HA - A Blog by Sougata Chakraborty

Replicating nature, our first step to conservation ...

2014-12-12T09:52:00.003+05:30

Can you dream of having living River Nile in your Office or Lake Tanganika in your Living room or a Havlock Island in your Bedroom.

We have started creating habitat aquariums free at your home, work place etc. This is to create living replica of the rivers, estuaries, seas and ocean habitats. Each river, lake, sea and ocean have different geologocal and biological system and we try to capture the same in an aquarium at your home. A living underwater scene at the any place that you want. You can even have a pond in your balcony, or you can also have a micro-setup.

It an extension of my hobby, as an aquarist and we enjoy creating different underwater biotopoes, and also vivariums, paludariums, terrariums. For everyone who is serious and want to show their care for the environment and also interested in conservation please have a talk with us.

And all this comes with no initial cost, you only pay for the regular monthly charges. The monthly charges will include all living and non-living requirements. No two setup will be similar, so this will be a boutique setup.

Have a look at some of our home aquarium ...

Original painting by Kairav at very cheap rates

2013-02-06T10:44:00.000+05:30

All paintings dsplayed st http://sutapaartgallery.blogspot.in/ are of 450 USD or 300 GBP or 23000 INR.

Shipping charges as per actuals.

These are original completed works, no second copy available, no reprints available.

Shipping will be done within 48 Hrs, after receiving of the full payment. As they are original works, we cannot replace the painting, however we ask our customes to have a insurance cover, to avoid any financial loses due to transit.

Support Sutapa Art Gallery

2012-12-08T15:22:00.001+05:30

Hi Readers,

First thank you for all your comments. They were incredible, please share this blog with whoever is interested.

To post on this site it requires regular research work. To survive and to do the research, its becoming expensive everyday as we all know. To support this site we have opened a blog http://sutapaartgallery.blogspot.in/ , where ae are selling the original works of Kairav for all the art lovers.

Go through the site kindly leave your comment, so that we can develop the site more ...

You can mail me at; chakravarty.saugata@gmail.com

Your support will be highly appreciated ...

Thank you again for all the support ...

Regards
Habitat Aquarium Team

We are back ....

2011-04-27T10:52:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

We have been out of station and so there had been no posting for 4 months now .....

However, we are back, and to all of you we do apologize for the long absense ...

And to thanks to all you, who have called me and discussed .... Thank You

Your best wishes keeps us going ....

Cheers !!!
Habitat Aquarium Team

Sometimes called the 'Helicopter Fish' ...

2010-11-06T01:48:00.000+05:30

Helicopter fish as it is sometimes called, as it can hover in a particular place and also glides like a helicopter under water.

Freshwater Puffer a fish usually ignored, however they are as good as their saltwater cousins. Here I am presenting you with a short details of some of the Freshwater Puffers commonly found in stores.

Auriglobus modestus

Common Name: Bronze Puffer
Other Common Names: Golden Puffer
Family: Tetraodontidae
Distribution: S.E. Asia - Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam. Major rivers such as the Mekong
Water Parameters: Temp: 23 - 26C (74 - 80F); pH:6.0 - 7.8
Personality/Temperament: Agressive; Hunts and searches for food.
Max. Size: ~4 inches (10.6cm)
Estimated Lifespan: At least ten years
Sexual Dimorphism: Unknown. Cannot tell genders apart by eye.
Diet: Live and frozen foods (not fish), snails, freeze-dried krill, frozen shrimp, bloodworms- live or frozen, ghost shrimp (gut-loaded), and other molluscs and crustaceans. These puffers must be fed a daily diet of snails to prevent beak overgrowth
Care: Pufferfish are extremly sensitive to nitrites and ammonia and should only be introduced into a fully cycled aquarium. Due to their messy eating habits, overfiltration is recommended.
Breeding: We have not found any record of this Auriglobus Modestus having bred in captivity. Maybe yours will be the first?
Minimum Tank Size: 20g(US)

