Altum angelfish originally came from Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. The word Altum is a Latin word that means tall and this fits the fish well because it can grow as 30cm/12” in height and they can get long as 15 cm/6”. These angelfish are the sensitive version of angels. They are not that suitable for keeping as pets because of their timid and sensitive traits plus they could cost a lot ranging from $20-$50. But if you really into this angel, then you must prepare to pay for this amount to acquire this sensitive angel. The suitable and normal range of ph for its water is 4.5-6.5 plus they prefer warmer water with the temperature of 28-30C/82-86F.
Altum Angelfish is one of the largest and colorful cichlids. They are known for its timid traits that even a small shadow could frighten them. Though they are timid and a bit frightened, when they start to get accustomed to its surroundings, they can be good pet fish. But this fish is not that friendly to smaller fishes in the reefs though they may join the school of other fishes, they still get aggressive and very territorial as they grow older and when they in the breeding stage. It was in the early 1900s when the first altum angelfish was introduced and established in America. There have been numerous colors and patterns available in every pet shop, retailer and wholesalers since then.
Altum Angelfish has a habit of always yawning. Their mouths are larger than any angels. These fishes are very rare and most of the time, you will notice some defects on their skin in a pet shop because of the shipping and sometimes because of the fighting scene from other predators. You will also notice some black pepper-like sprinkles on their skin. This is an infection called black spot disease. Adult altum can grow up to 13 to 15 inches or more. You must provide a large and spacious tank or aquarium for them.
When it comes to the altum angelfish diet, this species is not a picky eater. They most especially like to feed on mosquito larvae, blood worms, Daphnia and some live brine shrimp. They prefer these foods to be frozen first. Make sure to feed them once a day then leave one day out before you feed them again to make sure that they really digested it all. Brine shrimp can also help their digestion and can even prevent constipation. Altums also like to eat the substrate on their tanks which can injure their delicate mouths Though most cichlids are peaceful, altum can be quite aggressive and territorial when it comes to space on their tanks. Make sure to use coarse gravel with more rounded edges to prevent this harm to happen to your altums.
Chaetopterus also is known as parchment worm or parchment tubeworm is a member of the phylum Annelida. The parchment worm is a marine polychaete worm that dwells in the tube which it constructs by sediments or attaches to any coral reef substrate. It is known as parchment worm because of the parchment type of tube the worm makes.
They are filter feeders and the adults dwell completely throughout their entire lives in the tube unless and until the tube is destroyed or damaged somehow. The young ones feed on planktons which is a typical feature among the phylum Annelida.
The tubes of the worms are either attached to the rocks or are present in the sandy bottom near the shallow waters. The body of the worm is thrown into segments and the whole body is provided with spines which are used for tunnelling while the worm is busy in making the burrow.
The worm is known to make a U-shaped burrow in which it finally lives. The tubes are lined with mucus. The tubes measure 85 cm in length and 4 cm in diameter. The centre of the tube is the widest area. The worm is highly specialized among the polychaetes as the middle segments of the body bear highly specialized parapodia adapted to participate in filter-feeding. The parapodia are large in size and are fan-shaped which are used to create suction and pump water through the tube. The morphology of parapodia is used in the identification of species. The worm feeds by using specialized structures present on the mid-body segments that secrete mucus for trapping the food particles. A flow of water is created by three circular flaps on the three segments that create suction and draws water towards the tube.
They lack any organ capable of detecting light as the worm passes its entire life buried inside the tube. Apart from this sort of habitat few species are known to exhibit bioluminescence. When the worm is disturbed in its burrow it moves away from the point of disturbance and secrets mucus towards the disturbance point which crystallizes and emits bioluminescence of blue colour. Two species of filter-feeding crabs belonging to two different families are known to dwell in the tubes of these worms.
Apart from these two species, a third one is also known to inhabit the worm's tube sometimes. Polyonyx and Pinnixa are most frequently found to dwell in the tube of the parchment worm. They may be present together also. The breeding pairs do not share the tube with crabs and other species of animals. The crabs generally tend to dwell in the tubes and leave the tubes only when disturbed.
The male Dwarf Gouramis of all the colour variations are brightly coloured, while the females of most colour variations are relatively drab in appearance. However, the Coral Blue Dwarf Gourami is an exception to this in that the Female is also a beautiful Coral Blue colour and is scarcely inferior in colour to the male. The one thing common to all the colour variations is that the males all have some red on them while the females have almost no red.
Breeding
It is extremely unlikely that the dwarf Gouramis will succeed in breeding and raising babies with other fish in the tank. So you need to set up a tank specifically for their breeding. Some people have succeeded with tanks as small as 20 Litres (5 US Gallons), but I prefer a tank of at least 50 litres (13 US gallons).
The temperature should be about 27 degrees C (81 degrees F), and the pH neutral or slightly acidic. The hardness should be no higher than 10 dH. Normally the water level is lowered to about 20 centimetres (8 inches). Although I certainly recommend doing this, I have also succeeded in breeding this fish with much deeper water.
