Do you really get the fullest amount of enjoyment out of your fish?, or is it hampered by little worries and anxieties?

Do you sometimes worry that you may be spending too much time with your fish? I often hear people remark that although they enjoy their hobby, the routine maintenance tasks involved detract from the fun.

In this month’s feature we will explore how we can increase our fun by maybe taking a different approach to those mundane activities that are so essential if we are to keep our fish in tip top condition.

Create a plan

When you get some time to spend with your hobby do you go through a sort of mental conflict wondering what to do?… and when you finally do decide, half of your time has gone already.

WELL…you are not on your own, most aquarists share the same dilemma. BUT… it is possible to overcome this problem, to even double your fishkeeping enjoyment. HOW? Well, certainly not by adding more tanks or even devoting more time to your hobby… the answer lies in a change of mental outlook, a change of approach.

Have you ever noticed that some people always seem to be on top of their work?, how their fish rooms and tanks are always tidy? how they always seem to have lots of time to enjoy their hobby? Yet others never get a minute to live, they always seem to have lots to do and yet nothing seems to get done.The most important ingredient in our formula for increased fishkeeping fun is planning.

Most of us lead busy lives, holding down a full-time job, and taking care of family commitments etc. Without a plan it is all too easy to put off our fish maintenance tasks until another day when life is a litle less hectic. Unfortunately, more often than not life doesn’t get less hectic and our maintenance jobs build up until our tank(s) become dirty and our fish begin to suffer.

That’s when the pressure starts to build.

Include the family

This can be particularly difficult when your partner doesn’t share your love and enthusiasm for the hobby. It is only natural that they will have different priorities for your time than you and if harmony is to be maintained then some sort of agreement must be reached. Having a plan that includes both the family needs and your hobby needs goes a long way to ensuring that everyone’s needs are satisfied. The biggest obstacle to overcome in any hobby is distraction. It is very tempting when we have the time to spend with our fish to waste that time on trivial matters or even just admiring our fish.

Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t take time to admire our fish, after all that is the reason we started keeping fish in the first place. What I am suggesting is that there are probably more suitable times to sit and admire our fish. We can fit in time for that when we are relaxing with the family, for instance.

What I am saying is that during those precious occassions when we can devote some dedicated time to maintenance, we should concentrate just on maintenance activities.The most important ingredient to making the best of our valuable time is one of mental outlook and organisation. Clear thinking about your fish is the key to getting maximum pleasure. No matter what your hobby or interest is, there can be no pleasure in it if it causes anxiety and frustration. Your hobby will only be pleasurable if it brings you satisfaction and relaxation.

Be realistic

Ask yourself … is your thinking absolutely clear about your fishkeeping? Perhaps when you get some time one evening get a pencil and paper and make a few notes along these lines. Have you ever considered how much time and money you can afford to spend on the hobby? Give it some thought and write it down. You might think, for example, ……I can afford to work 2 evenings a week, 3 hours each evening and 5 hours every other saturday. ……I can afford to spend 10 a month or 20 a month. Be as specific as possible even though any one week may have to be changed. The main thing is to have a clear idea of time and money commitment. These will be different for every aquarist, of course. The important thing is that they are commitments that you are comfortable with.

One of the common traps that many of us fall into is letting our hobby get out of hand. We become involved with fishkeeping, either through a visit to a garden centre, pet shop or through a friend and set up a tank in our lounge. Before long the bug has taken hold and we introduce another tank, then another and before we know it we find we can’t cope with the water changing and cleaning the glass etc. that we have to do just to be able to see the fish!

One of the interim steps that we might have to consider is shutting down one or more of our tanks, maybe just as a temporary measure until we get better organised.

Next…

The next step is to set a specific objective for yourself and your fishkeeping. This is not necessarily one to be achieved immediately but it must be specific.