Carinotetraodon irrubesco

Common Name: Red Tailed Redeye Puffer
Family: Tetraodontidae
Distribution: Sumatra,Borneo
Water Parameters: Temp: 23 - 26C (74 - 80F); pH:6.0 - 7.8
Personality/Temperament: Very mixed. Some individuals can be very aggressive, others can be very timid. Territorial.
Activity: Inactive during light hours. Very active hunter after dark.
Max. Size: 4.5cm
Estimated Lifespan: Not known
Diet: Live and frozen foods (not fish), snails, freeze-dried krill, frozen shrimp, bloodworms- live or frozen, ghost shrimp (gut-loaded), and other molluscs and crustaceans. These puffers must be fed a daily diet of snails to prevent beak overgrowth
Sexual Dimorphism: The male is substantially larger than the female and their colourations differ dramatically. The male has a ridge or "keel" which it will expand in courtship or while threatned. See photos for differences.
Care: Pufferfish are extremly sensitive to nitrites and ammonia and should only be introduced into a fully cycled aquarium. Due to their messy eating habits, overfiltration is recommended.
Breeding: Can be bred.
Minimum Tank Size: 20g(US)
Other Notes: These puffers become very active under dark and require a heavily planted tank with lots of decor and hiding places. Some have been succesfully kept with their own species and C.travancoricus/C.asellus, whilst others have killed everything in sight.

Carinotetraodon salivator

Common Name: Striped Redeye Puffer
Family: Tetraodontidae
Distribution: Malaysia,Borneo
Water Parameters: Temp: 23 - 26C (74 - 80F); pH:6.0 - 7.8
Personality/Temperament: Agressive; Hunts and searches for food.
Activity: Inactive during light hours. Very active hunter after dark.
Max. Size: 5cm
Estimated Lifespan: Not known
Sexual Dimorphism: The male is substansially larger than the female and their colorations differ dramatically. The male has a ridge or "keel" which it will expand in courtship or while threatned.
Diet: Live and frozen foods (not fish), snails, freeze-dried krill, frozen shrimp, bloodworms- live or frozen, ghost shrimp (gut-loaded), and other molluscs and crustaceans. These puffers must be fed a daily diet of snails to prevent beak overgrowth
Care: Pufferfish are extremly sensitive to nitrites and ammonia and should only be introduced into a fully cycled aquarium. Due to their messy eating habits, overfiltration is recommended.
Breeding: Awaiting information
Minimum Tank Size: 10g(US)
Other Notes: This puffer is very rarely seen in the trade. It is often confused with C.irrubesco and C.lorteti to which it is closely related.

Do you want to Author in Habitat Aquarium?

2010-11-04T02:06:00.000+05:30

If you want to author in Habitat Aquarium, then write back to me at the following mail id with a relevant article for one time approval.

Email at: chakravarty.saugata@gmail.com

We are one month old ...!!!

2010-10-28T22:29:00.000+05:30

We are month old and have above 700 page views as of today ...

Please do write back to me, your feedback and the ways we can improve this site so that it becomes a perfect knowledge bank. I will be looking forward for your comments and you can also write back privately to me in my mail id chakravarty.saugata@gmail.com.

Below I place the distribution of page views country-wise till today.

Make your own Discus Food ...Here is how I make it ...

2010-10-28T11:41:00.000+05:30

There are many fish food recipes available in the market, and on the internet. Beef Heart mix is I believe is the most popular one, however after experimenting with many of these recipes I have formulated a recipe which provide good growth and will be accepted by all types of fishes except the herbivorous ones. Try it ....

Ingridients

Chicken liver - 250 gm
Krill powder - 125 gm
Eggs raw - 3 Nos.
Wheat Flour - 125 gm
Corn Flour - 60 gm

Boil water and take it out of the flame and add the raw chicken livers and let it be there for 10 mins. If you have bought krill then you will have to grind them into fine powder.

After 10mins in hot water the chicken liver will harden a bit, peel off the outer membrane.

Now in a mixture or a food processor add the krill powder, then the peeled chicken liver. Break the egg shells of the raw eggs and pour the inside (white and yolk) of the 3 eggs. add the corn flour and mix. Now slowly add the wheat flour and continue mixing till the mixture is thick enough.

Now pour the mixture in a plastic tray and place the tray in the coolest frost free part of your refrigerator. It generally takes 2 hours in my refrigerator for the mixture to harden. After the mixture has hardened cut the mixture into daily usable small cubes and store them in a container in the freezer of the refrigerator.

Feed the fishes - cube a day ...

Please note: It will cloud the water a bit.

Do let me know, how your fish like it ....

Is your Turtle a Boy or a Girl?

2010-10-25T22:40:00.000+05:30

It is practically impossible to tell if you are new to Turtle keeping, and if you are handed over with a very juvenile turtle this becomes all the more difficult. This is how you can do it ...

