Is the fin torn? It looks torn to me, almost like a bite was taken out of it (although I'm not saying it's a bite mark - that would have to be a dang big mouth on a really dang big fish! LOL).

Cheers, Eric

Thanks for the info, Mol_PMB. I can easily envision the example of how filling in crevices between big gravel with fine sand will lead to poor circulation; so that's not a problem for me. I think my struggle is with imagining that a uniform fine sand still provides good water and gas flow (when comp...

With my P. maccus eggs, the bad eggs disintegrated within a day after I found them. I would imagine that if you have bad eggs or unfertilized eggs, they will be evident very quickly.

ilnitMs1LRk Hi TTA, When you want to embed a YouTube video into a forum post using the [youtube] tags, you don't need to paste the entire URL of the video between the tags (in this case, the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnitMs1LRk link). All you need to put inside the tags is the actual unique ...

Thanks for the link, Teresa. My favorite part of that essay is the part where the author compares the home-made caves to looking like "something you just pooped out." LOL I did like the author's emphasis on the benefits of overhanging ledges above the caves. Several of these most recent ca...

There's nothing to stop a person from blending some sand and some gravel together. That won't hurt anything and it can create some interesting textures on the aquarium floor (and sometimes it looks more natural than sand alone), but it won't fix the problems described above. In fact, I suspect that ...

As mentioned above, personally, I'm not a fan of gravel* for my south American fish at all, except very fine gravel (almost sand, but coarse enough that it's not prone to float in the water when stirred up by fish). Otherwise, I'm convinced that sand is the way to go. * To clarify, I realize that th...

Hi zurikitty13, ... now I'm worried there are dangerous toxic air bubbles or something? I remember reading something like that somewhere. Any suggestions for how I can fix this mess? As of now, everything seems okay, but I would like to safely take out the blue gravel without disturbing the budding ...

Thanks, the eggs i guess were laid Saturday or Sunday, but they could belong to the second male, ... But then i can't be sure who's the dad. Lol. =)) In that case, it might be a good idea to go back and get your second male back. Not a good idea to get rid of a male if he might be the breeder. More...

Oh my goodness!!! :YMPARTY: :YMPARTY: Im a pleco mum!!!! ... some are bad but some are good in the centre of the clump they are in... any tips on how i separate the bad ones from the good. Congratulations! What's the old tradition, cigars for everyone? (maybe just algae wafers will suffice, but I d...

Hi zurikitty13, Welcome to PlanetCatfish. You've got a lot of things going on in your post, so I'm not sure what to say first. But I would echo the advice from marine590622. Make sure you take time to cycle your tank before you add any more fish. When I clean the tank, should I or shouldn't I clean ...

Hi Boshk,

Welcome to Planet Catfish. Sterbai are nice fish - you picked well.

Cheers, Eric

Very nice!

Jools wrote:It will happen...

A nice perk to be sure, but when put in perspective (based on the Bugs forum), the admins probably have bigger fish to fry (pun intended) before we worry about seeing the three cute fish in the header on our cell phones. LOL

The idea of having a little sandy substrate, even if only a thin layer that might not be able to cover the entire bottom if the fish excavates or the water currents cause drift, has always appealed to me. The additional beneficial bacteria in the sand, IMHO, would make the tank better at biological ...

Santi, S., Gennotte, V., Toguyeni, A., Mélard, C., Antoine, N., & Rougeot, R. 2016. Thermosensitivity of the sex differentiation process in the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus : Determination of the thermosensitive period. Aquaculture . Accepted date: 14 January 2016. Available online 15 Ja...

So now we need to capture three blanks as well? ;) Already been found in 2009, on page 8 of this thread: http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22847&start=140#p156863. Alas, on my Windows 10 cell phone, the header graphic doesn't display, so I see these fish only when I'm o...

Mol_PMB wrote:Hey - one of the three catfish has gone AWOL!

LOL, not exactly. "Blank" (no picture) seems to be one of the options, in addition to the variety of fish images, for the three spots in the heading graphic area.

Nice looking fish! Thanks for sharing.

Cheers, Eric

Also wasn't looking to have more than 2 females as don't want to end up with all the offspring. Wise. I would warn the same point - In just four months, I got between 300-400 fry from just ONE pair last year; I'm still getting rid of fry. I removed the spawning cave to make them stop for a while. I...

Did you search the forum using it's species name, ?

Cheers, Eric

From what I've read in the forums here, yes they do hybridize, although I can't speak specifically to claro and hoplogenys.

You can use the advanced forum search tool (here) to find older posts on the subject.

Cheers, Eric

Coursair wrote:Believe me I've been staring at the pics of both species. In the new juveniles the base color looks white with black markings which is what made me wonder if they were mislabeled.

I'm looking at your photo above and I see white spots on a dark base color on the head. That is sterbai.


Cheers, Eric

Hi Teresa, Hopefully you're correct, and if so, congratulations! As far as the other male, I wouldn't worry about him as long as you have more caves - if you have only one cave, then yes the males might fight over it, but so likely with several caves. The fish I don't know about is your para pleco a...

Are these small? I don't see much of the yellow-orange fins on the small ones. But based on head color, I'd say they're all sterbai. At my PetSmart, the cories are tank-bred, not wild caught, or that's what I'm told. If so, then if one is sterbai, they all should be. Hopefully someone else can confi...

It's a beautiful fish! Thanks for sharing.

One of the EMTs, Marcelo Araujo Tamada, posted photos of the catfish spines stuck in the woman's belly on Facebook. LOL Woman: "get that goddamn thing out of me!!!" Paramedic: "Woah there, steady on lady, we gotta do important paramedicy stuff first [gets phone out ...]" =)) In ...

Hi Teresa,

Sorry to hear about this fish. I wish I could help, but medication is not something I have much experience with.

Hopefully someone with experience will respond soon.

Good luck, Eric

Sorry about your losses, but to me the gift from that other gent affirms the thoughtfulness people are capable of and the positive influence acts of kindness have. I had the same joy recently when the guy gave me three Hypancistrus juvies for free, just because he could (even though I don't know wha...

Suckermouth wrote:I assume you mean assign L404 as a common name?

Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry, I misspoke (...um, mistyped) Thanks.

Cheers, Eric