That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Among the Cichlids (Family Cichlidae) we find some of the most interesting and highly desirable of all freshwater aquarium fishes.  Nearly all show a startling degree of responsiveness to their environment and owners, with many becoming true “pets” as opposed to animals to be observed only.  Included among the group are Oscars, Jack Dempseys, angelfishes, convicts and other popularly-bred species, as well as a number about which little is known.

Diversity and Range

With well over 1,300 species named to date, and many as yet un-described, this family is one of the fish world’s largest. Ranging in size from 1 to 36 inches, Cichlids inhabit the fresh and brackish waters of Central and South America, the West Indies, Africa, Madagascar, Syria, Israel, Iran, southern India and Sri Lanka.  One species, the Texas cichlid, occurs in the USA.  Found throughout the drainage of the lower Rio Grande River, it is the most northerly of all cichlids. 

A number have been widely introduced, with Oscars (velvet cichlids) being long-established in southern Florida.  I have collected them in the Everglades, and have reports of a great many other introduced populations.

Parental Care

One near universal trait among the family is the amazing degree of parental care given the young. In many cases both the parents tend to the fry, cleaning them and the nest site and driving off potential predators.  The lovely, popular discus (Symphysodon aequifasciata), a native of the Amazon Basin, feeds its young with a modified mucus secreted from the skin.

The Unique “Second Jaws”

Cichlids have a second pair of jaws in the throat.  Known as the pharyngeal jaws, these unique structures process food and have freed the primary jaws to develop an amazing array of adaptations to deal with specific and unusual food items.  Included in this family are species that feed upon bacteria, other fishes, hard-shelled mollusks, algae and an amazing assortment of other food items. 

It is speculated that specialized adaptations have allowed cichlids to become the dominant fish family in many of the ecosystems in which they occur.

African Rift Lake Cichlids

 In Lake Victoria and other water bodies of Africa’s Great Rift Valley live a variety of cichlids that have all evolved from a very small number of “parent species”.  About 90% of these fishes are endemic to a single lake, and the speciation process seems to have occurred in the relatively short time.  Up to 200 closely related species, often termed “species flocks”, may be found in a single lake. 

I’ll cover the care of individual Cichlid species in the future. Until then, please write in with your questions and comments.  Thanks, until next time, Frank Indiviglio.

Further Reading

We have posted a number of Cichlid care articles on our blog.  For information on keeping the popular and aptly-named Red Terror, please see The Red Terror: Cichlid Species Profile .

Ed. Note: Lots of cichlids are featured on our catalog photo contest located on Facebook.  Take a look here and vote for your favorite.

Patty here.

So, Summer is rapidly passing us by, and before we know it, Fall will be upon us.  I always dread the end of warm days for my plants.  After perfectly sunny and humid days provide them with perfect conditions to thrive, I have to shove the plants into every spare corner and windowsill of the house and pray that they will make it through another long, cool, dry winter.  This year I am especially dreading it, since this spring I invested in several ferns and trailing plants that are humidity loving, like Maiden’s Hair Ferns, and some others that are thriving in moist soil that I fear will not handle the transition to indoors for the long duration.

I think the solution to my problem might be one that I have been contemplating for a while now, the construction of a new Paludarium.  In my last entry, I wrote about Archerfish and the possibility/benefit of keeping them in a large Paludarium.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with the concept of this type of set-up, it is kind of a hybrid aquarium/terrarium with a land area and a water area capable of supporting a variety of plants and also a potentially terrific environment for fish and amphibians.  The set-up ends up looking like a slice of marshland or rainforest, and I think that some of my plants may be in for a winter holiday if I can pull it together for them. 

I actually have 2 spare aquariums to potentially use for this project, an old 55 gallon and a 65 gallon.  The 55 has been used before as a terrarium, but not as a true paludarium as the shallow aquatic side was completely divided from the terrestrial side with a length of plexiglass.  It served its purpose at the time, a green home for a couple of green tree frogs.  The water side was too shallow to keep any fish, but that will be remedied in the new 65 gallon project.

