Corydoras concolor, breeding tank

This is an old favourite of mine.

The tank is not designed for maximum production of Corydoras eggs but rather to be functional and nice to look at, at the same time. I think it's a very good example of how a breeding tank does not have to be bland and boring.

The 72 litre tank runs by a single powerhead with an attached sponge and a 50w Eheim heater. The heater might be the only thing I would have changed if I was reworking this tank. A less visible location would have made the tank look even better.

These are wild caught Corydoras concolor and it took some time before the first spawn occurred but after that the fish spawned regularly usually after water changes had been performed.

The fish are kept at around 24 degrees Celsius, pH of 6.5 and in very soft water. The interior of twigs, plants and moss, especially at higher locations provide perfect spawning material for these fish.

In this tank I do nothing when it comes to rearing the eggs/fry as I am happy with a few young additions to the group. Fry survival could however easily be increased by providing additional hiding spots for the fry such as clay piper, moss etc.. The fishkeeper could also easily remove the spawning material after each spawn and choose to rear the young in a separate tank.
 
Again this is not something for the fishkeeper that wants to produce large amounts of young but it's suitable for people that want to watch breeding behaviour in a nice setting.

I am also of the opinion that this kind of tank lead to quality fry as the young has to compete for food and survive on their own which naturally culls the weak.

Happy Fishkeeping!

 

Solution to Easier Waterchanges

We all know the backbreaking and time consuming way of doing waterchanges the traditional way. We still do it as it's part of the hobby and we love our fishes.

There are alternatives though, some people use automated pumps, and even automated water change systems. It's also possible to run many tanks connected to each other and hence only having to change the water in one spot. Another method that I have used my self is to have a spare tank above the rest filled with matured water, in a rack this can quite easily be transfered to lower tanks when doing waterchanges.

Our Danish inventor friend Rene Bannerskjold has come up with a brilliant yet simple DIY solution and was kind enough to send over these pictures.

This is probably what most of us do, it involves alot of carrying and is also time consuming:

To start of, Rene has modified the hose using a fine net so that no fry or smaller fish will be sucked out:

The water container is here replaced by a drain:

The drain is running out trough the back door, this is a very effectiv eand simple solution that most people can use and modify to their needs, fair play Rene!

I would also like to add that this "fish water" is a really good fertilizer for most plants. I always try to use it up either in the garden or for pots and am convinced that I have seen a difference in plant growth.

Aquarium Rack, Danish Improvements:)

I have been in contact with Rene Bannerskjold from Denmark who has built an aquarium rack and got some inspiration from my post here: Aquarium Rack

I think this is so good, I got help building my rack from Bart of Rainbow Aquatics and now Rene has improved the design even further, maybe someone will take inspiration from Rene's version now (I know I will:)). 

This version features higher openings above each tank to allow easier access, led lights and also air lines running in tubes to each tank. I might “steal” the idea with the air lines in the tubes to improve my own rack if I ever dismantle mine. The filtration system in general looks really neat.

Well done Rene and many thanks for sharing the photographs and letting me post them here!

The end result looks really good, have a look for yourselves below:

Detail of Air line tubes:

And finally some smashing looking tanks:

Thoughts on Quarantine tanks

First of all, always buy strong and healthy looking fish, but remember that even the healthiest looking fish could carry nasty parasites and illnesses. Therefor a quarantine tanks are hugely beneficial for fish-keepers and fish alike and any serious aquarist should have one available.

These setups allow the aquarist to monitor new arrivals for signs of any decease without the risk of an illness spreading in the main system. Should sick be present a quarantine tank allows the hobbyist to treat the individual fish or fishes instead of the whole system. A positive side that seems often be overlooked is the peace and quite a quarantine tank can offer new arrivals that might be stressed after travelling. The same goes for wild fish getting used to new foods and water parameters. For this reason I personally don’t stick to the bare minimum quarantine tanks but rather try to set up an environment that the particular species can feel comfortable in long term. I also try to keep the quarantine tank in a quite spot to minimize stress.

