I was interested in finding a pet fish for my son’s 6th birthday. We went to the fish store. The idea is that a pet fish would be an ideal tidy little pet that would not require a lot of maintenance.

Fish are beautiful and come in a lot of colors. Children respond to pets. Having a pet is said to teach responsibility to a child. Fish are the perfect first pet because a child can actually care for the fish. We decided to get some fresh water fish as opposed to salt water. This was our first time owning a fish so we did not want to buy fish that we could not care for.

Fish do not require heavy maintenance. It was easy to have the pet store show my son what he should do each day to make sure the fish was taken care of.

We purchased two goldfish. We were not trying to innovative or buy some rare tropical fish. All we wanted was a couple of healthy fish.

We chose a small Aquarium that fit the size and number of the two gold fish we selected. It was interesting to watch the transformation when my son developed from a little boy to the proud owner and caretaker for the fish.

The supplies for our little pet fish costs over $100.00, We just wanted to put the fish in a little bowl but were persuaded to purchase an aquarium that included all of the following items to make the fish more comfortable.

In addition to all those items we had to buy fish food. I did not know that goldfish are omnivores. That means they eat either other animals or plants. To think that gold fish actually eat vegetables and meat made me squeamish. I opted to purchase the little flakes. I kept this information about the meat eaters to myself. I told my son that he could be almost exclusively responsible for feeding the new gold fish. Naturally this filled him with some great delight.

We took the fish, the aquarium and all the associated equipment home. We started immediately putting the ac together. The aquarium was really beautiful with the plants, castles and brightly colored stones. We followed the instructions that we were given .

The store?s customer service representative encouraged us to slowly introduce the fish to its new environment It took over an hour to get the aquarium set up.

We dropped the fish into the tank still in the plastic bag filled with water. The fish were a beautiful gold color. We purchased a book on goldfish. I read the instructions and information about this breed of fish. I discovered that the name goldfish is a misnomer as all fish of that breed are not gold in color. Some goldfish have different patches of black or silver.

We had just added new members to our family. We were responsible for feeding these omnivores food on a daily basis. We had to keep the water clean. There are a lot of health hazards that we needed to be aware of and the fish food needed to be of high quality. The temperature in the house had to be level.

Pets are a great way to bond a family. My son and I take care of the fish together. The fish are happy and healthy My son loves watching the fish swim in the new aquarium. They are thriving in the clean fresh water. My son is diligent about feeding the gold fish. I thank son for that.

For more information on freshwater pet fish please visit Pet-Fish-Super-Guide.info where you will find helpful information on saltwater pet fish, saltwater tanks and freshwater fish tanks

Thanks to Disney’s Motion Picture ‘Finding Nemo,’ almost everybody is familiar with clownfish.

Clownfish, or Anemonefishes, from the family Pomacentridae, are one of the easiest tropical marine aquarium fish to breed. Clownfish regularly lay eggs in aquariums. They have quite large eggs and larvae, and since the larvae easily eat cultured live foods, raising them is somewhat simpler than it is with many other marine species.

You need to get a pair if you want to breed clownfish, and that’s quite interesting – believe it or not, clownfish are all born as males! When they are adults, the largest and the most dominant fish of the group will undergo a sex change and become a female. The second largest usually becomes the breeding male, while all the other fish remain juveniles and gender-neutral. If the breeding female disappears, the breeding male will change to a female, and so on. Buying an established pair may be a reasonable way to go, but it is often better to have a group of juveniles growing up together. If you choose to buy a pair you should look for a pair that goes around together. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to get a pair already spawning. Anyhow, establishing an adult pair can be a little tricky; and you need to keep your eyes on them to make sure that the female doesn’t kill the male.

The next thing is to set up the tank. The tank should be large enough, approximately 200 liters for the breeding pair. It is better to keep a pair alone in an aquarium when trying to spawn clownfish.

