Wait! We have baby Bolivian rams!!!

It's hard to see, but the rams are guarding a small depression they scooped out of the substrate beneath the driftwood. I was curious why they were guarding the area still even if there were no babies... And I looked closer and saw movement! Sure enough, there are tiny wrigglers in there. Cichlids being great parents, they are zealously protective of the area fending off all cory cats that dare to look for food nearby. They are right to do so, as corys will eat eggs and baby wrigglers.

In this shot, you can better see that the female is guarding the nest area. Both male and female are taking turns hovering over the spot. I have no idea how many are down there. They are too small. In any case, I'm glad to see that my water and environs are suitable to enable fish making babies.

 

Tank looks clear!

The water is really looking clear! I thought I would share a few pictures. It really looks great, I think. I think the fish and plants are all "happy". I don't think I've lost any fish in a few days, if not a week. It's hard to say because I just can't seem to count all of the otos at once. I know I had 13 as of last Saturday. I verified at least 9 today, but I think I counted 10 at one point. Those fish are small and the blend in so well, not to mention that they could be anywhere hiding on a plant or driftwood.

Here's one chilling out on a sword plant leaf. Oh, speaking of pictures of my otos...

See that long stringy plant thing? That's called utricularia. I didn't know, but someone on the www.scapeclub.org forum saw pictures of my tank and noticed it. So, I posted this picture and they ID'ed it for sure. So, it's this plant that eats microscopic organisms. It doesn't hurt fish, but it is carnivorous! And, apparently it can go crazy in an aquarium. I was warned it will get all invasive. So, I pulled out what I could find. I don't want that stuff everywhere.

The rams' eggs did not hatch. I'm not surprised. But, they have been busy defending their territory and digging a depression in the sand. I love cichlids! So much personality and behavior for fishes. I mean, I like my other fish, too, but with cichlids, you can see some thought going on behind their eyes. And, they are courageous, too. I was cleaning the glass with a scraper on a long handle and they were coming up to it to peck at it like they could make it go away. They were not afraid of it, they were going to show my scraper who was boss.

Turned out I was. I finished cleaning the glass.

I haven't gotten many shots of my rasboras. They move quickly and are small so it's hard to get a good shot. This one is decent.

 

Here's a couple bad shots of my tetras. The top is a black skirt and the bottom are neons. Sorry I didn't get better. Next time.

 

Bolivian rams spawned again!

Two of my rams paired off again and spawned! I think this is the pair that spawned last time. However, they decided they liked the front of the driftwood instead of the back for this go 'round. As a result, I got some clear pictures of their spawning site. Incredibly, I had just gotten home from work and came in to check out the tank. I noticed the eggs and then saw that mom and dad were still in process of laying eggs.

I watched as the female passed over the site, her ovipositor very prominent, and she laid eggs onto the flat area. The male followed her and made his own pass to fertilize them. It was quite business-like. They paused occassionally to chase off an interloping fish. In fact, as is the nature of all cichlids, they have been very diligent in protecting the area. Even now, the female is hovering over the eggs and making clear to any other fish she is determined to be a good mother.

My sword plant in the middle of the tank is suddenly huge! It is touching the surface of the water! Those leaves are over a foot long, for sure. They look great! Maybe I wasn't really paying attention but it seemed like they didn't grow for several weeks and then all of a sudden they were inches away from the surface. The otos have been very active in the tank, too, which helps. In fact, you can see in this picture to the left a leaf on the lower left side that has patches of brown algae removed by the otos, bless their hearts! They are very entertaining each night as I play, "Where's oto?" and try to count them. I found 10 for sure tonight. I can see 8 right this second. I really like these little guys.

Water parameters are near perfect. I have zero ammonia and nitrites. Only 5 nitrates ppm, too. The bacterial bloom is near gone.

I did recover one oto body yesterday. I will try to replace him this weekend, I think. Maybe I will get a stronger one this time. They just have a hard time surviving being collected, sold, and rehomed.

