My tanks: 6 April Update

With spring comes a lot of new things including lots of updates! The weather is finally warming up here, and I'm gearing up for some outdoor summer projects that I will fill you in on later.

First off, the pond is open for 2013! Earlier this week we took the net off the pond. I spent a few hours cleaning out a lot of the algae that built up over the winter and clearing out any debris that made it through the net. The koi were out to greet me and the water is almost warm enough to start feeding them. I start them out with Cheerios at 55F (13C) and move them to wheat germ when the temp hits 65F (18C).

Freshly uncovered and cleaned of most algae

The koi just hanging out in the sunshine.

The next major change is a new tank! I removed the red cherry shrimp from my community and set up a tank dedicated to breeding them. My gourami were making it next to impossible to breed them, so I just removed the shrimp. I moved over the remaining adults and later that week found four juveniles hiding in the moss. Thus far the female has released one clutch of eggs and is holding a second. Because the founding population is so small, I'm going to order more red cherries. Too much inbreeding produces shrimp that are far to weak. The plants are mostly stems with some anubias. The plant list: Bacopa carolinia, dwarf sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata), Myriophyllum mattogrossense, Rotala rotundifolia, Anubias spp, riccia, Subwassertang, and java moss.

Full tank shot

Two males and juvvie eating sinking wafers.

There have also been large changed in my community tank. I've finally added the cardinal tetra. I bought 12 from msjinxkd.com. They came in excellent condition and have been flourishing ever since. They are as gorgeous as they are in pictures, and I'm completely in love. The shoal has been dubbed "The Shinies" and my family remarked that they almost look like they are glowing.

My new cardinal tetra; I apologize for the dark picture.

The other major change in my community has been an addition of more crypts. The dwarf sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata) and dwarf chain sword (Echinodorus tenellus) I had in there was just languishing. I don't know if it was the light or the tannins or just what, but they never grew for me. So I removed what was still alive and placed it in the shrimp tank. I replanted that side of the tank with green wendtii (Cryptocoryne wendtii var green) and red wendtii crypts (Cryptocoryne wendtii var red) and C. spiralis from AquariumPlants.com. I've had minimal melt with them and even see new growth. I'm very pleased with them. You can see them on the right side of the tank.

Full tank shot; the bettas are still in the breeder boxes.

The first of my summer projects I have begun are my snail bowls. Since my goldfish are growing larger and more apt to eat the smaller snails, I need to grow out my snails before I introduce them into that tank. I have set up two old betta bowls as snail bowls. One has hornwort and the other has anarcharis clippings from my betta tank, and both have a layer of duckweed. Because my water is so soft I have crushed coral substrate to maintain a steady pH and enough water hardness for the plants and snail shells. They get weekly water changes with the waste water being used to water the terrestrial plants in the terrarium window.

Right bowl - hornwort; left bowl - anarcharis

Ramshorn snails in the anarcharis bowl

....

My Favorite (Aquarium) Fish

As soon as people here I keep aquariums they ask me what my favorite fish are. It's so hard to just pick one, so I've come up with a list of my top ten favorite aquarium fish! Let's count them down!

10. Rummynose Tetra (Hemigrammus bleheri)

Rummynose tetra individual (SeriouslyFish.com)

These little beauties are some of the most tightly shoaling tetras in the freshwater world. Sure other tetra will shoal from time to time, but these guys do it almost nonstop. They aren't the most colorful of the tetra, but that lovely red nose sure can shine! Like most of the fish on my list, they are softwater fish. These little beauties can withstand the high temperatures that discus need and are often recommended with them. 

9. Twig Catfish (Farlowella spp)

Farlowella spp clinging to Anubias (sampukko @ Flickr)

This fish lives up to its name. In poorer quality video and pictures it can easily be mistaken for a twig. Its appearance is its camouflage and helps it remain undetected in the wild (and in the aquarium sometimes!). Even though I don't see him every day, I still love my farlowella. They are closely related to plecos but have an almost entirely vegetarian diet. They get quite long (7 inches [17 cm]) but lack the girth to go with it. They get along very well with small fish and shrimps. I've even seen my shrimps climb on him like he was a real twig!  

