How do you keep track of the fish you have...

[Innesfan]

I like your system, @CassCats. Ok, I'll play:

NANNOSTOMUS:

N. unifasciatus
N. eques
N. espei
N. marginatus
N. marilynae
N. anduzei
N. rubrocaudatus
N. mortenhtaleri
N. trifasciatus
N. minimus
N. beckfordi

TETRAS:

Paracheridon axelrodi “Cardinals”
Holopristis pulcher (alias Hemigrammus) “Garnet Tetra”

KILLIES:

Aphyosemion sp. Lobaye
Fundulopanchax filamentosus

BARBS:

Pethia setnai “Indigo Barb”
Pethia nigrofasciata “Black Ruby”
Pethis stoliczkana “Tic-Tac-Toe Barb”

RASBORA:

Brevibora dorsiocellata “Emerald Eye”

CORYS:

Hoplisoma metae
H. oiapoquensis
H. atropersonatum
H. similis
H. deckeri

BETTA:

B. splendens

 

[gwand]

Are the NANNOSTOMUS all in the same tank?

 

[Innesfan]

Are the NANNOSTOMUS all in the same tank?

No. They're spread around in various combinations. For example, N. unifasciatus (one of 4 populations), N. eques, N. espei, N. marginatus (one of 3 populations) and N. marilynae are in my 75g. N. beckfordi and N. trifasciatus can be quite territorial (for a Nannostomus) so in their respective tanks they are the only Nannostomus present. The tinies--N. anduzei and N. minimus-- are together in a 20g... and so on.

 

[gwand]

No. They're spread around in various combinations. For example, N. unifasciatus (one of 4 populations), N. eques, N. espei, N. marginatus (one of 3 populations) and N. marilynae are in my 75g. N. beckfordi and N. trifasciatus can be quite terriorial (for a Nannostomus) so in their respective tanks they are the only Nannostomus present. The tinies--N. anduzei and N. minimus are together in a 20g... and so on.

Sounds wonderful. While we’re on the subject of Nannostomus, I have two questions. In February I will place a trio of Apistogramma cacatuoides in my new breeding tank. 1) What species of Nannostomus do you recommend to be the dither fish? 2) Will such a species prey on the fry? Thanks.

 

[Innesfan]

I haven't kept Apistos for years and never used Nannostomus as dithers for them, but many do, and some have become Nannostomus-devotees as a result. Most prominently is Tom C in Europe who has a terrific Apisto/Nannostomus site:

https://tomc.no/default.aspx

The Nannostomus info is listed under "Lebiasinidae" in the home page sidebar. He talks about compatibility. If I recall, he especially likes N. unifasciatus for this purpose, which also happens to be my favorite species for any purpose. He and I have exchanged emails for years and shared our experiences with various species. He has collected in the Amazon many times and once asked me to join him. I said, "Tom, you've got the wrong guy. If it doesn't involve room service, it's not for me."

 

[CassCats]

N. Eques is my favourite of them, they're on my bucket list for fish. I dream big

But most my tanks are higher flow, nannostomus may not be happy with that, so they're a far future thing

 

[fishorama]

Well, I'm old school, as some of you know. I used to keep a notebook of current stock. But now I have many fewer species so I can just remember all 7 of them...but maybe not they're current names...Plants are more difficult, I don't even try much anymore...

 

[Magnum Man]

... and as much as I'd like to do a small picture of each fish, for reference... I think a link to my favorite picture of each fish. will keep it cleaner, and easier to keep it to 1-2 pages per tank... my Hillstream tank is going to be the biggest challenge, and where the pictures for me will be a big help, as some are n defined, and I have no idea what they look like by name... most of the other tanks, I can see the fish in my mind, by name, but I just can't do that yet with the hillstream's... maybe if I get used to seeing the pictures with the names, I'll get there some day???

 

[GaryE]

@Innesfan have you been breeding those pencils?

That would be an amazing set up to see. Wow.

 

[gwand]

I keep my 7 diaries on my 7 tanks stored in the cloud on my iPad. Photos of each representative fish is easy to cut and paste into the diary. I have only 11 species at the moment. The daily entries have really come in handy when a problem emerges in a given tank.

 

[GaryE]

It's interesting to play this game. I have a lot of fish...

Anabantoids (labyrinth fish)

Microctenopoma congicum/ ansorgii/nanum

Cichlids
Apistogramma cacatuoides
Nanacara adoketa (1 male)
Parananochromis brevirostris
Congochromis sabinae
Nanochromis splendens
Chromidotilapis nana
Anomalochromis thomasi (1 female)

Barbs
Enteromius cf jae/fasciolatus

Killies
Aphyosemion escherichi/ottogartneri/marginatum/
exigoideum/zygaima
Epiplatys huberi
Poropanchax normani
Platopochilus sp
Diapteron georgiae
Fundulopanchax nigerianus
Chromaphyosemion biteniatum/poliaki
Nothobranchius rubripinnis

Livebearers
Xiphophorus milleri
Heterandria formosa

Pencils
N. trifasciata/beckfordi

Catfish
Brochis arcuata/sodalis/concolor
Hoplisoma atropersonatum/melini/paleatum/cf brevirostre/
CW 123
Sturisoma aureum
Ancistrus whatever, who knows.

Rainbows
Glossolepis wanamensis
Melenaotaenia boesemani

African tetras
Bathyaethiops greeni/breuseghemi
Neolebias kerguennae/cf trewevasae

South American tetras
P axelrodi
H neptunus
H herbertaxelrodi
A riesei
H negodagua
H erythryzonus
H sp blue black
H procyon
H peugotti
Sp cherry red
H rubrofasciatus
P maxillaris
M sweglesi

 

[gwand]

Wow. You tropical fish cognoscenti have more species than I have fish. But you still desire more. I get it.

 

[GaryE]

Every fish there, on whatever lists any of us post, is different. Each one has an evolutionary history we can only guess at as we try to adapt our set ups to them. They're all challenges.

Are we fish hoarders? Maybe. Biohoarders... but for me, every fish in there is either a breeding project, the result of a breeding project, or in some cases (Notho rubripinnis, Microct. nanum, H. negodagua and Nannacara adoketa) single sexes left over from a failed try.

Still, 23 of the species I have were bred here, out of about 50. I'm working on them.

 

[Innesfan]

@Innesfan have you been breeding those pencils?

That would be an amazing set up to see. Wow.

I have bred all of them (with an asterisk on N. unifasciatus--spawned, saw the eggs, but never produced fry) but that's not to say I did anything special. I put a bunch of one species into a jungle-dense planted tank with the right water parameters and wait for fry to emerge.

There are currently 17 to 20 valid species, depending on whose science you prefer, plus the two new very red 'stars' that look like N. rubrocaudatus variants but whose taxonomic status is yet to be determined. In addition to those I've listed above, I've kept either 15 or 18 of those species minus the two new 'things.' Some, like N. digrammus and N. harrisoni are very much welcome back if I can get them, and others like N.ntidus are banished forever for nastiness. I think Tom C, referenced in my earlier post, said they even picked a fight with his Apistos. My school of 14 killed each other off to the last man standing.

As I mentioned in another post, I'm concentrating on fewer species these days, including Nannostomus. So I'm not pursuing maintaining colonies on the majority of the above except. N. unifasciatus, N. eques, N anduzei and N. rubrocaudatus. Besides N. harrisoni and N. digrammus the only other one I'd love to add is my holy grail species, N. bifasciatus, which is sadly from French Guiana exclusively and there is no ornamental export that I know of from there.

@gwand, you mentioned your large LFS. I bet it is the same one Stan Weitzman told me about (he lived in suburban DC) that he would routinely visit to look for Nannostomus bycatch among cardinal and green neon shipments. It was bycatch in those shipments where we both found N. digrammus and others in the past. I believe only Glaser has brought them in under their name.

Here's a not very good photo of N. unifasciatus spawning in a 20g. Both Tom C and I had the same experience--spawning, visible eggs, but no fry. But then Tom succeeded. There's a photo on his site. Sorry for the photo quality--I'm bad at it and they were in a spwaning frenzy--but you can get the idea.

 

[gwand]

Tom C’s website is amazing. Quite the resource.