The other fish seem healthy. I am still treating the tank with Paraguard. I saw a couple of the black skirts flashing against plants and gravel. And, at least one oto had that long, thin stringy poop that could mean an internal parasite. The Paraguard doesn't seem to stress anyone and it sure helped with the fin rot, so, I think it's a good idea for now.

***update: I just counted 11 otos right now. I might still have 12, but I am pretty happy with 11!

Did I lose any otos? No idea. Plants are growing.

Little fish + big aquarium + lots of plants = where did the fish go?

I counted 13 otos earlier today. Saw as many as 11 tonight. When I bought them I said I would be happy with keeping 8 or 9. Right now, I want all 13 to live. I can also see some clear places where otos have eaten the brown algae (diatoms?) off the leaves. Yay! See why I love the little guys already? They are adorable and useful!

I tried counting neons, too. No luck. In the evening, they like to settle in among the plants.

I think neons might be engaging in courtship/spawning behavior. Not sure. I did find eggs the other day on the glass. Don't know who they belonged to.

I don't think I will get fry or wrigglers. I'm not trying to, either. But, breeding fish are happy fish.

Despite no water changes in 11 days, my nitrates are falling again. They spiked to 10 a couple days ago but are back down to 5 ppm again. It's crazy to me because the 20 gallon had nitrates around 40 to 80 all the time. If I didn't change the water every two weeks, at least, then water quality went downhill in a hurry.

It must be all the plants. I mean, I knew that could happen but it's still shocking to me right now. The plants are obviously growing. I can tell when I look at pictures from a month ago when I planted them. I've got the sword plants in the middle that have leaves that have grown at least six inches! The pictures here show how big they are.

And, to the right is what the tank was like when I first put in the plants. That's a huge difference for one month, I think.

 

Added otos! Plants are growing.

I had bought six otos (otocinclus affinis) about a week ago. The first two weeks are critical for otos. Because of the collection techniques, many otos are very stressed by the time they get to the store and many die in the store and in hobbyists homes. It has given otos the reputation of being "fragile." Maybe they are. But, I also hear that if they make it past the first two weeks, chances are they will last for years. I lost one the first night and another within a day or so. But, I was able to count four over the course of several nights. Two days ago, I started only seeing three.

75 gallons and lots of plants!

It's a big tank, though, and otos can stick themselves to any surface. I think it's entirely possible to have one go unseen for days at a time with all the plants I have in there. But, I had definitely been counting four consistently for days. My wife commented that there was a lot of algae in the tank and she said I needed more.

So, off to the store I went. My local Petsmart is the only store within 10 miles that I have seen carrying otos. The Fontana Fish and Pets on Sierra Ave. doesn't have them. I know the store gets fish on Tuesdays. So, these guys I got today were there since then. The tank was empty last week when I checked. To me, if they have survived five days in the store, they might have a bit of strength in them. I decided, nonetheless, to buy 10. At just under $2 each, it's not a huge investment. This way, if I lose 50% of these, I should still end up with 8.

Three otos on a sword plant

Now, I know the cardinal rule is that new fish should spend a minimum of two weeks in a quarantine tank before being introduced into the main tank. I don't have a QT tank. This makes me very foolhardy, I realize. But, I am already using Paraguard on the tank so I figured I will just continue for several more days, maybe 7. It does not seem to stress the fish but it clearly kills parasites and fungus on fish. It kills Ich, too. I know I'm gambling here, but I think it will be okay. I think it's a trade off. In my tank, I have a multitude of hiding places and there's plants everywhere with lots of algae to eat (as my wife remarked). So, the tank is a perfect place for otos. There's no fish in there to pick on them, either. My Bolivians don't seem to be aggressive toward any of the other fish, just the other Bolivians.

On the other hand, I could set up my 20 gallon as a QT tank. But, it would not have plants or algae. It wouldn't be as nice of an environment. One of the reasons fish either recover from disease, or stay healthy in the first place is good food and less stress in the environment. Happy fish are healthy fish. Therefore, I put them in the main tank and dosed it with Paraguard and Stress Guard.

