my 125 gallon planted tank journal

[jaysen]

now i rearranged the driftwood and added my first plants. i added 2 amazon swords, 3 clumps of vals, and a large amount of hornwort.

got 2 small palaeutus cories and 3 small false julies.

i also bought 6 glowlight tetras, 6 harlequin rasboras, 3 zebra danios, and 5 oto catfish. once they were added the red eye tetras started schooling in the center of the tank. seeing other fish made them comfortable and they didnt fear being eaten anymore.

 

[Lupin]

lupin, the species profile says they eat plants but mine only grazes on algae and eats flake/pellet foods. also im not sure if mine is an s. insignis or a taeniurus. he isnt territorial but frights easy.

We've mentioned before the profiles are outdated. Just to inform you, there appears to be more than 10 of this genus that exist but are not very popular..

S. insignis appears to be larger than the S. taeniurus. I can guess yours is probably S. insignis. Incidentally, I read this site and it seems my suspicion that it is S. insignis could be true. No black spots at all and I tried counting the stripes on the tail for some differences but this is very troublesome!

The picture below shows the seventh stripe below appearing to be branched. I could count it nine if it isn't branched and consider it S. insignis.

 

[jaysen]

No black spots at all and I tried counting the stripes on the tail for some differences but this is very troublesome!

The picture below shows the seventh stripe below appearing to be branched. I could count it nine if it isn't branched and consider it S. insignis.

he has black spots by the distal half of his body but its hard to see because it blends in with the scales. also when it reflects light it is more difficult to make out, but if you look closely you can see it. are branched stripes normal? maybe its an abnormality. even so, are the number of stripes the sure way to tell what kind he is? what are the size differences? he is only 4 years old so im sure he still is growing. he eats now more than ever. lets update the profiles. i would like to help as much as i can. the species profiles are what brought me to this site and i have used them for years. any way i can add to them?

 

[Lupin]

Branched stripes can happen but if the number of stripes are to be counted as a way to determine the species, it'd be more confusing however I would count them as nine stripes. I've noticed some sites claiming S. insignis has a more torpedo shaped body which seems similar to yours but this couldn't be accurate.

Try this link. It seems your fish is a S. taeniurus.

 

[jaysen]

taeniurus it is. now i just need to hope it keeps its color.

 

[jaysen]

i bought another 6 glowlight tetras, 4 harlequin rasboras, a pair of 4 inch bristlenose plecos, 3 blue hi-fin mickey mouse platies ( 2f, 1m), and 3 more false julies. some disease struck my cories, and one of the palaetus and 2 false julies died (so this was sorta a replacement). i also added another piece of driftwood and put some parrot feather on it.

 

[jaysen]

a few days later i added some shrimp, java moss, java fern, taiwan moss, another sword plant, and some water sprite.

 

[jaysen]

about 2 weeks later i added some anachris and received 3 large ziplock bags of java moss. i covered all the driftwood that had no plants on it. took about 6 hours and some fishing line and patience.

 

[Chuck_T]

nice fish looks like a colored bala

 

[jaysen]

thanks. he actually got spooked today when i used a flashlight to check on my shrimp. he knocked the lid open and jumped out. i had to wrestle him on the floor and put him back in but he is still a bit shaken. he almost landed on my sister but as soon as she heard him bang the lid open she ran out like lightning, funny if you were there.