That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Just wanted to announce That Fish Place’s first Frag Swap and event this January 31st at the That Fish Place/That Pet Place Retail Store

At this point, we’ve never tried such a hobbyist-centered event, and though many of us have been to swaps, we’ve never attempted one of our own.

The folks from NCPARS though (North Central Pennsylvania Reef Aquarium Society), crank them out all the time, so they’re helping us.

What intially was billed as just a frag swap, has since morphed into an extravaganza, as lots of vendors and top aquarium hobbyists have jumped on board to display products and give away stuff.

Entry fee is $10 for non-NCPARS members, and $5 for members. Entry fee also snags you a 20% off coupon for the store, as well as up to 25% off certain vendor products, including Marineland, Current-USA, Red Sea, Tetra, Instant Ocean, Aquatic Life, Brightwell Aquatics and others.

Experts like Anthony Calfo and Steven Pro will be on hand to give seminars and demonstrate products.

If you’re in the Lancaster, PA area, be sure to stop in.

If you need directions, check out here.

Check our further details here.

If you have any other questions, be sure to post them and we’ll get back to you.

It’ll also give you a chance to see our soon-to-be-expanded reef area in the fish room (Blog coming soon…)

Hope to see you there.

As you may know, our Marine Bio Staff here at That Fish Place works tirelessly answering fish and aquarium questions by phone, email, in person, and of course, on That Fish Blog.  We thought it might be helpful to periodically post some of the answers to FAQs here in the blog as an added resource to common issues and inquiries.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us for info, we’re here to help!  And keep an eye on That Fish Blog for more FAQs and answers, info and advice!

Dale in Pittsburgh wrote:

I have a 30 gal freshwater tank, with 17 tetra-type fish (Bloodfins, Glow-Tetras, Neon-Tetras, Black Tetras, etc) and I have noticed that there are some buoyancy issues, particularly with the neon tetras (3 out of 5 fish). They are not new, they have been around for quite some time, and I cannot recall any changes that have taken place in the last few months. They have an issue with nose down, tail up syndrome, constantly trying to swim down to keep neutrally buoyant in the water. Any ideas why this would occur?

Tank equipment:

Under-gravel filter with a Marineland 660 Powerhead

Emperor 280 filter (diamond blend carbon / ammonia) with a standard gauze filter in-front for fine particulates

Marineland 200 stealth heater (set to 78 deg, room temp 75 deg)

2″ mixed gravel

Artificial Plants

Artificial driftwood

1 piece of gray slate (I think)

I feed Tetramin flake food once daily Mon-Friday (9am), the tank location is in my office.  I do 10 gallon water changes every 2 weeks, and water tests with master test kit results are as follows: slightly high PH (7.2-7.5 avg), ammonia and nitrite 0 ppm at every test, nitrate is around 10-40ppm average.

Answer from MarineBio@thatpetplace.com:

From what you have described, they could have infections in their swim bladders. Typically when you see fish having that problem, the culprit is a bacterial infection in the swim bladder. This can be difficult to treat, but there is one medication that we have had good luck with. Seachem makes a product called Kanaplex (kanamycin sulfate), that has proven effective against internal infections. You can dose your entire tank with the medication, just make sure that you remove the carbon from your filters first, as it will absorb medications from the water. The directed treatment is dosage every other day…. but to be honest, you can dose daily for 7 days and see if you get better results. It should not affect your fish if you increase the dosing frequency to once daily. Just perform a water change on day 3 and you should be just fine. Good luck!

Please write in here if you have any questions or further advice on this question.

Thanks for being a loyal That Fish Blog reader in 2008! Have an excellent holiday and please accept this exclusive gift from ThatPetPlace.com 10% off your order over $80. Use promo code “HOLIBLOG” at checkout. Offer valid until January 2nd, 2009. 

Enjoy the holidays. New articles will be back December 26th.

Until than,

Happy Holidays from Dave, Frank and the rest of the ThatPetPlace.com Marine Biologists and Staff

Melissa here. When you think of fish that are swimming around in the ocean, most people think of clownfish and damsels swimming around through the tentacles of anemones with corals and live-rock creating the backdrop of that picture perfect image. Ever wonder what is out beyond the reef? There are many awesome creatures that lurk around in the middle of nowhere, far away from the beautiful reef. One of these awesome fish is the Ocean Sunfish, or Mola Mola. Ocean sunfish are the largest known bony fish, weighing in on average 2,000 lbs for an adult. One of the largest Ocean sunfish ever recorded weighed nearly 5,000 lbs!