The aquarium should be furnished with a nice anemone, a few live rocks and other rocky substances with a vertical surface, a layer of coral sand on the bottom, bright lighting, good filtration, and a protein skimmer. Your clownfish should be stress free, which means no aggressive tank mates and good water quality. As for feeding, clownfish need a mixed diet of fresh raw seafood and vegetables. A good diet includes prawns, mussels, and squid. It is best to feed small bits at regular intervals.

Spanning can begin 1 to 12 months after the fish have settled into their new home. When the fish are ready to spawn, they become very aggressive. The male clownfish will dance up and down in front of the female (also known as clownfish waggle). They will also start to clean their selected rock by robustly biting it. The spawning itself usually occurs in the afternoon or early evening. Once the spawning is complete (within several hours) the male takes on responsibility for attending the eggs, whereas the female acts as protector of the eggs and supervisor of her male.

Spawning is likely to occur again at intervals of 12 to 18 days. The eggs should be left in the care of the parents and not removed, unless the parents are known to be egg eaters. At first the eggs are a bright orange colour, but after several days this diminishes and the eyes appear. Hatching usually takes from 6 to 15 days, depending on temperature.

The most critical stage of the fry is the first 10 days of their larvae span. If you can get your fry to survive this period the rest of their raising should be easier.

About The Author

Article by William Berg writer for Aquatic Community with more then 20 years of aquarium experience. Find more of Williams articles about Piranhas or maybe something completely different like a Clown loach

Article may be reproduce as long as it is not edited and this resource box is included ?as is with live links? on the bottom of the page.(Java links and PHP links are not allowed, I.e. SE friendly links only)

Freshwater sharks can give your aquarium a bit of interest as these unusual looking fish normally create a lot of motion by gliding back and forth in colorful schools. Prior to introducing any fish into the aquarium, it is smart to do a little research to make sure that your environment is ideal for the fish and to be sure your new fish is compatible with the old.

Below is some advice on freshwater aquarium sharks you might consider for your aquarium.

White Tip Shark Catfish

These fresh water aquarium sharks are sleek in body with a head like a catfish ? kind of ugly if you ask me! The white tip shark catfish is a very mellow fish that consistently vacuum the bottom of the tank for food. White tip shark catfish can dwell in brackish, salt or fresh water. These sharks are best in groups and grow big so they should be kept in large sized tanks. The best climate for the white tip shark is between 78 and 82 degrees.

Rainbow Shark

If you want to keep these sharks you ought to settle for only 1 fish per aquarium, or put in more than 6 as they can get a bit cranky with each other in small numbers. Rainbow sharks need to have tubes to move in and out of. These light colored freshwater aquarium sharks have a raspberry – orange color on the fins and tail. Rainbow sharks are sturdy but rather aggressive to other sharks but will do well with other fish. These sharks can develop to 9 and need to be housed in larger aquarium tanks with a water temp between 76 and 80.

Red Tail Shark

These sharks must have a pipe, tube or cave to be their happiest and can get as big as 5. Like the rainbow shark, red tails should be kept alone or in schools of more than 6. The red tail shark has a gray body with a red tail and does not get along with sharks. The best water temp for the red tail shark is between 76 and 80 degrees.

Bala Shark

Bala sharks are even tempered and hyper. Balas require a water temperature between 78 and 82 degrees. These sharks will do best in a sizeable fish tank with an external power filter. These sharks are silver in color with black tipped fins and tail. Including numerous Bala sharks to your tank will give you a vivid group of fish gracefully swimming in your tank.

Lee Dobbins writes for Topic Genie where you can learn more about your favorite topics.

If you want an aquarium that’s easy to maintain and a popular choice with most households, then a freshwater aquarium is what you’re looking for. It can be used to house freshwater fish and plant life. You can choose between a glass or an acrylic tank for your freshwater aquarium. Glass tanks are heavy and need to be housed on a sturdy base. Acrylic tanks are much lighter and come in a wider range of styles.

Freshwater aquariums generally have a capacity of between 30 and 60 gallons. You need to have an inlet, pumps, a filtration system and an outlet. It’s very important to keep the water cycling through a filtration system in order to maintain the fine ecological balance of your aquarium. The pump is used to keep the water circulating. You can use normal tap water when you fill up your tank initially, or to top it up, but it’s important to make sure it’s of good quality or has been filtered first.