To keep and breed every species of fish is possibly a dream of many breeders but hardly a specific objective. When setting your specific objective, keep within your time and money commitment. The great thing about fishkeeping is the wide range of possible goals you could pursue. If you are a fish breeder for instance, you could specialise in one fish and set a goal for a breeding programme. If you are not a breeder but enjoy collecting you could possibly try to collect every species within a genus. Whatever your interest make sure you narrow it down to a specific objective, one that is practical within your time and money objective. It could be Collect as many species of Dwarf Cichlids as possible, Develop a strain of albino Discus or set up a tank housing only the species from a particular geographical area – a Madagascar tank for instance.

Having decided… think about your first step towards achieving this goal. This is your short term goal, something to be achieved in the near future.Find a good source of dwarf cichlids and buy one pair or Keep adult discus alive for x months.

Give some thought to it but having decided write it down and remember your previous decisions all the time.

OK, Next Step…

With your new goal in mind, go and look at your set up. Ask yourself – does everything in my current set up contribute towards my short term goal? The answer will almost certainly be NO.There will probably be odds and ends of fish and equipment that have nothing to do with your goal. NOW comes the hardest bit….Everything that does not contribute to your goal should be sold or traded in and the proceeds put towards your objective. When you have achieved this you could well find that you have doubled your tank space without buying a single tank!!….

NEXT

Create a list of priorities

Most aquarists have regular jobs that they do over and over again. Daily jobs. Yet we regularly waste a lot of time deciding what to do, often every day. I’m sure many of you can relate to the scenario;

You get home from work, take care of the immediate priorities, sit down to dinner, finishing at 7.00 pm. Perhaps you now have 2 hours to spend with your fish. So you now go through the decision making sequence of what to do tonight. We can lose 15 valuable minutes each time we stop to decide what to do next.

How can we overcome this? As we have identified above most aquarists have routine jobs plus a few special ones. Keeping in mind our short term goals, write down each job on a separate piece of card.

For example a fish breeder might list the following 7 items:

Feed fish
Expand set-up
Cull young fish and move into a larger tank
Clean filters
Set out new pairs to spawn
Check for disease; treat any observed
Check water; change if necessary

This is not a complete list, of course, you will probably end up with one much longer but 7 items will do for our example of how to set priorities.

Now look at the list and re-arrange the items something like this: Any disease can spread quickly and if left untreated could wipe out your entire tank – it only takes a minute.

Make a visual check for unusual behaviour…hanging in corners…clamped fins…scratching etc

So No1 on our list is:-1. Check for disease

Look at the remaining list. What should you do next? Feed the fish? Well…maybe…but would you put food in a cloudy tank??

No, so it is best to check the water and if cloudy, change some water.

So No2 on our list is:-2. Check water – change if necessary

You may ask, would you change water before cleaning/changing the filters? Yes, I would. It is important to remove dissolved solids and waste (bacteria) in suspension which can create harmful nitrite before changing the filter media where wastes are being partly broken down anyway. It is important to change the filter media as time permits but not before water changes in my opinion.

We mentioned feeding the fish above and this is very important and only items 1 and 2 above should come before it.

So our No3 is:-3. Feed the fish

Followed by:-4. Clean the filters

Now the last three.

-Cull young
-Set out new pairs
-Expand set-up

Having completed this exercise we now have a priority list to work from.

Having set that up, whenever we get a few minutes to spend with our fish we start at the top of the list and work our way through.

Check for disease; treat any necessary
Check water; change if necessary
Feed fish
Clean filters
Cull young fish and move into a larger tank
Set out new pairs to spawn
Expand set up

We have removed the delays caused by having to decide what to do each time. In the 15 minutes that we may have wasted trying to decide what to do we could be halfway down our list. The priority list will be different for every aquarist but the principle will be the same.

Finally….make a habit of keeping a diary of all your fishkeeping activities. This will provide valuable information on frequency of activities and when things like water changes are due. Time has a habit of going so quickly that several weeks can pass since our last water change but without having notes to refer to it may, and often does, seem like last week.

Create your plan, work to it and replace the anxiety with pleasure.

Happy Fishkeeping!

Trevor Greenfield has been keeping and breeding tropical fish for over 30 years. He has held committee posts for several fishkeeping clubs and associations and was a founder member and is the current secretary of the British Cichlid Association.

