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 Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 1:40 pm
Hi all~! I've been dying to find a place on Gaia to discuss aquarist stuff, and it just sort of just occured to me that guilds might be the place to look...duh XD. So, here I am. I will now spam you with random pictures of my some of my fish and tanks in no particular order! My new 2.5 gallon nano tank, soon to be home to 6 Boraras merah:  Male veiltail betta:   Some of my male rainbow shiners:    Unknown Pyrrhulina or Copella species:  Male redline darter:  Male rainbow darter:  Rainbow and redline:  Male plakat betta:   Swamp darter:  Swamp darter with white cloud mountain minnows:  Male doubletail betta (his upper caudal lobe has since healed):  Male crowntail betta:  Wild male sailfin molly challenging a male congo tetra:  Male blue paradise fish:  Kribensis cichlid pair (old pic):  Male veiltail betta:  Male veiltail betta:  Amano shrimp:  Male plakat betta:  Whiptail catfish:  Red cherry shrimp:  Okay, I think that's enough...for now. >=D
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 2:04 pm
Oh.
My.
GASP!
Prettttyyyyyyyy!
Erm, I mean, welcome to the guild :p
I'm sorry, but I'll just have to barage you with questions and comments. Numbered for your or my convenience ^^
1. How do you keep your plants looking so nice in a 2.5 gallon, I'm finding it a headache, which plants are they anyway?
2. The rainbow shiners are so beautiful, I have only seen these in books before, but never as bright as yours, I imagine they hurt the eyes.
3. Darters, another fish I haven't really seen before, or paid much mind. They look interesting, what kind of character do they have? And where do they originally come from?
4. Of all your bettas I'd have to say your silver crowntail and yellow veiltail are the most beautiful. In what kind of set up do you keep your bettas?
5. The Kribensis looks like such a cute pair, have you ever bred them?
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:15 pm
I'll be happy to answer your questions^^.
1. The plants in the 2.5 gallon are Cryptocoryne wendtii, Rotala indica, and Anubia nana "petite". The tank has only been set for a few weeks, so I haven't had any problems with them yet...I deliberately went with very easy, hardy plants.
2. Aren't they gorgeous? heart They're some of my favorite fish. The pics really don't do them justice. Very hardy and easy to keep, too. I raised my five from little half-inch fry.
3. Darters are from North America, mostly found the in the US. They're AWESOME fish--I really can't say enough about them. Beautifully colored (the males in breeding season are some of the most beautifully colored fish in the world, IMO) and very friendly. Darters will actually come to the front of the tank to greet and watch you!
4. All my bettas are in tanks of at least 2.5 gallons with a heater and live plants. I've got one in a heated, filtered, planted 5 gallon tank, and I hope to move the others into similar set-ups as soon as I can make room for them.
5. The kribs spawned a few weeks after I got them...and have never spawned again! I'm not sure why...I see the female courting the male from time to time, and they like to stay together, but no more babies. I'm sure the rest of the tank is happy about that, though, heh. I'll have to get newer pics, since the male has developed some beautiful ocelli on his caudal.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:27 pm
That is impressive! Beautiful fish, beautiful set-ups. My own set-ups are so blah compared to that, more for function than form.
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Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2009 7:49 am
Quote: 2. Aren't they gorgeous? They're some of my favorite fish. The pics really don't do them justice. Very hardy and easy to keep, too. I raised my five from little half-inch fry. Ack, I have been trying to find some of those! I live in such a rural area, it takes me 2 hours to drive to a (decent) pet shop. I get there and the last group has always been sold 5 mins prior, if they had any at all. I am ready to just give up and purchase some tetras! Quote: 3. Darters are from North America, mostly found the in the US. They're AWESOME fish--I really can't say enough about them. Beautifully colored (the males in breeding season are some of the most beautifully colored fish in the world, IMO) and very friendly. Darters will actually come to the front of the tank to greet and watch you! I am tempted to check those out, but I have enough bottom-level fish as it is. I have a serious soft spot for bottom-feeders for some reason . . . sweatdrop Are they easy to breed? If so, and your local population of darters is compromised, I suppose that is one species you can release and not feel as if you have sinned wink I had a Paradise fish very similar in appearance to the one you have. Personally, I have noticed a serious decline in Paradise fish quality lately and have not been able to find another one! They are all pale, diseased, or the color patterns are awful and not what they should be. Or I find just bad quality "Blue" Paradise fish, which are bad enough on their own. Yuck. Regarding white clouds, am I just behind the loop, of has anyone else heard that they are now extinct in the wild? I was completely shocked, they are such a hardy fish, and why did I never hear about them being added to anything like the IUCN Red-List? It happened back in '99, evidently.
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 8:54 pm
I got my rainbow shiners from a guy in Florida who breeds them. I didn't think pet stores even carried them! Look up Sachs Systems Aquaculture if you're interested in getting some. He has tons of awesome native fish.
Lots of darters are endangered, unfortunately, so it's illegal to own or even catch and release them. Still, look up pics of darters in breeding colors and tell me they don't make you drool. mrgreen
Yeah, most of the paradise fish I find are pretty lousy--massive overbreeding must be taking a toll.
I've heard that white clouds are extinct in the wild, but I also heard that they've either been re-discovered or that the report was premature. I have NO idea, honestly. And yeah, considering how INSANELY prolific they are (I'm up to my eyeballs in them already) it's hard to imagine them going extinct. Unless it has to do with habitat destruction, or something.
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:43 am
Wow, beautiful pictures! How many tanks do you have?
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Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:09 am
Uh...let's see. Counting the temporary betta tanks (going to set them all up in 5 gallons, eventually), I've got 9 tanks. 4 temp. betta tanks, a 2.5 gallon nano with Boraras species in it, a 5 gallon betta tank, a 10 gallon white cloud/swamp darter/shrimp tank, a 20 gallon community tank, and a 55 gallon community tank.
I'm going to upload a bunch more pics soon.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 3:41 am
Feldspar 1. The plants in the 2.5 gallon are Cryptocoryne wendtii, Rotala indica, and Anubia nana "petite". The tank has only been set for a few weeks, so I haven't had any problems with them yet...I deliberately went with very easy, hardy plants. Ah, well I hope you have better luck then me. I started with a crypto too, but it died in a few months. I suspect the lack of light, since my room never gets direct sunlight. I'm moving to the other side of the building soon though, so I hope my tank will get more light then. My otto will love the algea bloom. Feldspar 3. Darters are from North America, mostly found the in the US. They're AWESOME fish--I really can't say enough about them. Beautifully colored (the males in breeding season are some of the most beautifully colored fish in the world, IMO) and very friendly. Darters will actually come to the front of the tank to greet and watch you! Damn, now I want darters. I've never been into bottomdewlers that much, but these remind me so much of gobbies they are irresistable. I wounder if they could be held together with a red tailed shark. Feldspar 5. The kribs spawned a few weeks after I got them...and have never spawned again! I'm not sure why...I see the female courting the male from time to time, and they like to stay together, but no more babies. I'm sure the rest of the tank is happy about that, though, heh. I'll have to get newer pics, since the male has developed some beautiful ocelli on his caudal. Maybe they need a little punishing? Lower the heat, and less food for a few days or weeks, and then give them extra good care with a lot of bloodworms? That used to work for my angles. Though, breeding chiclids if propably never very healthy for the rest of the comunity tank. ^^; KerriganBryce Regarding white clouds, am I just behind the loop, of has anyone else heard that they are now extinct in the wild? I was completely shocked, they are such a hardy fish, and why did I never hear about them being added to anything like the IUCN Red-List? It happened back in '99, evidently. Feldspar I've heard that white clouds are extinct in the wild, but I also heard that they've either been re-discovered or that the report was premature. I have NO idea, honestly. And yeah, considering how INSANELY prolific they are (I'm up to my eyeballs in them already) it's hard to imagine them going extinct. Unless it has to do with habitat destruction, or something. o_O Okay, that's like saying guppies are going extinct in the wild. Even loss of habitat shouldn't have such an effect on these hardy fish. They are just too adaptable. Maybe too many predatory fish, or a stronger competitive species? I'm tempted to look into this when I have the time.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2009 5:30 pm
Crypts are actually fairly low-light plants and are generally very hardy--but they are rather sensitive to changes in water parameters. They like to throw tantrums and melt a bunch of leaves off if conditions change. The two in my 2.5 gallon both threw hissy fits and had meltdowns, but fortunately they seem to be coming around again. I'm not very happy with them for making me clean up melted crypt goo, though. mad
I don't know how well darters would get on with a red-tailed shark, but they're generally peaceful. They can be nippy at feeding time, and the redline used to terrorize the corys, but I would still classify them as peaceful. And yes, they are a lot like gobies!
Here's a few pics of some of my favorite species:
Rainbow darter
http://www.nanfa.org/images/ecaeruleum.jpg
http://gallery.nanfa.org/d/14630-4/dartertray.JPG
http://www.muskingumriver.org/images/rainbow_darter.jpg
Candy darter (endangered)
http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/images/jpegs/candydart.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/56/190870025_6a3e0afe3c.jpg?v=0
http://www.wvdnr.gov/wildlife/magazine/Archive/03Spring/graphics/fish4.jpg
Speckled darter
http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/images/fish/perch/Speckled_Darter - Jeff_web.JPG
http://johno.myiglou.com/fish/speckled.jpg
Redline darter
http://www.thevlm.org/files/Images/redline-darter.jpg
http://www.nps.gov/stri/naturescience/images/redlinedarter.jpg
Tangerine darter
http://fwf.ag.utk.edu/Sites/wildlifesociety/images/tangerine_male1_webCFI.jpg
http://www.thecatenagroup.com/img01_darter.jpg
...And that's are just of small sample of all the gorgeous darters out there. heart
Also, I don't think the rest of my fish would be very happy with me if I encouraged my kribs to spawn again...heh.
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Posted: Thu Sep 03, 2009 12:29 am
They look absolutely gorgeous!
Once I have room for a large tank I am so figuring out how to get one or two of these in europe. Sounds like they would get along okay with a shark.
Red tails can be nippy, but as long as they have a nice large hole or cave to hide in they will leave every one that leaves them alone alone.
I especially love the Tangerine, Speckled and Candy darter. So sad that the candy is endangered. I wonder if there are breeding programs to save the population.
Hmm, that's probably what happened to my crypt then. It did melt, and died, and I bought it during the time I was trying to get the extreemly hard water that comes from the tap to turn soft.
It was also the first time I kept a crypto ^^;
I might try again some time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:45 am
Quote: I got my rainbow shiners from a guy in Florida who breeds them. I didn't think pet stores even carried them! You're right, they don't typically (though they should!) but my LFS always ends up with weird unwanted critters from people moving, dieing, etc. They have arrowanas, a resident nurse shark (don't worry, she's in a huge tank,) and a lionfish as big as my torso, to name some of the more unusual "donations." They ended up with a small group of chrosomus once that, to my surprise, ended up spawning just a couple days after they arrived. Funny thing was they had them listed as "wild neon tetras" or something silly like that; the employees couldn't figure out what they were until I told them! Guess the absence of an adipose fin didn't strike them as odd for a "neon." xp The store rears many of their own fish so they were well equipped to raise the hatchlings, but they ended up being swiped before I could get my hands on a few. Shiners are very cool, the one I really want to get ahold of is Pteronotropis welaka. They are not quite as flashy as the chrosomus, but I really like their demeanor and finnage. The north american shiners are one of the more under-rated fish in the aquarium hobby, I think. Besides, many of them can be caught locally, which can be important in areas where habitat destruction may be endangering the populations. Not only can it help raise local awareness and support for the native species, but there is also the possibility of later reintroduction by captive breeders. Most people have some sort of pretty little shiner in their area, in mine I can catch notropis chiliticus and rubricroceus. Of course I have been researching my local laws for catching "non-game" species for the native tank I am planning, and it has also really helped me rediscover my love for Virginia. I found out that I am allowed to take bullfrogs by bow and arrow, but only if they are not poison-tipped. I am also allowed to take bullfrogs by firearm, but only if it is by a caliber .22 or smaller. If I wish to collect long-nose gar by bow and arrow or carp and suckers with a rifle I need a "fishing license," but if I'm going after bullfrogs with a bow I need a hunting license. I also need to keep in mind I'm not allowed to shoot them from a bridge. eek Quote: Look up Sachs Systems Aquaculture if you're interested in getting some. He has tons of awesome native fish They actually have some decent prices as well. Hmm, tempted... Quote: I wonder if there are breeding programs to save the population. Not that I have heard of, but it would make sense. There are many breeders out there who would jump at the chance of starting captive breeding populations. I know in my state we are allowed to keep our local candy darters if we have at least a level I Wildlife Rehabilitation license, but that is only for rehabilitation. Of course, it's not often that you see an injured darter lying gasping on the side of the road... stare If anything I believe that putting the candy darter under protection, while protecting little of it's environment (there's nothing protecting a darter from what happens upstream,) could be worse for the population as a whole. Quote: Once I have room for a large tank I am so figuring out how to get one or two of these in europe. Can't help you with the where, but I have heard that North American natives are becoming rather popular with the British. Hopefully it works in your favor!
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