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Biotope Biologist

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Everything posted by Biotope Biologist

  1. Biotope Biologist
    Corydoras bilineatus is my best guess. The difference between elegans and bilineatus appears to be that elegans has a more diffused line marking. Whereas bilineatus 2 lines do not break up. Corydoras bilineatus also originate from the Madeira river basin which overlaps with where otocinclus are typically caught. Whereas other species of this complex originate from the lower Orinoco and central Amazon basins. If this was a mistake in the shipment, than it is strongly likely that the range of the two species would need to overlap, as otocinclus are still largely wild caught. This however is not accurate I.D. by me. There is simply little information on these species and a lack of a dichotomous key for me to make strong claims. Regardless the corydoras will likely school together. They are, however, unlikely to breed in captivity. Google is not your friend when it comes to these species. I have found the same images used for different species of this complex.
  2. Biotope Biologist
    I have Rhinogobius filamentosus in my creek setup as @OnlyGenusCaps stated. I love mine. They are like little puppy dogs and with the addition of more space and more hides they have really gotten comfortable with me and people in general. Although I must say yes they are quite drab. When displaying for eachother they have similar features to mudskippers. Namely bright blue flecks on the dorsal fin, with dorsal ray 2 being higher than the rest. But that’s about it. Mine also have the nearly fused pectoral fins that form a sort of suction cup or “legs.” I trust in an actual stream environment this modification is extremely useful but those conditions are hard to replicate in the home aquaria. Care wise they are pretty easy. Alot of the ones you see in the trade hail from indopacific streams so they accordingly like higher kH and gH. Some of them are algae eaters, such as Stiphodon, so a mature tank is required. But I’d argue water quality for any stream fish is of the utmost importance. I made sure my tank was aged well before I put fish in and could handle any bioloads. Emergent plants are very useful for this. As for your tank setup maybe bumblee gobies? Probably the most striking and common goby out there. With your lineup too you could add some marine salt and go brackish if you so desire. All listed fish don’t mind a little salt.
  3. Biotope Biologist
    “aquarium was reportedly extensively modernized in the summer of 2020.” I am not sure what this means, but I’d look there for your sudden failures in design. If the tank had been running for nearly 20 years before that, it gives me pause. I know with my car which is 25 years old the issues started occurring once I started messing with it.
  4. Biotope Biologist
    Animal ethics is so sticky. That’s probably why us scientists avoid it entirely. I loathe monster fishkeepers. Shoving 10 5’ fish into a glass box with no decor not even substrate because their bioload is so intense it’s just not feasible to clean up after them is not my idea of ‘happiness.’ But who knows those tiger cats might be happy as a clam being able to just veg out and be hand fed all day. I steer clear of leveraging my morals over someone else’s because I just truly don’t know and will never know how an animal feels. Best I can do is try.
  5. Biotope Biologist
    I would forego trying to fill out the top. Your silver arowana will not let anyone up there when it’s older. I would however bolster your blue gourami school. Ideally 1 male per 3-5 females. I would also avoid a clown loach unless you are going to be upgrading the tank in the future. A yoyo or dojo loach would be best. yoyos need to be kept in a group to keep aggression with tankmates down, dojos are docile.
  6. Biotope Biologist
    Rainbow sharks have issues with conspecifics and generally leave others alone. Generally recommended 1 shark per 100 gallons. They are really nasty towards eachother as adults. As far as a crayfish id forego one or the other in this tank. Luckily crayfish are fairly sedentary so you could put them in a 10g later down the line. I really enjoy pictus they are so hyper and beautiful. Good luck with your tank!
  7. Biotope Biologist
    I am sorry to hear that. Unfortunately city water is not regulated nationwide like it is in other countries. This leads some cities to use chemicals that are not good for fish, and arguably not good for human consumption either. I am not sure what the solution here is either. Perhaps buying a pool master test kit and using it before you use city water? Or depending on where you live there are aquifers with free water you can fill up at. Some even purchase a RODI unit and recombine necessary chemicals later.
  8. Biotope Biologist
    I have setup a bunch of betta sororities but I don’t believe I ever actually suggested them to others. Same with stores who have had them in the past. I worked at a pet store chain in college. You know the ones that put all bettas in cups and call that fine. Well turns out betta turnover is far slower than they tell you. I always heard “bettas turn over in a week its fine.” Try closer to a month. 2-3 months for the females. So I started taking as many bettas out of cups as I could. We condensed the gold fish wall and made room. So since this topic is female sorority specific I’ll stay on topic. I would put 15-30 females into a tank with hides and plants. The real reason for this is that female bettas in the wild are skittish and really don’t like to be seen. They are far more healthy if they can get away from the chaos for a bit. This sorority needed to be watched for the first few hours. So my coworkers and I would take shifts. Any female who presented as a bully ie flaring, tail nips, locking lips. Would be separated. We found that older females just couldn’t hang with the younger ones without being bullies. We still sold them separately. There were a few breeders and hydroponics people who came in and bought a handful of females at a time. Fish have big personalities. Even the schooling fish. Every so often a Jeffrey Dahmer fish appears and is just a menace. Bettas and gouramis in general have complex social lives that need to be accounted for. Tanks are not like the wild where if there is a dispute the defeated fish can retreat a mile away. So I am not saying don’t attempt it or it’s morally reprehensible. But just do your research and try to provide a good home for your fish friends. All of them.
  9. Biotope Biologist
    I agree with @AllFishNoBrakes if you do a neon tank heavily planted with a little bit of a current would be great. Then stock so many. like 100+ they are mesmerizing in large schools.
  10. Biotope Biologist
    They are absolute nuts! So much energy especially around feeding time. But I really enjoy them and the gobies have learned if they flare at them, the trout will back off. The LFS down here in Oly had an amazing fish room!