 Before I get started I’ll be doing some rearranging, so the project isn’t going to get off the ground for a while yet.  For now, I’m considering the components I’ll need.  Materials that I have on hand for the project are planting media (soil, flourite, clay pellets), submersible pumps/filters, heaters, lighting (though I may need to upgrade), plants (always on the lookout for more), and some other decor like stone fountains, wood and rock.  I’ll be acquiring or collecting some other materials I’ll need for construction gradually so that I can get set up by the time the weather turns cold.   I’ll need some PVC pipe and fittings some egg-crate, screen or landscape fabric, charcoal, sealant, and some other bits and pieces, maybe some plexi-glass and some cork bark depending on the layout I choose.  Design will be the next step, and the second part of the great paludarium blog.

I’d be interested to hear any ideas from readers who have attempted this before and have some insight. With such creative possibilities here, anything can be helpful.

Check out some interesting paludariums on YouTube.

Until next time,

Patty

Eileen here. With all of the water changes, filter changes, feedings, testing, supplements and other changes and maintenance we do on our aquariums, it can be difficult to remember what was done and when. Some problems with aquarium systems as well as regular maintenance are dependent on what has been happening with the tanks over time, not just within the very recent past. This is just one of the reasons that make it important to keep a record of the every day maintenance of the system as well as any other events that may have an impact on the health of the fish.

Keeping records of any activity with an aquarium system is not a new idea. Almost every public aquarium keeps records of everything that goes into or out of their water – this is even required by some scientific organizations to keep the aquarium’s certification or grants. Their records and even the records kept by stores like That Fish Place/ That Pet Place are obviously going to be very detailed than the average home aquarist might need, but it is a good idea to take their lead and keep track of your aquarium. You can use a computer program like Excel or Word  if you’d like, or you can simply keep a notepad and pen with your aquarium supplies.

So what should you record? The types of events you should keep track of can be divided into a few main categories: Water Chemistry, Maintenance, and Livestock.

l  Water Chemistry recordings would be the results of any regular water tests done on your tank (pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, temperature, etc) as well as the dosages of any supplements or medications you add to the aquarium.

l  Maintenance records keep track of regular maintenance (water changes, light bulb changes, filter pad changes or cleanings) as well as any out-of-the-ordinary events like a new heater or a malfunctioning piece of equipment.

l  Livestock records help you keep track of what live fish, plants or invertebrates you are adding to your aquarium and what you are removing from the tank or lose due to deaths or illness. You can also make observations about any unusual behavior you are noticing in the livestock, symptoms of illnesses, what the fish are (or are not) eating, even their sizes from time to time to see how quickly they are growing.

l  Other events: It is also a good idea to keep track of any other unusual events that may affect your aquarium. Power outages, heat waves, cold spells, and other events that may not have an immediate affect on the aquarium can cause changes in the aquarium a few days or weeks later that can be traced back through your records. Even a houseful of guests can be important to record if it changes the activity around the aquarium or the feeding schedule of the fish.

Getting into the habit of keeping a few notes on your aquarium can make difference in the long run. After all, some of us have a hard time remembering what we had for dinner last week, much less when we last changed that light bulb, when we added that new invert to the tank or how well a certain fish has been feeding! A running record of some of these details can help refresh your memories, as well as keep track of your progress in the aquarium hobby.

Along these same lines, Current-USA offers a free downloadable computer widget to keep track of aquarium maintanance schedules. Working in conjuction with your records, the two together can go a long way toward helping you maintain a healthy system.

Until next time,

Eileen

Dave here.

Back in January, I posted a blog about some of the changes and upgrades to the fish room here in our retail store.  Over the past few weeks we have gotten back to working on our upgrades, and I wanted to start a series of blogs to let folks know what is going on.

Behind the scenes we have been completely revamping our coral holding systems, at the center of which is a whole new coral propagation system.  We have had some coral holding systems in or warehouse for several years, primarily used for holding extra stock, and for some small scale coral propagation.  Some of  these holding systems are being converted into a dedicated coral propagation system. This is a project that we are very excited about.

Along with the new coral propagation system, we are also working on some upgrades to the coral holding systems in the retail store.  The first upgrade is the lighting on the main coral tray.  For those of you that have never visited our retail location, the main coral tray is a pretty cool, and quite unique, aquarium.  The tray is a 20 foot long, 4 foot wide, acrylic aquarium that can be viewed from both the top and sides.  It is one of the largest tanks of this style in the world; I have never seen another like it.