8. Gourami (Trichogaster spp)

Male dwarf gourami in territorial display (SeriouslyFish.com)

An air-breather just like bettas, these little fish can make excellent centerpieces for a small tank. They do fine alone or in groups, but it's best to have multiple females per male in a group. They can be a bit territorial towards other gourami and fish that resemble gourami like bettas and cichlids, so if you are keeping multiple gourami in a tank you need to have a lot of hiding spaces for them. Gourami love areas of thick planting as well as floating plants. While I know my male gourami would do fine on his own, I just love watching his colors shine as he displays for his females.

7. Botine loaches (Botia spp)

Juvenile ladder loaches Botia rostrata playing (Emma Turner @ Loaches Online)

I fell in love with these guys years ago but have not been able to get them in a tank of mine yet. I saw them playing in a petstore and fell in love. If I were a more capricious person I would have bought them then and there, but I went home and did research.  For the most part, the botine loaches need tanks 55 gallons (208 L) or larger. They get larger than you would expect (3+ inches [8 cm] depending on species) and need to be in groups of 6 or more. On top of that, they are very active. But what made me fall in love with these little buggers was the way they interact with each other. They really look like they are playing. They also like to pose in strange positions around the tank which includes laying on their sides or at otherwise odd angles just because they feel like it. For little fishes, they have lots of personality, and I can't wait to get some of these in a tank of mine one day.

6. Discus (Symphysodon spp)

Captive bred discus Symphysodon aequifasciata (SeriouslyFish.com)

They are called the kings of the aquarium and for good reason. Growing to approximately the size of a CD and coming in rainbow of colors, discus make an impressive sight in an aquarium.Their unusual shape and myriad of colors are what first grabbed my attention, but I was hooked when I saw them swimming in an aquarium. They are so graceful! But with that grace and beauty comes a great amount of care. This coupled with their cost doesn't make them a fish for beginner or even most intermediates. It also makes them difficult to pair with other fish; it's not that they are aggressive, but it's that they need very warm, soft, and acidic water.

5. Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)

Cardinal tetra shoal (Leino88 @ Flickr)

Another one of the few fish that can withstand the high temperatures discus need, they also rival discus in coloration. Those blue streaks stand out across a room and make them the most beautiful tetra in my opinion. Up close the deep red streak that runs their full body length becomes apparent. Their relaxed and calm nature makes them a great pair with other beautiful fish like gourami and discus. Whether they are in a loosely shoaling group of 12 or in a tight shoal of 50 these tetra stand out in a tank and in my heart. If I could have any tetra in a tank, it would be these guys.

4. Fighting Fish (Betta splendens)

One of my personal bettas, Lumi the halfmoon plakat

A lot of people call these little fish with a big attitude, and I'm more than inclined to agree. Every single betta I've owned has been very personable. Those long flowing fins entice many people in, but I am more fond of the rainbow of colors they come in. Another one of my favorite things about bettas is their adaptability to smaller tanks and different water parameters. Bettas were the only fish that I could have in my 5 gal tanks while I was in college. They will also do well in hard or soft water, so you can keep them no matter what your tap water is. 

3. Kuhli loaches (Pangio spp)

A group of Pangio shelfordii (SeriouslyFish.com)

Along with the twig catfish, these little guys are some of the strangest looking fish on my list because they don't look like fish! They look like little worms! This is especially true of the brown species. Kuhli loaches have squirmed their way into my heart. Just like the botine loaches they are full of energy and spunk. They like to drape themselves in odd positions around the tank and use those adorable whiskers to sniff out food. They love the company of other loaches and it's not uncommon to see three or four squished together in the same hidey-hole. Many people have trouble with these guy hiding a lot, but I never have. I think it's because I give them enough hiding spaces that they feel comfortable to come out all the time. 

2. Goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus)

My two current fancy goldfish, Magikarp and Burbbles

Years ago when I was a young girl, these bubbly little fish stole my heart. My knowledge of their care and love of them have only increased through the years. Yes they need large tanks and lots of water changes, but it's worth it for those wiggly bodies and cute faces. I can't imagine my life without goldfish.

1. Koi (Cyprinus carpio)

Byakko, my shiro utsuri koi. Taken in 2011.

While not a true aquarium fish, they are a big part of the hobby and one of my favorite fish. But they didn't start out that way. I never really appreciated them until my little koi that I bought back in 2007 grew into 18 inch (45 cm) beauties. I spend hours in the summer just watching them swim around the pond. In the store, they do just look like large goldfish, but when they are grown there is nothing that rivals their beauty and grace. 

