Nanochromis teugelsi

[anewbie1]

After much thought i decided to go with the jelly beans and drop the red terror as they would likely go after frys. I did order a small group of Neolebias ansorgii but these will go in the 10 that the n. teugelsi are vacating. I did pick up a 2nd species for the 29 - some african whiptails known as Phractura sp. They should make for an innocent but interesting addition.

So the total stocking will be:
2 N. teugelsi - one large and one samll
14 or so Jelly Beans - after all Jelly Beans are always fun
and
3 Phractura sp - just avoid the tail or you will get whipped.

 

[anewbie1]

Did a few minor update today:

A wad of tubing arrived in today's mail - also the leaves have begun to fall unfortunately covering the new plants....

What i need to do with that wad of tubing is connect it to the gain next to the pump run it behind the discus aquarium, behind the wolli aquarium and to the 29 i'm setting up.

Now if i had been smart - and no one has ever accused me of being smart - i would have taken one of the air tubes off the wolli 29 and connected it to the gain under the new aquarium and then taken the other air tube off the wolli 29 and cut it into pieces and use it for the two 29s but oh no - instead i had to order another wad of tubing to run to the new 29. Sigh.

And now we have the 29 with most of the leaves pushed a bit back to expose the plants and as you can see bubbles !!!

What is left is to cut the plastic strip that goes on the lid - will wait till i remove the left sponge filter then cut it for the canister filter.

On tuesday there will be another update as the fishes will arrive. I will swap the sponges in the aquarium with live ones - probably one from the nijjensi aquarium and one from the wolli aquarium or green neon tetra aquarium. Add the fishes and test daily for ammonia or similar issues for a week - doing water changes if it gets above 0.1 - usually it goes pretty smoothly. After that i;'ll wait till after May 15 to try to add the n. teugelsi - though i dread trying ot catch them. Maybe i'll have to use a soda bottle on them. We'll see. Pity i don't have any chcolate i could offer them in exchange for a relocation package. Oh wait - they are suppose to offer me chocolate in exchange for a relocation package. Hum... gotta think on that.

 

[anewbie1]

So fast forward to tuesday and a bit went on. Did my first water change, swap new sponge filters with ones that are very old and full of yummies. A bit earlier than expected the fishes arrived and this is approx after 2 hours of settling in:

Full aquarium - i added some of these:

A little concern about them since there isn't much biofilm - hopefully things will get going fast enough that they can hang on. Description sez they eat algae but i suspect it is mostly biofilm - decaying leaves and such should help:

Some of these - they came in very very tiny about 1/3 the size of the ones I purchased from Jeff a couple of months ago on the negative side they could be snack size for the larger fishes on the positive they hang near the top as expected.

And some of these:

Geographically these fishes are in the wrong aquarium - when purchased i intended to put them in my gibbs aquarium but i want to see how they develop so for now i put them in here - they are an undescribed species sold as Hemigrammus sp. (Yurimaguas Tetra) - no clue how large they will get nor where they will settle in the aquarium or pretty much anything else....
Last but least i picked up 8 of these:

And perhaps i should have put them in here i ended up putting them in the 10 where they will remain after i move the n. teugelsi.

What's next is monitoring the water every day and testing it once or twice a day until things look good and hopefully next wednesday or thursday I can ask the mr and ms if they mind relocating. More to follow.... stay tune.

 

[anewbie1]

Did first tests this morning; nitrite 0 but ammonia 0.20; so did a 30% water change and add a touch of prime. All 16 jumping beans were fine but yummys and cats went into hiding when they saw my ugly face. I did spot one cat on the underside of a leaf.

 

[GaryE29 144]

Phractura are cool. We caught a bunch of them in Gabon, and I foolishly didn't keep any. The ones we caught in Benin were earmarked for a friend, and were also really nice fish.

 

[anewbie1]

Did another water change this evening - ammonia was around 0.15ppm but nitrite remain 0; also i wanted a better picture of the yummies. When they are spooked they hide much like dwarf cichild very low in the leaves and actually a few under the driftwood:

 

[anewbie1]

Phractura are cool. We caught a bunch of them in Gabon, and I foolishly didn't keep any. The ones we caught in Benin were earmarked for a friend, and were also really nice fish.

They are cool but there seem to be several very similar species. The ones i have were simply sold as sp and of course that means if i buy from another group they would likely be a similar but different species.