He is author of numerous articles on keeping and breeding tropical fish and editor and regular contributor to Pet Fish World. Pet Fish World 2005

You will find more articles and useful links at petfishworld.com You are free to re-produce this article in it’s entirety provided the copyright notice is also included.

This article courtesy of http://www.petfishworld.com.

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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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General Info.

Brine shrimps, or artemia, are a zooplankton used mainly as fry food, but they can also be grown to about 20 mm (0.8 inch) in length and be a valuable food source for adult fishes as well. What makes brine shrimps such ideal fry food is their good nutritional value, their ability to live 5 hours in fresh water before dying, and the fact that the eggs can be stored for many years as long as they are kept away from water and oxygen. Once the dried eggs are returned into oxygenated saltwater they resume their development and hatch. This is an adaptation to living in desert lakes that dry up.

The time it takes them to hatch depends on the temperature. It takes 15 to 20 hours at 25C (77F). A higher temperature shortens hatching time. The optimal hatching temperature depends on the origin of the brine shrimps, however temperatures between 25-30C (77-86F) are recommended.

- Recommended salinity: 30-35 ppt (1.022-1.026 density)
– Recommended pH: 8.0 (pH 6.0-9.0 is acceptable)

Once they hatch they enter the umbrella stage, during which the larvae do not feed since they haven’t yet developed a mouth or anus. They survive on their yolk sac during this time.

After 12 hours they enter the second stage of development and start feeding by filtering micro-algae from the water. The nauplii grow fast, and can reach adulthood in 8 days. Brine shrimp can live for up to 3 months.

Since this article is focusing on growing brine shrimp to adulthood, I shall not address the question of how to hatch brine shrimp.

Caring for your brine shrimp

There are several factors that contribute to the successful raising of brine shrimp to adult size. The two most important ones, besides giving the brine shrimp the above stated water parameters, are:

Feeding: brine shrimp are not hard to feed. They accept most food they can filter out of the water as long as it’s not too big and doesn’t dissolve in water. There is brine shrimp food available in pet stores, containing micro-algae for the nauplii to eat. There are, however, quite a few cheaper alternatives that you can buy in your regular grocery store; for example yeast, wheat flour, soybean powder and egg yolk. It’s hard to know how much to feed the nauplii, but the transparency of the water can be of help. During the first weeks you should be able to see about 15 cm into the water. When the nauplii grow, the food concentration should be kept a little lower, and a water transparency of 25 cm is recommended. Food levels should be kept constant, so frequent feedings are required.

Aquarium maintenance: Brine shrimp are usually kept in small tanks, and therefore water quality may deteriorate quickly. Water changes are of utmost importance. I recommend changing at least 20% two times a week. This is to prevent low oxygen levels which will be a result of poor water quality. It’s also important to clean the bottom of the tank since brine shrimp moult very often during their way to adulthood, leaving a lot of remains on the bottom of the tank which may lower the water quality. Cleaning should be done at night using a flashlight to draw the brine shrimp to the surface. Brine shrimp are drawn to light, and the light from the flashlight will attract them to the light source, keeping them safe while you clean the bottom of the tank.

Breeding brine shrimp

If well cared for and kept in a low salinity, your adult brine shrimp will (or might) spawn in your aquarium. Every adult female is capable of producing 75 nauplii a day, or 300 every 4 days. They will be able to spawn 10 times during a normal lifespan. However if well cared for they can, as I stated earlier, live for as long as 3 months and during that entire time spawn every 4 days.

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 Brine shrimp or maybe something completely different like Lungfish

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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.

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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

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Piranhas are unique creatures that have gained popularity not just because of their appearance, but also due to the many myths that are told about them. Unfortunately only a few species of piranha have been bred, including Serrasalmus nattereri, S. spilopleura, S. gibbus, S. rhombeus. Another that is considered relatively easy to breed is S. maculatus.

Whichever of these species you choose, you should have an aquarium of at least 100 gallons. A group of 5-6 piranhas is quite appropriate; however if you want them breeding it is best to keep a pair only, so that there are no other fish to bother them. To find a mating pair select two adult piranhas, one thick and the other thinner – in most cases thick piranhas represent females and thinner piranhas represent males. Just make sure you are not looking at them after they have been fed. Although having found a male and a female doesn’t automatically mean success, it is a step on the way.

