My Crazy Apistogramma - MacMasteri & Cacatouides crossbreed

Apistogramma are my most favourite fish - their character, their looks and their amazing behaviour can keep me watching them for hours.  During one of my hour sessions of watching I discovered my Macmasteri female heavily flirting with my Cacatouides male!!!  What is going on?   They even took it a step further and she picked a corner to breed in with him...  I managed to capture their illicit affair on camera and it shows quite nicely the pre-mating flaring and behaviour as well as the chasing off of other fish not matter how big. 

Terminalia catappa - Indian Almond Leaves in the Aquarium

I have been using these for yeaaaars - I first came across them whilst breeding and since then I have used them in nearly every aqua I have - I swear by them and would never be without.

Besides being a natural miracle cure for many human ailments they are amazing for the aqua.

They remove and purify water of heavy metals.

Have high anti-bacterial properties

Strengthen the fish's immune system & well being.

Quickly heals and prevents finrot, head in the hole disease and fungus infections.

Great for conditioning fish especially betta's and it makes their bubblenests sticker as well.

Because of it's high anti-bacterial properties it also keep cyano bacteria at bay (blue-green algae)

They come in different sizes obviously and I use the really large ones - I always use 1 per 100 liters but you can also put them in the filter if you don't like the look of leaves in your aqua. 

I noticeably notice that my fish are happier when there are leaves in the aqua with them and they colour up more intensely as well....

I love the leaves and what they do for my fish so much I am thinking of purchasing a tree to harvest them myself ;) ;)

Video of the Month - Angelfish Baby Feeding

I loooove this little clip from youtube showing baby angelfish getting their baby brine shrimp feeding - brilliant - as someone else says they look like a pack of piranha's  LOL

New Breeding Project - Pseudomugil furcatus - Forktail Rainbow Fish

I'm in the mood to breed...  having bred catfish, tetra's, killifish and cichlids I was looking for something new...my eyes fell on these little hyperactive guys

Rainbowfish...  my first and I chose the Pseudomugil furcatus

Family:
Pseudomugilidae

Category:
Rainbowfish

Distribution:
Indo Pacific; Originally discovered in the streams of Papua New Guinea

Main Ecosystem:
Stream; Found in small freshwater jungle streams that are fast flowing,

Temperament:
Peaceful; Best kept with other small community fish such as tetras, danios, barbs. Males can be occasionally aggressive towards females if kept in pairs, but being kept in groups with more females helps limit aggression.

Diet:
Omnivore; Omnivore

Care:
Feed with flakes as staple diet, and with live or frozen foods such as bloodworms. Easy to keep as long as frequent water changes are given.

PH:
6-8

Temp:
24C - 27C (75F - 81F)

Potential Size:
Male: 6cm (2.6")
Female: 6cm (2.6")

Water Region:
Middle Surface; Middle-Surface

They are now happily swimming in their own 70 Liter (19 gallon) tank and I am conditioning them with live white mosquito larvae & live Artemia.  So if all goes well I should have little ones soon.

Fingers crossed ;)  xxx

Another New Apistogramma - Hongsloi

Meet the newest Apisto on the block - the Apistogramma Hongsloi ...  I got him yesterday and he is settling in really well...I should really take him back and exchange him for a Macmasteri male but I have already fallen in love with him <sighs>

 

I cannot wait to see him in full colour as these foto's were taken just a few hours after being in the tank...  he really is a beautiful specimen if I may say so myself <grins>

1 Year Anniversary of Blogging

A year ago I started this little blog and I still really enjoy doing it...  time doesn't permit me to write as much as I would like to but I hope that every visitor has managed to find something interesting and still enjoy reading it ;)

If anyone has suggestions, comments or questions just pop me a line at Fishaliciousfish@gmail.com

A big thank you to my readers xxxx

 

         

Sick Fish? Fish need vitamins to stay healthy

So you have a sick fish - panic - you start to go through all the books and the net to try and find out what is wrong... diagnosing a sick fish is really difficult and let's face it, fish can sometimes too just have a 'down' day as well.   You sometimes don't even know what is wrong with the fish but you know it is not well... most people at this stage start throwing in salt or spectrum meds for different diseases.  But wait....  what a lot of fish keepers sadly do not think about is vitamin deficiency and the effects it can have on fish - no medicine will help in this case but a proper diet.

  

Feeding your fish an improper diet is as common a mistake as overfeeding.