My biggest concern is if they will get enough biofilm to keep them alive as the aquarium bakes. My hope is the leaves will help a lot.

 

[GaryE29 144]

There are 13 described Phractura species, but there could be many more. They've never gotten enough attention.

 

[anewbie1]

Test ammonia again this morning and it was around 0.15 so did a water change; no good deed can go unpunished and the python hose popped out of the pail and spilled a bit of water - the floor itself is concrete with drains but i got to use my oops towels and wash them which i had been thinking about doing the past several months.

Nitrite was 0 - bit concern one of the jelly beans either died or vanished. Hard to tell for sure they are so tiny and never sit still when i ask them to take a head count. At least they remain near the top.

 

[anewbie1]

The only thing new today is the yumies or perhaps it is yurmies have stopped hiding and all 8 are now around mid level in the aquarium; which is a good thing given how lovely they are becomming.

 

[anewbie1]

A few more pictures of the yummies or for the purist yurmies:

 

[anewbie1]

Still getting a little ammonia not sure why - i moved two of the three whiptails to the 40b as a food precaution - the 40b is another blackwater aquarium which has been setup for years with no real algae eater so they should find lots of food in there. If i see the #3 tomorrow i'll move it. I plan on going ahead and move the nt's from teh 10 to the 29 despite seeing traces of ammonia though i really shouldn't be seeing any at this point. I might take a third mature sponge filter and stuff it into the canister filter tomorrow if i do see ammonia when i test it in the morning.

hum. oh i took these as an alternative pictures of the yummies:

 

[anewbie1]

Did a bit today - i asked the third whiptail if he would like to join his friends in the 40; he checked out the net seemed ok with the move and then at the last minute decided no way he was moving - so i'll have to try again another day. I did add 3 more whiptails tot he 40 - i was suppose to get 4 but then got a call saying the 4th one decided to not to take the trip but that is another story.
-
I managed to move the male and female nt from the 10 to the 29. Gotta say it can be a pain in the butt to catch a 3 inch fish in a 10 gallon aquarium that does not want to leave. The female was a tiny bit more agreeable but seemed unhappy with being moved. However about 10 minutes after the move she was out and about exploring every nook and cranny of her new home out in the open in full sight. So I think she will work out just fine in the 29. Havent' seen the male since i moved him. In truth this is a species that deserves a 65 but both of my 65s are occupied right now.

I will say that all the excitement was a bit too much for my yummies so they went back to hiding under the leaves at the bottom of the tank but after 20 or so minutes as i was finishing up they came back out so i think they will get over it. TomC commented that he has a group of yummies and they are really yummy. One of the nicer tetras i've purchased in a long time. Right up there with morse code and n. epesi.
--
There should be another sections on tetra because there are so many tetra out there but i digress. I'll try to get some pictures of the NT's in their new home if they show up but heck I could never get the male to pose in the 10 and now he has even more hiding places. He also eats funny. More like a lizard than a fish.
--
Well they didn't want to be photographed so no picture today BUT whippie changed his mind and decided to go visit his friends in the 40B so that is done. Also the ammonia tested 0 so we shall check again tomorrow morning but maybe i'm done with the extra water changes.

 

[anewbie1]

The chemistry was good this morning. Today was frozen brine shrimp day - and the female was willing to come out as long as a leaf was above her so she went from leaf to leaf and ate gobs. Near the end of the feeding i saw the male and squrited a bit back in his corner where the female joined him (which i found a bit odd because it was the first time i saw them together in over 2 months in which the male did not chase her). His cave is back corner by the blue sponge filter under the large driftwood. This is a picture - when i started to take it his nose was sticking out but shoving a phone back there pushed him furtherback:


without flash

with flash

-
If we go back to an earlier photo; behind the sponge filter you see a blue sponge on the canister return and for the above photo the sponge you see is that blue one. Also in the below image you see how some of the leafs are sticking up and the female was willing t come out as long as a leaf protected her top side. In truth i didn't see the male until i saw his reflection off the glass when i was watching the female.

 

[anewbie1]

So - the male spent today digging quite a hole in that back corner. This morning it was only like 2 or 3 inches and now it must be at least 6 inches back there - shinning a light he was able to go back quite deep and i could only see his scales. Kind of wish i made it deeper. I think it is around 2 1/2 inch deep but i ahve 1/2 a bag left i could have made it 4 inches deep though i'm not sure i should muck with it inow.