I am lucky enough to own a good number of these including goldfish, bettas, koi, kuhli loaches, and twig catfish. One day I will have all of these fish, but some like the botine loaches and discus are potentially a decade away. It's good to have dreams.

Fish in their Natural Habitats

I like my aquariums to replicate the natural homes of fish as much as possible. There is no better way to get an idea of the streams and rivers our tropical fish come from than to visit those streams. But for those of us like myself that don't have the money to do something like that, we can use videos as an alternative. Freshwater enthusiast and Venezuelan native Ivan Mikolji makes those journeys for us and shows us the wonderful natural aquariums that are home to our beautiful aquarium fish.

Is my fish a girl or a boy?

How to determine the sex of your fish

Most people like to name their fish and want to have a name that fits the fish’s gender. Other people want to try breeding and need to know if they have males and females. Sexing fish can be a tricky thing, but there are some species and families of fish that are relatively easy. Before we get into those, I’ll talk about some general trends in sexing fish.

Females are rounder

Of course this only works with mature animals, but for the most part the female will have slightly thicker bodies. This is because the eggs that females carry take up more space than sperm. The females also need larger fat reserves to produce the eggs.

Males are smaller and more colorful

Just as in birds, males are the more colorful of the genders. Males compete with other males by showing off their vibrant colors. The most colorful male gets to mate. They are also slightly smaller than the females.

Sexing popular fish

Goldfish (Carassius auratus auratus)

These fish can actually be a little tricky as they have no obvious differences when the fish are not breeding, but there are two things you can look for when they breed: breeding stars and the shape of the vent.

Breeding stars or breeding tubercules will only appear on the males. They appear on the gill plate and pectoral fins. These are a sign of virility, and a study performed on a relative of the goldfish found a correlation between the number of breeding stars and how healthy a male fish is. These stars help a female fish decide who she wants to mate with.

Breeding stars on pectoral fin and gill cover (goldy fk @ flickr)

The next thing to look for is the shape of the vent (this is also called the cloaca and is the opening near the anal fin). The vent of the male will be slightly larger and concave (meaning it curves inward). The vent of the female will be smaller and protrude slightly. The pictures below better illustrate this.

Circled male vent (mikroll @ TheGAB)

Circled female vent (mikroll @ TheGAB.org)

I find using the vent method to be a little difficult as my goldfish usually like to have their heads facing towards me begging for food. I prefer to use the breeding star method because they are more visible in my experience.

Betta fish (Betta splendens)

These small, popular tropical fish are a little easier than goldfish to sex because some of it can be done out of the breeding season. There are two main ways to sex bettas: fin length and the presence of an ovipositor.

If you see a long-finned betta it is a male. There have been cases where females have longer than normal fins, but they aren’t nearly as long as the typical halfmoon spread seen below.

These extremely long fins indicate a male(Aquariumloto @ Flickr)

Sexing bettas gets a little trickier when you are dealing with plakat (or short-finned) bettas because the male and female fins are the same length. Now you have to look for the ovipositor on the female. The ovipositor is a small white tube protruding from the vent of the female; in breeding she uses this to position eggs. It will appear as a small white dot behind the ventral fins. The lack of such indicates a male.

Arrow points to ovipositor (Stuart Halliday)

Angelfish (Pterophyllum spp)

Another extremely popular aquarium fish, but much harder than bettas or goldfish to sex. They have no discernible differences when they are not spawning, and when they are spawning you have to look very closely to see the only difference:  the males will have a thinner breeding tube which is visible in the vent of the fish. Both males and females have breeding tubes, so the key is to look for the smaller one.

Female angelfish breeding tube (koiangelfish.com)

Male angelfish breeding tube (koiangelfish.com)

Neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi)

Like angelfish, neon tetra are difficult to sex. The only difference will be in size. The females will be slightly larger and fatter especially when they are ready to breed. Males may show slightly better color, but these differences are so minute that they will likely go unnoticed.

Livebearers (Poecilidae)

These are fish like guppies, platies, swordtails, and mollies. The males and females are very easy to tell apart. There is a large size difference with some females being almost one and a half times the size of the males. The males will have long, flowing fins and are very colorful. Males also possess a modified anal fin called a gonopodium; this is used to transfer sperm to the females. Below you can see two illustrations showing the differences between male and female guppies

General female livebearer characteristics (jabraguppyroom.blogspot.com)

General male livebearer characteristics (jabraguppyroom.blogspot.com)

Cory catfish (Corydoras spp)

Another popular but difficult fish to sex, cories have no highly visible differences between the genders. Females will tend to be the larger ones and look much chubbier when they are breeding, but for the most part males and females look exactly alike.

Bristlenose pleco (Ancistrus spp)

These small plecos are surprisingly easy to sex. Both males and females will have the bristly nose, but the number and size of the bristles will be much greater in the males. This is especially true when the fish are in breeding condition. Scientists believe that males evolved the bristles to mimic young fish because females are more likely to mate with a male who is already caring for eggs.

Male bristlenose with month old offspring (goldy fk @ Flickr)

Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)

Probably the most popular of the cichlids next to angelfish, but even more difficult to sex. Among wild populations the males show more color than females, but this isn’t reliable with the captive-bred fish that show up in stores nowadays because they have been bred for color.

Cherry barb (Puntius titteya)

This is a species that is easy to sex based on the general trends in fish genders. The males are smaller and have more red color and the females are larger and will be more brown in color. This holds true with wild-caught and naturally bred cherry barbs. There are some that have been specifically bred to make the red even brighter; these are much more difficult to gender. 

Female cherry barb on left, male on right (aquapage.cz)

Gourami

They aren’t as easy to sex as livebearers, but they are pretty easy if you know what to look for. If it’s not a captive-bred variant, the males will be a brighter color especially when breeding. If they are a color variant you have to look for a few other things. For the Trichogaster gourami (this is dwarf, honey, thicklips, and banded) look at the end of the dorsal fin; males will have a pointed dorsal, and females will have a rounded dorsal. These pictures below illustrate this as it can be hard to pick out if you’ve never seen it.

Male honey gourami (CK Yeo @ Flickr)

Female honey gourami (CK Yeo @ Flickr)

For the Trichopodus gourami (opaline, three-spot, blue, gold, pearl, and moonlight) you also look at the dorsal fin. The males will have a longer dorsal fin. Males of the pearl and moonlight species will show more red color than the females.

Pearl gourami. Male above, female below (seriouslyfish.com)

With some of our aquarium fish it can be very easy to tell the males from the females, but others can give you a lot of trouble. Some like oscars and angelfish can even give breeders trouble in determining gender. If you wish to breed any of these fish, I highly suggest you do a lot of research and read personal experiences. While breeding can be fun and rewarding, it can also be costly and heartbreaking when done incorrectly.

Works referenced

Christie F. 2006. Sexing Bettas: The Ovipositor. nippyfish.net. Retrieved: 31 Jan 2013

How to tell Male and Female Guppy Apart. Jabraguppyroom.blogspot.com. Updated: 29 July 2011. Retrieved: 1 Feb 2013.

Kortet R., J. Taskinen, A. Vainikka, and H. Ylonen. 2004. Breeding Tubercles, Papillomatosis and Dominance Behavior of Male Roach (Rutilus rutilus) During the Spawning Period. Ethology 110:591-601.

Seriously Fish

Sexing Angelfish. Koiangelfish.com. Updated: 2013. Retrieved: 1 Feb 2013. 

Sexing Goldfish. Bristol-aquarists.org.uk. Updated: 26 October 2012. Retrieved: 31 Jan 2013

Sexing Goldfish. theGAB.org. Updated: 16 Aug 2009. Retrieved: 31 Jan 2013

My Tanks: 13 Dec Update

A lot has happened since my last tank update. Basically something has changed in every single tank. Most of the changes have been for the better. This will probably be my last tank update of the year as I'll have to wait until after Christmas to add any more fish because we will be leaving on vacation. I don't like to have fish in QT while I'm away.

I bought a new goldfish buddy for my remaining ryukin. She went through a 3 week QT just fine, and they are now swimming together in the large 55 gal. I've seen the breeding tubercules on the ryukin, but I don't see them on the new redcap oranda. And I've seen the ryukin nudging the oranda's vent. I've come to the conclusion that the new goldfish is a girl. I'd really rather have all males to avoid the breeding issue, but it's done and over with. Plus, my new oranda is just precious and outgoing as ever! How could I not love her?

