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Busy Aquarium ...

I've just settled down to write a couple more articles for the Board after feeding the live food banquet that was appreciated by all concerned. And, it's a busy aquarium again.

All eight Pandas are at the front, still looking for any Bloodworm that they missed the first time round, and likewise, three of the Otocinclus are doing the same, as I've already mentioned in a post in Bottom Feeder Frenzy on the subject of my Otocinclus liking Bloodworm. The Cardinals are milling around, two of the male Pencil Fish are jousting, and the Lemon Tetras are looking nicely yellow and colourful, one of my 'alpha males' sporting a tall dorsal fin that wouldn't look out of place on a Black Phantom Tetra!

Yes, it's a busy aquarium. And, because it's situated just behind my armchair, where I sit to type at the PC, I can look over my shoulder and report on happenings more or less 'live'. One of the Pandas has just indulged in a little play in the Java Moss on the bogwood arch, performing an impersonation of a three year old child sitting in mud, trying to bury itself amid all those green fronds. One of the Otocinclus has decided to play 'tag' with one of the Pencil Fish, which isn't amused by this ... and now, the Otocinclus is busy hoovering detritus from an Amazon Swordplant leaf. One of the Pandas is surfing the powerhead bubbles, and as an indication of their eagerness to fill their faces, the Pandas have reacted to my adding an Otocinclus Pet Rock to the aquarium by grubbing around in teams just in case I've added some more flake food or Bloodworm. Within about 30 seconds of my adding the Otocinclus Pet Rock, one of the Otocinclushas settled upon it, and is munching away happily at the growth. They may have been described by one other Board member as 'not the brightest bulbs in the box', but they know what they like One of the other Otocinclus has found something to its liking on one of the Cabomba stems, and now there's a Lemon Tetra scrutinising the bogwood arch Java Fern lawn. Three of the Pandas have gone into a huddle at the bottom-most cave of the bogwood 'boot', and two other Pandas are now doing the powerhead bubble surf.

Well, it took about 40 minutes for the Otocinclus to pick that rock clean, looks like I'll have to start growing them on an industrial batch scale to keep my lot happy Trouble is, if I pop in those algae wafers, the Pandas might find them first. Even if I break the algae wafers into small bits and scatter them liberally to give the Otocinclus a fighting chance, those Pandas will home in with their laser-guided barbels and snaffle a good few of the bits first. But then, that's a sign that my fish are all happy - they're bustling about, engaging in happy fish activities.

I've just paused to take a closer look, to see if my Otocinclus have that nice 'fingerprint' full belly mark, and while doing so, I've jsut noticed that Mata Hari's barbels are whoppers. They look as if they're 15mm long! When a 50mm Cory has 15mm barbels, you know the substrate's in good condition Meanwhile, I now have three Pandas engaged in powerhead bubble surfing, and I'm sure one of them is practising Immelmann turns in the current Oh, and one other Panda is doing the 'budgie swing' bit on an Amazon Sword leaf. If they start going 'cheep', then I'll KNOW I have nutty fish!

But it's SO satisfying when one's efforts produce a picture of gambolling underwater happiness like this. Yes, it takes time, effort, patience and a certain amount of prior headwork to achieve this end, but it's possible. Someday, I really want to capture this lot on video, engaged in their assorted antics, and distribute a few tapes around. In fact, if I were to do this, the end result would probably be a LOT more entertaining to watch than the majority of the programmes broadcast by the TVnetworks at the moment , and just one of my Panda Corys probably has a higher IQ than the entire contents of the Big Brother house ...

Oh, guess what? The 'baby Pandas' in the other aquarium are spawning ... female with pursed pelvic fins surfing the airstone bubbles looking for an egg deposition site. Wonderful. Well, I'm doing something right, if my fish are engaged in rampant spawning, they wouldn't do this if they weren't happy!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Someday, I really want to capture this lot on video, engaged in their assorted antics, and distribute a few tapes around.

Somehow I think the words almost describe it better! Great writing as always, really brings back the days of radio theater to mind ( can you tell who did a major in mass comm ).

^_^

Awsome writing i can see every detail in my head. And i agree i don't think the video will describe it as your words do.

Wow...What can I say. Thanks for putting that lot into words

Thanks everyone ... and now, the sequel!

