Updated photos, Wild Brazilian Guppies, Poecilia reticulata

The new wild caught Brazilian guppies have now been separated into individual tanks to make sure that all of the founders get a chance to reproduce.

The photos on the left were taken when the males had settled down a bit, they are quite different then the stress colouration shown on the right.

Even now I do not find that the photographs are particularly representative as these fish seems to display different colours depending on moods, setting and lighting.






All of the females have dropped fry which is great, and the fish seem to have settled in well.

More to come regarding these,

Corydoras concolor, Male

  

 Got a lucky snap last night of the alpha male feeding from the surface.

This individual has been the strongest and fastest grower since they were about 3cm in length, he is now the boss of the tank and a stunning fish imo.

Andreas

R.I.P, death of a red & black Ancistrus male, rivalty with L134 leads to death

I'm saddened to write this but I do not want to write about only the positive sides and successes of fishkeeping.

My alpha male, calico red & black Bristlenose pleco was killed yesterday. The photo was taken when the fish was young but in it's adult form it was a very impressive fish.

This fish was approximately 4 years old, in it's prime and should have had many more years, it has supplied me with a constant stream of quality fry.

I foolishly decided to house the fish temporarily with my Peckoltia  compta / L134 group to give it a break from breeding. I knew there could be trouble between the males but did not expect it to lead to it's death. There were more than six empty caves in the tank but this was not enough. The carcass bore clear signs of fighting with another pleco, my suspicion points to the L134 alpha male.

This is something that could easily have been avoided and a decision I will regret. So a warning to anyone wanting to move several boisterous male loricariids into the same tank, monitor them carefully and obviously provide plenty of space and caves!

Hypancistrus sp., photos

These photographs are not of the best quality, but they are of a very special little fish and will be added to the gallery.

 

In 2010 I ordered some Peckoltia compta, L134 at the time and the fish below came in as one. After some speculations on various sites it seemed to resemble the L080, a Peckoltia species. 

 

Having taken some photographs of its dentition it was however confirmed that it was a Hypancistrus species.

 

I have been in contact with people around the world that keep a similar Hypancistrus and there is a possibility that this is a so far unidentified species. 

It has a total length of around 10cm and seems to be an adult male.

The fish has been an absolutely joy to keep, a real character fish.