KEEPING AFRICAN CHARACIN FISH

What will you keep if you have an empty, 2.50 meter long aquarium? If you ask me, since this aquarium is quite long in dimension, I think it will be very lovely if I keep fish that school together back and forth.

I have an opportunity to decorate and fill an aquarium for a very good friend of mine. The aquarium is very big. It is 250x60x60(cm) in dimension. I decorated it with river gravel, some river rocks, and 3 piece of driftwood that shape like tree branch. That way, I left spacious room so the fish can swim freely. Since my friend refused to be bothered by the technical matter should he kept live aquatic plants, I choose to put only indestructible plants plus plastic one. I chose to put some Cryptocorine sp. because their green color livens up the tank.

Now, since I also have the liberty to choose what fish to be kept, I decided that I will put African characin in this aquarium. Why? I don’t know, maybe because I already have 2 aquariums filled with Puntius denisoni in my home, so I cheated and grab the chance to fulfill my own dream of having all african characin aquarium.

The fish that I will keep in this aquarium is The African long-finned tetra, Alestes longipinnis.

I keep about 20 of them. Then the old-classic Congo tetra, Phenacogrammus interruptus.

This fish is one of the best medium sized characin there is. They make great inhabitant to any aquarium. Imagine that I keep about 20 of them in this tank. The next choice is the yellow congo tetra, Hemigramopetersius caudalis

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain two of my favourite fishes. One is the red-eyed African characin, Arnoldicthys spilopterus.

The other one, however is not African in origin, it comes from the Amazon. It is the pink-tailed characin, Chalceus macrolepidotus.

Fortunately, I was able to substitute them with their close relative, the red-tailed characin, Chalceus erythurus.

Why I choose Amazonian fish in African Aquarium? because they look nice together and complement each other. Besides, in they native river, there are fish (Brycinus sp.) that looks just like them. So, I consider the red-tailed characin as their replacement.

This aquarium uses a sump filtration. Since they are all heavy feeder, weekly water change ensure the health of the fish. I might add a few catfish, perhaps Synodontis multipunctatus,

and also brushmouth plecos, Ancistrus sp.

Bigger fish such as Distichodus affinis

and Distichodus sexfasciatus.

Also come to consideration. But since some of them are quite aggressive, I have to postpone the idea.

Wise men said that life is too short to be regretted, so go chase your own dream, since I’m finally realized one of mine.