Obviously, there is a good reason they are called woodcats.

Many (cat)fish prefer stone hidingplaces, these wood

Looks a lot like the Rhamdia I once had. Those grew to 40 cm - that's 16 inches. But Rhamdia species look a lot like each other, and not all Rhamdia grow to that size

You wrote "and maybe some furniture"

That was the biggest mistake in my fishroom, no furniture. Thus no place to relax and enjoy the fishes.

Do make room for at least 1 comfortable chair

The thing is - while the fish don't care where they are, the needs are the same, it is hard to come up with help without naming products - products which are for sale in America but not in Europe, or vice versa.

Therefore the helpee might not be helped by very solid advice.

The problem is, Poecilia (black molly) is tolerant for salt, but they do need time to adapt. Therefore, remouving the salt might result in dead Poecilia - which may not be eaten.

Catfish are primarily sweet water fish, only the Aridae live in sea/brackish water. But these grow far too large. Further yoou will not want a catfish with any predatory inclination. Any fish you would add to this tank will a) be a risk for the fry and b) by polluting the water reduce the crop you ...

But - those other parts are also digestive. That is, fish don't adsorb vitamins from the water they swim in, right?

They both come from the same water. Lake Tanganyica, so yes it should be the same. I myself don't keep fishes from that lake, so I cannot tell you. However, keeping Lake Tanganyica fishes together with tetras from rivers wille not be a good idea - the tetrs will prefer softer water. I would ...

My Platydoras did come out when I fed the other fishes, always during the day. They ate anything I fed.

I always thought a happy, healthy Platydoras is fat.

I've kept them for 27 years or so, but one day an illness killed both of them, together with two Pterogoblichthys gibbiceps of 23 years old

Can anyone explain how A saharensis can be "not [...] even a teleost" but further "A. saharaensis still stands as the earliest known occurrence of an armoured catfish"

The group Teleostei is of a higher level then catfish, and thus all catfish are teleosts

I once read - don't know when or where - that the cichlids from India, and Madagascar are more closely related to south American cichlids than African ones. I thought that odd, but this article sais more or less the same for two other clades.

There's a lot we don't know yet

The sudie studied stress coming from 8 degrees (centigrade) above normal. That is a lot of stress, and one wonders whether the expected heating will cause similar stress. Still, knowing heat stress causes a certain kind of damage - that is, not an other - will enable others finding evidence of heat ...

mix ups do happen, and certainly secretive species are vulnerable for this.

A wholeseller does not waste much money on lights and therefore it is easy to think a tank is empty while it is not.

Actually, you better give them whole fish, that contains more than just the proteins the filets contains. Especially the gut of the fish is very important, as there you will find the vitamins the victim ate before, vitamins which normaly are not fouond in meat. But also the skeleton - the gulper is ...

How couold they survive the winters? Finding a pleco in a lake in September does not tell me much, finding it in March would be a much larger problem

That could very well explain the albino behaviour.

But in that case, the whole study does not fit as an attempt to investigate the well being of albinos

It is a long while, between 1997 and 1999, but I had 3 Platydoras combined with a lot of platyfish, all males. One day all the platys were gone. Eaten. 30 or more Platydoras can eat fish, but it can take a while before the realize it is possible. As they like to eat too much, the whole shoal can ...

I think this is a very interesting, and important question, but looking at the results in the article, I get the idea the albinos are more active, the have less fear. Although that would reduce their lomnglivity in the wild - less fear means earlier cought by a predator, it also implies the well ...

I wonder whether the Megalechis thoracata would like this water. For the others it is OK.

Did you know Scleromystax barbatus likes current?

That would be a good incicator, but I would also look the wood pieces over after a few weeks. For dark, rotten pieces. However, as the wood is intended to be eaten, your fish will love these rotten pieces. After all, they live from the rotting bacteria.

With regard to the ad libitum feeding - the commercial food must be dried, and that makes this kind of feeding hard to imagine. Mice can be supplied with pellets for a fortnight in one feeding without any harm, fish cannot. The pellet will dissolve, and spoil. Therefore I am afraid this ad ligbitium ...

A rare opportunity to keep a fresh water Arid.

And if they look a bit similar to the well known species, they mus be beautiful. I'm a bit anvious

PP als Victor named the stuff, is a fierce oxydator. That is, it will cause certain harm to tissue, and this harm is intended to kill parasites and deseases, while the fish will survive this. Still, all fish are especially vulnerable in their gills. And in case one would use PP - please provide the ...

Would it be correct to assume from this lack of host specialism that this S multipunctatus is a young brood parasite? Perhaps too young yet to spezialize - that is, to divide into more species with each their own host?

Assuming the tanks are glued together with siliicone glue, please realize this was invented in 1970 or so, and the glue has seen a lot of improvements. The current glue lasts longer than the privious ones However, apart from old age, I wonder whether vibrations also hurt these tanks. I have repaire ...

As Jools indicated, there are no Lorricarids from your area, only a few species from Panama excist - and these are not available. You would have to go to Panama yourself to get them. Costa Rica has an export ban on all wild cought animals, so that would not help. The common Ancisturs would be your ...

Rain is the same everywhere - very soft and lightly acidic. If it falls on a swamp, or a rinforrest, it will not come into contact with minerals, and remain soft. It can get very acidic. If it falls on other places, it will contact minerals and harden rather rapidly. However this will take time ...

Frankly, I wonder whether otos are an option

These are best kept in a group, and personally I never saw 2 doing fine - and 2 is the maximum I would put in a 9 US gallon = 35 liter tank

Shrimps or snails, that's it. I do have quite a few good algae eating snails.

Thak you for this link. It's among the best presents I got this year

The fish is rather small, which can make a determination more difficult.