My newest goldfish, a redcap oranda named Burbbles

Burbbles and Magikarp playing together. It's so hard to get them both in focus.

My 29 gal community has undergone the most changes. I added a new large piece of driftwood that I ordered from Aquariumplants.com as well as about 2 more species of plants. I've added green tiger lotus (Nymphaea lotus)  and Cryptocoryne undulata. I ordered them from PetsWarehouse.com, and I can't say I'm too pleased with the packaging. The plants weren't protected very well; there was no padding and the plants were just in plastic bags. The box was visibly crumbled, and some of the plants look damaged. It remains to be seen if they will recover.

Anyway, this complete the aquascape and hardscape. I'm going to let these plants establish for about a month before I begin stocking the fish. I still haven't decided on a final stocking plan, but I do know I will have a tetra species, a gourami species, and a twig catfish (Farlowella spp).

The crypts are small and hardly visible,
but the lotus is that large reddish leaf in the center.

Since I have written you, I've lost one of my bettas, Knucker. He was my oldest and had the worst health due to inbreeding.  During his last months I noticed he lost control of swim bladder and could not maintain neutral buoyancy, a problem common in double-tail bettas. While not a double-tail himself, I believe he carried the genes as I saw a lot of bad hallmarks of the double-tail like scoop head, a huge dorsal, and massive fins. I placed him in a breeder box in the 29 gal. I returned from a Thanksgiving vacation to find him dead, but I take heart in knowing that I gave him the best care and he probably wouldn't have gotten the same if another person had picked him up from the shelf.

Goodbye, Knucker. The picture on the left is from when I first bought him.

The last major change I made was for the plants. I've noticed rather stalled growth in many of my plants. I dose weekly with micronutrients using Seachem Comprehensive, but I still didn't get good growth. After a little research I figured out it is because my water is so soft. I started adding Seachem Equilibrium to raise the GH up to about 6 in each of my softwater tanks. I use it to raise the GH to around 10 in my goldfish tank as they are hardwater fishes. As of right now I haven't seen a large increase in plant health, but I didn't expect it so soon as I've only been using Equilibrium for two weeks now.

Amazon: Secrets of the Golden River

A great deal of common freshwater fish in the hobby come from the Amazon River Basin, and with good reason as it's the second largest freshwater river system in the world. Angelfish, discus, and many species of cories and tetra are all only found in the Amazon. Due to the wide variety of species Amazon biotopes are very common. This documentary includes footage of many of these and other Amazon fishes in the wild.

I do not own or claim to own this video.

Fish and Thunderstorms

Storms have an effect on our fishy friends (Kevin Rank @ flickr)

Ever wondered why your fish always seem to be more active right before a thunderstorm? Bettas will build larger bubblenests. Loaches swim more frantically than normal. Tetra start breeding behavior. This isn’t just coincidence. Our fish do react to changes in the weather. 

Male golden gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus)
attending to bubblenest (Alberto Garcia @ flickr)

 Most fish in the hobby come from tropical waters where there are only two seasons: wet and dry. During the dry season, the water recedes and all the fish are cramped together. Competition for food and shelter is high. The dry season is ended by huge rainstorms, sometimes called monsoons. These, like any thunderstorms, are preceded by a huge drop in barometric pressure which fish can sense using their swim bladders. Through the millennia fish have learned that these huge drops in the air pressure mean rain and therefore more water is coming. This reduces the competition for food and shelter. With more resources, the parents won’t be in strong competition with their offspring. The adults can reproduce without fear that their offspring won’t be able to find enough food.

Fish also associate the drop in air pressure with reduced visibility at a later time. Storms and heavy rains will dirty up the water both by wave action and the runoff from the hills. As many fish are sight-predators and can’t hunt in murky waters, the drop in air pressure sets off an insane hunger drive. In the wild they ravenously feed until the water starts getting muddy or the thunder scares them into hiding. They do this because the water has can stay muddy for a few weeks at a time depending on the severity of the storm.

Sight predators like oscar (Astronotus ocellatus) and many cichlids have
high food food drives before a storm (Brynja Eldon @ flickr)

So while we may have taken the fish out of the wild, we still can’t take part of the wild away from the fish. Whenever the barometric pressure begins to drop, they still think the monsoons are coming!