Providing the correct diet is essential for fish growth and health. Dietary deficiencies will not only shorten the lifespan of fish and cause many diseases, but will also contribute to a deteriorating water quality by polluting the water.

The diet of fish varies based on their individual nutritional needs. Some require meaty foods (carnivores), some plants (herbivores) and some a combination of both (omnivores).

Protein is necessary for growth and for repair of cells and body tissue. Proteins must be supplied regularly to ensure good growth and health. It is the most expensive component in feed and may comprise anywhere from 25 percent to 55 percent of the diet, depending on the fish species and size. While it is an important source of energy, excessive protein will simply increase ammonia production. Fish and shrimp meals are common sources of protein in fish feeds.

Lipids (fats and oils) are important to fish since they provide energy and allow the uptake of fat-soluble vitamins and other crucial nutrients. They are available from many sources, and extra fats can be stored in the body. Too much fat can affect the liver’s ability to filter and cleanse the blood.

Like fats, carbohydrates provide energy for body functions. However, only omnivores (meat and plant eaters) and herbivores (plant eaters) utilize carbohydrates well; carnivores (meat eaters) do not.

So here's a look at the different vitamins fish need, why and the effects of deficiency: -

Fat Soluble Vitamins

Vitamin A
Functions: - normal vision, cell growth and resistance to infection
Deficiencies: - poor growth, poor vision, abnormal bone formation and hemorrhaging at the base of the fins

Vitamin E
Functions: - antioxidant, may play a role in muscle cell respiration
Deficiencies: - anemia and poor growth

Water Soluble Vitamins

Thiamine (B1)
Functions: - aids growth, digestion and fertility, nervous system
Deficiencies: - poor appetite, muscle atrophy, convulsions, loss of equilibrium and poor growth

Riboflavin (B2)
Functions: - vision, protein metabolism and enzyme functioning
Deficiencies: - photophobia, cloudy lens, dim vision, abnormal colouration of the iris, striated constrictions on the abdominal wall, dark pigmentation, poor appetite, anemia and poor growth

Nicotinic Acid (niacin, B3)
Functions: - plays an important role in lipid, protein and amino acid metabolism
Deficiencies: - loss of appetite, poor growth, lesions in colon, erratic motion and weakness, edema of stomach and colon

Pantothenic Acid (B5)
Functions: - adrenal functioning, cholersterol production, normal physiology and metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor growth, sluggishness, clubbed gills, loss of appetite, hemmorhagic skin and cellular atrophy

Pyroxidine (B6)
Functions: - plays a vital role in enzyme systems and protein metabolism
Deficiencies: - nervous disorders, fits, loss of appetite, poor growth, rapid and gasping breathing, flexing of opercles and hyperirritability

Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Functions: - enzyme systems, cholesterol metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor appetite, poor growth, anemia and dark pigmentation

Ascorbic Acid (C)
Functions: - enzyme systems, bone, tooth and cartilage formation and healing
Deficiencies: - hemorrhagic shin, kidneys, liver, intestine and muscle tissue, eye lesions and scoliosis of the spine

Biotin (H)
Functions: - enzyme systems, purine and lipid synthesis, oxidation of lipids and carbohydrates
Deficiencies: - loss of appetite, poor growth, anemia, skin lesions and muscle atrophy

Choline
Functions: - good growth and food conversion
Deficiencies: - poor growth, poor food conversion, hemorrhagic kidney and intestine

Folic Acid (M)
Functions: - blood cell formation, blood glucose regulation and fish metabolism
Deficiencies: - poor growth, lethargy, dark skin, anemia and fragility of the caudal fin

Inositol
Functions: - cell membrane permeability
Deficiencies: - poor growth, distended stomach, skin lesions and increased gastric emptying time

References & Sources: from Fruland and Miller 1980; Moyle and Cech 1982 Fruland, R. and W. Miller 1980. Vitamins and the marine aquarium.FAMA 3(5): 36-75. Moyle, P.B. and J.J. Cech Jr. 1982. Fishes: An Introduction toIchthyology. Prentice-Hall, Inc., New Jersey.

Ban it Now! Cruel Ipod Speaker with Betta

I can hardly believe and if I saw one in a pet store near me I would be jailed for the night ....

Luckily it is sparking outrage with many animal activists around the world and the RSPCA are calling for a ban on it.  Unfortunately that did not stop it being sold out at a Sydney store and the sales being huge.