Another water change completed - and the fish are bustling about again.

The main community aquarium is a hive of activity again, with the Pandas frolicking about gaily, nosing among the Amazon Swordplant leaves, performing Synodontis impersonations under the bogwood arch (which has now developed a veritable forest of Java Moss upon its main span), and the Amazon Sword is benefitting from no less than [i[five of my Otocinclus hoovering away all over it.

The one bad piece of news is that one of my male Pencil Fish has exhibited sociopathic tendencies yet again, and has beaten one of the females to death. This is something I would advise anyone contemplating keeping this species to watch for assiduously, just in case my males are not exceptional in this regard. Sad, really, because apart from this tendency, the Pencil Fish have been well-behaved of late, the males otherwise content to vent their macho urges in jousting contests with each other. But, every now and again, one of them (and I suspect it's the same one in each case) becomes a 'wife beater'. It's possible that this is because the females are not ready to spawn when the males are in the mood, and so, the frustration at being rejected for mating brings out aggression. I would definitely advise other aquarists to watch out for this. As for Pencil Fishes being regarded as delicate, Beckford's Pencil Fishes are anything but - I'd classify them as utterly bomb proof in terms of hardiness, and able to look after themselves alongside considerably bigger fishes (within reason of course - they probably wouldn't last five minutes alongside a Green Terror!). Anyone contemplating keeping Pencil Fishes, I'd go for Beckford's as a first Pencil Fish species, as they are tough little critters!

As if to highlight this, two of the males are jousting as I type this - they perform this amazing head-standing move, reverse alongside each other until they're canted at almost 90 vertical, then 'push wrestle' with each other, continuing to reverse until they almost break the surface of the water! Mind you, one person I spoke to about this replied with the comment "how do you know they're not gay?" That's all I need - alongside frantically spawning Pandas, a pair of gay Pencil Fish!

My prize 'alpha male' Lemon Tetra looks astonishing today. He's developed a really tall dorsal fin, a flag-like affair that would be the envy of a Black Phantom Tetra, and we all know what kind of dorsal fins they develop! I'll have to try and catch him on film sometime, and show everyone.

While cleaning out the nursery aquarium and the little 'baby pen' show cube, I found another Panda fry with the parents. I tried to fish him out and pop him (or her) in with the other babies, but have you tried catching a 5mm Panda fry when it decides to go to ground in the gravel? This is a serious test of ingenuity, believe me! Hopefully, I'll have devised a cunning plan (Baldrick style) ready for the next water change.

Oh, and as I've already mentioned in another post, Panda fry have an instinct to swim against currents right from the word 'go'. Virtually the moment they are free-swimming, they face 'upstream' and turn on the engines. And, it's astonishing how fast these little guys can swim when they want to! I reckon they would have little or no trouble maintaining station even in rapids in the wild, let alone a more moderately flowing stream, but then this reflects their wild ancestry. The biggest of these Panda fry is now 6mm long, which is not a bad growth rate given that they're only what, 5 days old? The median fins have yet to differentiate from the finfold, and so they're still very much 'larval' at this age, but even at this size and at this stage of development, they begin to manifest little individual quirks. For example, some of them are quite happy in the open, while others seek shelter in the gap between the black plastic bottom of the 'baby pen' and the side glass. When they slip into that gap, they become nigh on invisible, and the only way to detect them is to create a water current and engage their swimming instinct. And, even at this size, it's possible to tell when they've had a meal - they develop this sort of orange flush in the gut area when they're full. Carefully measured Liquifry feeds four times a day are no doubt contributing to the growth rate!

So, I'm 'changing nappies' again for the next 6 weeks or so. Here's hoping that we don't get another August like the one we had last year, with temperatures in the Panda-frying range ... I don't want to experience another 75% attrition rate because the sun decides to come out and play over the British countryside with the kind of enthusiasm it normally reserves for northern Queensland!

And now, back to fish watching ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Also there's the 'America's funniest home video comedy shorts' that happen in a tank.

Like when I added a Val to my 29, and a siamese algae eater decided to take up body surfing on a leaf... For 2 days.. The filter current would push him off, he'd hop right back on for another round.

Or a small clown loach bugging the chinese algae eater, saying 'play with me !' Then the CIA does.. While the other clown naps on it's back behind a rock..

The Amazon Nut...