Species Details

Adult size: 3″
Origin: South America
Sexing: Females are plumper
Care level: Easy
Diet: Omnivore
Breeding method: Egg-depositor
Breeding potential: Moderately easy

Tank conditions

Minimum tank size: 20 gallons
pH: 6.0-8.0
Temperature: 24-28′C

Description

Bronze Corydoras catfish are the most common Corydoras species in the aquarium trade. They have a brown/grey colored body with a white underbelly with bronze /green iridescent coloring along their flanks. Their down facing mouths have barbels to help them detect food as they swim along the bottom. Corys can live up to ten years if well cared for. One interesting characteristic of corys is their amusing ability of rolling their eyes seeming to wink at you!

Corys are well protected from predators. Instead of scales, they have two rows of scutes along their flanks. Scutes are bony external plates similar to scales. It acts like armour giving corys extra protection from predators. Corydoras are quite capable of defending themselves and actually have sharp barbs on their dorsal and pectoral fins, which can sting other fish if they try to attack.

Corydoras are ideal inhabitants of a community tank. They have a very peaceful temperament and will not bother your other fish. In the wild, they will move in large schools searching the river bed for food and they also need their own kind as company in home aquarium. They should be kept in groups of at least six.

They will get along with all other community fish but it is best that you avoid keeping them with too many other bottom feeding species to prevent competition over food. They will mix best with fish that swim in the middle and upper levels of the aquarium. Rainbowfish, tetras and angelfish are just a few examples of suitable Corydoras tank mates.

Corydoras are a bottom dwelling species. They will root around the bottom burying their barbels into the substrate as they scavenge for leftover food. They must be kept in an aquarium with rounded gravel or sand to prevent their barbels becoming damaged. They should be provided with plenty of natural retreats including planted areas and caves.

They require a well balanced diet and should be fed on sinking foods to enable the food to reach the bottom before being consumed by other fish. Corys will naturally enjoy live and frozen foods like bloodworm but will also appreciate sinking tablet foods and pellets.

Female Corydoras are identified as being plumber than the males, which is more noticeable when looking from above. When kept in relatively large shoals in the aquarium corys will begin to pair off when they are ready to breed. The pairs can then be separated into breeding aquariums ready for spawning. Breeding pairs should be fed on a good diet.

In nature, corys will breed during the rainy season. This can be simulated by making a fifty percent water change using cool water, which can often induce spawning. During spawning the pair will adopt the “T-position”. The pair will lay around one hundred or more eggs and attach them to a submerged surface such as a clay pot cave or plants. When the fry hatch, they should be removed from their parents and fed on baby brine shrimp until they are large enough to accept regular foods.

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Species Details

Adult size: 1″
Origin: South America
Sexing: Females are plumper
Care level: Easy
Diet: Omnivore
Breeding method: Egg-scatterer
Breeding potential: Moderately difficult

Tank conditions

Minimum tank size: 10 gallons
pH: 5.0-7.0
Temperature: 22-26′C

Description

Neon Tetras are a very popular small shoaling fish with a bright coloration. They are silver bodied with a bright neon blue horizontal stripe from its nose stretching the length of its body and bright red coloration half way along the side of the fish. Neons stay small throughout their life and will reach little more than one inch in adulthood. They can live up to ten years. They are found in the blackwater or clearwater stream tributaries of South America.

Neon tetras are a very peaceful fish and are suitable for a community tank. When mixing neon tetras it is important to consider their size as they can easily appear as prey to many larger species. In their natural environment, neon tetras can be found in large shoals and they should be kept in a group of at least five to exhibit shoaling behaviour in the aquarium. Neon tetras are much happier when kept in groups and will behave in a more natural manner.

Neon tetras are happy in a community tank and should be kept with other small non-aggressive fish. Ideal tank mates include other tetras, discus and other non-predatory, peaceful species that require similar aquarium conditions.

Neons will often swim out in open water but appreciate some natural cover to retreat into as they are naturally a timid species. A planted aquarium is a suitable habitat for them and they will do best in a heavily planted tank with dark substrate and dull lighting. They swim at all level of the tank and can look very attractive with their iridescent colors flashing throughout the aquarium.

In the wild, neon tetras have a very varied diet and will eat any small insects, crustaceans and vegetable matter that they come across. In the aquarium you need to ensure that you provide them with suitable food. They need small food items such as crushed flake, micro pellets and meaty foods like daphnia or small bloodworm. Color enhancing flake food is also available for brightly colored species such as neon tetras to ensure that they maintain their coloring in the aquarium environment.

