Melander's Aquarium has been very quite for a long while now but I have decided to try my best to revive the blog.
I'm likely relocating in the future and have therefor had to sell off quite a few of my fishes, luckily I know fishkeeper's in the area and most of them have gotten new, good homes.
There will however be a new beginning, some fishes are kept and new tanks will be set up. I'm planning to write about this but I also have plenty of material from the past that I'm planning to post about.
I'm finding less time to update this blog, in the meanwhile please check out the Happy Pleco Facebook page for updates! https://www.facebook.com/happypleco
I have beenkeeping this strain of guppies for
about a year now. The population is based on four adult pairs and a few fry, all wild caught (Brazil).
The fish are doing very well, I have however had to downsize to two
tanks with separate populations of the same strain.
Below is a sample of some of the male offspring, these would be 2nd and 3rd generation fish. I'm looking forward to following the development of these fish, perhaps it will be possible to see physical changes by keeping a photographic record.
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.
This has been awhile, the main reason is that I am currently away from my fish and don't really know what is going on, apart from that they are doing well. The only fish close to me now are my precious Ancistrus sp., plenty of tetras and a two pairs of Angelfish. Both the Angels and the Ancistrus are spawning but in a community setup I fear that that very few fry will survive. I have also added two new links to the site, these are two excellent sites that I have used many times for information so I highly recommend having a look! Aquafarmen - very interesting Norwegian breeding projects
wildguppies.com - anything you need to know about wild guppies
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.
