South American Leaf Fish

[mlawson]

I've always wondered what plants leaves the South American leaf fish or leaf fish in general are trying to replecate.
Coming from streams and rivers in various parts of Amazonia and Guyana I'm guesing the leaves must come from overhanging vegetation, fallen branches and leaves.Would there be an aquatic plant present in their habitat?

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Fruitbat]

In the book Exotic Tropical Fishes, Dr. William T. Innes, referring to Monocirrhus polyacanthus, paraphrases a description from Dr. W.R. Allen in the "Biological Bulletin" (1921):

...a sluggish brook, overhung with tropical vegetation from which he captured 3 specimens. The bottom was matted with fallen leaves. The fishes, of a leaf-brown, irregularly mottled color, were difficult to see. They moved about peculiarly like drifting leaves, and would not have been seen, except that the collector thought it strange that leaves should move at all in such sluggish water.

From what I've read, the shoreline of the waters that these fish inhabit are often vegetated but that the deeper areas, generally almost tea-colored from decaying vegetation, are tangled with fallen limbs and leaves and have very little in the way of plants.

Hope this helps,

-Joe

 

[CFC]

As the artical says they are trying to (and doing a good job of ) replicate dead fallen leaves which are drifting in the flow, in a tank with a gentle current from a powerhead they will float sideways toward their prey and grab them without the prey fish ever even seeing them coming.

 

[mlawson]

Thanks, I guessed there probably wouldn't be any aquatic plants. I'm thinking of getting these and I want to keep the setup close to the what the conditions would be in the wild, What leaves would be suitable to use? I was thinking of Beech and Oak leaves.

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[mlawson]

The Catappa leaves from aqua essentials could be quite appropiate...

Cheers...

Oh yes, I forgot about Almond leaves. Someone was selling them here for quite cheaply.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[CFC]

Both fallen oak and beech leaves are suitable, just collect them in the autumn and dry them out completely and they can be stored for the whole year in a bin liner stored in a cool dry place (garden shed). Before you add them to the tank boil them for 5 to 10 minutes to soften them up and kill any mould or bugs. The leaves break down over a period of a few months in water so you can just net out any hard stems (leaf skeletons) and top the tank up with fresh leaves from your bag.

Decorate the tank with some vines (sold for use in reptile vivariums) which replicate the roots found along the edge of jungle streams and place some peat in the filter to really get the best from them, SA leaf fish really NEED soft acidic water to thrive so the more tannins and humic acids you can get into the water the better for them.

 

[mlawson]

Thanks,

What would you define as soft, pH 4-6 , 0-3 DGH? I would like to keep some Mosses but if the water is too soft than obviously that is not possible.

How many could I keep in a 20 gallon or a 30 gallon?

 

[RadaR]

What would you define as soft, pH 4-6 , 0-3 DGH?

Yes, that's soft.

Not sure on the stocking.

 

[CFC]

I'd be comfortable with 6 in a standard 30 gallon tank (36x12x15") but personally i'd avoid keeping them in anything less than that at all as smaller volumes of water can change very rapidly and they are quite sensative to water quality.

Is that the pH and KH of your tapwater?

If it is i'd recomend a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda or two to each bucket of freshwater when you do water changes just to lift the KH a little as when its that low the pH can become very unstable which is a major stress on fish.

Add a teaspoon of bicarb to the bucket leave it a few minutes and then test the KH again, ideally you want it to be at least 5dGH, keep adding the bicarb until it reaches around that figure.

 

[mlawson]

I'd be comfortable with 6 in a standard 30 gallon tank (36x12x15") but personally i'd avoid keeping them in anything less than that at all as smaller volumes of water can change very rapidly and they are quite sensative to water quality.

Is that the pH and KH of your tapwater?

If it is i'd recomend a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda or two to each bucket of freshwater when you do water changes just to lift the KH a little as when its that low the pH can become very unstable which is a major stress on fish.

Add a teaspoon of bicarb to the bucket leave it a few minutes and then test the KH again, ideally you want it to be at least 5dGH, keep adding the bicarb until it reaches around that figure.

I think I'll keep them in the 30 gallon then. My tapwater is very hard and alkaline, but I thought if I filtered rainwater through peat then I would need to know what conditions would suite them best.

Would a pH of 5.5 and a dGH of about 6 be alright?

Cheers,

 

[CFC]

I'd keep the pH above 6 personally, below 6 ammonia becomes ammonium and if by any chance you find yourself having to use water with a pH above 6 for water changes funny things can happen with the bacteria in the tank and a mini cycle is set off, i had this happen when i switched from using R/O water back to normal tapwater and had a scary couple of weeks trying to keep my fish alive.

If you are going to use rainwater you will also have to add something like KENT R/O Right to the water to remineralise it, pure water such as rainwater, distilled or R/O is dangerous to use in its raw form as it will try to draw minerals from the fish by osmosis through the fishes skin. Some people simply cut the rainwater/ R/O water with tapwater but i see this as being a bit pointless as you are just adding back all the crap you were striving to get rid of in the first place.

I'd recomend buying a small R/O unit if possible so that you have a clean and reliable source of pure water all year round.

 

[mlawson]

Right, I'll be looking for some cheap, efficient RO units then.

 

[RadaR]

Link!

 

[mlawson]

Link!

Thanks, Do you have any experience with those RO units?
Which would be the best to buy in terms of longetivity and effectiveness?