The Coral Tray has been refitted with new Sunlight Supply ballasts and fixtures.  The reflectors are the large Lumenmax models, and they are powered by Sunlight Supply’s Galaxy electronic metal halide ballasts.  There are 4 of these fixtures on the tank, running 400watt 20K XM metal halide bulbs.  The 4 fixtures are mounted to a moving rail system, which allows each fixture to travel over a 4 foot area.  Along with looking good, and satisfying the gadget geek inside of me, the system is also very energy efficient due to the electronic ballasts and moving rail system.  The huge tray is now being lit by only four 400watt halides (Plus a stationary Aquatic Life HID fixture mounted to one end).

In this first blog about the coral propagation system, I can only give you a sneak peak of the system; it is still a couple weeks away from completion.  The plan is to get this initial system online, then over time add additional systems as we acquire and establish our brood stock and grow out protocols.

The coral propagation system will consist of four 120 gallon raceways that are connected to a main sump that will contain the protein skimmer.  There will also be a brood stock tank that will recirculate on the main sump as well.  As you can see in the pictures, we are well into the plumbing and electrical systems of the prop room. Next will be the lighting systems, then we will fill and test the water flow in the system.  More blog entries will follow as the system gets closer to operation.  Hope  you enjoy the pictures of the progress so far.

Thanks,

Dave

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  I must confess that I like algae, perhaps because many of the creatures that I favor – shrimp, tadpoles, snails, loaches and others, do best in algae-rich tanks.  I’ve even encouraged algae to grow on the backs of aquatic snakes and turtles in zoo exhibits, much to the chagrin of the higher-ups! 

But, of course, algae certainly can get in the way of enjoying one’s pond or aquarium, and may endanger the health of the animals living therein as well.

Algae Diversity

Algae, which are not true plants, exist in a bewildering number of species.  For our purposes, we can roughly classify the commonly-encountered varieties as follows:

Green algae (hair, beard algae) thrive in well-lit situations.

Brown algae do well in low light.

Blue-green algae (actually a type of Cyanobacteria) and red algae live mainly in marine environments.

Controlling Algae

Nitrates and phosphates are the primary nutrients utilized by the most types of algae…limiting their concentration is the key to effective and safe algae control.

Algaecides and other “quick fixes”, while effective in the short term, do not address the root of the problem.  I always recommend that aquarists take the time to identify the reasons that algae has become established.  I have found this to be the most effective approach to algae control, be it in a betta bowl or a 77,000 gallon zoo exhibit.  And, because we learn much along the way and often utilize a number of fascinating animals and plants, the process is also very rewarding.

I’ll first discuss control methods that can generally be described as “natural” and will then mention a few more intensive alternatives.

Bacteria

The most effective algae enemy we might employ comes, surprisingly, in the form of another one-celled “non-plant/non-animal” – bacteria.  Many species consume the same nutrients as do algae, and can out-breed and out-compete even the hardiest types.

A number of species of beneficial aerobic bacteria (those requiring oxygen, which are also vital to water quality) will colonize gravel, filter media and other surfaces bathed in aerated water.  They will build up incredibly dense populations over an under-gravel filter, rendering it very difficult for algae to get a foothold. 

Nutrafin Cycle, which contains living bacteria, is especially effective in introducing these organisms to aquariums.  A number of other supplements, effective in fresh water and marine aquariums, are also available.

True Plants

Aquatic plants are very effective in capturing the nutrients needed by algae and limiting their growth.  However, many do not reproduce vigorously, so plantings should be as dense as possible.  In some situations, carbon dioxide supplementation and the use of plant food and iron might be useful.

Floating and emergent plants such as cattails and water hyacinth, lettuce, and lilies combat algae on two fronts – consuming nutrients and limiting light availability. 

If you are not ready to tackle aquatic plant gardening, you might consider using certain hardy terrestrial plants that thrive in water.  As long as their leaves can break the surface, peace lilies, pothos and aluminum plants will fulfill much the same role as true aquatic plants, and their root systems make for wonderful underwater effects.

Next time I’ll discuss how fishes, invertebrates and water additives can be used to combat algae.  Until then, please write in with your questions and comments.  Thanks, Frank Indiviglio.

Further Reading

To learn more about Cyanobacteria (“blue-green algae”), please see Aquarium Slime.

To read about adding beneficial bacteria to aquariums, please see my article Nutrafin Cycle.