Those Gold Spots in Your Aquarium Just Moved!! No, It's My Gold Nugget Plecostomus

One of my favorite new freshwater fish is my Gold Nugget Pleco. He lives with my Black Ghost Knifefish. Just the two of them in one long tank. They are both South American river fish and have much the same environmental needs.

My aquarium setup:

• small gravel, only about 1/2 to 3/4 inches deep
• a long piece of fake driftwood
• a heater
• two thermometers -- one at each end of the aquarium
• Aquaclear filter
• Aquaclear powerhead rated for a 10-20 gallon tank
• several "silk" plants of the long leaf sargassium types

They both need a gentle current, so I opted for a lower speed powerhead, to provide the current, without blowing these two baby fish around. PH 6.8 to 7.2, Temp. about 78 degrees F. I add aquarium salt as needed, use Cycle and NovAqua water conditioners. I gravel vac the aquarium about once a week using a Python kit.

Even though both of these gentle fish like to hide, my habitat setup lets me enjoy watching them, while keeping the fish feeling secure in their surroundings.

Both fish eat thawed frozen brine shrimp, and live ghost shrimp. The pleco also eats shrimp pellets, sliced zucchini squash, and even "Burpless English Cucumber". I use an aquarium safe clip with suction cup to hold the zucchini in place, locating it near his favorite hiding place. He (she?) has ignored all brands of algae wafers I have tried.

Some websites to learn more about Gold Nugget Plecos:

Drs. Foster and Smith

Planet Catfish

Tropical Fish Forums

So You Want to Know More About Setting Up and Running a Successful Aquarium?

Whether you are getting started with a new aquarium or wanting to learn more about freshwater and marine aquariums and their inhabitants, these are some places I have found valuable for gathering information on the web.

A valuable list of things you don't want to do to an aquarium

Aquarium Fish.net

Aquarium Hobbyist

Aquarium Terminology Glossary

Drs. Foster and Smith Fresh and Saltwater index of articles

Drs. Foster and Smith Pet Education web site
(covers all types of pets)

Old Fish Tank Syndrome

Petco Care Guides and Article Index
(covers all types of pets)

Petsmart Care Guides Index of Articles
(covers all types of pets)

Successful Aquariums

Aquarium Heater Tried to Cook My Fish!

I glanced at my fish who were lethargic and their gills pumping faster than normal. Then I looked at the thermometer on one end of my aquarium. And then the other thermometer at the far end. Temperature was between 84 and 86 degrees F. Not good.

I checked the heater, the setting was unchanged from where it has been for almost a year. I turned it all the way to the lowest thermostat setting -- yet the heating element light which shows heat is being generated was still on! Really not good. I unplugged the aquarium heater, waited over 15 minutes and pulled it out of my fish tank. The thermostat had failed. Had I not been home to see this, my fish would have probably been dead by that night.

Luckily, it was a Top Fin brand, for which Petsmart gives a lifetime guarantee. Even though my original receipt was gone, I was able to exchange it for a new aquarium heater the next day.

Moral of the story: always check your pets before you go to work!

Lights! Water! Algae! And What You Can Do About It

OK, the green stuff on the interior walls of your aquarium is algae. If you have water and light (incandescent, fluorescent or natural) you will get algae growth on the walls and decor of your fish tank. Sometimes, the algae decides to bloom and turn the water itself green. Neither situation makes for a happy owner viewing his or her fish.

Here is what I have found:

In any aquarium under 10 gallons, get one totally non-aggressive Otocinclus algae eater. Maximum growth size is 2 inches.

In a 40 gallons (or larger) aquarium one Plecostomus (pleco for short) -- or one of his more elaborate looking cousins. Maximum size 18 to 24 inches depending on who you talk to. You can slow the growth somewhat by not overfeeding algae wafers and zucchini as I did with my first pleco. One quarter algae wafer every other day helps this. When I feed cut strips of zucchini, I use an aquarium-safe clip with suction cup device to pin the zucchini to the wall. Otherwise the hungry pleco has to catch a floating zucchini raft on the water's surface.

If I have an aquarium in between these sizes, maybe the less aggressive and slower growing rubber lip pleco. But not in a cichlid tank. They are not as well armored as their cousins.

One of my favorite plecos is the Gold Nugget or L081. Another is the striking Bristlenose pleco.
All of these are suckermouth armored catfish, and most if not all, originate in South America.

Planet Catfish has an exhaustive list of all catfish species by Latin name. You can also search their database "Cat eLog" using common, scientific, L and C designations as well as other options. Lots of photos submitted by various contributors.

OK so I am enamored of various catfish species. After all, I like cats too! :-)

For those who want to have an in-depth understanding of the biological processes that create algae (or if you prefer quick and easy chemicals), visit Drs. Foster and Smith Top 10 Algae Busting Tips. This is a listing of 5 other algae related articles from the same site.