My bacterial bloom is settling down, but it's still there. I'm hoping to get a UV sterilizer in the future. On the other hand, I have good growth from my plants.

The sword plants are getting very large! I didn't realize it, but my cabomba was about six inches tall when I planted it. I think it has tripled in height. In the picture to the right, there are two small narrow leaf sword plants that were just two tufts when I planted them. But, they are spreading now. The fish all seem to love darting in and among all the plants.

Most of the smaller sword plants are doing well. I hope that the reinforcement otos can get the plants cleaned up and they will start growing even more. Overall, I think the tank is coming along well.

 

Interesting aquarium nerd stuff! Redox!

I'm not going to pretend I understand all, or even most of this. But, I still thought it was interesting and something I will likely read again. Check it out!

Redox potential in the Aquarium

 

Rams squaring off

Tonight, I saw rams squaring off and defending territories. I got to see my neons schooling a bit. They don't always do it, but when they do, I love their blue colors flashing among the green plants.

So happy to say that all four of my otos were visible tonight! They were all attached to the glass. I also can see some of the leaves have been cleaned by them. Much thanks to the oto clean team!

I'm not positive, but I think I have four males and one female ram. At least three of them have the colors and fins of males. They are also defending territories. Again, I see no damage, so I think the fighting is "normal" behavior. Mostly they charge at each other and very infrequently make contact with their mouths. But, when they go at each other, I don't seem them bite each other. No fin damage or anything. I guess there is stress but I don't know. It's a 75 gallon tank with a bunch of hiding areas, as you can see in the pictures.

One interesting thing: when the smaller ram was charging at the other, his face flashed into a bright yellow color! It was quite striking to see! I have never noticed fish changing color that fast in my tank. I have seen the ram be very pale when I first got them home. I have seen very pale neon tetras, too. I know that happy neons have very bright colors. But, I don't see the flashing colors like that.

I am still dealing with a bacterial bloom. At least, that's what it looks like, to me. In some of the pictures, you can see the "white particles."

Tonight, I noticed the two rams watching me. They were a little freaked out by the camera but seemed interested to see what I was doing. Most of the fish I'm used to seem to ignore me, except for the cory cats who usually scatter if I move too quickly. Sometimes the otos seem spooked by me. But, the rams were obviously checking me out tonight. That was interesting. It shows how intelligent, relatively speaking, cichlids can be.

 

Fish count, rams fighting

I counted my fish tonight. I have taken to counting because my tank is planted such that it makes it difficult to see parts of the substrate. I had two otos die and couldn't recover their bodies so I try to make sure there's no dead fish in there.

Here's a current picture of the tank.

Fish count: 10 rasboras, 15 neons, 8 black skirts, 4 otos, 5 rams. I couldn't count the cory cats because they are fast and spend a lot of time in the back under the plants. So, other than them, my fish are all accounted for. Yay!

I'm getting some cloudy water. I think it' said bacterial bloom. I tested the water tonight. I found 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, and 5 - 10 nitrates (all ppm). The test kit makes it hard to tell the difference between 5 and 10 ppm nitrates, but if I had to bet, I would say it was 5. The fish all look healthy. I had some fin rot going on ond the black skirts and he was swimming weird, "sliding" backwards and then twitching. He isn't doing that anymore and the fin rot is gone. The rams aren't flashing anymore, either. They look good. So, that's why I think it' said bacterial bloom. I think time will have it clear up.

Speaking of the rams, some of them are fighting a bit. I actually saw them make contact with their mouths a couple times. If you're not familiar, they come together and "lock lips" for a moment. It's a dominance behavior. I don't see any injuries, though, so I think this is not dangerous yet. I will keep an eye on it.

Can I just mention? I can't believe how low my nitrates are! I have tested my tap water and it shows around 20 ppm, maybe 40! So, even if I do a water change, I will have nitrates that are, potentially unhealthy. That' some reason I use Purigen, to remove them. But, I think the real reason I have so few nitrates is that the plants are eating them! Love that!

