Andy's Fish

[andywg]

Well, it's been a while since I put any pics up of the main tank, so who's up for an update?











Well tough, it's coming anyway...

First up, a fair shot of the snakehead. I wish I knew what happened to the other one...never saw any aggression...but I'm not going to chance putting another one in there now.

Followed swiftly by the arse end of one of the 5 Platydoras costatus residing in the tank. I know where 3 of them are, the rest...who knows.

Next up is a fairly poor shot (but one of the best I could manage) of two of the larger balas. These boys are growing well now as the 3 largest get past the 6inch mark. The other 3 are still around 3 inches but starting to put growth on. Once I have a cheap source of food I'll feed the tank more than twice a week to try and accelerate growth all round.

Next up are a couple of pics of the bush fish: Ctenopoma acutirostre.

And now for some of my favorites (I know you shouldn't have any but...). These things are amazing as they attack the surface and I will definately look to give them a bigger tank and more of their number in the future. They attack the surface like piranhha should. They are my Chalceus. The pics should have both species. C. macrolepidotus have pink caudal fins and a sharper snout whereas the C. erythrurus have a rounded snout and a red caudal fin with golden anal and pelvic fins. Enough talk, time for pics:

And some with more of the tank and the balas swimming with the Chalceus

A cool pic of the clowns

And finally, some very rare pics of our "Big Pim". Who I believe is a Pimelodus blochii though have rarely seen him for long enough to make a good ID.

And that's your lot.

Andy

 

[Paul_MTS]

stunning! especially love the chalceus looking great.

 

[WILDER]

Wow cool tank, that bush fish is strange looking.

 

[debiasir]

i absolutly love that tank. it looks so natural. that wood is suberb. awesome

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Superb Tank, Love the snakehead!

 

[Fella]

That bush fish looks fantastic, and the snakheads tank looks like carnage!

Great tanks though, I think it'd be ace if you could get a full picture of one of the balas with maybe a coin next to it for size reference to people new to the hobby?

 

[andywg]

That's just one tank...all in together. The snakehead photo is in the middle of feeding so it is raining bloodworm and there is a hail storm of catfish pellets.

To try and show the size of the balas is not easy, being as skittish as they are. The below two have an AA battery (about 2"/50mm in length) up against the glass. The closest to the glass the fish came was about 8" from the glass but on the photos I would say the fish are 12" from the glass and the battery.

Based on the above photo I would say that the balas are larger than I first thought. The original (Sharky) must be 8" or thereabouts.

And while I was doing that I thought I'd try the Chalceus on prawns for the first time. I had wondered about chopping them, but after watching the Chalceus wolf them down nearly whole, I decided that wasn't necessary.

The aftermath is some pretty large bellies on the fish:

Glad to see you all like them. And you too can have wood like that in a tank. All ours cost the measly sum of £150...And to make it worse the L027a panaque has destroyed all the liana wood by eating it.

Cheers all

Andy

 

[Synirr]

No fair!! I want snakeheads
Your leopard ctenopoma is quite handsome as well

 

[Luke_e]

That is awesome, what volume is it?

 

[CFC]

Nice fish andy, the Chalceus are looking especially good. The big pim is definately a P.blochii, good sized one at that from the looks of things.

 

[Animation]

Loving the tank my tank isn't really big enough for all that, considering it's only 126ltr!!!

 

[andywg]

CFC,

Big Pim is around 7" I'd say. We got a bit of a bargain on him, bought him for £10 at around 6". And the Chalceus were even more impressive a couple of days ago when I tried them on frozen prawns...They were just taking the things in whole. I have to make sure I feed them first or they knick everyon elses food on the way down.


Luke_e

The tank is 150 Imperial gallons (180 us - 6 feet long and 2 feet wide and tall).

 

[Fishy412]

is that gold gourami? i have on in my 55. its pretty cool as far as gouramis go

 

[andywg]

That is indeed a Gold guorami. There's two in there, though they may be relocated soon.