The males of all turtles will have a longer, thicker tail, with the cloaca located closer to the tip of the tail, whereas females with have a smaller, thinner tail with the vent closer to the main part of the body. In some of the more commonly kept turtles (Sliders, some Maps, Painteds, Cooters), males will also have exceptionally long fore claws, the females having smaller ones. Males in some species will also display a concave or dented-in plastron. This is to allow the male to better mount the female when mating. Adult females, which have laid a clutch of eggs, will have a semi-pliable anal section of the plastron. The females, however, in most species of turtles, will be larger...sometimes 4 x larger...than the males.

Do you want to Author in Habitat Aquarium?

2010-10-23T14:44:00.002+05:30

If you want to author in Habitat Aquarium, then write back to me at the following mail id with a relevant article for one time approval.

If approved you will offered with a pass-code.

Email at: chakravarty.saugata@gmail.com

This offer closes by 30th October, 2010

Are you leaving Fish Keeping Hobby?

2010-10-20T00:08:00.000+05:30

Then ....

Before you take the final decision.

Is it that you are tired of changing water and weekly over hauls?
Is it too costly for you and in this recession you cannot keep up with the expenses?
Or is it that you do not have time to maintain your tank?
You are going for a holiday for 15 to 20 days and think that your fishes will die by the time you return as you will not have anybody to care for them…
Do you think you have to buy costly equipments for all these question above?

NO … you do not require any costly equipment, other than your regular thermostatic heaters and aeration pumps and regular power filters.

All you need to have is the love for your fishes … that’s all …

Fish keeping is not a tedious hobby … its hobby that you can enjoy every moment of your free time …

Write back why you want to leave fish keeping as a hobby and I will try to solve your problem … Its simple … Its easy … Its almost free …

I can help you with the Freshwater tanks …

Is there anybody who can volunteer to author for the Marine?

Inducing spawning with artificial seasonal changes in the Aquarium ...

2010-10-19T01:55:00.000+05:30

Most of the Freshwater Aquarium Fishes, especially the fishes from Amazon spawns after the long dry season with the advent of the Rains. I have tried to do some research on the same and have come up with a day wise chart. It is interesting and may help you to spawn a large number of fishes from Amazon.

Why do the fishes spawn in the Rainy Season?

Most often they spawn when the rainy season begins, because it brings increased food supply and increased possibilities for the fry to find food and shelter.

The following is a compilation of a way to breed fishes that come from areas with marked dry and rainy seasons, e.g. the Amazon and Rio Negro areas of South America. Data and ideas have been collected from a lot of different sources; including books, friends and the Internet, and are based on my own experiences breeding cichlids and characins from South America.

If you see the real event that goes in with the starting of the Rains in the Amazon basin are:

Low pressure
After a long period of high pressure at the end of the dry season, the barometric pressure falls in connection with the first rain.
Increased food supply
After a starvation period during the end of the dry season the food supply increases drastically. Certain species look like skeletons at the end of the dry season, and have perhaps been without food for more than a month. Certain species even eat detritus to get some nutrition.
Changed food types
During the dry season the scarce food might consist of bottom dwelling animals (red mosquito larvae) and decaying plant parts. When the rainy season starts the food changes to insects that fall onto the surface: mosquito larvae (especially white and perhaps black) and other water insects, pollen from flowers, seeds, fruits, fresh leaves and eggs, and fry from other species that have begun to spawn earlier.
Increased water flow
The rain results in increased flow of water. The fish become more active. Some species migrate upstream to get to calmer and more suitable spawning areas.
Increased oxygen levels
Rain that falls on the water surface increases the oxygen level in the water. Increased water flow also makes the oxygen level increase. In many cases a high oxygen level is a condition for the eggs and fry to make it during their first days.
Dilution of dissolved substances in the water
The longer the dry season lasts, the more salts, humic substances and organic material are concentrated in the water that remains. When the rain starts the concentration of these substances decreases due to dilution. The river, the stream etc. is diluted with rainwater that has zero hardness, which lowers the hardness and often even the pH.
Change in water temperature
Water temperature is often lowered due to cloudiness and the cold rainwater. In high terrain temperature differences are often greater than down in the lowlands (10ºC compared to a few degrees).
Change in water depth
Increased water volume causes the water to deepen. Water pressure at the bottom increases and the fish get a larger vertical swimming space. Distance to the water surface will be longer for species that go to the surface to catch air.
Spawning sites become available
At the end of the rainy season there is often water only in the middle of the river or stream, and there are very few plants or hiding places. With increasing water depth, the fish can find newly flooded areas with plants, roots, tree trunks and shadows, in which to hide eggs and give the fry a better chance to hide.
Changes in the light
The amount of light and duration of light decreases due to cloudiness in connection with the rain. Certain parts of the day can be very dark during the most intense rain. With more clouds in the sky it takes longer in the morning before it gets light and it darkens faster in the evening.
Even light angles vary from one part of the year to the other. The further from the equator, the more the variation.
Note that certain species want almost complete darkness to spawn (they live under dense vegetation, among tree roots and in black water).
Increased plant plankton level
When the rainy season occurs this increases in certain waters. This is also a signal to the adult fish to spawn because there is food for smaller fry.
Right time of the year
Certain species have a very strong "biological clock" that is linked to when the rain and dry seasons occur in their natural distribution area.
Other fish spawn
Hormones in the water from other fish spawns might prompt another species to spawn.
Sound
Even the rain's splashing against the surface might be a signal to spawn. Maybe also the sound of thunder.

This simulated dry and rainy season cycle takes about 4 weeks to go through.

How do we simulate these things in the tank?

Below are suggestions on how to simulate the different stimuli that are listed above into a DAY-WISE scheme.

Please Note that Low pressure is of course impossible to simulate in a tank, so keep an eye on the weather forecasts and start a simulated rainy season during the passage of a period of low pressure.

If you known the substrate to provide, vegetation to add for a particular species of fish then below is the DAY-WISE scheme to stimulate dry and rainy season:

End of rainy season:
Still some food, and the water level has not started to lower.

Day 1. Feed about 1/10 of normal. The lights should now have a level between full power and "cloudy", about 14 hours. Filter running at full speed.

Day 2. Lower the water level about 10%, feed 1/10 of normal. Add some calcium carbonate and magnesium sulphate to raise total and carbonate hardness 1 degree each. (An alternative is to take out 20% of the water and add half the amount with hard tap water if that's available.) Add a dose of plant fertilizer according to instructions for your product (gives more dissolved salts in the water).

Day 3. Lower the water level about 10%, skip feeding. Increase the temperature about one degree.

Day 4. Lower the water level about 10%. Increase total and carbonate hardness 1 degree each. Feed 1/10 of normal. Put peat, alder comes, leaves, etc. in the water. Tannins etc. will be leached from these items over the coming days.

Beginning of the dry season:
Food supply decreases and ceases. Water level and current decreases. Temperature of the remaining water increases.

Day 5. Lower the water level about 10%, skip feeding. Increase the temperature about one degree. Decrease the flow by adjusting the filter. Check pH.

Day 6. Lower the water level about 10%, feed 1/10 of normal.

Day 7. Lower the water level about 10%. Increase total and carbonate hardness 1 degree each. Stop feeding until day 21. Increase the temperature about one degree.

Day 8. Lower the water level about 10%.

Day 9. Lower the water level about 10%. Increase total and carbonate hardness by 1 degree each. Shut off air stones. Take out the filter and clean it. Let the filter run in another tank so it has a working bacterial culture when it's needed in a week.

Day 10. Lower the water level about 10%. The water level should be down to 25% of the tank's capacity. The temperature should be around 28 degrees. Put peat, alder comes, leaves, etc. in the water. Add plant fertilizer. Increase the lighting to max. Take away any floating plants. Start an infusoria culture. Check pH.

Day 11-19. Leave the fish in peace.

Beginning of rainy season:
The first clouds can be seen in the sky but no rain has started to fall.

Day 20. Clean the filter that has been working in another tank. Decrease the lighting, both the intensity and the length (down to about 10 hours). Take out the peat, leaves etc. Check the pH.

First rainfall:

Day 21. Put the floating plants back in. Add more plants of the type the fish like for spawning. Add clean, as soft as possible, water (preferable RO), about 20% of the tank volume. The water's temperature should be about 3 degrees lower than that of the tank. Put in the filter and run it at half speed if possible. One could try to turn off the light for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to simulate thick clouds. Lower the heater temperature by 2 degrees. Feed a little with mosquito larvae and newly hatched brine shrimp. Add infusoria so that the water gets a slight cloudiness.

Day 22. Add the equivalent of 20% of the tank volume, with water about 5 degrees lower in temperature than the tank. Run the filter at full speed and make it "splash" in the surface. Lower the heater temperature by 2 degrees. Feed a lot and often. Add infusoria so that the water gets a slight cloudiness. Add a vitamin product and plant fertilizer according to instructions for your product.

Day 23. Add the equivalent of 20% of the tank volume. The water temperature should be about 5 degrees lower than that of the tank. Add aeration at a low level. Lower the heater temperature by 2 degrees. Feed a lot. Add infusoria so that the water gets a slight cloudiness.

