Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Picture time :-)

3K views 24 replies 10 participants last post by  dramaqueen 
#1 ·

Attachments

See less See more
7
#4 ·
Like I said, Rummy's are still lil pale atm, but they sure will be beautiful tomorrow :) And the stock them up to ~10 later on and the Cardinals to ~15 and then add more & more & more other ones too (eventually, step by step) :)
 
#5 ·
Yes, the Hemigrammus bleheri will colour up, although they are pretty good now considering how recent they arrived. The Paracheirodon axelrodi seems from the photos to be the Brazilian form of Cardinal rather than the Columbian, and is my particular favourite of the two. Nice goin' Angel.

B.
 
#8 ·
The pictures really don't do the Cardinal's justice I have to admit watching them. Their red is more like a real velvet looking red and the blue is just simply extraordinary clear & bright, don't even know how to describe it.
 
#10 ·
Thanks :lol: but if you could see my outdoors shots, you'd understand why these pictures are very poor quality IMO...just really gotta find the right setting for the tanks :)
 
#12 ·
I was reading about the difference of the lines as well, that's why I asked. From the details I found and what you're saying here vs what I can observe in my tank, I strongly believe I deal with the Brazilian version, which is also what you suspected by the pictures.
The only "down side" IMO about this is that I REALLY REALLY have to ensure now which 'Cardinal" version I will get to stock up, much like in the shrimp world I don't believe in cross breeding. Given my water and tank set up I have good chances they will feel home soon enough for a family, however for this very case I'd then rather follow the findings now and ensure that stocking them up to a nice large school over time, they will get Brazilian mates. So I hope I read up enough details now to distinguish the 2 at the store and bring home the correct ones.
 
#13 ·
I have both forms in my 115g, although I do prefer the Brazilian and intend to only acquire those in future. Most cardinals are still wild caught fish, although tank raised cardinals are now becoming more common. Heiko Bleher told me that they have been tank raising cardinals in Czechoslovakia for some time now. Here in Vancouver I can buy tank-raised cardinals in a couple of stores, and they are the Columbian form; I haven't bothered to enquire as to who is doing this or where. The Brazilian I get from direct importers. Wild-caught Columbian form also turn up, as collecting in Columbia/Venezuela is quite common now. One of the major local stores has wild cardinals in stock now, and I was surmising to the owner that they appear to be Brazilian. He thought it unlikely because these came from his collector in Peru, but I suggested that fish species in the Brazilian Amazon (Rio *****) are often found right up into the Peruvian Amazon according to the authorities, so it makes more sense than the Columbian form somehow crossing the mountains into another basin. B.
 
#14 ·
they look great............maybe try the macro setting for closeups....
 
#16 ·
:lol: I have this high tech machine my hubby got me for my b-day (cause I love photography) but you have about 1 gazillion special setting you can use, I figured the perfect outdoor ones out, just not the fish yet (not having had fish any more in 1 yrs now) now I can test-shoot every day :-D
 
#19 ·
@Byron;278782 Wow, congratulations!!!!
I actually considered Pencialfish for one of the larger tanks too (45+55g) but I am unclear as to their behavior vs Tetra behavior so I didn't follow this idea any further atm. What is your thoughts on this? Who is with them in your tank?

@Calmwaters Thank you :-D
 
#20 ·
@Byron;278782 Wow, congratulations!!!!
I actually considered Pencialfish for one of the larger tanks too (45+55g) but I am unclear as to their behavior vs Tetra behavior so I didn't follow this idea any further atm. What is your thoughts on this? Who is with them in your tank?

@Calmwaters Thank you :-D
Generally speaking, pencilfish are fine with tetras (and hatchetfish). All these are characins. The family Lebiasinidae holds two sub-families, Lebiasininae and Pyrrhulininae; the distinction is the patch of teeth on the palates of the former making them a predatory tetra-like fish. The latter sub-family contains some lovely aquarium fish in its two tribes; Pyrrhulinini have upturned mouths and lack the lateral line, and include the Splash Tetras and similar small fish. The other tribe, Nannostomini, contain the pencilfish. More sensitive to water parameters and quality that the common tetras, so one has to pay attention to that. They all occur in very quiet calm waters thick with plants. There are two genera recognized now, after Gery (1977), Nannostomus [from the Greek for small mouth] and Nannobrycon [from Greek for small biter]. The names are a clue to feeding; these fish need fine foods and can be fussy, although some are as adept as tetras at eating anything offered.