When you’re deciding on a filtration system for your freshwater aquarium, there are three main types to choose from. These are:

Usually, a mechanical filtration system is used to remove particulate matter from the aquarium. Many mechanical filters also contain activated carbon, which functions as a biological filter. The chemicals in your freshwater aquarium need to be kept in balance, so zeolites are used to remove ammonia, and water hardness is reduced by ion exchange resins. A biological filter also recycles nitrogen, which is an essential requirement for keeping your fish alive. It’s also a good idea to have an air pump, which increases the circulation of oxygen and its concentration.

When youre first setting up your freshwater aquarium, it’s a good idea to buy healthy, young freshwater fish. If you want to add more mature fish later, that’s fine as long as your system has had time to stabilize. You might also like to cheer up your aquarium with some plants. They add a touch of beauty, but also help with the ecological balance in the aquarium. Some popular plants include:

Take the time to set up your aquarium correctly, and you’ll have a lot more success.

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I was interested in finding a pet fish for my son’s 6th birthday. We went to the fish store. The idea is that a pet fish would be an ideal tidy little pet that would not require a lot of maintenance.

Fish are beautiful and come in a lot of colors. Children respond to pets. Having a pet is said to teach responsibility to a child. Fish are the perfect first pet because a child can actually care for the fish. We decided to get some fresh water fish as opposed to salt water. This was our first time owning a fish so we did not want to buy fish that we could not care for.

Fish do not require heavy maintenance. It was easy to have the pet store show my son what he should do each day to make sure the fish was taken care of.

We purchased two goldfish. We were not trying to innovative or buy some rare tropical fish. All we wanted was a couple of healthy fish.

We chose a small Aquarium that fit the size and number of the two gold fish we selected. It was interesting to watch the transformation when my son developed from a little boy to the proud owner and caretaker for the fish.

The supplies for our little pet fish costs over $100.00, We just wanted to put the fish in a little bowl but were persuaded to purchase an aquarium that included all of the following items to make the fish more comfortable.

In addition to all those items we had to buy fish food. I did not know that goldfish are omnivores. That means they eat either other animals or plants. To think that gold fish actually eat vegetables and meat made me squeamish. I opted to purchase the little flakes. I kept this information about the meat eaters to myself. I told my son that he could be almost exclusively responsible for feeding the new gold fish. Naturally this filled him with some great delight.

We took the fish, the aquarium and all the associated equipment home. We started immediately putting the ac together. The aquarium was really beautiful with the plants, castles and brightly colored stones. We followed the instructions that we were given .

The stores customer service representative encouraged us to slowly introduce the fish to its new environment It took over an hour to get the aquarium set up.

We dropped the fish into the tank still in the plastic bag filled with water. The fish were a beautiful gold color. We purchased a book on goldfish. I read the instructions and information about this breed of fish. I discovered that the name goldfish is a misnomer as all fish of that breed are not gold in color. Some goldfish have different patches of black or silver.

We had just added new members to our family. We were responsible for feeding these omnivores food on a daily basis. We had to keep the water clean. There are a lot of health hazards that we needed to be aware of and the fish food needed to be of high quality. The temperature in the house had to be level.

Pets are a great way to bond a family. My son and I take care of the fish together. The fish are happy and healthy My son loves watching the fish swim in the new aquarium. They are thriving in the clean fresh water. My son is diligent about feeding the gold fish. I thank son for that.

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DIY driftwood takes time, but it will save you tons of money. Some small pieces cost well over $20. Also, the soak method (minus salt) will work for store bought driftwood. Store bought driftwood is cleaned and has not been soaked. This may lead to tannins being leaked into your tank

What youll need:
Driftwood, which can be found anywhere. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from the water. You could find it in the woods, as long as it is weathered down and looks unique. Also make sure the wood is not rotting.

BIG soaking container, I use a 15 gal rubber maid container.

Aquarium Salt, I use Doc Wellfish brand. This is used as a natural way of killing bacteria and parasites.