The breeding tank should be very well planted with a variety of types of plant, and including some floating ones.
You should only have one male present, but he can handle more than one female.
Nest
The Dwarf Gourami is a bubble nest builder. Unlike most of the Gouramis, the male usually incorporates some floating plants into their nest. As well as actual whole floating plants he may also incorporate bits of plants that he has broken off and chewed. The nest is relatively large compared with the size of the fish as well as being more elaborate than that of most gouramis.
Spawning
The male will entice a female under the nest. They may have a few trial matings. The male wraps his body around the female, turning her on her side or upside down and he releases his sperm at the same time as she releases her eggs. Any eggs that do not float up into the nest the male will pick up with his mouth and put into the nest. One female can lay up to 800 eggs.
After spawning with one female, the male will entice another one under the nest and this can continue until he runs out of females ready to breed. The total spawning procedure can take several hours. After spawning the male will add another layer of bubbles to the underside of the nest. He will defend his nest and the eggs. The females will need to be removed without disrupting the nest.
Raising the Fry
The eggs should hatch in 12-24 hours, and the fry should be free swimming in about 3 days. It is safer for the male to be removed once the fry is free-swimming.
Dwarf Gourami fry is very small. Some people cannot even see them with the naked eye, so babies will need microscopic food for some time. Often the first food to be given to them is green water. This is water with so many free-swimming algae that it looks green. The babies will grow and be able to eat bigger microscopic food, generally referred to as infusoria. After a while, they will be able to graduate to bigger food like newly hatched brine shrimp and screened Daphnia.
Live food is best for the babies, but this can be supplemented with commercial fry foods.
Filtering
A filter is necessary, but a normal power filter would suck up many of the babies. People have different ways of solving this problem. Some people put a thin cloth over the water inlet of the filter to stop the fry being sucked in. My preferred solution is to use a sponge filter.
Oranda Goldfish are characterized by the bubble-like growth on their head. This fascinating growth is called a "wen". Oranda goldfish's wen can grow to be very large. For larger Oranda, this can lead to some sight impairment as well as swimming issues. These fish can be very awkward swimmers and this problem increases as the wen grows, making the Oranda goldfish more and more top-heavy.
Tank Requirements:
Oranda goldfish can grow to be 8-12" in length. These fish's egg-shaped bodies also take up a lot of space in an aquarium. Because of this size, it is recommended that in order to provide adequate Oranda Goldfish Care you should have a tank of at least 20-30 gallons. This tank should be larger if you are housing more than one fish.
Another important part of Oranda goldfish care is water aeration. Goldfish, in general, tend to be oxygen hogs. To keep your fish happy and healthy it is best to have a tank with good surface area exposed to air. This, matched with a quality filter, can help make sure the water is moving enough and the oxygen content in the water remains high. If you see your fish tends to hang around the top of the water this could be a sign of oxygen deprivation. The best solution is to increase the water movement at the surface of the water or add an air pump that can use bubbles to increase oxygen content.
Tanks for this fish should also provide adequate filtration. While the Oranda is a hardy goldfish good for beginners - it can also be a very messy fish. It is recommended to keep a filter that runs 10x the aquarium volume per hour. This is especially necessary if you are housing multiple fish in one tank.
Tankmates:
Because this fish is beautiful, wen can make it very top-heavy, it is a very awkward and slow swimmer for a fish. To give the best Oranda goldfish care possible it is best to abstain from housing this goldfish with faster, more agile fish. It is also advisable to keep aquarium decorations that are smooth and avoid any sharp edges that an Oranda could cut itself on. Like all goldfish, the Oranda does not make a suitable tank mate for tropical fish because of the differences in size, preferred temperature and diet.
Breeding Oranda:
Oranda goldfish are egg layers. They will find a suitable place in the tank to lay their eggs and the male will fertilize them. Once the eggs are laid the goldfish's parenting duties are over. If you are hoping to raise some of the fries you will want to have a second tank to move the parents to after the eggs are fertilized as they will eat their own eggs!
If you are trying to breed Oranda you will need to know the sex of the fish. This can be very difficult to decipher as both sexes are very similar. In most cases, female Oranda will be larger than males - but the only way to tell is by watching them mate or venting the fish. A good LFS might be able to vent the fish at the time of purchase.
While Oranda goldfish care is pretty simple, it should be taken seriously. These beautiful fish can live to be over 20 years old!
Over forty years ago I first kept and bred Dwarf Gouramis. At that time they could reasonably be described as a hardy fish. Unfortunately the ones we get nowadays have lost much of this hardiness. This loss of hardiness seems to have been caused by several different things.
They have been selectively bred, producing a number of different colour variations. It is likely that many of these are inbred, and suffer from the lack of vigour frequently caused by inbreeding.
