Fishalicious

Friday, 18 April 2008

Pleco invasion ravaging natural habitat

The Usumacinta river, Mexico has been completely ravaged and destroyed by a huge group of pleco's - it is unknown if the were introduced or if it was through a irresponsible or/and ignorant hobbyist doing it. In less than six months thousands of adults (over 60 cm as reported) plecos had invaded the river where they had never been seen before.

Locals have even started calling them “Pez Diablo”

A video giving a good idea of how bad the situation is

Sexing Microgeophagus ramirezi - German Blue Ram

So you've decided to buy a pair of these gems... maybe in the hopes of breeding ... but even then ...they are lovely to keep as a couple as a male & female... even if they don't breed they will happily live alongside each other and stay together pretty much all of the time. We all know how things can be if you put two females or two males in a room after a while <grins> That is not to say that these characteristic little guys never have a 'lovers' tiff - mine often get the hump with each other but usually make up again pretty quickly.

So your in the store and you see a tank full of these cuties... usually if you can get comfy and the store owner is not bothering you too much you can watch their behavior and pick out a dominant male pretty quickly - even when they are young... a dominant male likes his ladies and will have picked his favorite in the tank... by observation and patience you should be able to see 2 rams that have taken a shine to each other as they will stay together quite a lot... usually this is already a good sign that it is a male and female... but you have doubts niggling in your head so to be sure here are some signs.

The female:

Will have black stripes going though her pelvic fins (this is a great one to remember as when they are very young this coloring already shows if all others fail... the stripes are usually also apparent in a stressed colorless fish)
If she is a happy little gal and shining then you can see that her shiny blue dot's cover her side black marking.
If she is a very happy little gal then her belly will show a pink hue to let those men know that she is ready for a mate.

Sorry for the horrible pic of her.. (she'll kill me if she see's this on the net) but it shows nicely all the above points

Males:

No black lines in the pelvic fins
The black marking on the side is solid black
Bigger built and the dorsal fin will be longer and spikier
Not a pink hue in sight on the stomach area

I hope this helps some peeps who are going to treat themselves to a pair of these beauties or those who have some doubts on the ones they have.

Moenkhausia pittieri - Diamond Tetra's scarce in the Wild

It seems one of my favorite tetra's are becoming quite rare in the wild which is really sad news... one crew went out looking for them and it took them 3 years until the finally found them in the wild with even rumors they are close to extinction. Well I know what fish I am breeding next!!!

All My Birthday's & Christmas's at once - new tank

I have to send big love to the best mum in the world - awwwwww - yip and that mum is none other than my own! She decided to feed my MTS (Multiple Tank Syndrome) habit and give me a new tank for my upcoming birthday - now if that doesn't qualify her then I don't know what will. She knows my biggest passion and knows how much pleasure it gives me.

Anyway's before you all grab for the buckets here is the new tank in it's entire empty gloriousness.

Some Specs:

160 x 60 x 60 (576 Liters) - 5.3' x 24 x 24 (153 US Gallons) - (126 UK Gallons)

4 x T5 80 Watt lamps

An aquarium computer that fully automatically dims the lighting individually at different stages (sunrise to sunset), cloud , rain, lightning simulation. Automatically measures all water parameters and has a CO2 shut off.

CO2 - Dennerle Pro Set

Filter: Eheim Pro III 2128

A backing wall is being delivered next week - as it is going to be a Amazon biotope tank I have chosen an Natural Amazon looking backing.

More updates to follow as it is all being built up ;)

In other news at home the Pseudomugil Furcatus babies are still growing slowly but they are looking like proper little fish now

The male at the front is now 3 months old and the smaller one behind is now 1 month old. In all there are 27 little ones now and it seems the majority are male from what I can tell.

My Angelfish are still laying eggs on a weekly basis - shame there is no big market for them as I would love to let them carry the breeding through to fry but unfortunately they are so cheap here and most people do not have tanks large enough to house them that I am worried I will be left with a tank full.