The ideal temperature is between 73-83F. Standard fluorescent bulbs are fine for the lighting. Piranhas also like some protective cover, and you should also make the lighting of half of the aquarium darker than the other. Piranhas are hardy fish but it is a good idea to maintain the water clean and clear. In their original Amazon River habitat, the rainy season is when most fish spawn. Frequent and bigger water changes seem to have an immense effect on the success of breeding (as they simulate the rainy season) and are most helpful in getting the piranhas into breeding condition.

When your piranhas lose all their colour and turn almost completely black, they are in breeding condition! Both of them may start to protect a certain spot; chasing off other piranhas that come too close. When they start picking up gravel in their mouths as if digging, it usually means they have already begun the mating process. Be careful not to disturb your piranhas during this time! The female will release eggs into the pit, and then leave the nest (but might stay close by it). The male is usually responsible for guarding the nest and eggs. The number of eggs laid varies from 700-4000. The eggs hatch in 2-3 days.

If you are lucky enough to have reached this stage, then it’s time to take care of the fry. Prepare a 10 to 15 gallon tank with heater and undergravel filter. Water should be from the parents’ tank. Be very, very careful when transferring the fry, as the parents can be extremely protective and aggressive. The fry will quickly absorb their yolk sacs and you can start feeding them live baby brine shrimp as food.

One thing you should be aware of is the legal issues. Some states do not allow the sell or ownership of piranhas at all. Other states require that you obtain a permit to sell or own a piranha. Be sure to check to see if any local restrictions apply before purchasing your piranhas.

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Article by William Berg writer for Aquatic Community with more then 20 years of aquarium experience. Find more of Williams articles about Piranhas or an article about completely different pet like Dogs

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Knowing how to feed your betta is fundamental, because doing it wrong can have big consequences for your betta’s health. Nothing is more stressful than dealing with a sick fish, right? So, let’s do it right, and not have a calamity!

Here are some golden rules for feeding your betta:

First, select the proper foods. Bettas are selective eaters. A betta specific pellet is OK, but live or frozen foods are preferable. The recommended diet includes frozen brine shrimp and frozen bloodworms.

The next rule is to not overfeed your bettas. Carefully dose the meals; because even if the fish eats all you give him, he will produce much more waste when overfed, and the pollution level of the jar he is in will go beyond safe range This problem is smaller if you keep your betta in a larger aquarium. Remember not to leave uneaten food in the aquarium! Once your betta and the rest of the fish are finished eating, you must remove all uneaten left over food. If you do not remove it, it will soon rot and cause havoc in the tank.

Bettas prefer to eat from the upper parts of the water column. They don’t really enjoy eating from the bottom of the tank. So before dropping the food in your betta’s tank, make sure you have his attention. Let him see the food, get it close to his face from the outside of the aquarium, let him check out what it is, and then there you go! Drop food in front of his nose. The best way is to drop a tiny bit of food – about 6 frozen brine shrimp, watch the betta eat it all and then look at his belly, if it looks the same as it did before you fed, it’s ok to give him more, but always watch and make sure to make the second portion smaller than the first.

Your betta should go for the food right away, but if not, watch where the food sinks, and what the betta does. If after 15 minutes he has not eaten the food, remove the food. Never let the water go cloudy. If it is already cloudy then change it, as cloudy water will threaten your betta’s health. Normally, small bowls or containers should have water changes at least twice a week. Larger tanks can be changed once a week. And notice if the ammonia and nitrite levels are at high levels, because both are very bad for your betta. Also be wary of harmful bacteria – they can ruin your fish’s life, but don’t kill off all bacteria in the aquarium since bacteria is essential for a well functioning aquarium.

During the pre-spawning period you can feed a wide variety of foods, including blackworms, grindal worms, fruit flies, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae and frozen bloodworms (all are live except the frozen bloodworms). During this period the adult fish may be fed 4 times per day or more depending on how close the fish are to being placed into the spawning tank.