The genus Nannobrycon contains but two species, N. eques (common name diptail pencilfish) and N. unifasciatus [meaning single line or stripe, a reference to the one blackish lateral line on a buff-coloured background]. I have both in my 90g, and it is the former that has spawned probably several times in the past few months. Gery set out the internal biological differences between the fish species in this genus and those in Nannostomus, but the easy way to tell tham apart is that the two Nannobrycon species always swim at an oblique angle, head up about 45 degrees. All species in Nannostomus swim horizontal.

I also have a pair of Nannostomus mortenthaleri in the same tank. A recent species discovered in 2000 and named after the exporter who discovered them in the Rio Nanay (their only known habitat); I had a small group imported direct from Peru, but they refused to eat or stopped eating one by one right from the start, until only the pair were left and they have been in there for several months now. Interestingly, FishinPole mentioned he had a similar experience with his group. I have Hyphessobrycon metae, Paracheirodon simulans (the false or green neon), hatchets (Carnegiella marthae and C. myersi), Poecilocharax weitzmanni, Farlowella acus--all of these are wild caught; and Corydoras pygmaeus, C. panda, C. similis and Aspidoras in this tank.

I have a group of Nannostomus beckfordi in the 115g; this species is the most robust, the males can be a little rough at times, driving other fish away from their "space" but not in my experience leading to any injury. Still, they need room to keep the stress down for the co-inhabitants. These fish regularly spawn. Haven't had fry lately, but I did back in the late 1990's. This species does very well with dwarf cichlids; the males are not easily bullied.

All pencilfish males drive the females hard; I try to get a ratio of 2 males to 3 females or multiples of this; I started with 8 beckfordi, 4/4 because that's all they had, and lost 3 females within 4 months through the males behaviour; I've added more females as I have found them. This trait is noticeable even with the Nannobrycon eques.

For the most part, pencils behave like tetras, only more sensitive and demanding at times.

B.
 
#21 ·
My main concern for a group of them would be my tank size with 55g, they'd be in there with a school of Cardinal & Emeropr some Hatchet's and Cory & Otto's (so the thought anyway at this early on point in my tank life).

As for feeding with the smaller fish like my killi's I was most successful with Daphina & Krill in the past, would this be appropriate for them? I did offer Bloodworms to them as well, but really they only tought the 'left overs' from the Cory's that were in the tank with them.

When reading up on the so far, everything to me pointed in the direction to not have them early on in my tank, but rather maybe let's say 1 yrs down the Rd for two reasons 1) Fully established tank 2) Plant growth by then will have covered the grater majority of the tank - Is this conclusion in line with what you have experienced or would suggest for these fish?
 
#23 · (Edited)
My main concern for a group of them would be my tank size with 55g, they'd be in there with a school of Cardinal & Emeropr some Hatchet's and Cory & Otto's (so the thought anyway at this early on point in my tank life).

As for feeding with the smaller fish like my killi's I was most successful with Daphina & Krill in the past, would this be appropriate for them? I did offer Bloodworms to them as well, but really they only tought the 'left overs' from the Cory's that were in the tank with them.

When reading up on the so far, everything to me pointed in the direction to not have them early on in my tank, but rather maybe let's say 1 yrs down the Rd for two reasons 1) Fully established tank 2) Plant growth by then will have covered the grater majority of the tank - Is this conclusion in line with what you have experienced or would suggest for these fish?
Yes, pencils do not tolerate fluctuations in water parameters or quality well, certainly worse that tetras, and that includes going into a newer tank, shipment to stores, shipment home, and transferring from one tank to another unless the parameters are identical. And I learned the hard way not to buy them when they first arrive in the store or dealer. Let them settle in after being shipped. I'm wondering if this may not have been a factor in the loss of most of my N. mortenthaleri, they came up from Peru to the local dealer and I got them 3 days later. On another ocassion I bought N. unifasciatus the day after they arrived in the store direct from Peru again; within 2 days all were dead. I heard from the store owner that most of his were dead as well, so clearly this was not me but the sensitivity of the fish.

Daphnia is good, my pencils like this very much. They also eat flake and frozen bloodworms, though the N. unifasciatus have some difficultly because their mouth is very small and they have to chew and chew on bloodworms, and other fish see this and come up and grab the bloodworms right out of their mouths while the pencils are struggling with them.

B.

Just occurred to me, that rummynose are quite sensitive something like pencils to water and moving too. I usually wait for the tank to settle (3-4 months) before they come in. I've lost many of them when I didn't follow this. Hope yours were stronger, and no further problems. B.
 
#22 ·
Very nice! I am thinking about getting some of both of those fish. I want them in my 55gal, but haven't quite determined if I will have room for them. I use to have a a bunch of rummy's but lost them all. They where so pretty, at least I still have the pics.

I know what you mean w/ the camera. They hate fish tanks:).
 
#24 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top