The most common villain I see is flukes, especially in wild fish. There are plenty of remedies for these and the fish usually recovers unless it’s a particularly bad infestation. I try not to treat the fish straight away and leave them to recover for a weak or two before starting any treatments, just to let the fishes settle in and gain strength.

As for quarantine period, 2-4 weeks seems to be a common recommendation. There is no need to rush and I personally prefer to leave the fish for around a month. This decision depends on the fish and where it comes from.

What you need is a suitable sized tank, a heater and a seeded filter as well as suitable decor for the particular species. Light are not important and if you have them they should not be too strong as this might put additional stress on already weak fish.

As my main interest lies in small sized catfish the tank in the photograph above is set up for these types of fish. The tank is 72 litre, 60x40x30cm which allows enough bottom space for small sized plecos. The abundance of caves and wood lets the fish pick and choose hiding spots. The lights are particularly strong in the photo, but I don’t use them at all for the first week or so and then slowly introduce the light.

This tank is permanently stocked with a group of wild guppies which keeps the system alive and healthy; it also features several spare sponge filters in case they are needed to set up a second tank. If needed, the tank can easily be re-arranged to cater for many different types of species used to similar water parameters. With tetras and otos I would usually add a number of plants for instance.

This is how I do it but there are many ways to skin a cat(fish)

Power Cut, a Fishkeepers Nightmare

As some of you might now we had a 30 hour power cut here a couple of weeks ago. It came at a really bad time in that I was in the process of moving and hence had tanks at two different locations.

 

I was not prepared enough but some of the preparations I had made proved vital to my fishes survival. The losses that I suffered all came from one single tank which was on the small size (70 liters) and not insulated. 

The losses were of younger animals of Hypancistrus debilittera, L129. The adults suffered too and in the end I evacuated these animals to a larger tank, It is certain that these animals would have died too if they would not have been moved.

Unfortunately I have heard from friends who lost far more fish than me during this cut.

What worked?

Oxygenation: I was lucky enough to get my hands on a number of battery driven air pumps and these proved absolutely vital to the health of my fish. The oxygenated water seems to also have kept the bacteria alive in my filters (all sponge). My water tests have all come back good since the event thanks to the air pumps and the sponges that were floating in the oxygenated water.

Insulation: One of my tanks was insulated with a layer of Styrofoam and there was a very clear difference in the temperature between this tank and the others. Obviously other factors matter too such as size of the tanks but the difference was clear enough to point to the insulation. In the future most of my tanks will be insulated.

Improvements?

If this power cut of 30 hours would have lasted longer, there is no doubt that I would have lost more fish therefor I will need to improve my chances should this happen again. 

Many fish keepers keep a spare generator at hand and this seems like a very good long term solution. Unfortunately due to the location this is not an option for me. I have been looking at various electrical backup solutions and I will update this post when I have done more research.

 

As I am satisfied with how the battery driven air pumps worked my main concern is the temperature. Apart from covering all tanks with insulation, have spare duvets ready to cover the tanks I have been suggested to use various heat packs that can be activated at the time of a power cut and suspended into the tank. 

Another option is to keep a few large tanks that are well insulated; in an emergency fish from smaller tanks can be temporarily transfers to the larger prepared tanks which will hold the temperature far longer than the smaller ones.

These solutions are however only fine if the owner is at home at the time of the power cut; it’s a different story if the owner is away during the event in which case an emergency power generator would be more beneficial.

I would be interested in hearing from other fish keepers with experience in this matter.

DIY: Simple tank / aquarium stand

For various reasons I needed a new stand for one of my tanks, and I needed it fast so this is what I (google) came up with.

It's as simple as it gets, no router needed and it takes no time to put together.
All that is needed is some timber (I used 5cm x 7,5cm beams), a hand saw, measureing tape and plenty of skrews.

The idea is that all the weight is held by the wood, the skrews are just holding the stand together not  supporting any weight.

All the wood is recycled and there are only straight cuts done with a hand saw, the legs are probably a bit overkill but they won’t be seen anyway.

At one point I thought about putting another horizontal piece of wood in between the legs for stability but there simply was no need for it.