Most of the Dwarf Gouramis bred in places like Singapore will have been kept in controlled conditions and individuals which would have died out quickly in the wild will have survived and often been used for breeding. Related to this is that in captivity fast growth would have been selected for, and particularly fast growth under the near forcing diets fed to commercially bred fish. The fast-growing fish are often not as hardy as wild ones.
Disease
Related to the lack of hardiness in many commercially bred Dwarf gouramis is the fact that many of them are diseased. They are susceptible to normal aquarium fish diseases, but one is of particular concern. This is the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus.
This disease kills the Dwarf Gouramis slowly, sometimes taking as long as a year to kill them. The symptoms include wasting of the fish and there is little doubt that before this disease was identified, fish tuberculosis was blamed for some of the deaths from this virus. This virus may have become a problem because of the extensive inbreeding of this fish in Singapore.
Many virus diseases are specific to a single species, and it is frequently reported that only Dwarf Gouramis can get the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus. However, there are also many conflicting reports.
One study by a team led by Professor Richard Whittington of the University of Sydney, Australia found a 99.95% genetic similarity between the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus and a virus outbreak in 2003 that killed farmed Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii. A test showed that Murray Cod can be infected with the Dwarf Gourami Iridovirus, and had 90% mortality.
There is fear that the Mosquitofish (Gambusia species) can act as a carrier for this virus and aid its spread through wild fish populations. This virus has also been reported as affecting swordtails.
One of the problems with these reports is that there are many types of fish Iridoviruses. Some of them will kill or make the fish ill while others seem to have no bad effects on the fish. To really find out what is happening would take a major research effort.
Several internet articles say that 22% of Dwarf Gouramis coming out of Singapore have this virus. This figure is actually based on a study of Dwarf Gouramis in Australian retail aquarium shops. The study found that 22% of these fish were infected with this virus. All the tested fish had been imported from Singapore. The fairly reasonable jump was made to state that 22% of the Dwarf Gouramis coming out of Singapore were infected.
Of course, all the tested fish would have been through quarantine and any fish showing signs of the disease would have been destroyed. If any batch of fish had a lot of diseased specimens the whole batch would have been destroyed. If an importer loses a whole batch of fish he has lost a lot of money and would look for another supplier.
At least one normally reputable internet site says that most of the fish coming out of Singapore are infected is a very worrying figure, but it certainly is not "most".
Government Action Needed Now!
The trade-in ornamental fish is a major part of Singapore's trade. If there is a problem this serious with Singapore's fish, it needs to be fixed.
Some years ago, a large ornamental fish farm in Australia had a serious problem with fish disease. With government help, they systematically eradicated the disease. This fish farm now has an extremely good reputation for the quality of their fish. Unfortunately, they do not breed Dwarf Gouramis.
The government of Singapore needs to recognise that there is a serious problem and to solve it before Singapore's export trade in fish is ruined.
Definitely one of the more attractive and popular freshwater fishes, the discus fish has been a mainstay in many aquariums all around the globe. Although the fish commands a high price, many people have sought its presence because of its beautiful patterns and color, and they are virtually easy to keep. If you have always wanted a discus fish but are afraid that you might just waste them, then here are a couple of discus fish secrets which will allow you to not only keep them healthy but also keep them happy inside your freshwater aquarium.
Discus fish secrets are not really old age secrets that only a few know. Many of these secrets are open secrets and can be easily learned from a multitude of sources. There are many books that can share these secrets with you and this is due to the rising popularity of the discus fish as an aquarium pet. Some people may find keeping discus fish very difficult while some find it easy, but it’s all about discovering these secrets which spell the difference, and one of the biggest secrets is the environment in which the discus fish lives in.
First off, you need to know that the discus fish has a shy character. You should equip your aquarium with different corals or coral-like ornaments that the discus fish can hide in or at least have some privacy. If these are not available, you can buy some potted plants. These are also good places where the fish can spawn. You should also keep your tank in a quiet area in your home away from the noise so as not to startle the fish. Failure to do so will stress out the fish and can cause anxiety which can lead to their early demise.
Speaking of the tank, because the discus fish is quite large as compared to others, you should have a large enough tank to hold them. A 20 to 27-gallon aquarium would do fine. This way, you can have enough space to hold your discus fish and your aquarium ornaments and if you breeding them, future space for their spawn.
Another well-known secret in raising discus fish is providing them with a good diet. A good diet must be a varied diet, which can include some blood worms, beef heart, tetra pieces, and some frozen or fresh brine shrimp. Remember not to overfeed them and to clean any leftover food. If left inside the tank, the food can turn the water and sicken the discus fish.
And with any fish, the water is the most important. This is their habitat; it should be kept clean at all times. With the discus fish, being that they originate from the Amazon River where there is a warm climate, the water inside your tank should simulate the temperature which is around 25-30 degrees Celsius. Anywhere in the middle would just be perfect. You should also monitor the acidic level of the water kept at a pH level of 6 to 6.5.