Ocean sunfish are usually seen near the surface in open water, swimming upright or on their side soaking up the rays or the sun like a large solar panel. Don’t let their position side fool you into thinking they are sick. It is theorized that they “sun” themselves to warm up from a deep dive. It is known that they also spend a great deal of time below 200 meters. That is quite a ways down.

Ocean sunfish are among the strangest looking fish. The posterior half of their body appears to be cut short. They do not have a caudal fin, instead they have clavus which is an extension of their dorsal and anal fin rays. The fish is laterally compressed, looking like a large oval with a paddle shaped fin on the top and bottom. Their skin is like gritty sandpaper covered in a mucus layer that can be as thick as 5 cm. They are also loaded with internal and external parasites (there is a link at the end if you would like to see the list of parasites that cover the ocean sunfish). Juveniles resemble puffers with their large pectoral fins, a tail fin and body spines that are uncharacteristic of adult sunfish.
Their diet consists mainly of jellyfish, squid, crustaceans, small fish, and lots of zooplankton. As its diet suggests, the Ocean sunfish feed across the ocean depths, from the surface to deeper waters, and in some areas, even the ocean floor. You can only imagine how much food these fish must eat on a daily basis to sustain themselves! They are very difficult to keep for long periods of time in captivity, even in the largest system, so Ocean sunfish are not seen in many public aquariums, but there are a few that have taken on the challenge of keeping them on display. The Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka, Japan and The Oceanario in Lisbon, Portugal both have Ocean sunfish on display. In the United States, The Monterey Bay Aquarium is the only one to house a mola mola. The longest known ocean sunfish in captivity made it 10 years. In the wild, they can live 100 years or so. Their growth rate is still undetermined, but a young Mola Mola at the Monteray Bay Aquarium went from a slim 57 lbs to 879 lbs in a mere 15 months. It also sprouted to a height of nearly 1.8m. Fattened up on a diet of squid, fish and prawns, this fish had to be airlifted out by helicopter and released into the bay after outgrowing its tank.
It is generally accepted that ocean sunfish larvae will become millions of times bigger during their life cycle. As you can see, this is definitely not a fish you would find at That Fish Place, but you might come across it while scuba diving, so keep your eye out. Ocean Sunfish are found in both temperate and tropical waters. A lot that remains unknown about the secret lives of ocean sunfish!
Here are some great websites about ocean sunfish: http://oceansunfish.org/ has a fun map showing sightings of ocean sunfish
http://www.earthwindow.com/mola.html has awesome pictures of ocean sunfish.
http://www.oceansunfish.org/lifehistory.html this site has a list of parasites that have been found on ocean sunfish.

Image referenced from Wikipedia.

Craig here. Parambassis pulcinella. What a name. It kinda rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Well… as cool as the name sounds, the Humphead Glassfish is even cooler looking! If you have ever wanted a fish that has a bit of size and a lot of character for your freshwater community aquarium, this just might be the fish for you!

A relative newcomer to the aquarium scene, the Humphead glassfish was not scientifically described until 2003. Parambassis pulcinella hails from Myanmar, in South East Asia. With changing political climates, many fish have just recently become known to science from this region. Myanmar is a country that has nearly half of its land covered in dense forests. Within these forests are countless streams. It is in these fast flowing streams that the Humphead Glassfish can be found.

The Humphead Glassfish is a schooling fish that benefits from being kept with members of it’s own kind. It has a spine from the dorsal (supraoccipital) area of it’s skull that is extended. This extension is what gives this fish it’s bizarre shape and name. The pH should range from neutral to slightly alkaline. It is not a particularly picky eater. The small group that is kept here will ravenously feed on pelleted foods and thawed frozen foods. It seems that the only things that the Humphead Glassfish are particular about is the need for excellent filtration, higher levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, and room to swim! Other than these requirements, you will find that these curious fish are very sturdy and make wonderful additions to your tank. They will not eat plants, so keeping them in a larger planted aquarium is acceptable provided that your CO2 levels do not rise to a dangerous level. Even though these fish are relatively peaceful and can be kept with smaller community fish, beware keeping them with fish like neon or cardinal tetras. If a tiny tetra will fit in their mouths… it will surely be lunch!

So, if you want something different, something rare, something new… take a look at the odd Humphead Glassfish. When available, these fish are certainly well worth the price. You will have something that many people have never even seen before, as well as a fish that is one of the most interesting and coolest additions to the aquarium trade in years.