The $70 Ipond is being sold at Pets Paradise and Pet Goods Direct chains. Users can play their iPods through a speaker built into the bottom of the brick-shaped tank.  The tank's water capacity is about 650millilitres once rocks are placed in it.

Pets Paradise is selling Siamese fighting fish with the iPond.

I'm not even going to mention what the poor fish has to go through with some pumping music blaring out of it's housing.  Even if it does live it's not [a] life worth living ... it's really just a torture box.

Ahhhh what companies will do for money.... just so low!  It is so sad that Betta's keep getting such a bad deal - such a waste of an extremely beautiful fish

While we are on the subject of being cruel to Betta's - #$%#@#%^**%^%^$%$%##$%!!!!!!!!

A Lesson on Cycling - Support Fishless Cycling!!!!!

        

The main reason that people cycle with fish is that they are not aware of fishless cycling or think that it's difficult - I give the benefit of the doubt in that I don't believe that people cycle with fish because they like to stress and damage them...but you never know.

Why cycle with fish? Mostly it is through necessity. An aquarium is purchased without really much thought going into it (I've done it), bung some fish in and then they get ill. You follow the LFS instructions and do lots of massive water changes and then everything is better. Voila - one cycled tank, without even realising it. This pattern of behaviour is then repeated for every tank that is purchased until an alternative is shown, like seeding from an established tank.

Cycling with fish is obviously visually more interesting than fishless - but when you decide to keep fish you are taking on the responsibility of looking after these lives to the best of your ability. This includes limiting the amount of stress that they are put throug . Cycling with fish puts the fish through immense strain in the forms of ammonia and nitrite spikes (when the concentration of ammonia and nitrite in the water rises above safe levels and then recedes). Ammonia and nitrite poisoning causes permanent damage, even in low concentrations. The majority of damage is to the gills. As NH3/NH4+ or NO2 molecules pass over the gill plates the areas involved in gaseous exchange (taking oxygen out of the water) are literally burned away. It would be like us breathing dilute sulphuric acid. Once the gills are damaged they will never regain their original capacity and the result will be a runt (incapable of reaching its full potential in size or health).

Myth 1 - hardy fish

The most common fish that people use for cycling seems to be goldfish (Carassius auratus) and danios (Brachydanio ..) believing that they are somehow "hardier" than other species. But are they?

No, they're not. All fish have the same basic nervous system and all fish respond to the same pain impulses. Ammonia and nitrite poisoning will affect all species of fish the same way as described above. The difference is that Carassius auratus and Brachydanio can tolerate poor conditions for longer than more sensitive fish (Carassius auratus and other lake dwelling members of the carp family are capable of oxidizing ammonia in the brain - but this is for temporary survival and shouldn't be imposed upon them). Is that a contradiction? No it is not. The fish will still have permanent physiological damage, just any other fish that is subjected to ammonia or nitrite poisoning. The ability to survive does not indicate hardiness in my book.

Humans are capable of withstanding vast fluctuations in our environment and adapt to them - we are hardy. A fish cannot adapt to having it's cell membranes burned away - the ability to survive such an event does not indicate hardiness.

Myth 2 - feeders and other 'disposables'

Many of the people who continue to cycle with fish use so called feeder fish - things like guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and goldfish (Carassius auratus). These fish are considered feeders for one reason only - they are prolific, and subsequently they are cheap to buy.

The fish does not know that is is a 'feeder'. As far as it knows it is a regular fish, swimming about to achieve its ultimate goal of reproducing, just like all animals.

'Feeder' is a term that we have bestowed upon such fish, yet such fish are other peoples pets. I keep goldfish, a friend of mine has guppies - we would never think of feeding our fish to another animal, but we also accept that the species that we keep do end up in the stomachs of Oscars and Arowanas all over the world.

Just because they are classed as 'feeders' does not mean that they should be afforded any less respect than the fish that will eventually inhabit your aquarium. Many times I have read people say that they use feeders to cycle their tanks because they are disposable.

They are fish, just the same as any other fish that you would buy. They have requirements, and they feel. Labeling something as disposable does not make it so.

'Feeders' are very rarely second rate fish and should not be treated as such.

Myth 3 - Bacteria colonies

It is commonly thought that once there are zero levels of ammonia and nitrite and detectable nitrate in a tank that it is cycled and you can add the fish that you want to your tank. Fine, there is a bacteria colony there that will deal with ammonia and nitrite. But how much will it deal with?