First step, clean off your wood! Make sure all debris and bark are removed from the wood (or itll fall off in your tank!). Once complete, boil the water in the BIG pot and add aquarium salt. I use about a tablespoon per gallon. Boil the entire piece for about 2-4 hours depending on your size. If you can only fit half the wood in the pot then you will need to boil the other half.

Once the boil is complete you can transfer your wood into the rubber maid container. Add water until the whole piece of wood is under water (you can also add salt if you want). If the wood does not sink place something on top of it until it does. Itll sink after a week or two. Youll notice the water turn into tea-ish color. It is the result of the tannins that are released into the water. If you didnt soak the wood, the water in your tank would be this color. Tannins are natural and some fishes actually like it because itll make them feel more at home. Itll also affect your PH, Im not sure about GH or KH. Youll need to do water changes every other day to clean the water. This may take weeks or months.

When the color of the soak water suffices, you will need to soak your wood for another week without any salt. This will make sure that the wood does not hold any salt that may leak into your tank.

Once soaking is complete wash the wood well and transfers the wood into your tank. Do not keep the wood out of water for a long time or it will float.

For more information and pictures about this project, please visit www.CarolinaFishTalk.com and check the DIY section.

Article written by krayzievanh@yahoo.com, member of CFT Community Proof read by Brandan Njagu b.njagu@gmail.com

Site owner of http://www.CarolinaFishTalk.com.

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If you take a quick look at this species they don’t seem like aquarium fishes. They are large and highly predatory. But then again, these are qualities that attract some, like me! If you’ve been keeping aquariums for a while and have the room to keep large predatory fishes I recommend you try these fish, but not until you’ve done your homework and know the gars’ requirements and what you are getting yourself into.

Species of gar:

Florida spotted gar, Lepisosteus platyrhinchus
A highly varied species of gar. Has more spots on its body and a shorter snout than many other gars. Easily mistaken for spotted gar.

Spotted gar, Lepisosteus oculatus
Long snout and spots. Spots to a higher degree towards the posterior of its body. Easily mistaken for Florida spotted gar.

Shortnosed gar, Lepisosteus platostomus
The shortnosed gar can be identified by its short snout, and by the lack of teeth rows in the upper jaw like the alligator gar, and the lack of spots on its body.

Long-nosed gar, Lepisosteus osseus
The long-nosed gar is, as the name suggests, identified by its long slender snout, and also by its slender body.

Alligator gar, Atractosteus spatula
The alligator gar has a short broad snout and two big rows of teeth in the upper jaw. This species is spotted on the posterior part of the body and to a lesser extent on other parts of the body.

Tropical gar, Atractosteus tropicus
A very rare species.

Manfari or Cuban gar, Atractosteus tristoechus
Looks very similar to the alligator gar and since it is very rare in the trade you can usually assume that your gar is an alligator gar and not a Cuban gar unless otherwise stated. The Cuban gar has a broader snout and lacks pattern on its body.

Beside these species there are a number of hybrids such as the crocodile gar.

Spotted, Florida and short-nosed gars are smaller than the other species and may be more suitable for aquariums. They usually don’t grow larger than 2 feet in aquariums. Long-nosed and alligator gars grow to a very large size and larger ponds are recommended if you’d like to keep fully grown specimens. So if you don’t have (or plan on getting) a large pond, stay with the smaller species. Even with the smaller species you are still going to need a rather large aquarium. The tropical gar also is possible to keep in aquariums as it doesn’t grow as large; however this species is very hard to find. The Cuban gar is a red-list endangered species and shouldn’t be kept even if you somehow find one.

In aquariums gars are quite demanding and require a lot of space and clean water. I recommend you to use as big a tank as you can for your gar, and I wouldn’t recommend keeping gars in an aquarium smaller than 200 Gallon/720 L. And that should be considered a minimum; a 400 gallon/1400 L tank is preferable.

The tank should be decorated in accordance with gar behaviour. Gars are ambush predators, and as such they appreciate hiding places from where they can stalk their prey. This is however not essential. They are very friendly towards fish that are too big to be eaten. In the wild gars often live in loose schools and if you have the space you may successfully keep several gars together, in fact I would recommend this.

