A few random pictures from the past week or so

[anewbie]

Nope. This is the caudal of your fish. That is a N. trifasicatus/erythrurus pattern. Compare that to the solid red caudal of N. limatus above.

View attachment 374497

Ok i looked at the ones i think were limatus and they have almost no colour - so probably not the species they were sold as - they hang near the front and is almost impossible to get a good picture so none offered. I also have one outlier that is almost all gold - but lacks the red of a marginatus and has one less black stripe. Not sure if it came in with the marginatus i purchased from wetspot a month ago (those were the ones pictured above) or with the sao whatever from aquaticclarity but it is a sample of one.
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Also i offer this picture for today since i could not get a good one of the pencil fishes; no clue how old he is - purchased him 2 years ago and he was already a full grown adult.

 

[Innesfan]

Looks like a mature L. curviceps.

 

[anewbie]

Looks like a mature L. curviceps.

Well it might look like one but try Krobia xinguensis

 

[anewbie]

Some pictures from today water change - nothing special:

I couldn't get the phone to critically focus and this happens a lot - really need to dig out that slr i haven't used in 10 years for pictures like this one as there was no excuse. Anyway I was talking to @GaryE about otto and this one is one of my parotocinclus - p. haroldoi (known as galaxy otto). This is one of the 'worse' samples i have in that the others are darker and have more obvious white specs but he (or likely she) was out and in the open. One thing i like about these is unlike most otto like cat fishes that prefer 68-76 or 72-78 range this one is happy (and prefer) warmer waters. The books say 73-85 but some sources suggest somethign closer to 76 to 85 - anyway they are one of the few otto like fishes that are comfortable with discus (I keep mine at 83) and blue rams (80-81).

I have two groups in 10s with the rams but had eventually planned to move them to the discus aquarium though I might wait till after i move as they will get a larger home but that is a few years down the line.

In a few of my aquariums i have algae 'outbreaks'. The most common of the two types of algae is the one below which is a variant of hair algae that grows when plants struggle. In this case a year ago i traded some of my nice crypts (see first page of this thread) which grow wild and needed thinning with someone who gave me a crypt i had been look for - for a few years and he tossed in some moss and a few other goodies. The moss is just starting to take form (you can see it on the edge of the algae) though at this rate it might take another 2 or 3 years to really get established. I tell people when they buy aquatic plants and they marvel at the fast growth they are seeing growth that started before they purchase it and they need to wait at least 6 months to see how the plant is going to grow in their environment. They never believe me.

Last but least i picked up this new plant; i've only had it for 3 weeks so way too soon to tell if it will grow well - i was mostly checking it to see if it was putting out new roots. It has a reputation of being extremely slow grower so at least 6 months before i know if it will wither and die or become a mighty beast. Still it has the potential to be quite a nice addition.

 

[anewbie]

New pictures of the day:

 

[anewbie]

Some cats @ play: