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Brian Scott

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Everything posted by Brian Scott

  1. Brian Scott
    Were there fish in the ponds when you moved into the house? If not, were there fish in the ponds previously while the ponds were set up utilizing the water features these rocks came from??
  2. Brian Scott
    For me, Brachyplatystoma tigrinum is a true dream fish. I'm just not able to set up the proper aquarium for them at the moment. They are absolutely spectacular catfish to see in person, so if you have the chance to do so I'd take advantage of the opportunity! Photo Credit: Ben Lee c/o https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/image.php?species=brachyplatystoma_tigrinum&image_id=14568
  3. Brian Scott
    Leopold's angelfish (Pterophyllum leopoldi) from the Rio Demini in Brazil. These angels are similar to the common wild-type silver angels, but don't grow quite as large. They have a rounded head and their fins are generally shorter. They can be quite quarrelsome among each other, so a fairly spacious aquarium with lots of plants and / or driftwood would be well advised so as to provide ample visual barriers and retreats.
  4. Brian Scott
    Big water changes on all the fry tanks (angels, Coptodon, RTMs, etc....)!
  5. Brian Scott
    Love the dark mode, thanks!
  6. Brian Scott
    U. amphiacanthoides grows to about 10 inches TL or so. Some can reach about a foot, but most are a bit smaller. They are native to the Amazon Basin in Brazil, and a second described species (U. fernandezyepezyi) is native to the Rio Atabapo in Colombia and Venezuela.
  7. Brian Scott
    Where is your ammonia and nitrites? Don't worry about the hardness and TDS for the time being. You need a solid biological foundation to build upon. Please focus on cycling the tank properly and not on the hardness and TDS for the time being.
  8. Brian Scott
    No, I'd do the water change now. In reality, it probably doesn't really matter but for some reason I'd feel better getting some of those chemicals out of there. IMO, do a 50% water change and leave the tank alone for a few days. Let the tank drift to wherever it's going to drift to for a few days then retest your parameters. Before you add anything new just update this thread with the results after a few days and go from there. It's really not very complicated. You will be fine, don't worry. Good folks here to help you.
  9. Brian Scott
    If I could only keep one fish, it would be a Uaru amphiacanthoides. This specimen was wild collected from the Rio Tapajos, Brazil. I maintain several aquariums with U. amphiacanthoides including one breeding pair (that eat their eggs constantly). Cheers!
  10. Brian Scott
    Aside from the usual water changes, I took delivery of order #3 from Aquarium Co-Op. Two more Ziss Bio Bubble filters and some other goodies. Earned my Angelfish sticker. Looking forward to order #4!
  11. Brian Scott
    Ah ha......okay. My well water is crazy low pH, hardness, and TDS. I use just a few dashes of baking soda to add some carbonates to the water when cycling a new setup. Bacteria loves carbonates. Use a small amount of baking soda to get your pH up to, say, around 6.5ish or so. Then focus on the biology of your tank. Dial in the hardness etc.... at a later time.
  12. Brian Scott
    Endler's livebearers Celestial Pearl Danios Clown Killies
  13. Brian Scott
    If I'm not mistaken, those additives are made up of salts. Salts dissolve, and increase your TDS. The only effective way to remove them for home aquariums is through waters changes. Just a quick tip, focus on cycling your tank biologically before you mess with the chemicals. Going back and forth with acids and bases (alkaline buffers) is like playing mad chemist and usually results in less than favorable outcomes. What type of fish are you planning on keeping? Plants in the plan??
  14. Brian Scott
    Thank you very much for the nice words. I'm happy to keep fishes like these C. kottae and others that are near extinct in the wild. As much as I do like thinking that I'm helping "preserve" the species, in reality the best way to help keep these fishes from extinction is to preserve their natural habitat. Simple measures can and should be put in place in their native waters that would far surpass any efforts put forth by home hobbyists, but those countries, typically, are not interested in anything but making money. It's such a shame. Meanwhile, I'll be happy to post up some new pix of these soon......they are growing like weeds! Cheers!!
  15. Brian Scott
    Tonight in the fishroom, a pair of young Coptodon kottae are guarding their first spawn. C, kottae is an endangered species of cichlid that's endemic to Lake Barombi-ba-Kotto, and the smaller nearby Lake Mboandong, in the Southwest Region of Cameroon. This is a substrate-brooding, benthopelagic fish, which has a maximum length of about 15 centimeters (6 inches or so). In my lifetime, this species will likely be extinct in the wild. https://www.facebook.com/brian.scott.10690203
  16. Brian Scott
    Love it!! So many fond memories seeing that old war horse of a filter. Man, when they ran they sure ran. I miss my old Supreme Super Kings with those oval siphon tubes! PS --- I still use U/G filters......love 'em!
  17. Brian Scott
    This has very much been my experience, too, Daniel. I'm finding that the young angels that grow the fastest are not actually the ones that I want to keep back for future breeders. I was having this conversation with a friend of mine recently, and I think there's some merit to selling off the fast growers and keeping the medium to slow growers back. In doing so, you may experience pairing on the farther end of the 6-9 month spectrum. That said, another friend of mine had a male koi angel just pair up and spawn with a much younger silver angel after 2 years in a 210 community tank with her. I believe that generally speaking a well-fed group of angels kept in a nice-sized tank can be expected to start pairing off at the 6-month mark for the most part, IMO.
  18. Brian Scott
    Such an outstanding post!!! I'm in NJ, so I need to go banana plant hunting!!!
  19. Brian Scott
    Hey Bill, Congrats on the nice spawn! I'm kinda all over the place when it comes to how long I leave the parents and fry together. I have two marble pairs that I'm sure I can leave the fry with them for a solid month with little to no ill effects on the parents......because I've been doing it that way with them. My silver angels tire of the fry easier, but one pair will spawn again and again and let the older fry feed on the spawns. Eventually they start getting nasty to the fry so I remove them. None of these instances really are a result of the actual parent fish being harmed by the fry, however. As for gravel, I really do believe that no gravel is best, but I do use some gravel here and there. The finer the gravel / sand the better off you'll be IME because the fry will not be able to embed themselves into it as much compared to the coarser types with lots of nooks and crannies. Hope that helps a little!
  20. Brian Scott
    I was having a conversation about this same topic not too long ago. It seems that the general consensus is that the black angels of today are just not of the same quality as the black angels of years past. This conversation started as a result of my obtaining a small group of black angels that left me scratching my head. On the other hand, I obtained a different group of black angels that were really nice and very, very dark. I passed these on to a friend of mine since I've been working mostly with wild types and marbles lately. He has a pair set aside and is expecting a spawn from them any day now. Fingers crossed, as these should be really nice old school black angels!!
  21. Brian Scott
    Here's a quick pic of a pearlscale marble pair. This pair was in a 29-gallon tank alone at the time of this photo. They are now it a 53-gallon tank after having just produced about 300 fry last week. These two are absolute machines!!
  22. Brian Scott
    I think I can get away with my times because of the volume of water and that I feed mostly whole foods. Those breeding angels and allowing the parents to raise them in smaller tanks combined with the use of "fry foods" cannot get away with it nearly as much. Those fry foods can really spoil a tank in no time.....especially if the fry don't eat the food quickly. Smaller more frequent offerings is, as always, suggested, but is open to interpretation by the hobbyist. Also, regarding the number of times you will allow a pair to attempt to raise their young is totally open to interpretation as well.....IMO anyway. I have two pairs of marbles that ate a half dozen spawns before that "got it right," but still eat a spawn here and there even today. I still firmly believe that parent-raised fishes (all types when applicable) are just better breeders down the road. Cheers!
  23. Brian Scott
    Hi Randy, I enjoy your videos on YouTube very much. Thanks for taking the time to put them together. Your latest one with Bob Steenfott was really great. I'm quite envious of your fishroom! At any rate, try going to your local tile store and ask them to cut you slate tile to your preferred size. I find local mom and pop shops will do this for a very low fee. In my cases....they are usually more fascinated for what you're using the tile for and often will give scraps away from high-end tile jobs. There you may find other colors, textures, or thicknesses of tile that may be of interest to you. I've seen some very detailed breeding setups that were very impressive right down to color-cooordinated breeding slates!! 🙂 Hope that helps, cheers! --Brian
  24. Brian Scott
    Hi Bill, In most cases I don't do water changes while the fry are with the parents until they are either in or approaching what I call the "arrow stage." That's where they're starting to look like baby angelfish rather than just typical cichlid fry. Some folks also call them "darts" at this stage. I go back and forth with the terminology, and use it interchangeably. In such large tanks, I have very little issues with fouled water, and this is especially true when I'm feeding live BBS. I do have some issues when I'm feeding prepared foods, like Repashy for example. When they're in the arrow or dart stage they are swimming all over the place, and are also large enough (in most cases) to where I can avoid sucking them up with my siphon. I use a piece of hard 3/8-inch thin wall clear tubing attached to a length of vinyl tubing and siphon the bottom mulm and uneaten food stuffs into a 5-gallon bucket. Old School!!!! Of course, be mindful that not all the fry will grow and develop at the same time so while some are in the dart stage others may not be........use caution! Congrats on picking a pair of koi angels off the bat!! That's impressive!! How are the wigglers doing now? Updates?? Cheers, --Brian
  25. Brian Scott
    Went back to using sea salt on my current batch......fingers crossed for a bumper crop tomorrow!! 🙂
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