Gars can be kept with most fishes that are too big to be considered food and not too aggressive. However, gars should never live with plecos. Plecos sometimes suck on gars and cause infections, and since gars are very sensitive to most medicines these infections may be very hard to treat.

Regarding water, the most important thing is keeping the water clean and well circulated. Gars accept most pH or hardness levels. Temperature can range from 60 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (16 – 30 degrees Celsius). Gars breathe air and should be left with a few inches of space at the top of the tank to allow them to breathe atmospheric air.

Gars usually accept most kinds of living prey that are large enough. Feeders such as goldfish provide a good base for their diet but should never be the only thing they are fed, since this would not provide the gars with all necessary nutrition. Their diet should be diverse, and this can be achieved by also feeding minnows, shrimps etc. It is also possible to train gars to accept frozen foods and pellets.

Gars cannot be sexed externally. They have occasionally been breed in aquariums but are more frequently bred in ponds or are wild caught.

William berg has more then 20 years of aquarium experience and writes for aquatic community – a website with information on everything from crayfish to cichlids.

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Scientific Name: Botia macracanthus
Other Scientific Name(s): Cobitis macracanthus, Botia macrocanthus
Common Name: Clown Loach

Clown loaches are very popular aquarium fish; however they are not always easy to keep successfully since they easily succumb to ick and are sensitive to poor water conditions. This article is intended to help new clown loach owners provide a good home for their loaches. Clown loaches are found in Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo), and almost all clown loaches in aquariums are wild caught and distributed around the world before being sold. This can put considerable stress on the fish, and a vital step in getting a healthy clown loach school in your aquarium is choosing healthy fish. But how to make sure that you get healthy fish?

- Check the general conditions in the fish store. Are there dead fish in the aquariums? Is the water clean? If some tanks are mistreated there is a good chance that there might be unfavourable conditions in others too. Only buy fish from stores that take good care of their aquariums.

- How do the clown loaches look? Clown loaches can give you an indication of their condition based on their coloration. A healthy clown loach shows clear distinct colours, while a stressed one loses its colours and becomes whiter. Only buy loaches that show their correct colours.

- Are the clown loaches well fed? Those that haven’t been fed correctly are hard to nurse back to health, and it is more than likely you will end up with a dead fish if you buy one. Look at their bodies and see if they look well fed, and ask the shopkeepers how often and what the loaches are fed.

- Are the clown loaches active? Healthy clown loaches are very active and full of energy. A healthy clown loach should be hard to catch.

- Do the clown loaches have hiding places? Hiding places are very important to relieve stress in clown loaches, and you are likely to get higher quality fish from aquariums with hiding places.

- Don’t buy clown loaches smaller than 2 inches/5 cm if you haven’t kept clown loaches before, since they are much more sensitive when they are younger.

So ideally you should look for the most coloured, most active clown loaches you can find, and buy these to have the best starting point possible. You should also consider the water conditions in the store and try to find one that keeps their clown loaches in water condition similar to the water conditions in your aquarium, to reduce stress on the clown loaches. It should also be stated that clown loaches like resting on their sides, looking almost as if they were dead. However this is completely normal and should not be seen as a sign of poor quality in the fish but rather the opposite. When you have decided where to buy your clown loaches you should buy at least 3 (preferable 8-10). Clown loaches are schooling fish that should never be kept alone!!!

Once you get home with your new clown loaches you should let the bag float on the water surface for 10-15 minutes, and then slowly every 10 minutes add a little water from the aquarium (a coffee cup). Repeat this 4-5 times before you release the fish into their new home.

Tank setup
Clown loaches can be kept in aquariums of 100 L / 20 G or more. Keep in mind that even though clown loaches grow very slowly they will get big eventually and need an aquarium of at least 540 L/ 125 G, and that should be considered a minimum.

