new bunocephalus, woot! (expression for yelling of joy)

[nicofish]

so I set up a new tank...

today was my birthday so I had my parents drive me to "hidden reef aquatics"
I would like to say that I was very pleased with the store. the staff was far beyond the level I expected staff to be at.... theres was one guy who know what he was doing. I was very happy so see that he took my little cats out using his hand and a container so as not to hurt his spines

all tanks are individually filtered and the guy wa snagging other staff members "not to use the same net for a different tank"


also the prices were ridicoulus 2.99 for the bunocephalus (sp unknown)!!

and the raphy cats (p. armalatulus and a. pectinifrons) were running 6 - 4 dollars (in above order) as compared to about 9 dollars at a chain store!!!

I also bought one other fish an amazonic leaf fish!! I love it the guy even tested flakes to make sure that it only ate live food at my request. all my fish are happy I set up a tank for them

tank theme is "fish that pretend to be inanimate objects"
seeing how neither fish struggled when it was going to be caught.

the leaf fish is settled and tried to go at some stuff that came out of the filter, and the two bajo cats have buried themselves (I don't know what it is about fish that bury themselves but I love them)

I know the whole "alcoholess party thing so I will have a vid up tomorrow"

it was a great birthday I am very happy with my new room mates

[racoll]

the guy even tested flakes to make sure that it only ate live food at my request

Leaf fish are notoriously difficult to get off live foods. How are you planning to feed it?

[nicofish]

im planning to have the base of its diet be earth worm 60%+ protein its an incredible food. not to mention a lot of aquarium fish lack ruffage so you keep the dirt inside of them and that helps them.

probably thow in some mosquito larvae 40%-60% ish (cant remember correct me if im wrong) depending on what larval stage they are in.

I will probably try some guppies, from my own tank I wouldn't dream of giving my new friend/specimen a parasite


I knew full well before hand what I was getting myself into so no problems here. I had a peacock eel before, spiny eels are also hard to get on flake and I had to hand feed it so the other fish wouldn't get its food.

so I read they were labeled a "7" for difficulty, I dont understand the rating he settled in a couple hours and I fed him a piece of worm today with some forceps. he ate it as soon as I let it go!

their tunnel mouth strickes with amzing speed .16 seconds!!!! I didnt even see it. truly remarkable

(so he will eat not only food that swim but semi live foods it was just a piece of a larger worm)


I am very pleased with him so far hes a great room mate doesnt even snore


as for the bunocephalus they are no where to be seen at this moment, which puts me at ease cause they settled and took well to the deep sand bed. in the morning 8 am ish when I woke up they were both above the sand sitting together (just found that kinda cool/cute)

so all in all great fish pick up.

I am still super bumed that forgot to pick up the brochis splendens


sorry for my lack of grammar
NICO FISH

[racoll]

so I read they were labeled a "7" for difficulty, I dont understand the rating he settled in a couple hours and I fed him a piece of worm today with some forceps. he ate it as soon as I let it go!

The difficulty is mostly with the feeding, but they are also sensitive to poor water quality and can be prone to fungus if not kept in acidic water.

The problem most people have with them, is that when the novelty wears off, feeding them the obligatory diet of live foods becomes a considerable chore, and the fish usually pines away and perishes after a few months.

[nicofish]

ah thankyou very much. I knew they preferred acidic water, but I have not read the fungus thing.

hmm hes in with a large piece of drift wood for the tank size. it tints the water a bit.............

so I shouldn't change much water should I? that would run my pH to about 7 like my tap.................


I could put a out a bucket out and have peat so I can change water frequently with acidic water.

hmm I could also do peat and or almond leaves in the tank

[racoll]

I wouldn't pre-emptively mess around with the water chemistry, as it'll probably do more harm than good.

Unless your water is already soft, peat will do nothing. That said, adding a small amount of peat to your water change water will probably do no harm.

Best thing to do is just keep things as they are, but keep a close eye on the fish.

[nicofish]

ok keep them as they are.

no pre-messing

I dont have a water changer.

I use aqueon water changer and today I found out my tap was coming out at a consistent 80 degrees!!

I was freaked so I tested it for a long time and no problem so i did a water change on my outdoor africans with the hose and I did WC to my 75 gal basement with aqueon like normal.

im pretty good with maintaining good water quality. that said ill add some more filters to the little guys tank. just for bio media I suppose because he doesn't like flow hmmm

ill definately add the almond though.

we will see how it works out im sure it will be fine (I hope )

[MatsP]

I kept mine in soft water, but they were not particularly hard to feed in my experienc, but I'm not sure exactly what they ate - just that they were constantly quite fat, given a diet of Tetra Prima and algae wafers. Perhaps they were eating bristlenose fry, I never had huge numbers of them in that tank...

--
Mats

[MatsP]

Oh, and "acidic water" usually just means soft water, which normally also means low pH - but pH as such is not really what matters, the hardness, or more precisely the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

--
Mats

[Marc van Arc]

I kept mine in soft water, but they were not particularly hard to feed in my experienc, but I'm not sure exactly what they ate - just that they were constantly quite fat, given a diet of Tetra Prima and algae wafers. Perhaps they were eating bristlenose fry, I never had huge numbers of them in that tank...

Despite the title, almost the whole thread is about Leaf fish, not Bunocephalus.

[MatsP]

Ah, doh! Not following the thread... I've never kept those...

--
Mats

[racoll]

Despite the title, almost the whole thread is about Leaf fish, not Bunocephalus.

Yes, sorry about derailing the thread.

Oh, and "acidic water" usually just means soft water, which normally also means low pH - but pH as such is not really what matters, the hardness, or more precisely the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).

Generally this is the case, but sometimes the actual pH does matter, as many extreme softwater fishes will be sensitive to the higher bacteria and fungal levels associated with more alkaline water.

[nicofish]

OK in an attempt to re-rail the thread

I have been opserving both of the little banjo cats and I must say they are very active during the early morning and late at night. they tend to swim together. during the day they are out of sight hiding under the sand somewhere


I must say they are superb ambush pretators.

I had a piece of worm in some tweezers, all of the sudden it dissapears. I look down and there is a little head sticking out of the sand one of the banjos had inhaled it

on another note the leaf fish is now refusing worms
I have fed him a guppy and today he ate two baby convicts