Ctenopoma's Coming Soon!

[jkarlson]

I just ordered Ctenopoma Ansorgii, Ctenopoma Fasciolatum, and Ctenopoma Weeksi and they come wednesday!!!! I can't wait to get them acclimated to the Ctenopoma Paradise

Is it wednesday yet?!

 

[jkarlson]

Weeksi:

Fasciolatum:

Acutirostre:

Ansorgii: MIA

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Love the patterning of the C. weeksi and the very angular shape of the C. fasciolatum.

I've held back on commenting on your tank for a while, but there are a few things I feel you need to work on and you will get so much more out of your nice bushfish collection...

• The lighting... It seems awfully bright, when bushfish are creatures of the shadows, my four ~10cm SL two year olds are extremely active in the evening but even during the day they do pootle about in my ambiently lit 5x2x2 (next to the garage window, the side facing the pane is covered with insulating layers all year round these days, the top is ~50% covered by towels allowing some tank areas to get some light that only hits the tank directly from ~1100-1400 each day). Just read your sig states LED, so perhaps is this excess lighting only for photos?
• The furniture/plants... I'm guessing at least some of your plants are real, which fair enough, will hopefully grow upwards and sideways over time, but generally speaking your tank needs a lot more furniture if your photos show a true representation of theit tank. Bushfish adour having broad bushy plants to imitate leaves in, even if they are fake like the ones I have in my 5x2x2, while stacks of bogwood that create a mid and low water maze to explore definitely appeal to their inquisitive side too (like many of the smaller puffers). Again, my 5x2x2 has bogwood cover in all but the outer edge of the tank floor (to give my 25cm Synodontis notata enough clearance to do laps if he so wants) to a height close to ~15".
• The tankmates... Having "been there and done that" I can say from first hand experience that the bahviour of my bushfish is like night and day, comparing when I have zippy Barilius/Opsarius in there until February (very shy, rarely using the upper water) and how they are now (using the full volume of the tank). Your Rosy Barb might be a little too zippy, while I hope your Glassfish are not Kryptopterus minor (that might well be attempted live lunch menu items) and are hopefully Kryptopterus bicirrhis that grow far bigger and are perfect tankmates for bushfish (too big to be eaten, calm moving and calm eating). In terms of the bushfish combo, I'm not convinced that Microtenopoma ansorgii will do well with its larger relatives over time (it might even be attempted live lunch), while two Ctenopoma acutirostre is not regarded as a good number (singleton or 3+ at the very least) and as they get older I fear one will become horribly dominated by the other. I cannot comment much on the bushfish mixing itself and the dynamics that might come into play, besides mentioning I think my four may include a contaminant C. ocellatum who has grown quicker than the others and is now bigger than the fourth bushfish (at time of purchase they were ~6cm and ~11cm SL respectively) and the two of them quarrel far more than the two smaller acutirostre.

I'm not trying to have a go bashing your tank, just passing on my experiences from the last ~27 months with my four... We should be looking after these same fish for the next 18 years and beyond!

 

[jkarlson]

Thanks and no offense taken! Constructive criticism is the only way we learn!


Lighting: Yeh it is bright, I like the lights itself, but I'm going to replace more whites with blues. The Acutirostres and Weeksi, amazing, seem to have no problem with activity with the light on. However the Ansorgii, who naturally hides a lot anyway, and the fasciolatum do have a problem with it.


Plants: All live, although I'm a HORRIBLE aquascaper/plant keeper. I just spent most of my money getting the fish, so friday I'm getting hornwort to float on top, probably a few more Val. and is there anything else you suggest on plants that they would like?

Tankmates: The glass cats are Bicirris(spelling?). I almost did get the minors, but the LFS gave me decent advice for once

My biggest problem is space. I have a 30 gallon I REALLY want to get re-set up and get 3-4 ansorgii and move the fasciolatum in as well and let them have their own tank. Also then up the numbers on the Acutirostre.


Again thanks for all the help! I know you're only trying to help me become a better fishkeeper, and make my fish healthier!

Would love to see some pics of your group

 

[DarkEntity]

An idea of what you can do with Ctenopoma because of their large size and huge mouthes.

Ctenopoma & Co

More Ctenopoma & Co

Excuse my crap video was taken on a mobile phone.


and some shots of the tanks.