Decorate your aquarium using a bottom substrate of sand or fine gravel that allows the clown loaches to dig . I recommend keeping your clown loaches in a planted aquarium, however the choice of plants differs greatly depending on whether you keep juvenile or adult clown loaches. Juvenile clown loaches can be kept with most plant species, while adults can be kept only with hardy plants such as Java fern and Anubias. All other plants will be destroyed and/or eaten by the adult clown loaches. I also recommend using floating plants to dim the lighting, which makes the loaches more active during the day.

Clown loaches want a setup with a lot of caves and other hiding places, preferably so narrow that they can just barely squeeze themselves into them. Don’t be concerned if your clown loaches have squeezed themselves into caves they dug under rocks or aquarium equipment. Odds are they are not stuck – they just like it that way.

Hiding places can be created with rocks, roots, PVC pipes, flower pots, coconuts and different kinds of aquarium decorations. Sharp objects should not be used to decorate aquariums for clown loaches. You can not create too many hiding places and you should create several for each loach.

Clown loaches are sensitive to poor water quality, and they require good filtration. Higher water circulation is also appreciated since clown loaches live in currents in the wild.

Clown loaches are excellent jumpers, and you should make sure that your tank is properly sealed.

Health
As I said earlier, clown loaches are very sensitive towards poor water quality and are usually the first fish that get ill or die if the water quality drops. Water changes of at least 25% a week are recommended. Because of their low tolerance to poor water qualities they are sometimes called indicator fish, since their health indicates the status of the aquarium. Clown loaches are very sensitive to chlorine, and even small amounts can cause a mass death of loaches.

This species are very prone towards getting ick if the water quality isn’t good enough, and are sensitive to most ick medicines and salts. So keep an eye on your clown loaches and only use half the recommended doses of medicine, otherwise you risk the medicine killing the loaches.

Food
Clown loaches are carnivores and only eat vegetables to complement their diet. It is therefore recommended that they are given food that reflects this. To get your clown loaches to grow, optimal feeding 3-5 times a day is recommended. (They still grow slowly). Their diet should contain a variety of foods, and can include almost any carnivorous food. A good base may be shrimps, different sinking wafers, different frozen foods, and as they grow older, fish slices. Clown loaches can make a clicking sound, and they will do this when they are content. Therefore you will soon find out what is your loaches’ favourite food by them clicking when they receive it. Like most other fish, clown loaches might need some time to accept new foods, however once they do it might become a favourite. Clown loaches are one of the few fishes that eat and like snails, and can therefore be of good use in snail control.

Breeding
Clown loaches have been bred in aquariums, however it is very rare. Sexing clown loaches externally is hard, but possible by looking at the tail fin. The tail fin tips on the male are slightly bent inwards, making the fin look a little bit like a claw. The tail fin tips on the females aren’t shaped like this.

Clown loaches have to be quite old and at least 7 inches / 17 cm before they are sexually mature. In the one good account of clown loaches spawning they spawned under the following conditions:

- Temp: 84F
– pH: 6.5
– Ammonia & Nitrite: 0
– Nitrate: < 25

Four large clown loaches (over 25 cm /10 inches) were kept together in a planted aquarium, and a few weeks before spawning they changed their behaviour and started eating live fish as their only accepted food. The females in the group grew very fast on this diet, and had doubled in girth by the time of spawning. The night during which the spawning took place, two clowns were swimming close beneath the surface entwined in each other and clicking. The next morning, 450 eggs were found spread about the aquarium. Clown loaches eat their own eggs, so it is recommended moving the parents if you wish to succeed in spawning them.

The fry were fed liquid fry food for the first two weeks, after which they accepted crushed flakes. They grew relatively fast, to 2.5 cm/ 1 inch in 6 weeks. After that the growth rate slowed down.

It’s suggested that older fish are essential for breeding since this fish might have to be quite old to be sexually mature. Clown loaches live to be about 50 years, so it is quite feasible that they may spawn later in life than many other species.

William Berg has over 20 years of aquarium experiences and runs an aquarium website with a lot of information about aquarium decoration and all other aspects of aquarium keeping aswell as different fish species such as cichlids, bettas, catfishes and even crayfish.

