It has been years since I had a fish tank. Now I am back at it. The addiction is spreading, as my wife, never a fishkeeper, is now asking me when we will set up the 30 gallon Ive been sitting on for 7 years.
That's not the point really, what I really wanted to talk about is something my mom did for me. She knows that I like fish, and I like to read. She also is retired and loves to go to thrift stores. I mean, she got me a martin sigma guitar in darn near perfect condition for $20 with a case, a ($3000 new)upright electric bass for $5, A trumpet for $5, a clarinet for $20 valued at $300(after a $100 service). She is cool like that. So when she got me book 3 of the x-wing series and said there were some "sicklit" book too, I was excited.
The first book I found in the bag was not a cichlid book, but titled "light in the aquarium" by Rolf Kubler(umlaut over the U, dont know how to make it)However I give props to mom, since the cover is a picture of an apistogramma (what may be cacatoides but might be some other species). copyright 1968. We get the mention here of the UGF causing "hot foot" in aquatic plants. It talks of using what is now archaic photography equipment in measuring light, talks about fluorescent light as a new age technology. In fact, it talks as if, when you get an aquarium, live plants are a part of it, as if artificial plants are not an option.
Now what really made me want to tell you about these books was the second fish book mom bought "4th edition african cichlids of lakes malawi and tanganyika" by Dr herbert r. axelrod and warren e. burgess. copyright 1972.
freaking cool book. I mean, it talks of the authors friends the brichard family exploring lake tanganyika. I have not found reference but curiously there is a tang cichlid called neolamprologus brichardi. The ugandan president would not let them explore lake victoria, but malawi and tang. were explored. Although the author writes, "hippos and crocodiles were problems at times. I had a close call with an electric catfish in tang. and my partner Thierry Brichard, was almost bitten by a diving cobra which was coiled ready to strike...underwater!"
Us "younger" fishkeepers don't realize what aquarists 30 or 40 years ago went through to get fish, or the limits to thier options were. And it's not like you "fishy cycle" a tank with an mbuna and it dies then go to pets-r-us and get a new one. It would be months before that fish was replaced by a wild specimen. And people who didn't properly care for rare fish were blacklisted from getting more.
Something else that caught me was the description of the lakes themselves. Islands that were isolated from one another. while some had similar fish they were far enough apart they were not sure if they were color morphs or separate species. one case is melanochromis simulans and pseudotrophius auratis. The coloring is IDENTICAL with a slightly diferent head shape. This hints at a recent post on this forum that recognizes a separate species of SA cichlids once thougt a color morph of a common species.
Sorry this is like a play by play of an old book but....
Most wildcaugh african cichlids will "have a black cyst parasite" that can only reproduce if eaten by a piscavorious bird. unless you have a bird eating your fish, the parasite will die off.
I think this is the best thing I have gotten out of these books so far is this:
There is 1 page dedicated to fish disease in each book. Each one recommends getting "a book on fish disease for your aquarium library." That hit me, because thats what fishkeepers had to do. read, study, find the right books. you couldn't just google the answer. The author talked about white spot disease, then gave some weird genus and species. IT WAS ICH! Was the idea of sodium chloride treatment even around then? HE suggested having 3 or 4 books on fish disease around. We are spoiled. We can take a picture, send it arround the world, and have an expert give an answer in minutes. Try keeping fish by rare books. Trial and error is not fixed by a 14 day fish-r-us guarantee, but by a highly rare, $50 per fish, wild caught specimen.
That's not the point really, what I really wanted to talk about is something my mom did for me. She knows that I like fish, and I like to read. She also is retired and loves to go to thrift stores. I mean, she got me a martin sigma guitar in darn near perfect condition for $20 with a case, a ($3000 new)upright electric bass for $5, A trumpet for $5, a clarinet for $20 valued at $300(after a $100 service). She is cool like that. So when she got me book 3 of the x-wing series and said there were some "sicklit" book too, I was excited.
The first book I found in the bag was not a cichlid book, but titled "light in the aquarium" by Rolf Kubler(umlaut over the U, dont know how to make it)However I give props to mom, since the cover is a picture of an apistogramma (what may be cacatoides but might be some other species). copyright 1968. We get the mention here of the UGF causing "hot foot" in aquatic plants. It talks of using what is now archaic photography equipment in measuring light, talks about fluorescent light as a new age technology. In fact, it talks as if, when you get an aquarium, live plants are a part of it, as if artificial plants are not an option.
Now what really made me want to tell you about these books was the second fish book mom bought "4th edition african cichlids of lakes malawi and tanganyika" by Dr herbert r. axelrod and warren e. burgess. copyright 1972.
freaking cool book. I mean, it talks of the authors friends the brichard family exploring lake tanganyika. I have not found reference but curiously there is a tang cichlid called neolamprologus brichardi. The ugandan president would not let them explore lake victoria, but malawi and tang. were explored. Although the author writes, "hippos and crocodiles were problems at times. I had a close call with an electric catfish in tang. and my partner Thierry Brichard, was almost bitten by a diving cobra which was coiled ready to strike...underwater!"
Us "younger" fishkeepers don't realize what aquarists 30 or 40 years ago went through to get fish, or the limits to thier options were. And it's not like you "fishy cycle" a tank with an mbuna and it dies then go to pets-r-us and get a new one. It would be months before that fish was replaced by a wild specimen. And people who didn't properly care for rare fish were blacklisted from getting more.
Something else that caught me was the description of the lakes themselves. Islands that were isolated from one another. while some had similar fish they were far enough apart they were not sure if they were color morphs or separate species. one case is melanochromis simulans and pseudotrophius auratis. The coloring is IDENTICAL with a slightly diferent head shape. This hints at a recent post on this forum that recognizes a separate species of SA cichlids once thougt a color morph of a common species.
Sorry this is like a play by play of an old book but....
Most wildcaugh african cichlids will "have a black cyst parasite" that can only reproduce if eaten by a piscavorious bird. unless you have a bird eating your fish, the parasite will die off.
I think this is the best thing I have gotten out of these books so far is this:
There is 1 page dedicated to fish disease in each book. Each one recommends getting "a book on fish disease for your aquarium library." That hit me, because thats what fishkeepers had to do. read, study, find the right books. you couldn't just google the answer. The author talked about white spot disease, then gave some weird genus and species. IT WAS ICH! Was the idea of sodium chloride treatment even around then? HE suggested having 3 or 4 books on fish disease around. We are spoiled. We can take a picture, send it arround the world, and have an expert give an answer in minutes. Try keeping fish by rare books. Trial and error is not fixed by a 14 day fish-r-us guarantee, but by a highly rare, $50 per fish, wild caught specimen.
