Acestridium dichromum

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 21 Feb 2013, 14:48

Got two of these wee beauties!

Chillin' on a leaf

: On E.bleheri

In the bag earlier

: In the bag

The other is happy in the tank attached to some algae on the back wall, but he's obscured by Hrdrocotyle leucophala at the moment!

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 21 Feb 2013, 16:18

So that would be , for those that don't recognise it immediately [I wouldn't, if I hadn't been looking at some the other day].

--
Mats

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 21 Feb 2013, 16:41

They will be indeed!

Slight give away that the colour changed between the pictures

But the clog link would have been very useful!

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 21 Feb 2013, 17:11

Very nice indeed although it will be interesting to see how they fare as they are supposed to be hard to maintain & sensitive to water conditions

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 21 Feb 2013, 17:15

Well, I have a good environment for them, they will be offered everything I can for their comfort and health, last check they were working some leaves for whatever is on there!

Andrewjw · Post by **Andrewjw** » 22 Feb 2013, 01:44

WOW! Very sensitive indeed...good luck, and I'm super jealous

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 22 Feb 2013, 01:48

Thanks!

I'm happy to take any advice and catch any pearls of wisdom if anyone has some lying about!

Courgette/Zucchini for dinner tomorrow!

jeremybasch · Post by **jeremybasch** » 22 Feb 2013, 02:55

Super jealous!!! May I ask how much you paid for them? Keep us updated. I'd like to know how they do long term.

Jeremy

zeebo · Post by **zeebo** » 22 Feb 2013, 06:36

very beautiful and unique looking fish ,love the color, nice pick

Georgie

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 22 Feb 2013, 08:35

Pretty strong current & an almost constant supply of algae.

Algae can be provided by setting up a small tank with say a goldfish in & locks of rocks, that receive natural daylight. Then take an algae covered rock out & place for the acestridium. Remove when algae has been eaten & replace with fresh one.

Alternatively try the painted egg mix onto a rock but use a high proportion of algae powder, blended lettuce, duckweed etc in the mix

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 22 Feb 2013, 08:42

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... 2&start=60

Rare aquatics has these listed at £29

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 22 Feb 2013, 08:53

Thanks all!

These are indeed from Rare Aquatics. Big thanks to Nick there for everything, brilliant service. Got a couple more trils from there and they have THE most striking markings I've ever seen on a tril.

As for algae, there's a fair bit in the tank at the minute, the Otos are full on at it. Will certainly make myself a little algae farm though.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 22 Feb 2013, 10:37

lurch1000 wrote:Thanks all!

These are indeed from Rare Aquatics. Big thanks to Nick there for everything, brilliant service. Got a couple more trils from there and they have THE most striking markings I've ever seen on a tril.

As for algae, there's a fair bit in the tank at the minute, the Otos are full on at it. Will certainly make myself a little algae farm though.

I would be careful keeping these with Otos. Otos are likely to outcompete them.

I saw the ones at Rare and if you look at the photos by me [follow the link to the right], you'll see the size compared to an Oto. If there's a "fight" over food, the Oto will definitely win. And Otos appear to be more "brave" than these guys.

--
Mats

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 22 Feb 2013, 12:05

I'll keep a good eye out. Short term, the competition for food won't be an issue, got a fair bit of algae just now!

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 23 Feb 2013, 11:03

There's something tasty above my water line... One was half out the water having a munch. They're not afraid of me either, have him a little nudge to check he was OK, and he just wiggled across a bit.

Hope it's not a bad sign anyway, just part of their character.

YouTube · Post by **Jools** » 23 Feb 2013, 20:23

If you have a few tanks, try putting algae laden drip trays/cover glass in for food. It's an easy way to bulk up a lot of these fishes.

Cheers,

Jools

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 23 Feb 2013, 20:42

Cheers Jools.

Been sent gome good info and tips from someone who has kept relatives of the species. I'm going to be constructing a little feeding area in the top left rear corner.

They are feeding well on the algae that is present, and no real cause for concern as yet.

I'm aware that these are far from common in the hobby, and hard to keep, I dare say the two are linked! But I believe I am able to give them the best environment and the best conditions in which to thrive.

I'll be keeping this thread updated with progress. So far not much to report other than my back wall and spraybar appear to host the best delicacies so far!!

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 25 Feb 2013, 00:24

Stuffed if I've been able to spot them today. Hopefully everything is OK with them. There are a million and one places for the blighters to hide. Water change and a lot of pruning required tomorrow, hopefully I'll find them then.

mcaquatic · Post by **mcaquatic** » 25 Feb 2013, 04:07

that looks like a great pick up

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 25 Feb 2013, 11:01

After a bit of searching, I found them.

