found it? Aside from the one picture in the clog there isn't much on the specific areas where they are found.

[ Since I'm thinking of redoing a tank it is a bit of a biotope quandary. A swamp- airbreather theme would work (and also work nicely for the short tub pond season) but sticking to a continent seems unlikely. Sounds like a nice idea. What kind of species were you thinking about for your swamp tank?...

Hoplos seem common in low oxygen areas, but do they share those with any non- catfish? From the list I gave, I would expect hoplos to be found in the same kind of habitats as arapaimids, gymnotids, erythrinids and synbranchids. Most of those tend to be very large fish. I guess I find it surprising ...

How common is air breathing in fish? Catfish wise seems primarily restricted to South American fish except for the Clarias in Asian and Africa. On the other hand, it seems there are more non catfish air breathers in Asia with the Labyrinth fish. Hoplos seem common in low oxygen areas, but do they sh...

Minor one:

Possibly spawns in burrows along river banks and may exhibit brood care. Females are apparently mot sexually mature until 40-50 cm SL.

Do they enjoy company, school, or just put up with each other without complaint? I recently reentered the world of catfish (cichlids of course ;)) and picked up a quartet of Raphaels. Platydoras armatulus They're swimming along in a 20 long for now* and I can't decide if they school a bit or are jus...

The location map for this cory puts it somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean (near St. Helena). A longitude mixup in one of the localities maybe?

Just some experiences. 6x2x2 or 4x2x2 seem like good starting points. Its going to depend on the fish. 4x is not enough for big barbs (Tinfoils and maybe Bala sharks). 6x may not be enough either, but going strictly on size, a 75 or 120 gallon might be ok. Its really not. A counter to that might be ...

I had a trio that I kept for about 3 years on mostly wood alone. They were kept with some small rasboras, who got flake, not a lot was wasted by the rasboras. The rasbora school probably weighed less than a single pleco anyway. I did occasionally give them potato and cucumber, especially at first, b...

I had a bunch of tinanti in a 5ft 80 gallon. Starting with 5 they formed 2 pairs, and if I remember correctly, killed off the 5th wheel. After that however, they bred like convicts but never seemed to bother each other again, nor the Congo Tetras for about 2 years. Lost them, in a massive tank crash...

Spawning would be nice of course, but its the longest tank I can fit in the main living area, so my tiny 20 gallon gets to be the show tank. The 80 or 110 won't fit! I think it need some flashy fish to justify them in the living room. What is the main concern with tankmates, extra bioload if there a...

My fish sitter helped bring the end of my P. Maccus driftwood tank. I'm thinking of repurposing the 20 long (30x12x12 in) into a riverine tank. I had my 80 set up for Steatocranus tinanti for a while and really liked the setup. Mostly rounded rocks, a few flat ones for potential spawning places and ...

The cat-e-log suggests a well planted tank. I do have one tank that I might just be able to move (it, or its contents), but it is all driftwood (and a fake driftwood ornament someone bought me). Would that be a problem for the little bumblebees? Sometimes its hard to know if plants are suggested bec...

Its an acrylic tank with small openings in the top. If the rocks were much bigger, they would not fit in the tank! Yes, in a true high current area, the rocks would be bigger, but there are plenty of riffles and minor rapids with rocks this size, and the caves formed provide enough room for the smal...

This is most of my 80 gallon "Kinshasa" Tank. Both the Congo Tetras and the Steatocranus tinanti are found in the rapids and the Malebo pool. I've lost some fish in the rockwork, never to be seen again. There is a dominant cichlid pair in the leftmost rockwork, and a second pair that has f...

What was the pH at the end? It does not sound like a traditional pH crash, it would be very unusual to have an organic build up high enough to significantly drop the pH. It sounds more like the reported, but rarely confirmed Sulphide (H2S) poisoning... which can form H2SO4 (sulfuric acid). The usual...

I don't think it will destroy the hobby. I think the people buying RTCs for 55g tanks are doing a better job of it. Or the dyed or color injected fish. The hobby (worldwide, as far as I can tell) has never really been about pure species or biotopes. Its not an accident that aquarium fish are called ...

I'm not sure if its a bug or not, but it seems very strange to me. If you go to Ictaluridae via the drop down menu you get the list of cats by the number of hits. Ictalurus punctatus The one found in every fish store around, does not appear on the ordered list, but only the alphabetical one. It can'...

I've already got a rock filled Zaire (Congo) river tank, so I'm not sure I'm looking for more rock dwelling cats right now. In a larger tank, it would be interesting, because I could play with some mouthbrooding cichlids during the day. I've wanted to try a Labidochromis for a while. Are they petric...

Of course they don't grow smaller on captivity. They're a captive bred, line bred morph. Not one, to my knowledge, has ever been collected in the wild. The fishbase entry is for normal morph, which does tend to grow larger than the Blue variety, but I will cede to it could be reasons other than gene...

I'm thinking of setting up a Nocturnal tank for those nights that I can't sleep. I know many people like nocturnal viewing, but not too many people set up the tank to look at almost entirely in the dark. I'm thinking a small driftwood snag would be nice, in the US 29 gallon range (30x12x18 inches). ...

Most people are keeping pairs in 55s (2 EBs can't breed so one is always a normal phenotype). They're more of an ambush type fish, rather than a swimmy type fish. A 75 is a good size water wise though because these are surprisingly sensitive fish. They've certainly lost some vigor compared to the re...

I'm moving cross country soon, and as i have to tear my tanks down, it gives me the opportunity to move onto some new fish. How much does a Chaca eat? I've seen it posted to feed every 2-3 days, but what does that mean in terms of prey size compared to Chaca size? I'd imagine a full size Chaca would...

The people, and many of the regular mods are ok. I've had several disagreements with the Admins though, before they completely removed their site issues area. They are a little weird over there, but I do frequent their DIY section. Tread lightly, only bash the people who put 5 convicts in a 10g, and...

I'm still getting some odd results. If the genus is unset, species from other families seem to leak in. It happens atleast for searching Pims and Plecos, possibly others. Example: If I select loricaides between 5 and 8 inches, since I want a medium size pleco, but do not set genus, since I don't hav...

Dempseys are not moutherbrooders. I've not noticed a cichlid's mouthparts being very mobile, so I'm tempted to rule that out.

Is it possible that it was in the process of eating something?

What exactly do these things eat in the wild? Fishbase says detritus, but what exactly is that? Leaves? Fallen Fruit? Dead fish?

Most of the other big plecos have a normal diet, but the big brown ones seem so generalized, I cant imagine what they eat in the wild.

A lot of those problems are problems, that people are working on, without banning the whole hobby. I'm not sure how many times I've typed "you need a bigger tank for 2 oscars" since i've kept fish and visited these boards. And finally: These experiments to say that being hooked is painful ...