It can often be difficult to notice the difference between male and female Neon tetras although the easiest way to tell from appearance is that females are generally deeper-bodied and there is often a noticeable bend in their blue stripe. Neon tetras are not the easiest fish to breed as they require very specific water conditions and they are not a prolific spawner. To breed neons, a pair should be separated into a breeding tank and fed a good diet of live food to encourage spawning activity. After the eggs are fertilized, the parents should be removed. The fry are very tiny and should be fed on very small food items such as liquid foods and rotifers until they are old enough to accept larger foods.

Due to commercial over breeding, neon tetras have become a delicate breed and extra care should be taken to reduce stress when introducing them to the aquarium. Another thing to look out for when keeping neons is neon tetra disease (Plistophora), which can be identified by fading of color, ulcers, fin rot and difficulty swimming. This disease is fatal and there is no known cure. If a fish is found with this condition it should be removed from the aquarium immediately to prevent further fish loss.

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Species Details

Adult size: 3″
Origin: Sumatra and Borneo
Sexing: Females are larger and plumper while males show brighter colors
Care level: Easy
Diet: Omnivore
Breeding method: Egg-scatterer
Breeding potential: Moderately easy

Tank conditions and care

Minimum tank size: 20 gallons
pH: 6.0-8.0
Temperature: 22-26′C

Description

Tiger barbs are very attractive fish and are often recommended to beginners as they are easy to care for. They have a distinctive appearance with four dark stripes running vertically along their body and bright red fins and snout. Breeders have produced hybridized specimens making new color forms available including albino tiger barbs green tiger barbs, which have both become popular in the hobby. They will grow to an adult size of approximately three inches and will live to be around five years old.

Tiger barbs have developed a reputation of being fin-nippers and may be considered semi-aggressive. The way to avoid agressive behaviour is to keep them in groups of at least five and they will squabble amongst themselves without bothering the other fish. They are not suitable in all community aquariums and you should also avoid placing them with any vulnerable tank mates that are slow moving and peaceful or have long fins such as Siamese fighting fish or guppies. Tiger barbs enjoy the company of their own species and if kept in a large group they will shoal together, which can give a great effect in a large tank.

Clown loaches make ideal tank mates for tiger barbs as they are found near to each other in the wild. In the aquarium you will find that tiger barbs will often shoal with clown loaches and adopt a similar behaviour. Other suitable tank mates include other barbs, danios and catfish.

They will swim at all levels throughout the water column but will mainly prefer the middle and bottom thirds of the tank. Provide plenty of natural cover and hiding places such as plants, rocks and caves to make your tiger barbs feel less timid swimming in open water.

Tiger barbs will accept most foods in the aquarium environment. You should feed them a varied diet offering a combination of dry foods such as flake and pellets and live or frozen food like bloodworm and daphnia. A good diet will bring out the strong markings and colors of your tiger barbs.

In the community tank, sexually mature tiger barbs will spawn frequently if provided with suitable aquarium conditions. Tiger barbs will lay several hundred eggs each time they spawn but these will be eaten by the parents and other tank members if not removed from the tank. To breed tiger barbs successfully, they should be seperated and kept in a specified breeding tank with plenty of spawning sites such as plant or spawning mops. Tiger barbs do not raise their own young so the parents should be seperated from the eggs shortly after spawning and the fry can be reared on baby brine shrimp and powdered fry formula until they are large enough to be fed normal aquarium foods.

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Well, as you can tell from the immediately preceding post .. it has been a while since this site has been updated.

Well, I have finally upgraded this blog to the latest wordpress version 2.5, added our new network template and upgraded all of the plugins and database and pages behind the scenes.

I hope to continue with the upgrades, and have invited writers from the PetLvr blog to help assist with current information, as I clean up the older information .. including getting the tag cloud better organized!

As this was a major upgrade to the MySQL database and all that .. if you see anything kooky happening, please bring it to my attention via our CONTACT Form

Take care
HART

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Having many blogs in my network, I feel completely justified in promoting this event on every domain and blog that I have at my disposal! Please help me pass the word around the internet, and if you can contribute .. please do!

On September 27, 2007 .. a wonderful thing will happen. Bloggers from all around the world will be “Blogging For A Cause”. I will be participating with my fellow bloggers, and am asking you to help me participate in this event. I will be blogging to .. Stop Animal Cruelty and Pet Abuse - over at PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

I’ve done three posts so far for this event

1) An Introduction Post

2) A Clarification Post

3) How we rescued Zeus the Cat

To paraphrase from the PetLvr Site …

You Too Can Participate on September 27, 2007

I will be posting letters from “PetLvr Readers” around the world that have rescued an animal and made a positive difference in the life of one animal. YOU are the hero! I would like you to email me your story. Every story I receive on and before this Thursday will be published and permanently maintained on the PetLvr website, under a new page called “PetLvr Rescue Stories”. I will also link your website if you have one, and post a picture of your pet if you provide it to me.

* Did you rescue an animal from the humane society?
* Did you take a stray dog in and give it a home?
* Did you know any animal being abused and reported its owners to the authorities?
* Did you save any animal from natural disasters, such as Katrina or the Peru Earthquake?
* Do you work for any non-profit agency and helped save the life of an animal?
* If you are a non-profit agency and would like to be linked to your website 9.27.2007

Then … PLEASE! Email me your stories to: hart (at) PetLvr (dot) com with the subject: 9.27.2007

* If you have a blog, you too can join in with thousand’s of other blogs around the world. You can stop the abuse about any topic (elder abuse, children abuse, spousal abuse, environmental abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, abuse in the workplace, etc) .. it’s up to you!
Just follow the link from clicking the above graphic, and if you are not already a member of BlogCatalog.com .. well, join in and add me (PetLvr) as your friend! and you will be able to see your image in the widget in the sidebar when you come back here on September 27, 2007!

* If you do NOT have a blog .. feel free to start a *FREE* blog at PetLvr.com/mypet/ made available by PetLvr.com and start blogging! I will link all participating posts from there back over onto the main PetLvr blog … so start blogging!

cc’ed around the HART-Empire Network!

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The first thing you should consider is the actual tank. An acrylic tank is a better insulator than a glass tank and is more stable in terms of temperature. Acrylic tanks are flexible, less prone to leakage and strong, which means they don’t break as easily as glass aquariums. Acrylic is also lighter and easier to drill into, which is important for installing certain filters. If your budget allows it, an acrylic tank would be a good idea.

However, for your first saltwater tank, a glass tank will do just fine, since you will be buying fish that are fairly hardy and easy to take care of. Since this is your first saltwater tank, you should consider purchasing an aquarium kit or package, as it comes with all the necessary equipment you’ll need to maintain your tank.

These aquarium kits usually include filters, heaters, test kits and manuals that will make it easier for you to set up your first saltwater tank. Some aquarium kits are so complete that they come with everything but your fish and water for the tank. These kits include fluorescent fixtures, power filters, plants, fish food, water conditioner and more. They come in sizes that range from about 30 gallons to 50 gallons.

For an extremely low maintenance tank, look for a kit that doesn’t require external plumbing for filtration. On these kits, the filter is attached to the back of the aquarium, making them very easy to maintain.

For your first saltwater tank, you may be tempted to buy the biggest, most colorful fish you can find. However, you really should have some experience with a saltwater fish tank before you spend hundreds of dollars on fish. Budget friendly, hardy fish are the best way to start.

The common clownfish was popular even before the cartoon movie made this hardy fish into a household name. While this fish is fairly easy to care for, it can be a bit aggressive, so you won’t want more than 3 of them in your aquarium. Your fish will be happiest if there are a few of their favorite anemones in the tank, as well.

A damselfish is also a good choice for your aquarium. Because damselfish are so aggressive to other damselfish, it is best to only have one of these colorful little guys in your tank.

Tangs are another popular choice for a first saltwater tank. However, you should be sure you have algae growing on your tank or you will need to provide a suitable alternative. The powder blue tang is the hardiest fish in the species. Since tangs are a bit aggressive, you shouldn’t add more than one to your tank.

Finally, you may want to consider adding some other living things, such as a cleaner shrimp or an anemone crab to the tank. Small hermit crabs are also easy to keep and very amusing to watch.

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If you’ve never had fish before, you may want to start with guppies. These fish can sometimes be found as juveniles in feeder fish tanks, which means you can buy six to ten fish for as little as a dollar. Of course, they are quite boring to look at until they mature, but raising them is certainly a great way to get the experience you need.

Some feeder guppies grow into lovely adult fish. Of course, if you don’t want to wait, you can simply buy adult guppies. Guppies are very social fish and get along well with others. They are easy to feed and care for. In fact, guppies are so hardy and laid back that it isn’t unusual for new fish owners to find that their fish have produced several dozen offspring.

If guppies aren’t quite your thing, you may want to consider tetras. Tetras do well in a small school. Most of these fish species are on the small side and aren’t very colorful to look at unless there are several of them darting about together. They are happiest in groups of six or more. These fish are good community fish and rarely act aggressive.

If you want a larger fish, the gourami is a good choice. These fish do best as pairs, since some males are aggressive towards other males. Gouramis are easy to care for and rarely act aggressively towards other species.

Most loaches are fairly easy to care for and get along well with other fish. With the exception of the yoyo loach, these fish enjoy having a buddy of the same species to hang out with. Loaches need a place to hang out during the day to stay happy, so be sure to provide a rock or pipe for your fish to hide in.

Barbs are extremely easy to keep, but not a good choice for tanks that also have fish with long fins, such as angelfish or guppies, since they tend to shred fins. Barbs do best in large groups, so you should keep at least four of these fish in your tank.

It seems like everyone wants to add an angelfish or two to their tanks. However, these fish can really be troublesome in the tank. They tend to be bullies and will eat smaller fish, such as tetras. At the same time, you will have to be sure that any fish that are too large for the angelfish to eat do not attack the angelfish and shred their fins. If you do decide that you want angelfish, you may be better off having a tank just for them. Angelfish are happiest in groups of two to four.

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Family: Characidae

Species: Paracheirodon axelrodi

Size: 4.5cm (1 three quarter inch)

Diet: Omnivorous

Tank levels: All

Habitat: Slow-flowing waters in Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia

Remarks: For best colours (and breeding conditions), provide soft acidic water. This tetra is distinguished from other similar fishes like, Paracheirodon innesi and P. simulans, by the extent of the red band.

Comments: A striking, electric blue stripe adorns this fish, running from the snout, through the top half of the eye, to the adipose fin. The lower body is bright red, with a small, silver area along the front ventral surface. Females have deeper bodies. Unlike the Neon Tetra, this fish requires much softer water to keep and breed and should not be confused with the Neon Tetra for ease of keeping.

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This fish comes from the “Tropical Fish” family species of fish. I hope you enjoyed this fish profile that I put together to help people to choose the right fish for the right aquarium tank setup you may own, or be thinking of buying in the future. If you require more information about keeping fish in general and what are the right fish to choose for your tank setups, you can always visit my site called “GB Aquarium” and see what’s posted new there and also join in the discussion taking place.

www.garybolton.co.uk

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Bolton

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Family: Characidae

Species: Paracheirodon innesi

Size: 2.5cm (1 inch)

Diet: Omnivorous

Tank levels: All

Habitat: The natural riverine habitat is Amazonia, but most Neon Tetras are now commercially bred

Remarks: The Neon Tetra is hardy and peaceful but difficult to breed.

Comments: The slim body of this fish has the same unmistakable electric blue-green stripe as the Cardinal Tetra. Here, however, the front lower body is silver. Scales are well defined in the upper dorsal area, and the fins are generally clear. Females have a plumper bodies which “bend” the stripe further. This has to be one of the most kept species of tropical fish, easy to keep and looks great in large shoals together in a well planted aquarium.

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This fish comes from the “Tropical Fish” family species of fish. I hope you enjoyed this fish profile that I put together to help people to choose the right fish for the right aquarium tank setup you may own, or be thinking of buying in the future. If you require more information about keeping fish in general and what are the right fish to choose for your tank setups, you can always visit my site called “GB Aquarium” and see what’s posted new there and also join in the discussion taking place.

www.garybolton.co.uk

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Bolton

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Are you looking to create a tropical aquarium? Do you want to add more fish to your existing aquarium? If so, consider getting the serpae tetra fish. Serpae tetras are community fish that will mix well with other fish. Whether you are a seasoned aquarist or someone who is only starting to discover the wonderful world of aquarying, the serpae tetra fish is a good choice for your aquarium. Serpae tetras are community fish that are easy to keep. They are hardy fish and mix well with small fish in an aquarium.

Originally from South America, Peru and the Amazon River basin, the serpae tetra fish is sleek, tall and compressed. A serpae tetra fish typically grows up to 2.2 inches long. The female serpae tetra fish is generally a bit more rounded than its male counterpart. The color of the serpae tetra fish’s body can range from bright red to reddish brown. The serpae tetra fish’s ventral and anal fins are red. Its dorsal fin, however, is black with white fringing. A black spot can be found behind its gill cover. As the serpae tetra fish ages, this black spot slowly become smaller.

If you are thinking of getting serpae tetras, make sure that your aquarium is well planted. Serpae tetras love live plants and driftwoods. While the serpae tetra fish can tolerate being in an aquarium with low temperatures, it is best that you keep the temperature between 68 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit to keep your serpae tetra fish happy.

The serpae tetra fish is an easy fish to care for and to feed. A serpae tetra fish will eat everything from flakes to live, freeze dried and frozen foods. Give your serpae tetra a variety of diet. If you have several serpae tetras, you will notice that they will nip at each other’s fins while you feed them in an effort to grab for food.

Serpae tetras are community fish. However, it is recommended that you do not mix your serpae tetra fish with neon tetra fish because serpae tetra fish can be a bit too aggressive for the neon tetra fish to handle.

You will typically find serpae tetras swimming in the middle and bottom areas of the aquarium tank. In general, serpae tetras do not bother other fish in the tank. However, serpae tetras love to play with and chase each other around the tank.

About the Author: More Tetra Fish information on www.digitalexcellent.com/tetra/

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