What did you do with your tank(s) today?

fishguy1978

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
DMD123 said:
The basics from what Ive read, is that you need a densely planted spot and they lay eggs in it and then pull the parents and let eggs hatch... Is it that easy? lol, I guess they do sort of figure it out on their own. :wink

It might be fun to breed some pea puffers. Are you going to encourage it? lighting, mood music... :whistle
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Yes, a large mass of java moss and magic should happen. :whistle
 
DMD123

DMD123

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Been doing twice daily hose vacs (2-4 gallon) in the bare bottom 30 gallon to clean up all the pleco poo. Quick and easy way to keep the tank clean. The raphael cat got the boot from its hiding spot by the larger bristle nosed pleco and it shows some battle wounds from fighting. It now "hides" in the twisted branches which happen to be in the front of the driftwood. So I do get to see it all the time now. As for the wood? Clean as can be. The plecos do a great job!
 
DMD123

DMD123

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fishguy1978 said:
My female pleco in the 90g is always chasing the Rafael cats any time they show themselves.
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I would figure with how well armed they both are they would leave each other alone. The raphael has some torn fins and looks like a few scrapes. Pleco hiding so I cant tell what is going on with it.
 
sir_keith

sir_keith

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Expecting a shipment from The Wet Spot today, but got this strange message from UPS this morning. So are my fishes on the UPS delivery truck in Bremerton, or on their way to Louisville KY? Hopefully this is just a glitch in the UPS website. :eek:

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fishguy1978

fishguy1978

Legendary Member
sir_keith said:
Expecting a shipment from The Wet Spot today, but got this strange message from UPS this morning. So are my fishes on the UPS delivery truck in Bremerton, or on their way to Louisville KY? Hopefully this is just a glitch in the UPS website. :eek:

View attachment 6357
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Had the same experience recently and the package was delivered on time. Now the capacitors I ordered to fix a power supply are a different story. Hate the usps :mad:
 
sir_keith

sir_keith

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fishguy1978 said:
Curious minds want to know. What DID you order??!!:D
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Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Chimba 'Tiger.' They arrived at around noon today.

I have a group of 8 of these that I raised from fry, but they all turned out to be females, so I have been desperate to find a male. Wet Spot had 3 of them, too early to sex reliably, but short of going to the airport for an Air Cargo shipment from another breeder, this seemed to be my only option. The 3 new fishes look good, seem quite happy with my existing colony, and I think that at least one of them, and perhaps two, is a male. Fingers crossed.

I really like O. nasuta. They are not as aggressive as O. ventralis, but do the same cool stuff, including building amazing nests in the sand. Here is an adult male-

Ophtalmotilapia-nasuta-08-Tiger-1024x576.jpg
 
FishBeast

FishBeast

Well-Known Member
sir_keith said:
Ophthalmotilapia nasuta Chimba 'Tiger.' They arrived at around noon today.

I have a group of 8 of these that I raised from fry, but they all turned out to be females, so I have been desperate to find a male. Wet Spot had 3 of them, too early to sex reliably, but short of going to the airport for an Air Cargo shipment from another breeder, this seemed to be my only option. The 3 new fishes look good, seem quite happy with my existing colony, and I think that at least one of them, and perhaps two, is a male. Fingers crossed.

I really like O. nasuta. They are not as aggressive as O. ventralis, but do the same cool stuff, including building amazing nests in the sand. Here is an adult male-

View attachment 6358
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Nice! Glad to see they’re with you and not somewhere in Kentucky!
 
sir_keith

sir_keith

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Contributing Member Level III
FishBeast said:
Nice! Glad to see they’re with you and not somewhere in Kentucky!
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Yes, it worked out well. The UPS website has been a bit crazy this week; for example, I didn't get the 'Package Delivered' notification for this shipment until two days later! So if you have UPS packages in transit and the online info doesn't seem right, not to worry.

The three new fishes are doing well. They have integrated into the existing all-female group, and seem to be enjoying having a 6' tank. For sure, there is one male, because his ventral fins already extend past the leading edge of the anal fin, and females never do that. I think there may be a second male in the group as well, which would give me 2 males and 9 females, which would be perfect.

The only downside to the featherfins is that they are very sensitive. When I first started keeping these fishes a fellow Tropheus keeper told me that I'd better be prepared to 'up my game' with Ophthalmotilapia, and he was right. Pristine water, small feedings several times a day, a varied but largely vegetable-based diet, and above all, low stress levels seem important for keeping these fishes successfully. Well worth the effort IMO for such seriously cool fishes. :)
 
lloyd378

lloyd378

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Sir Keith, that pic of the male is stunning.... I am totally intrigued by his finage and his overall looks.
I’d love for you to share more information about this species (temperament, size, etc etc etc).

on a completely different note, I found out that I will be getting an office part of the work day next September and I think I’m going to setup one of those nano tanks. I really enjoy the orange colored shrimp, but I also really think the celestial danios are amazing too. I’ve got a couple of months to decide which way I’m going but I will probably buy one of those all in one units
 
DMD123

DMD123

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Lost another baby bristle nose.... this one a piebald. I found the mostly eaten carcass this morning. Im not sure what happened but I noticed a nipped tail and something weird happened to it face yesterday. I wonder if the raphael cat got it in its mouth for a bit? It was the runt of the two piebald. The other small plecos seem great and the bigger male also doing well.
 
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