Life goes on in Africa…

[Magnum Man]

Got a plump female yellow tail today, and she has caught the eye, of the mature male… she is the belle of the ball today, and everyone’s favorite female interuptus is looking like the wallflower at the sock-hop, with her man no longer in the picture…

Put an extra cube’s worth of brine shrimp, in this tank last night just to make sure the diamonds got as much to eat as they wanted… I think they particularly like the Ultra Fresh micro pellets, they are a little big for the smaller diamond, but I dusted them up in the mortar and pestle, and I could see it eating those…

Wormer will be here next week… is there a problem adding that to the whole tank??? It won’t hurt any of the 4 species of plants I have growing in the tank, and won’t kill off the fish???

I’ve noticed that some Ich treatments can almost be as bad on the fish, as the parasites

 

[Colin_T]

Deworming medications need to be added to the main display tanks and any tanks you have at the same time so all the fish get treated and you don't get cross contamination after.

Deworming medications should not affect plants.

Praziquantel and Levamisole do not affect shrimp.

Flubendazole kills snails and I think shrimp too.

 

[Magnum Man]

Some pictures of the brichardi's today…. (Alestopetersius brichardi)

 

[Magnum Man]

There are supposed to be both red, and blue, when they mature.. males have a trident tail, but the trident part is darker, and blends in the darker water… these guys are also really camera shy, and go to the opposite side of the tank, anytime the camera gets near… and the water is highly flowing, full of bubbles and tannins… so good pictures are hard d to get… got 3 in one frame below… 5 total in the tank, 3 are supposed to be blue, and 2 are supposed to be red… Dominant Male in the bottom picture flashing a little blue…

 

[Magnum Man]

Along with dusting the Ultra Fresh micro pellets, I’ve been dusting, the bug bites , and have added bug bites color enhancing, into the rotation as well… 1st dusting of the color formula, last night, will see if that brings out any more color on the brichardi’s… they have been here close to a year, and are just starting to show signs of maturity…

Blue Diamonds all still alive, and seem to appreciate the dusted foods, and have been eating well… the littlest one is being more adventurous today, maybe figured out that nothing is going to eat him here… biggest Diamond, was just for the 1st time, today, flashing some blue sheen…

 

[Magnum Man]

Darn… my caffeine is gone, have to go to work…
Best brichardi picture of the day…

 

[Magnum Man]

Still playing with pictures of this tank, a little tonight… Phenacogrammus Aurantiacus male in top picture… Bathyaethiops breuseghemi In 2nd picture
one of the bigger blue diamond’s in the bottom picture…

 

[Magnum Man]

Most dominant of the new male Yellow Tails still immature, but is developing a fancier dorsal, than the older mature fish… expect this one is going to be pretty, as he develops

 

[Magnum Man]

He’s already started to flash dance with the dominant male a little

 

[Magnum Man]

The Brichardi, are definitely starting to color up… starting to see more blues in these…

 

[Magnum Man]

Worming today or tomorrow…

I think the biggest blue diamond is starting to get red eyes… I didn’t notice any on line pictures of red eye’d blue diamonds, and non of the other Africans have red eyes, so that is kind of interesting some have blue / green eyes, but so far, nothing with red eyes

 

[Magnum Man]

Wormed this morning, fish all look normal… water bubbles more than normal not a lot of foam at the top, but about twice the bubbles in the turbid water… the liquid wormer, was about the consistency of corn syrup, when measured and added to the tank

 

[Colin_T]

Extra bubbles on the surface and sometimes foam is normal with some worming medications. It's nothing to worry about and goes away when you do a water change in a couple of days. Make sure you gravel clean the substrate when you do the water change and clean the filters too. This is to remove worms that have been expelled so they can't be eaten by the fish, or shed eggs.

 

[Magnum Man]

Well it looks like my 3 line glass cats might be spawning this morning lots of chasing each other around, a couple inches off the bottom of the tank I’m unsure if they pair up , or group spawn, I did read the profile on Seriously Fish, that didn’t clear up that question, but they are supposed to be egg scatterers, and while one seems to have an extra big belly, they are such good eaters, that they all normally have fat bellies they are normally mid water cruisers, so chasing around close to the bottom, could be spawning activity???

 

[GaryE]

Could be.
I've kept Pareutropius debauwi, but not buffei, which is probably what you have.

I think you're right they're spawning.They probably just race along dropping and fertilizing eggs over gravel or sand. From what I saw of the unhealthy pet store ones I had, they wouldn't pair up. Their spawning would be on the move.