The  skeleton of the stand was covered with thin boards from an old Ikea shelf. If you wanted to you could use the lower part as a shelf for storing an external filter, tools or even a second tank/sump.

Now I'll only need to cover up the bits just below the tank, nearly there.

Andreas

Hypancistrus debilittera, L129; fry development

I just fished out these little lads from their parent’s tank. They are from one of my first spawns of Hypancistrus debilittera, L129 and I believe that I managed to catch roughly two thirds from that batch.

It is very important for the growth and well-being of young plecos that they are not kept in too crowded conditions. Even more so when several batches share the tank as the smaller ones will have a very tough time competing for food and hiding spots against their larger siblings. 

These fish were moved so that their younger siblings can get a chance to grow properly and become strong little fishes.They have now moved to a 72 litre tank with strong filtration and plenty of hiding spots.

New Additions: Black Widow Tetra

20 Black Widow Tetras, Gymnocorymbus ternetzi were added to the 360 litre community tank.

This is a fish that I have overlooked, and I guess that I am not alone. Maybe this is because they often seem quite pale in the local fish shops or maybe that they rarely are displayed in large numbers.

The fish have settled in very well and really look well together with the Cardinal Tetras. The Black Widows school separately at a high level in the tank while the Cardinals most often stay at lower levels and therefor the two species complement each other very well.

1 year of algae growth

Here is a quick update of my fathers tank, 30+ years running (more about this tank under Archived Posts).

The bottom photo is from last Christmas 2012 and the upper photo is from today, 2013.

As you can see black beard algae has taken over the tank during the year. I do like it for some reason, but it will have to go.

Oak Leaves

Todays crop: a box of dryed oak leaves

Dead leaves are beneficial to the home aquaria in many ways. I'm using oak leaves myself and as this is the season to be picking them I thought I would write a quick post about them.

Why Leaves

The benefit of using leaves in the aquaria are many and there is plenty information available on this subject, I will shorty highlight some of them below.
Looks
Many of our aquarium fishes come from habitats littered with leaves. Heiko Bleher himself mentioned how he knew that he would find Apistogramma species in a leaf litter habitat (MaxiZoo talk, Dublin 2013). Oak leaves are a great way for any aquarist that wants to try to replicate such a habitat and it does usually look great.
Biotope/breeding
Tannins released from the leaves helps lowering the pH and stain the water to a tea-color. This further replicates the habitats of many blackwater species. Replicating the natural habitat in this way will significantly increase any breeding attempts.

Hiding

Leaf litter provides an abundance of hiding spots for fry and adult fish alike which adds to the general wellbeing of the fish. In a breeding tank leaves can be the difference between a good survival rate of fry or an unsuccessful attempt.

Food source

The leaves are also beneficial to the growth of fry as they provide an environment for microorganisms on which many fry feed. I often use oak leaves in my rearing tanks and lately a batch of Hypancistrus debilittera were grazing eagerly on the leaves, the batch grew very well and I contribute part of that to the constant availability of food, deriving from the leaves.

Preparation

I have only used oak leaves and can only comment on them.
Collection
Pick clearly dead/dry leaves of a species you know is aquarium safe. Pick only leaves that have already fallen to the ground. Avoid leaves from a polluted area, rotting, exhibit fungi growth or anything else you are not sure about.
Storage
Store the leaves in a dry area, I use an open card box for this purpose. Do not store them in plastic bags or sealed container until you are certain that they are completely dried out. Pick out any “bad” leaves prior to use. I usually dry the leaves for at least a month before use.

Use

Adding leaves
Add the leaves gradually, you will get familiar with how much leaves you need and how they affect the color of the water. The leaves will decompose over time, you can either leave them as they are or if you are afraid of leaf matter clogging the filter/spoiling the looks; siphon the smaller pieces out while performing a water change. Just make sure that you don’t siphon out your fry, in a set up with leaf litters fry can often go unnoticed from view.

Fish species
The effect the leaves have on the water makes them suitable for blackwater species. Personally I use oak leaves in tanks with species of Ancistrus, Corydoras, Hara, Peckoltia, Pelvicachromis and various tetras. Make however sure of what conditions the particular species you keep needs before planning the tank.