This article was originally written for a site about clown loaches.

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I would like to write a few words about my experiences breeding wild caught Archocentrus sajica and a surprise that these fish gave me – a surprise that shows the fascinating and diverse behaviour of these animals.

I got a pair of wild-caught sajicas from a friend who had collected them on a trip. Since I had kept this species before (in fact it was the third cichlid I ever bred), I didn’t expect any surprises. Well, I was wrong.

For want of better accommodations I put the 6 cm/ 2 inches long cichlids into a 540 litre/145 gallon aquarium that was already overly crowded. In the aquarium already swam four 20 cm/8 inch Texas cichlids, a pair of N. festae (25 and 20 cm/ 10 and 8 inches), a pair of N. managuense (about the same size as the N. festae) and four Natal cichlids, Mossanbicus mossanbicus, (20 cm/ 8 inches). The tank was also inhabited by two convict cichlids (about 4 cm/ 1 inches) that had originally been put there as feeders, and finally loads of Ancistrus that just wouldn’t stop breeding. All of the species were breeding regularly in the aquarium. As I said, the aquarium was already very crowded. I knew I was taking a chance putting the small sajicas in with these predators, but I didn’t have any choice.

To my great relief the sajicas found themselves loving their company and were left alone by their larger predatory cousins. The aquarium was decorated with two very large roots that reached all the way to the surface of the aquarium and which created three natural territories for the fish in the aquarium. There were small gaps under the roots that the ancistrus utilised for breeding. The larger cichlids couldn’t get into these spaces. These large roots made the water in the tank very dark and made it look like a black-water river aquarium. However the water was harder and the pH level higher than what you might expect to find in a black-water river.

When the sajicas had been in this aquarium for a week, on a diet consisting mainly of Hikari pellets and shrimps, they spawned for the first time. Anyone that has kept A. sajica wouldn’t be surprised about this, the surprise would be if they didn’t breed during the first month. However the surprise was how they bred. My experience is that sajicas are dedicated parents that watch furiously over eggs and fry. But under these conditions this pair chose a different approach. The female laid her eggs on a root halfway to the surface. Her eggs had a much darker tone then A. sajica eggs usually have, and matched the colour of the root almost perfectly. This was something the parents seemed to be aware of, since they didn’t care about protecting their young. They both swam all over the aquarium just as before the egg laying, and it wasn’t unusual that the two fishes furthest from the eggs in the entire aquarium were the sajicas. Occasionally they did chase away some ancistrus. You would think that this strange parental behaviour would mean the end of the eggs in an aquarium where several fishes could eat all eggs in one gulp. But this was not the case and almost all the eggs survived and hatched, at which time the parents moved them (spat them) under a root where not even they could get in. They then continued acting as if nothing had happened. When the fry were free-swimming the parents took their young out for expeditions about 1-2 hours each day. The rest of the time they left them under the root, where they apparently found food because they grew nicely.

The parents continued to take them on these little expeditions for about a month, after which the fry had grown to approximately 1.5 cm / inch. The impressive thing is that almost all of the fry had survived to this age. After the parents had stopped caring for their fry, the young quickly became bolder and started swimming around, which led to all but two of the fry being eaten one week later. (There had been 50-60 fry before that). These two however did manage to grow up in this aquarium.

The wild caught A. sajica couple spawned many times in this aquarium, once every 2-3 months, and they always had great success using this method. At one point I moved them to another aquarium about half as big as the other and with clear water. They shared this tank with a number of other cichlids, mostly fry from the larger aquarium. In this aquarium they spawned in the way one is used to seeing A. sajica spawn, i.e. standing guard over their eggs and fry. A little later the couple was moved back to the 540 L /145 gallon aquarium and they then started to hide their eggs and fry again.

Out of curiosity I also tried keeping them in an aquarium with clear water and a large pair of N. managuense as company, and the sajica couple spawned standing guard over their eggs and fry. It seemed like they simply chose another strategy in darker waters. I have kept other pairs of breeding A. sajica in the 540 litre/ 145 gallon aquarium since then, but none of them have shown this behaviour. I’m hoping that others get to experience this unique behaviour that just goes to show that cichlids never stop being surprising.