Just a note, when I use water clarifiers , algaecides, or even after my weekly gravel vacuuming, I put filter fiber into my filtration unit to absorb the fine particles of sludge or algae. In a day or two, it is full of brown or green material and I throw it out.

Tiger Oscars are eating!

I gave the large Tiger Oscar 6 feeder fish before I left for work today. He (or she?) ate them all!
The baby albino Tiger Oscar is now eating the Tetra baby cichlid pellets and OSI's blood parrot pellets, as well as the thawed blood worms. Apparently they both prefer night feedings, unlike my other cichlids who will eat anytime. Hooray!

Update on Oscars

The baby one-eyed albino tiger oscar has begun eating, mostly frozen bloodworms (a type of mosquito larvae) and torn bits of frozen krill. He tries the tiny Tetrafin cichlid pellets, but spits them out. Not sure if it is the taste or hardness that bothers him. Based on my experience, a congenital defect in a fish may mean there are other internal problems as well. So no naming him until he has lived for at least two months.

The larger oscar has refused all foods! Frozen krill, brine shrimp and bloodworms, shrimp pellets and cichlid pellets of various types. My last resort is to try a live feeder fish. I have raised the temperature to 79 degrees F and increased the aquarium salt to .10. His bite marks are healing.

Oscar, Oscar!

Recently, I brought home two Oscars (not the movie industry type). Oscars are a type of large and aggressive South American Cichlids. There are three basic types sold in most fish stores: Tiger, Albino Tiger and Red. There is also the less common Zebra Oscar.

The small albino tiger Oscar has a congenital defect -- only one normal eye, the other underdeveloped. He swims sideways keeping his bad eye to the water's surface. His good eye watches for predators. Much like my rescued Angelfish who lost an eye to another fish. For now he is in a breeder fish holder inside one of my aquariums. I used this both to protect him and to acclimate him to the other inhabitants (and acclimate them to him!)

The other is a half grown Tiger Oscar for whom I just started up an unused tank. He is and will remain the only inhabitant for now while I evaluate his condition. He has a lot of recent bite marks and is acting stressed. I started the tank by adding water from my existing tanks, as well as my two favorite aquarium water conditioners NovAqua and Cycle, a beneficial bacteria product. I have tried lots of different brands, and researched other people's experiences on the Net, and found these to be the best.

Cory Catfish (Corydoras) are fun to watch

Otis and Pepperjack (two Corydoras catfish) are swimming in formation looking for food. I have had various Corys for years, their lifespan in my tanks is about 8-10 years. Only the albino cory does not seem to form shoals (schools) in an aquarium. The color of the gravel/sand has affected these two Corydoras; on black gravel they are both darker than they were on lighter "natural" colored gravel. So my albino cory is in another tank with natural gravel. I don't want it to get stressed as its color would stand out too much on black gravel and so this fish might not come out to eat.

I have had Corys successfully living in community, semi-aggressive and even some types of cichlid aquarium groupings. They are non-aggressive, but spiny and plated, so more aggressive fish will not bother them.

If you buy Corydoras get at least two at the same time, they like to stay together and this causes them less stress. While they are often purchased "to clean up the food the other fish leave behind on the tank bottom", they eat a minimal amount of algae, and require some (about 1-2 per individual) sinking shrimp pellets, and/or some frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms to stay healthy. They are scavengers.

We enjoy their antics, zooming up and down the height of the tank, my younger son likened them to really fast elevators, naming some of them "Otis".

A few places to learn more about these active diurnal plump fish:
Corydoras Catfish (aka Cory or Cories)

Numerous Corydoras photos and Latin names on Planet Catfish

Archive of Catfish articles by species

Mom is Hooked on Fish, Again!

There was a small fish tank when I was growing up, and when our oldest son was about 3 years old we got him a Betta fish. Mom got hooked on fish, Again. We went from community fish such as Guppies, Platies and Mollies with Corydoras catfish and various Plecos to Bala Sharks, Iridescent Sharks, Black Ghost Knifefish, South American Cichlids (Severum, Blood Parrot, Convict) and I am now contemplating an African Cichlid tank.

I have learned many lessons, some the hard way. Test your water quality every week. Feed your fish once a day, no more than they can eat in 3-5 minutes, and turn your filter OFF while feeding them. Rinse the carbon filters until they run clear or kill your fish (dry carbon sucks oxygen out of water). Regular water changes via gravel vacuuming are vital to the ongoing health of an aquarium and the first line of defense against poor water quality.

Using a Python system prevents your spouse from getting annoyed at your spilling water on the new laminate flooring. It also speeds up the process tremendously if you have more than one aquarium.

BTW, my day job is working in a huge pet store, mostly with fish and small animals. So I have a unique perspective in being both a hobbyist and a professional. In my blog I'll share some of what I have learned about different species and aquatic setups, stores I have visited, warning signs before buying fish, etc.

I currently maintain 3 freshwater fish tanks in or near our kitchen, so I can watch the various inhabitants while I drink my coffee.