You can start feeding your betta fry 5 days after the hatching. Feed the fry several times per day, using a variety of foods (infusoria, boiled egg yolk, baby brine shrimp) made up of small particles.

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Article by William Berg writer for Aquatic Community with more then 20 years of aquarium experience. Find more of Williams articles about Betta fish

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So you’re thinking about trying cichlids. A good choice. In this article I shall try to give a few examples of good cichlid aquariums that are suitable for beginners. I’ve tried to suggest set-ups that will be beautiful and easy to maintain, and species that are easily bred so that you might observe this fascinating side of cichlid behaviour.

This article targets those who haven’t that much experience with aquariums in general and cichlids in particular. If you are a more experienced aquarist who is just new to cichlids these set-ups will still be good, and you have a lot of other options as well since you are probably capable of keeping more sensitive species than those suggested in this article.

Aquarium:

It is possible to keep some cichlids, such as Lamprologus ocellatus, in very small aquariums. However, for your first cichlid aquarium I would recommend a larger aquarium of no less than 30 gallons/120 L. There are several reasons for this:

- A larger aquarium is easier to maintain and easier to keep in good condition.

- Cichlids are aggressive. Some cichlids are much more aggressive than others, but almost all cichlids are aggressive and a larger aquarium makes it easier for weaker fish to avoid this hostility.

- Cichlid behaviour is usually more interesting if you can keep more than one isolated pair in an aquarium. For example this may allow you to see the parents guarding their young.

Water conditions:

Which water conditions you should have depends on which cichlids you want to keep since their preferences differ greatly. For your first aquarium I recommend keeping species that are less sensitive to water conditions, and if you choose to try the species I recommend in this article you normally won’t have to think about water conditions. I don’t recommend keeping cichlids from the great African lakes as your first cichlids if you are an inexperienced aquarist, since they have more specialised demands.

Feeding:

The cichlids I recommend accept all kind of food, however I would recommend giving them a diverse diet consisting of pellets/flakes, frozen food and occasional live food.

Species:

Now to the fun part: choosing fish species to your new aquarium. I will give three examples of possible aquariums. The first one has its origin in African rivers and is more friendly, while the second one features cichlids from Central America. I will also give a suggestion for a composition that has its origins in the Amazon. However this composition is a little bit harder to get to breed and requires a larger aquarium. I would recommend at least 50 gallon/ 200 L.

1. African cichlid aquarium (30 gallons)
1 pair of kribs (Pelvicachromis pulcher)
1 pair of African butterfly cichlids (Anomalochromis thomasi)
1 pair of Egyptian mouth-brooders (Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor)
4 Ancistrus (plecos)

2. Central American aquarium (30 gallons):
1 pair of Archocentrus sajica (T-Bar cichlid)
1 pair of convicts (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus)
2 Hypostomus (plecos)

3. Amazon aquarium (50 gallons):
4 angelfish ( Pterophyllum scalare)
1 pair of Aequidens curviceps
1 pair of Aequidens maronii (Keyhole cichlid)
6 Ancistrus (plecos)

Tank set-ups:

1. African cichlid aquarium

All of these species are relatively friendly and have different behaviours that will reduce stress between the different pairs. These species prefer a well planted aquarium and leave your plants alone so that you can use all sorts of plants. They also require hiding and spawning places. Kribs spawn in caves which can be created using roots, rocks and flowerpots. A. Thomasi spawns on flat surfaces such as rocks. You will have to leave free areas without plants and rocks to create swimming space and allow you to see your fish more often. Use fine sand as this promotes spawning of Egyptian mouth-brooders. If you just keep the aquarium clean and your fish well fed they will thrive and spawn in this aquarium. If you find your aquarium a little empty you can add some small schooling fish such as tetras to the upper water levels.

2. Central American aquarium

The species in this set-up are more aggressive, which explains why I only recommend keeping two species in this tank. Both species lay their eggs on rocks so caves aren’t that necessary, but I would still recommended that you create a few as hiding places as these species can be quite aggressive. This is especially true when they are spawning and caring for their young. A sajica usually leaves your plants alone, but convicts often eat plants, so I recommend using more hardy plants such as sword plants, anubias and Java ferns if you want to use plants. Whether to keep plants or not is completely up to the aquarist. The cichlids will thrive with or without plants as long as you provide a few hiding places. Both species are very easy to breed and it is almost impossible to keep convicts from spawning. It can be very hard to find new homes for the fry, so I recommend letting the parents keep their young and see if any survive. In this aquarium some usually will.