 

No baby Bolivian rams this time

No baby rams at this time. Yesterday the parent rams ate the eggs when they didn't hatch. I wasn't optimistic.

I have been using Paraguard by Seachem this week because one of my black skirt tetras was acting oddly and had visible fin rot on his tail. He was "sliding" backwards in the water, listing to the side, at times, and then would twitch and swim right again. And one of the rams was "flashing" against the gravel which is often a sign of parasites. So, I started the Paraguard.

I'm an unabashed fan of Seachem. If they sent me a t-shirt I would wear it. I use Prime, Purigen, Stability, Flourish Excel, Flourish Trace, Flourish root tabs, and Stress Guard. I even use the Neutral Regulator, too. Why? Because I have had good results when using their products. For example, Stability cycles my tank faster than anything I have tried. It was a lifesaver when I had the 20 gallon going and it had an ammonia spike and algae bloom. Stability got everything back in balance. And, when I had an Ich outbreak, Paraguard saved my fish.

The fish are looking much better now. The fin rot seems gone on the black skirt and the ram doesn't seem to be flashing as much.

And, below, here's a pair of my otocinclus catfish. I have four altogether and I have seem them as lately as this morning, so they are alive, if elusive. I will be so happy if I can get them through the fist two weeks. I don't want to lose any more. Obviously, right?

There's plenty of algae in the tank for them to eat as you can see on the leaf in the lower left corner of that picture.

The last time I checked the water, there were zero ammonia and nitrite and somewhere around 10 or 20 ppm of nitrate. It was looking pretty good.

Today I noticed a snail on the back glass. I don't know where it came from! I'm not alarmed about it, yet, though. Snails eat algae and decaying plant matter. I don't prefer snails, however. But, only one of them isn't a big deal. One, however, means there are more, I imagine.

 

75 gallon freshwater semi-Amazonian Tank set up

I've set up a new tank. Officially, it went up 10/15/13. The first fish in it was a common pleco. However, he was too rambunctious for the plants and kept uprooting my cabomba so he went to the fish shop in exchange for some neon tetras and cory cats. The tank is an Aqueon brand but made by All Glass Aquariums I think. I have a Current USA Satellite Freshwater + LED light, Filstar XP L filter, and Eheim Jäger 250 watt heater. I'm feeding Hikari sinking wafers and algae wafers, Hikari bloodworms, frozen brine shril from San Francisco Bay Brand, New Life Spectrum flakes and pellets, plus Zoo Med spirulina flakes. The fish don't seem to like the NLS pellets. They eat everything else. It's weird.

Currently, I have black skirt tetras, neon tetras, green cory cats, harlequin rasboras, Bolivian rams, and otocinclus cats. The plants are amazon swords in various varieties, dwarf sagittaria, and cabomba furcata.

I've got some Bolivian rams, too. I got them about a week ago and they already made eggs! In the picture above, look toward the upper right on the driftwood. I don't have much hope that they will result in viable spawn, but it's cool nonetheless.

Black skirt tetras and neon tetras.

Harlequin rasboras.

And otocinclus!

I bought six. Two succumbed to the dreaded oto-syndrome. Apparently, otos have a rough trip to the store because they are almost all wild caught. As a result, they frequently die in the first few days or weeks at home. I thought for sure I lost three but just tonight I managed to see all four at the same time. Two, I know are gone. One didn't even last the first night. These guys have been here for three nights now. There's definitely plenty of food for them. I had to clean the front glass tonight because it was developing a film of algae.

Water conditions seem good. Tested tonight and had zero ammonia and nitrite. Only 20 or 10 ppm nitrate. It's hard to read the test. Water temperature was 79 last night and 78 today. The plants appear to be growing. I have seem some leaf and root development.

All seems well in the tank at this point. Last night I found most of the rasboras and neons gasping at the surface after lights out. I adjust the spray nozzle on the filter return and that seemed to help. Otherwise, I haven't lost any other fish besides the two otos. Hopefully my luck will last.