Borneo Pleco? I don't think so ..

[dev]

I found this today. Looks like some interesting reading, plus goes on to cover pH, etc.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plant ... eamdo.html

This is very interesting, thanks a lot for this one

[dev]

With regards to the O2 / CO2 issues, I assume you have a fully planted tank? If so, its never going to be ideal for hillstreams and you'll have to compromise to a certain extent untill you can set up your new tank. You'll never create a really high dissolved oxygen content whilst at the same time maintaining good levels of CO2. In fact although it should'nt do them any harm, any additional CO2 is'nt really disirable for hillstreams, if only becouse they would never encounter it in nature.

The tank is well planted, but leaves much room for swimming and currents. It was originally designed as a medium flow pre-amazon stream, but has become more of an asian influenced community tank.

On the matter of oxygen vs CO2 i will beg to differ. Thriwing plants will oxygenate the water to 100% saturation. Aearation or surface movement will not dissolve any more oxygen than this (but a trickle filter may, and it will not affect the CO2 levels either). This is easily proven by bubbles forming on the leaves when the water cannot take up any more. If anyone have information that indicates otherwise, I will be very interested to hear about it.

Its important to remember these fishes natural habitats when creating an aquarium environment for them. The mountain rivers and streams in which they live are literally white-water in places and can reach speeds of 1 metre per second (there are some good pictures to illustrate this in Martin's article). It is for this reason that they have evolved with such extreme physical adaptions, ie their 'sucker-bellys', which enable them to cling to and graze over rocks in such waters. So basically, the suggested oxygen level for hillstreams is as high as you can possibily get it! You should have high flow, surface agitation and ideally, some sort of airation too. Martin's article does also go on to explain exactly why these fish cannot tolerate low O2 levels, ie their haemoglobin has a low affinity for oxygen. I'm not saying your tank does have low O2 levels, I'm just trying to give you a picture of the ideal environment for hillstreams to thrive.

Of course. The river tank will definately be made to imitate their natural habitat, which I am currently researching to the best of my abilities

Thank you for this information.

Also, I'm not sure how accurate your O2 test kit would actually be. I've used a Tetra one in the past, and found it to be pretty useless.

To my knowlegde, temperature and the previous mentioned bubbles from the plants are the best indicator of oxygen saturation. At 100% saturation in freshwater at 25 C the dissolved oxygen is 8.6 ppm. Lower temperatures allow for more dissolved O2.

I also use the tetra test, which is not very accurate, but it confirms that dissolved O2 is somewhere around 8 ppm. I have been on the lookout for a better test, but without any luck so far.

[dev]

It would be a good idea to provide your fish with some flat stones if you can. They like to rest on such stones, particularly in the current flow.

The rocky background does have several flat horizontal surfaces, some of them diretly in front of the pump outlet. They seem to spend some time on these. Even more time is spent on the glass on the oposit side (this is likely the coolest place in the tank), or foraging. They seem to move around as a loose group most of the time.

I will see what I can do lower the temperature and add some rocks to this tank aswell. I think the river tank will be mostly rock and sand. No heater, and low light.

[dev]

Taking Martin's advice, here are some more pictures to help identify them. As you can see there are slight variations in pattern and colour.

The fish does seem to like their new home, and they are all quite active. They fight the hypancistrus for the algea pellets, and are spending much time foraging in all areas of the tank.

Once again, thank you for all the information and opinions you have provided, it is much appreciated!

edit> reposted the pictures as jpg, that png was huge

[Emma Turner]

Great photos, dev!

[Jim Powers]

Martin: Interesting reading.It brought back memories for me. I had a summer job during college in which we sampled various watersheds generally above and below factories or sewage treatment plants. Part of the sampling involved running dissolved oxygen tests using the Azide Winkler method shown in the text.


dev: Nice pics! That is quite a group of beaufortia you have there.

[Graeme Robson]

Superb pictures dev!!

They may be 'common' to some. But they are one of my favorite Hilly's.

[dev]

Superb pictures dev!!

They may be 'common' to some. But they are one of my favorite Hilly's.

Hehe .. I don't think "common" is a word anyone from around here would use to describe them. The shops have no idea what they are or how to treat them. If you do find them in a shop, they'll probably tell you it is a dwarf ancistrus or pleco. There are no registered local breeders, and the price tag of $25 pretty much says "hard to get by".

Glad you all liked the pics

[Gary Herring]

On the matter of oxygen vs CO2 i will beg to differ. Thriwing plants will oxygenate the water to 100% saturation. Aearation or surface movement will not dissolve any more oxygen than this (but a trickle filter may, and it will not affect the CO2 levels either). This is easily proven by bubbles forming on the leaves when the water cannot take up any more. If anyone have information that indicates otherwise, I will be very interested to hear about it.

Yeah fair enough, I take your point about the plants. TBH I'd not even taken that factor into consideration. Obviously then you'd have to take extra care at night by increasing airation and perhaps dropping temp by a degree, but I'm sure you are well aware of all that already.

What I said about O2 vs CO2 was just based upon my experiance with my own river tanks, where even though the tank is well stocked with fish, the CO2 level is practically zero at all times due to the sheer amount of water circulation and surface agitation. This, I think, is the main factor that contributes to my PH levels staying stable at 7 or slightly over, even with a KH of 2/3 and loads of bogwood.

Great pics BTW, and lovely healthy looking Beaufortia you have there. More often than not, these fish arrive in pretty poor condition and often won't feed on anything other than algae for a couple of weeks, so yours must have settled in well already

[Martin Thoene]

Yes great pictures. Seems we have some similar substrate..............



I have this in a 30 gallon tank, plus a bit left in a container. I bought it years ago in England and know that it's hard to get, so when I emigrated, I shipped it over in a plastic tub along with my other stuff.

Only a complete fish nut does this kind of thing right?

Martin.

[dev]

Yeah fair enough, I take your point about the plants. TBH I'd not even taken that factor into consideration. Obviously then you'd have to take extra care at night by increasing airation and perhaps dropping temp by a degree, but I'm sure you are well aware of all that already.

hehe, sort of. I run the air pump at intervals (15 minutes every hour) whenever the lights are out, to clear out some CO2 and keep the water oxygenated.

I hadn't considered the benefit of a temperature drop, but it is already implemented if I want to or not. The heater is usually set to 25 C (24 now), and the lights usually add 1 or 2 degrees during the day, which will then drop slowly to 24 after they go out.

What I said about O2 vs CO2 was just based upon my experiance with my own river tanks, where even though the tank is well stocked with fish, the CO2 level is practically zero at all times due to the sheer amount of water circulation and surface agitation. This, I think, is the main factor that contributes to my PH levels staying stable at 7 or slightly over, even with a KH of 2/3 and loads of bogwood.

*nod* Aeration and surface movement will remove any CO2 for sure, leaving only the ambient 3-5 ppm. This is why I limit surface movement and don't aerate during the day in my planted tanks.

Great pics BTW, and lovely healthy looking Beaufortia you have there. More often than not, these fish arrive in pretty poor condition and often won't feed on anything other than algae for a couple of weeks, so yours must have settled in well already

Thanks!

And yes, they must have been in a better condition than i feared when I bought them I suppose the particular warm weather that day must have dazed them a little in the shop tank.

But even though they seem to do fine in the planted tank, I can't wait to get them a real home! I've also booked 4 of the spotted Sewellia to keep them company

[dev]

*snip*
Only a complete fish nut does this kind of thing right?

hehe, perhaps. But like you say, it IS hard to get, and most fish prefer a dark substrate for safety. Besides, with some high kelvin light in the front it adds brilliant contrast and color without giving the tank a yellowish look