Better The Dwarf Puffer You Know…

When I first received back my Carinotetraodon travancoricus (“Dwarf Puffer”) from the fish pusher, I noticed that it was not the same fish that I had given to him – along with the Otocinclus, which sadly passed away. I had grown quite attached to my previous Carinotetraodon travancoricus (“Dwarf Puffer”) so had planned to swap the one given to me for the previous one. After speaking with the fish pusher he said that he had my old Puffer so it wouldn’t be a problem.

But now that the new one is settled in I think I will hang on to him/her. At first it seemed a little inactive and I liked the way my previous one paraded around the tank and took no nonsense. Now though, this new one has settled in and is just as bullish, so seems a shame to uproot him/her again.

Oh, and he/she is certainly doing their job – not a hint of snails anywhere now. Cool little snail eating animal!

Paracheirodon axelrodi (“Cardinal Tetra”)

With the demise of the Otto yesterday, I have been taking a closer look at the health of the other fish in the tank.

The Crossocheilus siamensis (“Siamese Algae Eater”) are looking very healthy, highly active and have been since shortly after introducing them to the tank.

The Paracheirodon axelrodi (“Cardinal Tetra”) however do not appear to be 100% happy. It is quite normal that, during the period when the lights are off, Paracheirodon axelrodi (“Cardinal Tetra”) always lose most of their colour and it is a similar case when they are nervous or agitated by something. Usually their red bellies lose a lot of their red colour in these cases but I have noticed that, even when not agitated, this is the case with my current Paracheirodon axelrodi (“Cardinal Tetra”), as the photo above shows.

The red colour is greatly diminished much of the time, even after a long period of light and when they have not been disturbed in any way (it takes quite some patience of not moving to get these photos).

I am hoping that this is just due to them not being fully settled into the tank, as it has only been one week. I will keep an eye on that too.

Otocinclus – RIP

Yep, sadly the Otocinclus I added 6 days ago has left us for the big aquarium in the sky.

I have no idea why exactly, but I can say that he had not been acting as I would expect – very subdued and hanging around in the same place for long periods of time.

I had also noticed that this was not the same Otocinclus that I gave to the fish pusher to look after. Much like the Carinotetraodon travancoricus (“Dwarf Puffer”), I didn’t notice that it was not the exact same fish until after they had been in the tank a while.

The fact that the other fish all seem OK encourages me that it is not the conditions that led to his departure and he was quite large for a Otocinclus so it may just be it was that time.

So, another Otocinclus required.

Water Chemistry #5

This weeks water tests are pretty much exactly as that of last week, so stable. GH is down a bit but the difference is only one drop of reagent, so likely that it is very similar.

Nitrate is also now right on 5 as opposed to being between 5 and 10 last week, so no issues there, in fact maybe getting a little too low.

Two days ago I added 8 Paracheirodon axelrodi (“Cardinal Tetra”), erm yes, that’s 8 not 9. I guess one if them didn’t make it through their holiday at the fish pusher’s. I also added one Carinotetraodon travancoricus (“Dwarf Puffer”) and one Otocinclus, although it wasn’t after I got back that I realised the Dwarf Puffer was not the one I had before. I know it isn’t a big deal, but I kinda liked the one I had – he was fatter and meaner (!) I am going to try and find out if he fell in action or is still there somewhere.

Crossocheilus siamensis (“Siamese Algae Eater”)

Well it’s been 24 hours since I added two Crossocheilus siamensis (“Siamese Algae Eater”), and they are both still alive – always a good sign in my book and check-box one ticked off!

I decided to buy juveniles rather than put in the SAEs I had before which were on holiday with the fish pusher. It kind of made me feel a little guilty, but they were over a year old and had grown to about 10cm, which made me worried that they might dig up my still delicate Hemianthus Callitrichoides (“Cuba”) as well as nibble away at the just growing  Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”). The juveniles I have now (pictured top) are about 3.5cm in length, and guess what… they made a bee-line for the Hemianthus Callitrichoides (“Cuba”) – typical! They have already uprooted some of the more fragile parts, but now seem to have found the abundance of food growing on the Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”). Hopefully they will hang out there…

Naturally as I just added them yesterday they are still pretty timid and are spending most of their time lounging in amongst the stem plants, so it took a bit of patience to get a photo with one out in the open.

Hopefully they will fair well over the next week and if that is the case then I will add a Carinotetraodon travancoricus (“Dwarf Puffer”) and Otocinclus. The Caridina japonica (“Amano Shrimp”) is going to have to wait until the Hemianthus Callitrichoides (“Cuba”) is well established – what with their penchant for digging.

Water Chemistry #3

As expected, the tank is now pretty much cycled. Both ammonia and nitrite are at zero and nitrate is down to an acceptable level. Which is handy, as there is a fair amount of hair algae on the moss covering the driftwood, and with the water now being OK for fish I can add a couple of Crossocheilus siamensis (“Siamese Algae Eater”) to take care of that hair algae.

KH is also back to its usual level of 2.24°dh. Whilst still on the low side, that is pretty much the level it has always been from the tap water here.

So after the water change tomorrow I will introduce a couple of Crossocheilus siamensis (“Siamese Algae Eater”) and let them get to the job of warding off any algae.