  11. Biotope Biologist
    Correct. Especially when looking at tropical species. Not to mention they don’t get along with eachother very well. Even the true detritivores will kill and eat others if given the chance. There are some beautiful marine polychaetes in the PNW most have a bite far worse than the sting. As for the red macros, I’m perplexed. I guess there must be a micro environment in your tank they prefer over there?
  12. Biotope Biologist
    Sitting down to peacefully enjoy my lunch this afternoon. Make eye contact with my fish. This was a mistake. They are stalking me. If there wasn’t water between us they’d be in my lap trying to take a bite…
  13. Biotope Biologist
    Try weed screen/landscaping cloth and cut out holes where plants will go? Unless you plan on carpeting the ground with plants.
  14. Biotope Biologist
    My apartment has a 1 degree tilt in the floor. My tank also sits unlevel and since its 4 feet long it is noticeable in water level. This might be something that was built into your floors as well. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I really notice it when I’m in my office chair at my desk. Have to anchor myself to the table practically.
  15. Biotope Biologist
    Goldfish are constantly hungry. They are natural grazers so on top of feeding flaked food you can drop in some food pucks. They are not picky at all as to what those food pucks are. Also some people will practically give away duckweed. This is a favorite snack of theres.
  16. Biotope Biologist
    I was going to stock them in a 128g hexagonal tank so I can’t attest to best tank size. Id say they look best in a group of 6+. 5 as an absolute minimum.
  17. Biotope Biologist
    After living with a goldfish for almost 10 years, the correct answer is none. She ate my 4 foot long anubias rhizome and all. But if you are looking for plants that outpace fish; anachris, cabomba (as stated above), water lettuce, amazon frogbit, aponogeton, and just about anything with weed in its common name.
  18. Biotope Biologist
    I didn’t end up getting them as Cory didn’t stock them until after I tore down my Amazon biotope. But I have done a ton of research on them. These knifefish are different than the more popular ones as they require a school as @Colu stated. They stay small and really don’t need alot of swimming room. They really enjoy live feedings but can switch to frozen foods by tong. As centipede knifefish get more comfortable with their handlers they have been known to even perform tricks. They also only like to be housed with other shy or mellow fish. Rambunctious fish especially during feeding time will stress them out. Although mostly nocturnal feeding schedules can be switched to the day time especially if the tank is in a quiet low light environment. I noticed the ones Cory got ahold of were very tame and didn’t mind being out even on a Saturday when ACO is slammed with people. Cory was too busy with actual customers for my questions 😋 Hope this helps! Also I have heard rumors of some displaying breeding behavior in heavily planted ecosystem style tanks. I have not heard if they actually produced offspring for people and I do believe a zoo is actively trying to breed them. Thats all I got! edit: I did have a single glass knifefish rescue for a few months in it’s own heavily planted tank. They display similar behavior. It enjoyed my presence and was often curious when I trimmed the plants in the tank. It sadly passed due to the fungus I was nursing persisting. It was kept in a tank with australian rainbows and was bullied and stressed to no end, prior to my care. Glean what you can from that anecdote
  19. Biotope Biologist
    Unfortunately people buy balas without doing any research. We stopped carrying them at the petstore chain I worked at for this reason. They are a schooling fish and really require social interaction to stay healthy. I think your best course of action is to try and find someone who can dedicate the resources they need to be happy and healthy and not take on the burden of someone else’s poor decision. That way you can focus on stocking the 55 with fish you prefer. Balas as adults need a large amount of swimming space and schools of 6+ to establish proper socializing. Minimum tank size as adults is 250 gallons, which is not feasible for most aquarists.
  20. Biotope Biologist
    You might have a tough time with that combo not eating shrimplets at least. But anchor cats are good fry control, they will eat shrimplets as well. But generally peaceful to your other stock. Their main diet is worms but their eyesight is poor so anything that fits in their mouth and moves past them will get eaten.
  21. Biotope Biologist
    Boy that was a rollercoaster. Always drama with cichlids even the peaceful ones! glad it all worked out!
  22. Biotope Biologist
    Yup I boil rocks locally. No harm in it. Unless there is a specific aesthetic I am going for where I have bought specific stones from a yard. Also depending on your locality be aware some rocks also have iron deposits in them. Not typically harmful but they will rust. Pretty easy to spot they have a rust brown/orange spot that can easily be wiped away it likely has iron in it.
  23. Biotope Biologist
    Can’t believe I just caught up with all of this now! Without the mention would I have gone months again?!? Suppose there is no way of knowing. I digress… I am excited to see how this turns out! I’m also far too lazy to watch to see what they mean by biome cycling. I really like your fish assortment! If I did marine I would definitely stock those fish! Also I’m not to well versed in tropical corals but I am aware that some are rather aggressive about their territories and might attack and kill your slower moving peaceful pieces. That’s all I got im just along for the ride.
  24. Biotope Biologist
    @Starr22 I found a best if both worlds solution as I too hate lids from an aesthetic point of view. A competitor offers clear screen that allows light penetration but keeps fishies in. You can buy a kit or buy in bulk and DIY it. I did the second option and it cost me 1/3 the price. You can also go to an acrylic supply store and have them cut you a piece. If your tank is rimmed it can be flush fit.
  25. Biotope Biologist
    Update time! The plants are coming in very nicely and my nitrates have plummeted to barely registered on the test strips. I was worried that the water willow was not going to make it but I have 14-16 leaflets popping out of the ground. The gobies have all moved to a nocturnal schedule. So I have changed my feedings as such. They have become aggressive eaters launching themselves at the trout to get their share of food. It’s quite entertaining. I always see all of them hanging out in this corner before lights on. And by time I come back they are all hiding.
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