About The Author

Article by William Berg writer for Aquatic Community with more then 20 years of aquarium experience. Find more of Williams articles about other Breeding freshwater fish or maybe a completely different pet like Dogs

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Parachromis managuense has a bad reputation, just like many of the other large predatory cichlids. This reputation is largely undeserved, and besides, the positive sides of these fishes more than make up for any negative ones. Not to mention that an adult P. managuense is incredibly beautiful.

I’ve kept these cichlids and have nothing but good to say about them as long as you have an aquarium large enough to handle this species that grows to 55 cm/22 inches. I would say that the absolute minimum to keep these cichlids together with other cichlids is a tank of 540 litres/120 gallons. And that’s a minimum; a larger aquarium is preferable. Large specimens require even larger aquariums. They can be bred in aquariums that are at least 250 litres/55 gallons.

The aquarium should be decorated so that natural territory boundaries are created and so that there are a lot of hiding places for the female, as the male can be quite mean to her if she isn’t ready to breed when he is. Larger rocks should be placed directly on the bottom of the aquarium since this species digs a lot and can move large stones. Use silica to glue caves and stone formations together so that they don’t fall down.

This species hasn’t got any bigger demands and thrives in most water conditions as long as pH and DH levels aren’t too extreme in either direction.

P. managuense can be kept with other cichlids from the region as long as they aren’t too small and can stand up for themselves. This is true for most cichlids species from Central America. P. managuense can be aggressive, but in my experience their aggressiveness is greatly exaggerated and P. managuense leaves most fishes alone. However, during breeding they will protect their young and their territory furiously, and since they are quite large they can claim large territories especially if normal boundaries aren’t created in the aquarium. But I wish to stress that P. managuense normally isn’t that aggressive and doesn’t beat other fish to death. Just don’t keep them with fish small enough to eat (except for Ancistrus which usually survive despite their small size).

Feeding P. managuense is easy and they accept just about any food. I recommend feeding them a diet of pellets, shrimps and fish bits. To vary the diet I sometimes feed them live feeders, usually convicts since it seems that one always have spare convicts one can’t get rid of by selling or giving away. I usually feed my P. managuense twice a day with the occasional week without food.

Sexing P. managuense is usually easy and follows the line of most other cichlids. Females are smaller and rounder. Breeding P. managuense is according to my experience also easy as long as you give them their own aquarium. Breeding them in aquariums with other cichlids is harder, but not too hard. The biggest problem is deciding what to do with and how to raise the very large number of fry. Each spawning can generate up to 2000-3000 fry.

They are usually very good parents and the fry grow very fast. They guard their young for up to 6 weeks during which time the fry reach a size of 1.5 – 2 cm, or approximately inch. After that the parents spawn again and the fry have to be removed or the parents will kill them while protecting the new batch. However on rare occasions the parents can protect two batches simultaneously. This usually ends in the second batch being eaten by their older sisters and brothers, which will grow very fast on this diet.

Spawnings are usually 4-7 weeks apart. They usually lay their eggs on a rock or root that has been carefully cleaned, and then dig very big craters right down to the glass bottom in which to keep their young. The fry are small but accept most kinds of food. The parents will spit out pellets that they’ve chewed into tiny pieces for the fry to eat. The growth rate I mentioned above is based on my own experiences when I feed only pellets. However, I don’t recommend you to rely too heavily on the parents chewing food for their young. You might observe whether the fry get the food they need this way, but if they don’t I recommend you feed the fry if you want them to survive.

Raising the fry without their parents is much harder and I wouldn’t recommend separating fry unless it’s absolutely necessary. If possible, it’s better to wait a few weeks until the fry have grown a little.

If you like predatory fish and are willing to take my word that most of its reputation is undeserved, then I recommend you to try this very beautiful fish.

About The Author

Article by William Berg writer for Aquatic Community with more then 20 years of aquarium experience. Find more of Williams articles about other cichlids or maybe something completely different like dogs

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