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.

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KEEPING PUNTIUS DENISONII

Puntius denisonii has been a major hit since its introduction in the early 2000’s. The fish’s beauty and minimal requirement has rocketed it to the top of the most popular fresh water fish. As such, breeding program was established to fulfill the demand of this fish. Unfortunately, even after some breeding program has been considered successful, this fish is still reported to be rarely found in their native habitat. Some internet source reported that India has banned the exploitation of this fish. I think that is great for the fish industry. Why depend on the wild catch when we can produce at our own disposal. Yes, we may need some wild stock to freshen up our brood, but that will put minimal pressure to Mother Nature if compare to our dependent to wild catch.

According to a reputed fish breeder, this fish is a very prolific breeder. Some 1000 eggs are produced each breeding. I will report the breeding program some other time. On July 7^th, 2009, I received a batch of 400 baby Puntius denisoni. I have since reared them on the diet of frozen bloodworm, frozen daphnia and shrimp pellet. I do daily water change. The fish seems to flourish nicely. The fish measure a meager 1 inch in length. I will record the progress each week. Contrary to the adult, baby fish has 3 vertical bars in their body, and the famous red line hasn’t developed yet. The yellow bar in their tail, however, has already appeared. They also already sport red marking in their dorsal fin. Some individuals also show reddish color in the snout, but no red line is visible so far.

I keep them in an aquarium measured 150x60x60(cm). I fill only ¾ part of water. I use a power head to filter the tank. I also use air pumps to have bubbles in this aquarium, so I assume that this tank has a very nice circulation. I add tetra aquasafe on each water change.

Since this fish is the first batch of my experiment on how fast can they grow, I will try to report each progress I find.

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AMAZONIAN CHARACIN – HEADSTANDERS

Fishes from the great Amazon River always sparks a great interest for me. Since my early childhood I always fascinated by the likes of pacus, tetras, plecos, and, of course, the arowanas.

In this chapter I want to discuss on the characin groups called the Headstanders. I’m fortunate enough to obtain a group of Black-lined Anostomus, Laemonyta taeniurus, which also called lisa,

and a group of stripped anostomus, Anostomus anostomus.

In my hometown, these fishes were rarely spotted in the LFS. In my 25 years of fish keeping experience, 15 years in which I consider serious enough, I never encounter a shop which offers this fishes for sale. I obtained the fishes from a friend who have link directly to an importer.

Initially, I had 15 Lisa, the Black-lined Anostomus. Unfortunately, 7 of them died when I had to move them due to moving house. The rest, 8 of them now live happily in the 2 meter aquarium with the 18 stripped anostomus.

I decorated the fish tank marginally with driftwood, and rocks so that they have spacious swimming area. I use river gravel as substrate, and I choose dark colored substrate. I use dark colored gravel since light colored substrate tends to make the fish looks pale. Some might said that sand is better than gravel to this fish, but I never had any problems. Just remember to make sure that the substrate is smooth, otherwise it may injured their mouth, since they like to dig deep into the gravel when searching for food.

They shared the aquarium with group of corydoras cats, which soon I will removed to my cory cat aquarium, 40 Puntius denisoni, a lone Panaque nigrolineatus, 3 Alestes longipinnis, which soon will have their own aquarium, and some assorted fishes. I admit, the Puntius denisoni isn’t very amazonian, but I just couldn’t resist it. They mix very well to the point that they almost looks like a brother and sisters from a different parent. I know, I know, I’m being very subjective here but they look just very nice together.

The headstanders are very lovable fish. They have nice colorations. Lisa, however look just like a very big, very healthy SAE. They swim in group. And they are medium sized characin. That means that they can defend themselves if you put them in rough community fish tank. In fact, they make great tank mates to the likes of Oscars, uaru, severum, and other central or South American cichlids, which usually makes snack to other smaller characin at first opportunity.

One tricky part in keeping this fish is they seem need plant in their surrounding to make them feel comfortable, however, they may also make snack out of them. The sword plant is a great choice. They are big, hardy, and beautiful. Some species looks very beautiful to the point they look almost royal. Also, plant from genus Crinum. The Java fern and the Crypt. Other from that, I don’t recommend to put together with this fish. I, however, put plastic plant in their tank since I rarely turn the lamp on other than for viewing.

Water parameter and conditions had never been a major problem, other than lost some fishes due to moving house, I’ve never have any other problem. Feeding also pose minimal requirement. They eat everything I gave them, frozen bloodword, flakes, lobster pellet, tetrabits, frozen daphnia, and boiled potatoes. I also gave them cucumber from time to time. Just remember to do weekly water change since this fish is a heavy eater.

I plan to add other headstanders to my collection, the Spotted Headstander, chilodus punctatus

and the marble headstander, Abramites hypselonotus

to my collection. I’m also waiting for another batch of Anostomus anostomus and Anostomus ternetzi.

If you fortunate enough to hold a grab to these fishes, remember to have at least 6-8 fishes. Less than that, they tend to be quarrelsome among themselves and you’ll likely lose the fishes one by one until the dominant one left in the aquarium, or buy just one, because they only bother their kind only, and never bother other fish.

In conclusion, what I have in my aquarium is a very nice-looking, personable, lovable fish. If you have the opportunity to have this kind of fish, I recommend to grab it at the first chance.

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