3. Amazon aquarium

As I said earlier, it is preferable for this aquarium to be at least 50 gallons since these fish get a little bigger. Angelfish shouldn’t be kept in aquariums that are less than 50 cm/ 20 inches high. These species are still easy to care for but require a little more from their keeper to spawn. The aquarium should be well planted with free areas for the fish to swim in. Use large sword plants or cryptocoryne species to give the angels what they need to spawn. The other species requires roots or rocks to spawn on. Caves are not necessary but preferable, especially for A. curviceps. If you find this aquarium a little empty you might add some free-swimming schooling fish to the aquarium. Never use neon tetras with angelfish, as angelfish like to eat them. The same is true for a number of other small tetras. If you keep the water clean and the fish well fed they will thrive and with a little bit of luck, spawn.

Final words

I have given just a few suggestions for possible cichlid aquariums (there are a lot more) and when you get a little more experience with cichlids the possibilities are countless. Cichlids are very interesting and often beautiful fishes and many of them are quite simple to keep. These are only a few of the reasons behind their popularity. Try them, you won’t regret it!

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Article by William Berg originally published at Aquatic community tropical fish.

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Lungfish can survive in poorly aerated waters since they have lungs which make its possible for them to obtain oxygen directly from the air. The lungs are related to those in primitive amphibian animals. Today, there are six known Lungfish species in world, but they used to be much more common. Lungfish have been around since the Lower Devonian era and during earlier stages of the planets history there existed much more than six lungfish species. Those species that have survived have changed little since the Lower Devonian age. The Australian lungfish have for instance looked pretty much the same during the last 100 million years.

Today, you will find wild Lungfish in Africa, South America and Australia. The African and South American Lungfish species all belong to the family Lepidosirenidae, while the Australian Lungfish has its own family the Ceratodidae. As mentioned earlier, all Lungfish species are capable of breathing oxygen from the air. Other shared features are their large, elongated and snakelike bodies. They are also predators and will eat pretty much anything that they manage to catch. Fish is their staple food, but they will happily also gulp down crustaceans, larger insects and other aquatic creatures. They are very robust and can survive in waters shunned by most other fish species. If you want to keep Lungfish in your aquarium you should however avoid the highest pH-values. Before you buy a Lungfish for your aquarium should consider their size. The largest Lungfish is one of the African lungfish species, a fish which can reach a maximal size of 2 metres / 6 feet which makes it unsuitable for hobbyist aquariums. Even the smaller Lungfish species grow very large and should only be housed in huge tanks.

In Africa, you will find four different Lungfish species. Protopterus annectens is the most popular species among aquarists. The three other ones are Protopterus aethiopicus, Protopterus amphibious and Protopterus dolloi. You should never get an African lungfish unless your aquarium is very large, since they grow rapidly. As long as you can provide them with enough space, they are however though fishes that will tolerate a wide range of water conditions. They will eat all sorts of food. Even though they are predatory fish, it is not very hard to make them accept dry and frozen foods. When kept on a diet of prepared food they will still appreciate occasional live treats. This means that your African lungfish should ideally be housed alone since it will happily devour any tank mates. If the other fish is too large to swallow, the African lungfish will simply bite chunks out of it until it is fully consumed.

On the South American continent you will only find one Lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa. This Lungfish can also be kept in aquariums and its requirements are very similar to the African lungfish species. Just like its African cousins, it must be given plenty of room. Lepidosiren paradoxa can reach a maximal size of 1.2 meters / 4 feet.

The Australian Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, can also be kept in aquariums but you should be aware of the fact that they are CITES listed. You are only allowed to by Australian Lungfish from licensed breeders and if you live anywhere outside Australia it can be hard to get exportation and importation licenses. The Australian Lungfish is also known as Queensland Lungfish.

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