Day 24. Turn off the heater if the fish can take such low temperatures. Aeration at half speed. Fill the tank. The water temperature should be about 5 degrees lower than that of the tank. If you can, open a window during the night to lower the temp. further. Feed a lot. Add infusoria so that the water gets a slight cloudiness.

Height of the rainy season:

Day 25. Aeration at full speed. Change 50% of the water volume. Feed a lot.

Day 26-?. Carry on as Day 25 until they spawn!.

Please share with me if your fish spawns ....

I have started a new Forum for discussion for all fish ailments and remedies

2010-10-18T23:48:00.000+05:30

Please post your queries and remedies, suggestions in my new forum for fish ailments.

Please visit:

Fish Doctor: A forum for all fish ailments and remedies

Crayfish can re-generate limbs if lost

2010-10-18T12:34:00.001+05:30

A friend of mine gave me 2 red crayfish. One was may be 0.5 cm bigger in length than the other. The bigger one was also a bit brighter in color than the smaller one. It (the bigger One) also had a voracious appetite, to that extent that it will grab at anything that falls from the top.

I started giving them a variety of food from dead fishes, meat to steamed rice etc. At the first skin shed the bigger one became much bigger than the smaller one; to my astonishment it became almost double in size, as compared to the smaller one.

I skipped their food one day as I was out of town and next day morning when I returned I found that one of the big ‘Pincer Arm’ of the smaller one had been torn off and parts of its remains were lying around in the Tank. The crayfish was also in a little bit shock and was hiding out deep in its cave.

I removed him from his tank and placed him in the Hospital Tank, and he is still there now for last one month. Slowly he started feeding again and after say about 15 days or so he went in for his first skin shed in the night. In the morning I woke up and astonished to see that a small ‘Pincer Arm’ has developed. I have read many articles and books regarding the regeneration of limbs by shrimps and crayfishes and I saw it happen practically.

Water Hornwort can be used as an effective dust cover

2010-10-17T00:47:00.000+05:30

I have two tanks which do not have a hood or a canopy on the top. This is done intentionally as these tanks are in my balcony and they get diffused sunlight all through the day, which activates immense plant growth. But I was faced with a regular problem of floating dust in water which falls from the air as it balcony is beside the road. I was having this problem for quite a long time for about six months or so and tried everything from nets to glass cover without much successful results.

It was this time when I happened to pass by a pond in my nearby area and saw a mass of Water Hornwort growing floating on the surface. Something caused me to just move the mass a bit and I saw in the crystal clear water below the dust trapped in the Water Hornwort float down.

The dust was trapped among the Horn-wort leaves and kept the water underneath crystal clear. This gave me the idea to replicate the same in my tanks to keep the dust away. I collected some Hornwort from the wild and placed on the surface, with some Duckweed. I was thinking that it will cut away the light hampering the plant growth, however the plant growth was normal and the tanks were having crystal clear water.

I found in nature the solution for a problem, by which I was troubled for about six months.

Problems you may face if you apply this. Hornworts have immense growth rate and regular pruning will be required to keep it under control. If you are also placing duckweeds, you may have to sieve them out regularly.

Tips to induce Discus Spawning ...

2010-10-15T04:14:00.000+05:30

I will make a short list of tips (in my opinion) to get pairs to spawn. Keep in mind that all discus are set in their own ways. Once you learn the personality of your discus, breeding them is not so hard! I'm sorry to say, but they are just like people! Everyone is different.

Water Ways

Cold water changes of 4 to 5 degrees colder.
Big water changes daily of 50%.
No water changes for one week at a low pH of 5.5 - 6.0, sometimes lower.
Large R/O water change.
Large tap water change (if parameters are in your favor).

Parameters Way

pH changes with acid or R/O, either from high to lower or low to higher!
Peat moss.
Conductivity change, low to high or high to low.
Medications to clean up your discus to make them feel good and want to spawn.
Water from a tank of discus that are breeding.

Other Ways

High temperatures of 88 - 90° F.
Move the pair to a new tank.
Add a third discus to the pairs' tank. I prefer a female, but sometimes males work just as well. It all depends on the discus.
No lights with the sides, back, and bottom covered!
Direct sunlight.

The Best Way!

Good, healthy discus to start!
Daily water changes.
Good foods and a large selection (live is great to induce spawning).
Never try to rush things -- take your time and have patience.
Proper parameters for breeders!

Live X-Ray image, see its skeleton and check its intestine and swim bladder...

