Life goes on in Africa…

[gwand]

What do have living in your African tank? I am planning one.

 

[Magnum Man]

I went almost all tetras... & started with common Congo Tetras ( interuptus ), & pretty much bought what I could get from the tetra family... they can be harder to get, & generally more expensive, than South American Tetras...

I have the 3 line glass cats, to help clean up... I expected them to be a bottom fish, being a cat, but they swim in the middle of the tank, & are pigs when it comes to food ( very peaceful ), but certainly not a bottom fish... also thought about an African butterfly fish, as a top level fish, but I ended up with the tank too packed with Tetras, to add anymore variety...
... I had also thought about an Elephant nose or baby dolphin, as they are African, but I ended up with too many different tetras...

I'd recommend looking at the pictures in this thread, & if you see a fish you like, let me know which one, & I'll let you know the "real" name, to help you in your search...

 

[Colin_T]

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???

please breed the fish in separate containers

 

[Magnum Man]

@gwand ... this thread has pictures of a couple of my favorites...

Blue eyed Congo tetras... and other African Tetras

are these a native species, or a cross breed??? one of the mail order places that I have ordered from before, has these, & when I look up the scientific name, regular Congo Tetras come up ( assuming that means this is a Congo Tetra that had been cross bred or line bred to get the colors??? )...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Magnum Man]

@Colin_T ... I'm not trying to breed anything, except Tilapia right now...

I'll be retiring in the next couple years, & If I have something that continues to spawn, in my display tanks, I have a couple 30 gallon longs, I've not refilled yet... that would likely make OK breeding tanks, when I have more time... if something happens to have enough cover in a display tank, for some fry to make it, that would be great, but it's not my purpose currently...

 

[Colin_T]

Breed them now while you can because they could die and you don't get young. Just put a species in a spare pond outdoors, fill it with plants and leave the adults in it for a week or two, then move the adults out and see what you get. If you get hundreds of young and can't get rid of them, feed some of them to the tilapia.

 

[Magnum Man]

... and that's the other thing... is the mess of catching a breed pair or group out of a display tank... is not something I'm looking forward to

 

[Colin_T]

Do it. Do it. Do it.

 

[Magnum Man]

Had a fish wedged between one of my hang on pots, and the glass, at 1st light… at 1st I thought it was one of the Fantastic’s, and since I only have 2 of those, I was pretty bummed, I put my hand up there, and it wiggled… I reached in, and gave that pot a wiggle, and the fish swam free… turned out to be one of the smaller brichardi, of which I have 5… so I’m not sure if it got chased back there, or was looking for a quiet place to sleep??? I’ve never seen the brichardi chasing around??? Anyway, everything’s good today anyway

 

[GaryE]

Here's the big twist with the rare fish you like. By the time you retire, they'll be too old to breed.

Traditionally, African tetras have been unpopular because of their size. Only Congo Tetras (interuptus) and yellow Congos (recently) have been farm produced. Odds are extremely high that when these ones either die or time out as good breeders, you will never see them again. I learned that lesson the hard way, as I didn't try to breed mine, assuming they'd arrive regularly. It isn't happening.

The species I really liked that I haven't seen for more than 10 years are numerous. Now I'm retired, and I could give breeding them a go. I just can't get them.

 

[Magnum Man]

Well I had the talk with my boss this week I told him 66 for me… I turned 64 in May, so less than 2 years… but that may be too late for some of these guys

 

[AJ356]

 

[Magnum Man]

Update on a few fish… the little Brachardi is still fine…

I didn’t really notice and difference in any of the fish, with that last worming assuming since they all have come from good online sources, that they had been wormed before???
The blue diamonds are all doing well, even the small skinny one… I’ve been dusting up my bug bites and ultra fresh micro pellets… in my my aquarium dedicated mortar and pestle… I find the dusted food stays in suspension longer, and is quicker for tiny mouths to eat… and takes longer for the cats to engorge themselves… diamonds are never fat like over engorged cats get, but are a normal healthy profile now…

 

[GaryE]

I had a visitor once, from the fish club. He called and asked to see my fishroom, back when it was easy to get African Cichlids. I showed him dwarf Cichlids from Guinea, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. He saw Central and West African killies, tetras and barbs. At the end, he said he was disappointed because he thought I kept Africans.

 

[Magnum Man]

That smallest blue diamond today…