If you want to stay true to their biotope, I would check out some pics of coastal lake Tanganyika. It's quite rocky with lots of nooks and crannies. Most of the smaller species that are readily available from that lake are cichlids, which tend to be quite territorial. However, there are some species ...

They should be fine together. I have S. lucinpinnis in a riverine type tank with my monster 9+" TL S. angelica and they get along fine. The S. lucipinnis are okay with a pH around 7.0. I imagine the S. petricola would tolerate water around that pH as well.

Low pH could definitely be a source of the problem. I've personally seen it happen quite a few times over the years. Panaques eat a lot of wood, releasing tanins. pH plummets. Panaques stomachs start to get very sunken in. Add sodium bicarbonate and within a few hours, stomachs look more normal.

I agree with Narwhal72. If you don't already have driftwood in the tank that panaques will graze on, I would strongly recommend adding some. And, keep feeding them zucchini regularly. Panaques need a lot of fiber in their diet. As such, a lot of panaque poop comes with the territory. FWIW, after I ...

Thanks for sharing, Viktor. I have a school of Toxotes blythii in my 55gal tank and it sure seems like they can recognize me. I am the only person in my family who feeds them and they certainly react differently if I walk into the room as opposed to if my wife or daughter walk in.

Great deal on the S. angelica . When you say full grown, how big do you mean (TL)? I have a trio in a 125gal. The male is 9" TL and the females are 10" + 11" TL. They are all over 20 years old. I don't think I'd worry about keeping small mbuna with them as long as you have plenty of rocky hiding ...

Beauties! How big are they (TL)? How long have you had them? Did you do anything special to get them to spawn?

I too have acquired a Brichard's syno within the past few months. I don't see them as regularly as I used to in the 1990's and when I saw this one and saw that it looked healthy, I bought it. It is also wild caught from the Congo. I changed up the lighting on my tank in an effort to get more plant ...

There was that time during a WC where I accidentally bumped the thermostat on the heater in my former 65gal tank with Uaru, pearl gourami, and giant danios in it. Wound up killing all of the danios, a few gourami, and one Uaru before realizing the temp was ~100°F. I quickly brought it down with a ...

Just a heads up to my fellow PC forum members: Shark Aquarium on Rt 22 in Hillside, NJ has announced they are closing and putting everything on sale 30% off... and I bet that percentage will go up as they get closer to closing the doors for good. This is the first LFS in the garden state to go down ...

I'm just back from the Xingu BTW, there are plecos there that are found nowhere else and there are plecos there that are found in other countries. However, the majority are not. Now that sounds like one heck of a trip. Looking forward to the write-up with multiple pics in the Travellers Notebook ...

I recently visited Chengdu with my family again. This time, I did some research to find out where the good aquarium shops are. It led me to visit the pet market on Xinkai Street just south of Tianfu Square. The amount of fish shops on that street is overwhelming. I've never seen anything like it ...

Peckoltia greedoi is in an article at CNN describing how it was named after a Star Wars character. After reading the article, the first think I did was check the Cat-eLog to see if it's already listed on PC. Of course, it is! Anyway, here's the article: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/us/feat-greedo ...

Viktor, how big is that Distichodus?

Labeo cyclorhynchus are among the nastiest freshwater fish I've ever kept. Certain species got a pass, but many were ruthlessly hunted down in a few of my tanks before I decided I was not going to put up with it and got rid of the shark.

Out of curiosity, did you add the guppies before or after the S. lucipinnis started breeding?

bekateen, you wrote that your local tap water may suffer from variations in quality from time to time. Rather than doing something to try to improve your tap water, is there any chance that you can collect rain water? A large rubbermaid garbage can placed under a gutter pipe can collect water quite ...

You obviously have a nice school of dither fish. I would build up the driftwood piles more. Make them twice as big as they are now. If the Malaysian driftwood is dark and soft, it will be better for your plecos than the mopani pieces you currently have. Then, give the plecos a month or so to settle ...

Looking good Viktor! Keep up the good work!

I agree with kamas88, looks like Sturisoma or Sturisomatichthys. They commonly call these species "Royal Farlowella" at the LFS near me.

6-8 should be okay as long as they are going in a bigger tank within a year. As far as getting the eggs to hatch and rearing the fry, I would personally pull the eggs and put into an egg tumbler; then raise the fry in a bare 20gal long tank (with sponge filter & heater). If you want the parents to ...

I bought some from Anthony in San Jose, CA (I believe he is frontosa factory) in Feb 2010 and those that survived the power outage from Super Storm Sandy are still thriving. I am very satisfied with the way he shipped the fish to me. He currently has some listed on aquabid as petricola 'dwarf'.

Why just one severum? If it is the focus of the tank, wouldn't it be better to do away with the other cichlids on your list and keep a small group of severums with the catfish and danios you listed? While your tank is a little small for severums in the long term, you will probably be able to get ...

Same here.

Good idea for a thread. My first aquarium book was one of these two (I can't remember which I acquired first, sometime around '83 or '84): 1. Simon & Schuster's Complete Guide to Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Fishes Including Plants, Amphibia, Reptiles, & Invertebrates (English Translation ...

An important lesson was learned: "Not to mess around with fish."

Brilliant reporting!

Nice find! I haven't seen S. robertsi around here for several years now. I wish you luck on acquiring more for your collection.

Nice looking setup! Seeing those last pics really makes me miss the S. alberti I used to keep. I had a group of six adults in a 125gal tank. They were very entertaining to watch at night--I used to use a red lens on my headlamp so as not to disturb them.

I highly recommend zucchini for most plecos, skin and all. Just quarter them (i.e.-slice them into quarters), stick stainless steel forks into them (or you could fasten them to rocks/driftwood with rubber bands), and place them on the bottom of your tank. They should look drastically reduced by the ...

It might be worth it to look into your local aquarium society/societies. Many of these organizations hold fish auctions. This is a great way to find quality and hard-to-find stock that you would otherwise not be able to find at your LFS. Your local society might also be able to put you in touch with ...