Lovely fish, Eric, and a great find. Best of luck with them.
Paul

This image is the newest I can find, nearly a year old I'm afraid. I'll try and get another one soon. This picture does show how much grazing area there is in the tank, all over that bogwood. Tankmates are a shoal of a dozen Phenacogrammus aurantiacus 'lefini' and four of the aforementioned giant ot...

I've had 'Klondike', my Baryancistrus xanthellus for about 2.5 years now, he started off smaller than my group of 'giant otos' Hypoptopoma cf_guianense in the same tank. I've had a quick look and can't immediately find any recent pictures, but I saw him today so he's still doing fine. He goes throug...

I bought my nugget from Pier Aquatics about 2 years ago. We have very soft water here (TDS 30, pH 6.8) and Neil advised me that in his experience nuggets like it a little harder. I added some coral gravel to the filter to stop the pH dropping too far. Some of my other tanks I deliberately run very a...

Hi Eric, Many thanks for your thoughts; I agree. In the tank rescape I have tried to provide a variety of caves and crevices of different sizes and shapes so hopefully there will be something to suit each fish. They feed almost entirely on Repashy, a cocktail of Morning Wood, Soilent Green, Bottom S...

Back in August I was able to add two more Pseudolithoxus dumus fish to this tank, so there are a total of 5, from 4 different suppliers at different times. Recently the biggest fish (one of the new ones) had been spending a lot of time at the front of the tank, often visible and quite bold, but I ha...

I agree, Viktor. My father (an engineer) used to say that even if you tried to make a realistic estimate, then in reality the project would take e times as long and cost pi times as much as you thought. That’s the true definition of e and pi! (e = 2.7, pi = 3.1, both approx) My experience is the sam...

Thanks Eric. I bought a fifth fish yesterday as well. The two new ones are one of each sex as far as I can tell, and they're adults about 90mm to 100mm SL. At the moment I'm leaving them undisturbed to settle in to the tank. At some stage I ought to get them all out for some new photos, but not just...

Today I found a shop with about 10 Pseudolithoxus dumus so I have added another fish to my group (now a total of 4). The group seem to continue to co-exist peacefully and spend most of their time hiding in the tangle of caves and wood in their tank. I try not to disturb them too much, just doing wat...

Mol_PMB, am I correct that the Biotodoma , Farlowella , and tetras are all in the same tank? Yes, all together. There are also 4 plecs: 2 L397, 1 L233, 1 juvenile L427. The tank has lots of branches, caves and bogwood to break up sightlines and create hiding places. The Farlowella tend to spawn on ...

In my 110 gallon tank I have a group of Biotodoma cupido which have spawned and raised a few dozen youngsters (now mostly sold). I’d recommend these as a medium-sized social cichlid for soft water. I also have a group of Farlowella vittata which spawn regularly, though the fry only survive if I rear...

Great to meet you too Rupert. Hope to catch up again next year!
Cheers,
Paul

Fascinating talks so far. And a great selection of fish, caves, breeding accessories, food etc for sale.

Welcome to the Planet!
I do love Pseudacanthicus - they’re big hungry messy fish but plenty of personality and colour.

Yes, mine all like leaves. I especially use a few oak or beech leaves in the fry nursery as it gives them hiding places, microscopic food and the antibacterial benefits of tannins.

I'm really looking forward to it; it seems to have a beneficial effect on me and my catfish! Last year I bought a baby L427 barely an inch long, it's now a chunky 5"SL and doing very well! Last year I also got back home to find my Corydoras burgessi had spawned for the first time on convention ...

I use wood that has been dried for at least 6 months, and my preferred wood is Oak.
In my experience the panaqolus do like deep caves with one end closed.
For adults 1.5” diameter and 6” deep is probably about right.
Cheers,
Paul

I had a pair of these (captive bred) and to be honest they gradually deteriorated. I think I should have had them in a tank of their own with more optimised conditions. For a group of 7 I think a slightly larger tank might be a good idea. Mine were actually quite active on the bottom; they ‘walk’ ra...

I'm going to resurrect this thread because I have finally managed to get hold of some more Poecilocharax weitzmani They were rather small (half an inch) but only £2.99 each so I bought a group of 14 yesterday. They're feeding hungrily now, which is great. I'm going to grow them out a bit until they'...

Thanks Eric,
I’m wondering if I shpuld go back to the shop tomorrow and get some. Only trouble is I’m a bit short of tank space and don’t want to mix them with my normal burgessi (currently occupying 3 tanks and another spawn about to hatch!)

Thanks Karsten, and I agree with your thoughts. I hope Ian Fuller doesn't mind me quoting one paragraph from Corydorasworld abou C121: "The transparent scute behind the operculum is unique amongst Corydoradinae. Offspring up to 15 mm SL do not show this transparency. Some populations of F1's ar...

Sorry, here are the pics:

Any thoughts on the ID of these?
Currently on sale at Aqualife Leyland, UK.
They’re advertised as Cory
burgessi. But I keep and breed burgessi and none of mine gave the clear patch by the gills - that’s a trait of C121.
Thanks,
Paul

Can you provide more hiding places and decor to break up territories in the pond?

Are they newly imported? Some look a bit rough, and it may be best to give them some time to recover and settle in before trying to sex them.
Having said that, I’d say the top one is a healthy female, based on head and body shape.

Back in March I put a 1” Pseuda L427 in my big community tank, which has several other plecs and bottom-feeding cichlids. In 6 months it has grown to 3” and is now challenging the 6” L233 and the 4” L397 for food. So I wouldn’t worry too much about them going hungry in a busy tank.

Here's a quick snap of two of mine, making fancy shapes out of a home-grown yellow courgette. They love their fresh organic veggies.
Forgive the photo-bombing Brachyrhamdia...

Please can you tell us a bit more about your setup, tank size, maintenance regime, water parameters, water flow rate, what you're feeding, how long you've had the fish, etc.

It depends on the type of algae too. They're not that interested in hairy algae.
In my experience, Hypoptopoma ('giant oto') are excellent algae eaters on glass, wood and plants, but they don't keep on top of hair algae.

In my experience, Panaqolus will strip algae off wood quite effectively. They won't necessarily eat the algae, they're more interested in the wood underneath. So you would need to siphon up the remains (and the pleco poo). Panaqolus are also a suitable size for the tank, and would be fine with those...