Acanthicus · Post by **Acanthicus** » 25 Feb 2013, 11:27

Damn it, this is really a sad loss.
Did you have enough current in the tank? My impression of the last picture is that it´s quite calm water.

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 25 Feb 2013, 11:34

Sad news

Richard B · Post by **Richard B** » 25 Feb 2013, 11:40

Just a thought, how we're the ones at Rare kept? How are the rest doing?

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 25 Feb 2013, 11:50

I am absolutely gutted. All my fish have thrived in my tanks, only loss I had was a Bronze Cory months ago, but he never grew as well as the others I bought him with.

The tank has many option for the fish for flow and no flow. There are two 1400lph filters and a 650lph power head the fires across the tank. Under each spray bar are the "dead" areas, mainly because a spray bar can't fire back on itself. But there's the choice for all the fish to be in or out of flow.

I've emailed Nick at Rare to let him know. I'm sure of he has any thoughts he will let me know.

I'm absolutely gutted. Really thought I'd be able to give them a good environment in which to thrive, and certainly expected them to manage more than four days, especially as they were munching so well on algae.

I hadn't seen them at all yesterday, and one I found at the front of the tank, and definitely wasn't there at 9pm last night. The was the flow is arranged in that tank makes it nearly impossible for him to have been moved to there so I'm fairly certain he died last night between 9pm and 10am this morning. The other one was in a hard to see place at the back, so not sure other than I last saw both of them on Saturday.

dw1305 · Post by **dw1305** » 25 Feb 2013, 13:43

Hi all,

The was the flow is arranged in that tank makes it nearly impossible for him to have been moved to there so I'm fairly certain he died last night between 9pm and 10am this morning. The other one was in a hard to see place at the back, so not sure other than I last saw both of them on Saturday.

Real shame, because they died at night I'd suspect low oxygen levels, but it could be a myriad of issues, for example they are from extremely soft, warm water.

We don't really know what they eat, or where they eat it from. My suspicion would be they get a fair amount of small invertebrate protein along with their algae, possibly from sand surfaces, but probably from the aufwuchs on dead leaves and plants.

I'd also expect them to live in areas with quite a lot of flow.

Hopefully some-one will find the conditions they need.

cheers Darrel

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 25 Feb 2013, 13:55

Well, it's probably all there in my tank for them. Only foreign culprit could be inorganic fertilisers. It's a shock to me, only been 4 days too.

Not sure if oxygen would necessarily be an issue, but I might get up tonight or very early in the morning and try and oxygen test, but I'm very much doubting it.

I was very much hoping to observe these more. I still have the bodies in a bag, but no real idea what to do with them, but I'll have an inspection a bit later.

Going to do a water change on the tank now, mainly precautionary, and I need to tidy the plants up a bit as well.

Acanthicus · Post by **Acanthicus** » 25 Feb 2013, 14:15

lurch1000 wrote: I still have the bodies in a bag, but no real idea what to do with them, but I'll have an inspection a bit later.

Well done, freeze them or even better put them in a mixture of 30% water and 70% alcohol. If they have air contact now, they will rot rapidly.

MatsP · Post by **MatsP** » 25 Feb 2013, 19:04

Sorry for your loss. I did think these would be a hard fish to keep, but they certainly don't look starved in your pictures, and that was my biggest fear.

--
Mats

Andrewjw · Post by **Andrewjw** » 25 Feb 2013, 19:08

Any water parameters you can measure now might be useful to know, like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate? I suspect their behavior of getting out of the water you commented on earlier was not to get to the algae, but in fact to get out of the water! Bummer!

lurch1000 · Post by **lurch1000** » 25 Feb 2013, 19:27

Ammonia and nitrite were zero, nitrate test not too long completed was a record level, I need to repeat the test because I don't believe it, said 100ppm. I add ferts, but I've never seen above 60ppm before. I've put the sample jug down somewhere now. Have to go find it. The pH was 6.75 anyway, KH was 1.0.

Sincerely hope it wasn't the ferts. Inorganic nitrates and ferts shouldn't have any effect on fish as long as the water quality is maintained. I know of someone who is up to 400ppm nitrate on a cichlid/community tank and reports are that everyone is thriving and spawning as they used to.

I'm going to be well narked if it is the nitrate. Exploring a couple of other avenues at the moment too, no stone unturned etc.

Of course, if the nitrate is that high, that will have a knock on for TDS and conductivity.

I'll let you know what more I find, if I find anything.

Acestridium dichromum

Acestridium dichromum

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