If you cycle with fish you'll probably do one of the following: a small school of danios, a couple of guppies, or a goldfish or two. You check the water parameters until you have 0ppm NH3/NH4+, 0ppm NO2, and (x)ppm NO3. You get rid of your 'feeder' fish in whatever fashion best gets you off.

Before you add your fish have you ever thought about what your newly established biofilter can handle? You've stocked your tank and some of your new prides and joy are ill...how come? The tank was cycled right? Wrong!

The tank is cycled and will accommodate a bioload less than or equal to the fish used to cycle it. So a 60 gallon tank cycled with one 2" goldfish will have a biofilter that can only immediately sustain the same amount of waste as is produced by one 2" goldfish. If you were to add 6 cories, and a dozen barbs (this is an example) then all of a sudden there would be huge ammonia spike followed by a huge nitrite spike as the bacterial colonies reproduce to cope with the demand. In the meantime, your nice new fish are slowly dying in exactly the same way as the 'feeders' before them.

By fishless cycling you can create a bacterial colony that is much larger than cycling with fish. A colony that is able to cope with any bioload you choose to introduce. Fishless cycling stops unnecessary suffering to fish, and to fish that are subsequently added.

Whenever you add fish to a tank, even in an established tank, there will be a ammonia/nitrite spike. However, with a mature bacterial colony the spike is not as dangerous to fish as the bacteria multiply in greater numbers.

It is important in any tank not to 'dump' a lot of fish in all at once otherwise the spikes will be exponential causing damage, stress and illness to your fish (commonly called crashing).

It is also possible to 'seed' a new tank from an established one by taking some of the filter material or the top level of substrate (where the majority of the nitrifying bacteria live) and placing this in the new tank. This creates a starter colony that will adapt to the bioload.

One thing that you should consider is cost - fishless cycling can be done for free, even a bottle of ammonia is cheaper than fish (you can also cycle hundreds of average sized tanks with one bottle of ammonia - how many tanks can you cycle with the same fish?).

Thanks to David Nicol

Out of Water Killifish - Mangrove Rivulus

The variety of fish and their biology is just mind blowing... during my fish hunting on the net I came across a little Killifish called the Mangrove Rivulus

                   

This little 3inch - 7cm fishy shocked scientists when they kicked over a log and hundreds of these little guys fell out - on land!!  And Alive!!!   They have since discovered that they can spend up to sixty-six consecutive days out of water, which it typically spends inside fallen logs, breathing air through its skin.  During this time its gills alter so that it can retain water and nutrients, while nitrogen waste is excreted through the skin. The change is reversed once they re-enter the water.

If that wasn't already amazing enough - there are no females - they are either male or hermaphroditic.  Only about 5% of a population are born as males - after three or four years about 60% of the (self-fertilizing) hermaphrodites transform into secondary males by losing their female structure and function. The proportion of males depends on the environmental temperature, below 20° C the majority are males, above 25°C all are hermaphrodites. It is the only known naturally occurring, self-fertilizing vertebrate.

Amazing!!!

Freeeedom!! Fish Flee

The owners of a trout farm were amazed a photographer caught their fish making an extraordinary escape on camera.

He pictured the trout making giant leaps out of their pond into a metal feed pipe three feet above the water level.

They then fought against the current for 30ft to the end of the eight inch wide pipe, which emerges underwater in a tributary of the River Itchen near Alresford, Hants.

Wildlife photographer Dennis Bright, 59, captured the aerobatic fish.

He said: "It was an incredible sight. Swimming against the current is instinctive for trout as they head up stream to spawn but they are doing a remarkable job getting through that pipe.

"They are jumping for freedom in large volumes but sadly I think their fate will be less than happy - there are otter, herons and many other predators feeding from the stream."

David Riley, owner of Hampshire Trout Farms, said he would be extremely surprised if more than one or two fish were making it through.

He said: "I have been a farmer here for about 30 years and have never seen a fish make it to the other side but I know Dennis and if he says he has seen it I believe him."

David Bassett, of the British Trout Association, said: "They will be thinking that water falling from the pipe is a waterfall leading upstream. Then they will follow their natural life cycle to get upstream."

And Paul Knight, of the Salmon and Trout Association, added: "They will follow instinct. I don't think they would be looking up at the pipe and thinking, 'Come on lads, let's go for it.'"

Aquarium Cars

It's located at the Busan Aquarium in Haeundae Beach, in Busan South Korea

Car Aquarium - video powered by Metacafe

If you can stand the noise then some idiot here has modded his car to incorporate fish below: