Fruit paste as fish food?

Hello all,
Well, apparently fish really like fruit paste :-).
As the stuff sinks, is full of good stuff, and is often not eaten by my kids, this is really nice - no more throwing it in the trash.

All the Best,
Kasper

White Growth on Red Moore roots? Causes and a quick fix

Hello all,
was just reminded of one of my first "wtf"-moments of keeping fish. I had bought an expensive piece of 'driftwood', called Red Moore roots (AKA Spiderwood) and was thoroughly enjoying it.

The root, seconds before the fungus attack .-)

And then this weird, white growth appeared and crawled all over my pretty decoration.
Nasty, I thought and began panicking.
Today I know better and would love to share this with all of you :-).

Causes:
Apparently whenever a root that has been boiled or similarly treated is inserted into an aquarium, a species of marine fungus will take this as their chance to prosper. And when they prosper, they grow large enoguh that we can see the resulting white fussy and fluffy growth.
And good luck searching for the scientific name of this species of fungus. Each type of wood has its own particular species of marine fungus. And as marine fungi are among the worst investigated lifeforms on Earth, theres quite a good chance we shall never know the name of the redmoore eating fungus.

Solution:
Well, this is the easy part. If you are not in a hurry, then just let it be. Once your aquarium gets better established the inherent bacteria will triumph. Growing much quicker than the fungus, they will soon conqour the spot and eat the easily available nutrients that the root is leaking.
If you are in a hurry (or find the growth disgusting), all shrimps love the fungus, and quite a few catfish (and other types of fish) will also eat the growth. So either way nothing bad will happen - either it will disappear on its own, or it will provide free food for your aquarium :-).

This qoute (from an old defunct homepage) sates the above in better English :-):
Floridadriftwood
About Fungus

Sometimes when an enthusiast brings driftwood home, the temptation to boil it before adding it to their aquarium becomes too great to ignore. When they do this, they sterilize the wood and leave it vulnerable to fungal colonization. If this happens, do not panic! Two things to note:

1. This fungus is harmless to both fish and plants. In fact, many fish will seek it out to eat it. Yes, it looks unplesant but boiling the driftwood again and again to get rid of it is futile. This just restarts the cycle of colonization.

2. This fungus is temporary. Once the natural bacteria in your aquarium have a chance to get a foothold, they will colonize the driftwood and out compete the fungus. The fungus will then seem to disappear; almost overnight.


All the best,
Kasper

Fish spotlight: Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum 'Ijebu Ode' (Killi fish, AKA Aphyosemion bitaeniatum))

Hello all,
if there is any one fish type that I really love then it would have to be the Killifish. Almost all of these (and there are thousands of different types) are beautiful, intriguing, and entertaining. One species I've really enjoyed having in my aquarium was the Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum.

An unfussy eater, beautiful swimmer and very pleasing to the eye: 

Male Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum

I bought my original trio at a Danish Killi-auction (ca. 3$) and instantly fell in love with them. Well, the entire family did, and the youngest even named them 'Dragon-fish'. They were from the region of Ijebu Ode.
I contacted the seller and it turned out that she had decided not to continue breeding the line and I got her remaining males for free. Wonderful lady!

Here the new Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum males arrive - very curious.

Their larger brother goes closer to show them who is the boss!

Nothing beats Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum males showing of against each other.

Chromaphyosemion bitaeniatum and a Aphysemion Australe

In general this is a very easy fish - eats anything and is very peaceful even with rivalling males sparring no injury will occur. The only downside is that you cannot expect mor than 1½ years out of them. But in that span of time they will charm anyone :-).

All the best,
Kasper

Fish spotlight: Sturisoma aureum (Giant Whiptail, Golden Whiptail)

Hello all,
Roughly a year ago I got the chance to acquire three young catfish of the species Sturisoma aureum (AKA Giant Whiptail).Although we lost one fairly quickly, the remaining two have proven quite sturdy and have grown fast. This beautiful catfish, originally from Columbia but mine were bred locally (just a few kilometers from where I live by a talented lady), is a constant enjoyment. It almost never hides and I really wouldn't call it nocturnal as one often reads on the internet, instead it often rests on a leaf or on a treeroot in full view so we can always appreciate it. It is an excellent community fish, and a very elegant one, with its fancy elongated dorsal fin.
 

A beautiful Sturisoma aureum

This is a video from when they were still fairly small - the largest is now more than 15 cm:

All in all a very pretty fish, and one that I really recommend!

A young Sturisoma aureum

From experience I can relate that they eat a fair bit of algae, but prefers catfish pellets and vegetables (peas, cucumber, etc).


Wikipedia adds the following:
Sturisoma aureum is a species of armored catfish endemic to Colombia where it is found in the Magdalena, San Jorge and Cesar River basins. This species grows to a length of 20 centimetres (7.9 in) SL. This species can be found in the aquarium trade.


All the best,
Kasper

Live Food: Hyalella azteca, using as food

Hello all,
Just a quick video that shows how my fish (well-fed already) goes ever so slightly crazy as the Hyalella azteca (scuds) that were shown here are poured into the aquarium :-).

Hoped you enjoyed that almost as much as the fish. More information on breeding, care and using as live food in freshwater aquariums, please click here.

All the best,
Kasper

Fish Spotlight: Heterandria formosa - AKA least killifish, mosqu or midget livebearer

Hello all,
Once in a while you find that one of the fish you keep turns out to be a favourite although there is no good reason for this. The small Heterandria formosa is just such a fish. Unremarkable in colour, not a really good swimmer, and as small as you are likely to find any fish to be, it still is surprisingly lovable.

 So whats to love? Well, for one thing it breeds remarkably easily. As with guppies, it will keep throwing out babies (the smallest slivers that are barely visible). But it is also very, very, undemanding as it can tolerate temperatures from 5 to 30 degrees.
It is also just plain weird.
Size-wise, the male is less than half the size of the female.
The female will give birth to between one and three baies every three days or so, the only livebearer to do so, which is due to how the eggs mature. At our house it is sometimes referred to as the "rapist", the large 'genital' that is almost half the size of the male, can be swung around and used to perform "swim-by-rapes". The male can literally impregnate the female from afar. And will do so often and at every opportunity. As a consequence studies have shown that the female has developed an ability to eject semen from her body, but (gets weirder and weirder) also the ability to only do so with semen from fish that are too genetically close to her (i.e. 'brothers').

I've found them to unpecky eaters (they will eat anything they can get in their mouth) and will not, generally, eat their own offspring.
Easy, somehow adorable, fish. Highly recommended for small, possible low tech (i.e. no heater and filter) aquariums.

This is what Wikepedia has to offer:
Heterandria formosa (known as the least killifish, mosqu or midget livebearer) is a species of livebearing fish within the family Poeciliidae. This is the same family that includes familiar aquarium fishes such as guppies and mollies. H. formosa is not as commonly kept in aquaria as these species. H. formosa is one of the smallest fish in the world (7th smallest as of 1991), and is the smallest fish found in North America. Despite the common name "least killifish", it belongs to the family Poeciliidae and not to one of the killifish families.
Heterandria formosa is the only member of its genus to be found in the United States. Its range covers southeastern United States, from South Carolina south to Georgia and Florida, and through the Florida Gulf Coast to Louisiana. It is one of the few aquarium fishes to come from North America.
H. formosa lives primarily in vegetated, slow moving or standing freshwater but also occurs in brackish waters. 
Heterandria formosa is one of the smallest fish and smallest vertebrates known to science. Males grow to about 2 centimeters (0.8 inches), while females grow a little larger, to about 3 centimeters (1.2 inches)^.
The fish is generally an olive color, with a dark horizontal stripe through the center of the body. There is also a dark spot on the dorsal fin and females also have a dark spot on their anal fin. Like most poeciliids, males' anal fins are modified into a gonopodium that is used for impregnating females during mating.
 Like most poeciliids, H. formosa is a livebearer. The male uses his modified anal fin, or gonopodium, to deliver sperm to the female. The fertilized eggs grow within the female until they hatch, and the young are released free swimming. H. formosa has a unique breeding strategy even among livebearers. Rather than all the young being released at once, as many as 40 fry are released over a 10 to 14 day period, but occasionally over a longer period.



All the best,
Kasper

Fish Spotlight: Hypseleotris compressa

Hello all,
Found the place where I kept the pictures of my Hypseleotris compressa. This fish is full of character and, if treated well, will become an instant favorite of spectators. We've named our male "the red baron" (although my youngest just calls him the 'angry fish'). and he is among my favourite fish. Although their behaviour is not that impressive (they seem to be ambushers, i.e. they find a place and lie in wait for prey) and they will rarely take a swim through the aquarium they are always around, wathching you. And once you start feeding they come out and dazzle everyone with their colours (well the male does, the female is not that dazzling to be honest).
Mine take dry, flake food, but much prefer live food (i.e. daphnia, Hyalella azteca, RCS shrimps etc), but will happily munch on frozen mosquito etc. Somewhat slow feeders they have no problem bullying other fish away and our male has an area in the tank where no other fish go to feed.

Female Hypseleotris compressa

Female Hypseleotris compressa

Female Hypseleotris compressa

 All the best,
Kasper

Cryptocoryne Country - 5 gal nano aquarium

Hello all,
Next to the Shrimpfarm nano aquarium is its twin, the Cryptocoryne Country. It has housed a lot of different fish, from Aphyosemion australe Killis to Tateurndina ocellicauda. Today there is a single Betta splendens swimming around in the tank (with several shrimps and snails as company, I do believe there's even a small Heterandria formosa surviving the hunting tendencies of the Betta.
Its a nice little planted Nano Aquarium, plenty of cover for the Betta, which seems very happy and produces a nest every week, although it has never seen a female.
I know Betta owners normally give their fishes names, but no name has yet appeared to suit the pretty Betta.

Details: 20 l Dennerle Nano Aquarium, small Dennerle filter and 11W lamp. No heating.
Black gravel with a few roots etc.
Site:

 The Blue Betta splendens:

Big, fat Betta - will eat any shrimp, insect or mosquito it can catch!

Pictures from the last years:

 

All the best,
tokasper

Shrimpfarm - 5 gal fish tank

Hello all,
I've been lucky enough to persuade my wife to let me have one of the windowsills in the living room. I began with one medium Nano aquarium (20l / 5 gal) but this soon become two and then three aquariums.
This is the oldest one and is now almost two years old in its current 'scape'.
Details: 20 l Dennerle Nano Aquarium, small Dennerle filter and 11W lamp. No heating.
Sulawesi Black gravel with a few roots etc.
Plants: Hydrocotyle leucocephala, Taxiphyllum spec., (and used to have 2x Cryptogryne wendtii). the grassy steppes or lawns in front are made by sowing Cladophora (a nice type of green algae) onto pieces of slate.
Inhabitants:
Boraras brigittae (down to five of the original ten)
Heterandria formosa (somewhere between eigth and fifteen)
Numerous Neocaridina heteropoda (RCS)
and various snails: Anatome helenas and Marisa cornuarietis.

 The threesome of aquariums :-):

 Various incarnations from the past two years:

Boraras brigittae

Boraras brigittae

Boraras brigittae

Neocaridina heteropoda, RCS

From back when I tried to combine the tank with an orchid - didn't work out too well. Maybe I'll describe the failures of that experiment sometime.

 All the best,
Tokasper