Thorichthys Meeki - Meek and mild, it ain't. Beautiful, it is.

I got a trio of juvenile Thorichthys Meeki (Firemouth cichlids) about 4 months ago. I made the mistake of putting them in my 50 gallon angel-fish tank. As small juveniles they didn't cause any trouble, but as they developed their full adult colors, they also developed full size adult attitude. Mean. Nasty. Spiteful. But cheery, nonetheless. How can you not be cheery when the bottom of you is a bright rose red, and the sides of you sparkle like a thousand small diamonds?

What a beautiful fish. But what a royal pain. Today, I took the entire tank apart, removed all the plants, rocks, and still I could only catch two out of three of the fish. The substrate which is a fracted-clay commonly used for planted tanks, was full of mulm. As I stirred it up, it became rather cloudy. The fish all disappeared into the haze. I gave up. I came back an hour later, drained the tank down to 1 inch of water left in it, and remove every fish I could see, and still I could not find the last of the Firemouths. Eventually I saw what looked like a shift in the gravel. The fish had turned the exact color of the gravel, and was staying absolutely still. With a bit of cloudiness left in the water, the fish was completely invisible.

I've never seen a better job at going "chameleon" in a fish. My clown loaches gray out, and my the colors of my noses on my yellow labs change from bright unstained yellow, to almost brown, depending on their moods. But this is the first time I've had the entire tank stripped down and only 1 inch of water left, and still I could not find this fish. I thought he might have gone under the gravel, like a horsehead loach that I once had. But no, he wasn't under the gravel. He was just gravel color.

Now the trio of Firemouths are in their own tank. I'm hoping to have lots of cute little fishies in that tank soon.

My Shrimp Tank (youtube)

I have posted a video on youtube showing my 10 gallon shrimp tank. The tank contains Macrobrachium Assamensis (Red Claw or Rusty Claw shrimp), and some more common red cherry shrimp.

Blog Recommendation

Shirlie Sharpe blogs for About.com, and her most recent blog post is quite interesting. It concerns the Japanese art of Gyotaku.

Another good aquarium blog, for those who like planted tanks, is GuitarFish's blog and site. His posts have lots of pictures and they can be a source for inspiration for your next planted tank.

Sarcastic Fringehead

This is one of the coolest and weirdest creatures I have ever seen. It reminds me of those aliens on the Muppet show.



Found originally here:
http://www.wimp.com/sarcasticfringehead/

My Black Angel and his Lovely Wife

These two fishies are in a 50 gallon tank, that is heavily planted. It has pieces of slate lined up against the sides, tilted at a jaunty angle, for them to place their
eggs on. Instead, they have decided that the intake tube of my Eheim cannister filter was a much better place. They have spawned twice now. The first time, the eggs went white (which means a fungus killed them) and they ate their eggs, which is a natural response, when they recognize their eggs are infertile. Now they've done it again, and this time, the eggs seem not to be going white.

My 75 Gallon Malawi Cichlid Tank

I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.



You can view the whole album here.

The History of Our Hobby

The best two articles I have found on the history of the aquarium hobby are:

How did it all begin
by Robin Whittall

-and-
A History of the Hobby (Saltwater Aquariums)
by Roger Vitko

I am fascinated by the early tank designs. Here is a 1920s art-deco tank with a seahorse theme:



Here is a late Victorian lithograph showing a public display of freshwater Trout.