65 gallon LJ project

[Lalo J.]

Some fish photos:




Fish list:
-Albino pearlscale angelfish
-Blue phantom angelfish
-Melanotaenia australis x2
-Melanotaenia boesemani
-Peckoltia vittata
-Hypancistrus contradens
-Corydoras agassizii
-Corydoras elegans x3
-German Blue Ram
-Electric Blue Ram
-Pelvicachromis pulcher
-Dicrossus filamentosus
-Apistogramma trifasciata
-Flying fox x2

 

[mechtech]

maybe a butterfly ram

 

[Lalo J.]

Very pleasant day for me, finally after waiting for them to be in stock with a distributor in the country (for a couple of years maybe), I was able to get a couple of Honey Gourami (Trichogaster chuna). I'm not sure how easy it is to get these fish in the United States for example, but here in Mexico it is complicated, and I'm very happy to finally have them, although they will not live in this tank, I think they will be the first fish for my riparium, they are small fish that are just over 1", although they are half their size.
The male has a beautiful fiery orange color, adorned with yellow hues and even faint blue. Despite her gray coloration, the female is a very pretty girl adorned with dark gray canvases with a fine touch of turquoise blue, hell I'm very happy, here are the photos:



Corydoras elegans and new Corydoras loxozonus (again):

 

[CichlidFins]

I haven't been on for a bit but I see it is going well for you-

A couple of things I've noted-

I wouldn't keep honeys with GBR or angels- mostly temp difference between GBR- a temp of 80+ will push them into breeding mood and speed of their lifespan- normally I keep mine at 70-78 but recently I've pushed the temp to 82 in another tank to see if I can get eggs- I got eggs once but it seems the amano has picked them off or the male ate the eggs.

Also, you noted the rarer the better for you- I suggest you may want to look for Mikrogeophagus sp. Zweifleck- basically wild Bolivian rams with a slightly different pattern. Here in the US I have some availible to me but I have yet to purchase any. The only problem would be temp differentiation- Mikrogeophagus ramerizi prefer 80-82F+ and Bolivian rams like it 72-78, so I would keep the GBR and bolivian rams in separate tanks.

 

[Lalo J.]

Hi Jay, long time no see you here. I'm currently trying to get my rams out, they were both in a hospital tank with a furan treatment due to a velvet outbreak, and after 10 days they fully recovered, however they returned very aggressive to the main tank, that does not help much because my checkerboard cichlid was the one who took over the land in the tank during the ten days of treatment, now I have 3 aggressive fish, I must say that the GBR is a bit calmer, but my electric blue ram has a much worse character, maybe the latter has to go, I think that despite having an incredible color, it looks a bit more "artificial" in contrast to my other fish, but I don't know, I love that guy, I would hate to give it to someone who is not careful suitable for him, I'm currently driving at a temperature of 27-29 ° C depending on the variations within the room.
You are right about my preference for unusual or rare fish, I have some fish that are not, but I like them, and many others that I would like to have, that's the idea from the beginning, you will never see tiger barbs or zebra danios in this tank ( with respect for whoever maintains them). Hey, I didn't know Zweifleck, it's a very beautiful fish, I hope you can get it, definitely here it would be more complicated to obtain, lately I have been reading about Corydoras, I would love to have a small "collection" of them, I currently have elegans, agassizzii and loxozonus .

 

[Lalo J.]

Corydoras loxozonus just doesn't do well in my tank, today I found one dead, at one end of the tank, and at the other end was my pleco Hypancistrus contradens, dead and lying face up on the ground. I never observed that my pleco had problems, it was always active with its incredible coloration, I don't know what happened to it, but I suppose that once the corydora died, the pleco maybe wanted to try it, since the corydora did not have a complete head, and could it be that some of the complicated thorns hurt the pleco, at least that's my theory, any other?

 

[fishorama]

Well, something was eating your cory for a few days. It looked kind of skinny from your pic while it was still alive. I more sorry about your pleco...

You can try rearranging the tank & see if that helps with your cichlids.

Angels & gouramis are iffy most times, I'm worried about your honeys. I haven't kept them but they're much smaller & whimpier than angels.

 

[the loach]

Fishorama is right, that loxozonus wasn't right it looks weak on that pic and had sunken eyes. For how long did you quarantine it ?
Honey gourami's are farmed and commonly available in the trade in different colors.

 

[fishorama]

Well, they may be common in the US but Lalo lives in Mexico. He may not have the same choices we do...it sounds like he doesn't...

Lalo, I think it's time for you to have a quarantine tank or tub, maybe 2. QT means 4 weeks of fish health (really 40 days, from the French) before adding new fish to your established tank. You are getting unusual fish & you need to protect their health as best you can.

 

[Lalo J.]

Loxozonus arrived by mistake in the shipment, I thought the same as you about her bad condition, she was even practically face up in the bag, she was not expecting that fish so she had no quarantine for her. I also did not plan to buy new fish, but I saw the opportunity with the couple of gouramis, and I went for them, so far behaving well and they are excellent eaters, they are not bothered by anyone and they go unnoticed by everyone, but they will not stay in the tank I'm working as fast as I can with the other project, I'm tempted to take out my checkerboard cichlid, which has been calmer since the water change this weekend, moved some wood and seems to have calmed down. The electric blue ram is a bit calmer too, but maybe donate this fish to a friend, who left the city this weekend and in that period unfortunately his tank exploded and he lost all his fish, an approximate of 8 discus fish, tetras, corydoras and some good sized angels, he is very discouraged and some aquarists are willing to give him things to start again.
Fishorama, you are correct, it's difficult to get certain fish here in Mexico, for example, I have seen zebra pleco L46 in the DD of LiveAquaria very often, and according to I talked with the person who sold me the gouramis, he says that here in Mexico They are one of the best importers, and they have not seen that pleco for more than a year, for that reason I went for the gouramis, and when I got the checkerbord cichlid they had 8 months without having it available (as I remember), that was in March, and since that occasion to date has not been available again.