The Apistogramma Erempoygne have also had a few nests but it has not come to any free swimming fry yet - the beginning is there though... very excited about these.

So that was the little update... and mum if you are reading this:

LMMT NMW x

Friday, 4 April 2008

A Man After my Heart - Heiko Bleher

I could write a book about this man... actually volumes...we have so much to thank him for in the fishkeeping hobby today

He has had the most fascinating life and still has and continues to do so and enrich our hobby.

Here is just a fraction about this wonderful man

Heiko Bleher was born on October 18, 1944 in a bunker in the ruins of Frankfurt on Main. He was the fourth and last child of Ludwig Bleher and Amanda Flora Hilda Kiel. Amanda’s father Adolf Kiel was the well-known “Father of Water Plants”, a pioneer of the modern aquarium who established the world’s largest plant and ornamental fish farm in Frankfurt.

At 4, he saw his first discus at an aquarium fish exhibition in the still ruined Frankfurt Zoo. Later he traveled with his mother to Africa then, aged 6, throughout Europe collecting plants and fishes. When he was 7, his mother took him, his elder brother and two sisters with her on his first discus hunt – a highly adventurous exploration trip deep into the “green hell” of the of South American jungle. They reached areas inhabited by unknown Indian tribes, some of whom had killed and eaten 4 missionaries shortly before. They lived with the natives for over 6 months, sampling 60 new aquatic plant species, countless fishes and many other animals. Still a child, Heiko learned to live like the Indians, eating the same food and collecting fishes and plants in the Mato Grosso, He learned about the life and behavior of fishes, and became familiar with the amazing variety of fish that exist in unspoiled nature. He also discovered the wimpel-piranha

In Rio he opened Aquarium Rio and started his own collecting in Brazil. He first opened several compounds in the interior, others later in other parts of South America. At the end of 1964 he discovered the first new species to be named after him – Hemigrammus bleheri, the brilliant rummy-head tetra, now one of the most widely-sold aquarium fishes

A photo of one of my Hemigrammus Bleheri

He also discovered the “Royal Blue”, his first new strain of discus, now world famous along with many other species. Some years later Heiko explored many new, uncollected areas, and by 1967 he moved his company Aquarium Rio to Germany, returning monthly to Brazil and South America to collect.Over the years, generally alone, Heiko penetrated jungles in all South and Central American countries. He also travelled to the Amazon area as many as 10 times a year in search of discus and others species. In the 1970s he expanded his operations to include Africa, Asia and Oceania (Australia, New Guinea, etc.) and began to give lectures around the world. He made his first Discus-TV film, “Expeditionsziel Aquarienfische” with the German ZDF and made many TV appearances in different countries

His first documentary film “The Wimpel Piranha” was made In 1983, followed by films on freshwater fishes in New Guinea, Australia, Central America and Brazil then four films on discus in the 90s. Until 1997 from Frankfurt he supplied wholesalers world-wide with new species, including new discus variants every year, mostly from his own discoveries.

Between 1965 and 1997, besides introducing most of the wild discus variants into the hobby – directly or by means of the breeders – he introduced more than 4,000 aquarium fish species he had discovered (or re-discovered). This includes the variants such as “blue-headed Heckel”, “Alenquer”, “Red-spotted greens” from the “Coari” and “Japurá” regions and the famous “Rio Içá” discus, and also rainbowfishes such as Melanotaenia boesemani, M. lacustris and M. praecox (most probably now one of the most sold aquarium fishes), angels such as Pterophyllum altum, dwarfs such as Nanochromis nudiceps and Steatocranus bleheri or Channa bleheri. Among other fishes attributable to Heiko’s explorations are also many loricariids (as many as 800, at the time of printing), new Corydoras species, almost countless tetras and dwarf cichlids from West Africa and South America, knife fishes, puffers and flounders.