2010-10-14T01:37:00.000+05:30

Many years ago; when I was in my 8^th standard, in the year 1987. I was taking a morning jog in Kolkata, near a big lake. (If you are from Kolkata, you should know Dhakuria Lake) and the maintenance have cleared the lake of the milfoil mass, along with the hyacinth and pistia, and the mass was dumped along the shoreline of the lake. There was a strong smell of algae, mixed with ‘pond smell’ in the air along the shore line. It was early in the morning at around 5PM and sun was just rising with its red glow on the east, and the mass has not yet dried out.

I saw a little movement in the mass. Curiosity took the better of me and I moved milfoil out to find a ‘fish’ still alive. I quickly took it out and placed in the wide mouthed water bottle I carrying and added water from the lake. To my astonishment I found a fish; a fish skeleton moving in the water. I searched frantically the entire the mass of the milfoil lying there and was able to rescue around 4 fish.

Back at home, as I went through the books that I had on Freshwater fish, I found that the my new friend is a Glass Fish.

Glassfish have been kept in aquarium for many years, but have a reputation for being delicate and difficult to keep. This may be related to a persistent myth that these fish need brackish water. In the wild they more commonly inhabit freshwater, and in captivity do well in slightly soft to moderately hard dGH 7–19, slightly acidic to slightly alkaline water pH 6.5–7.5. They can tolerate a temperature range of 20–30 °C (68–86 °F)

These fish can be shy when kept in too small a group (fewer than five individuals) but when more fish are kept; they become bold and outgoing, making interesting additions to the community tank. They prefer to swim at the middle and lower levels of the tank, and will take most small live and frozen foods. In general, they tend not to eat dried foods (such as flake). The fish reproduce by laying the eggs (females) and then the males fertilize the eggs.

Dyed glassfish

Nowadays colored glass fish are in the market and are sold to hobbyists as "painted", this involves injecting colored dye into the fish's transparent tissue to make them more attractive. Inexperienced fish keepers are often tricked into believing such fish are natural or that the process is painless and cause no harm. Fish thus treated have suffered trauma and are susceptible to disease, including ich, fin rot and the viral disease Lymphocytes. The artificial coloration often fades within a short time. Healthy, non-"painted" specimens may live three to four years in captivity.

This is an inhuman way of treating any animal and strong drive against such inhuman act should be done, so that such practices stop. We on our part as the first step should stop buying any such specimen. “If the buying stops, such practices should stop too”

Parambassis ranga is a species of freshwater fish in the Asiatic glassfish family (family Ambassidae) of order Perciformes. It is native to an area of south Asia from Pakistan to Malaysia.

The Indian glassy fish has a striking transparent body revealing its bones and internal organs; the male develops a dark edge to the dorsal fin. The fish grows to a maximum overall length of 80 millimeters

It occurs in standing water, and it breeds prolifically during the rainy season. The species feeds on crustaceans, annelid worms, and other invertebrates. It is in turn prey for larger fish, including snakeheads.

The Indian glassy fish is not important as a food fish for humans, but is very common in the aquarium trade.

Formerly classified as Chanda ranga, the species is also known as the Indian glassfish, Indian glass perch, and Siamese glassfish.

They can beat Discus anytime, only thing they do not have is the size

2010-10-13T12:12:00.000+05:30

Yes they are called the Chameleon fish; they can change color, to a host of different colors starting from black, blue, orange, yellow, and drab. If you are still not amazed then they can even make the bands on their body come and go, and can change them from a straight line band to plaited bands. They can also change the color of the bands and can also change the number of the bands on their body.

Earlier here in India Badis was a very common fish in the Aquarium Market. Those days when I was young and my hobby had to depend on my pocket money (though it still depends on the same – difference is that my wife has a control on it, now), we used to see a lot of Badis in the market. However, today say after 6 month I saw a pair of Badis in the store and it inspired me to write this post.

Badis used to be one of the neglected fish as lack color when at peace. But an adult male Badis can its change colors at will -- when angry, hungry, or horny, also when threatened or protecting their eggs, fry, or territory. Female Badis are somewhere between drab and plain most of the time. Badis can change its color from black, blue, orange, yellow, and drab and they can change it at their own will. My experience with the fish say that they can even make the bands on their body come and go, and can change them from a straight line band to plaited bands. They can also change the color of the bands and can also change the number of the bands.

Badis comes from the Gangetic and Brahmaputra basin of Eastern India. The color and band changes are due to the environment they come in from. Badis comes from the pools, lakes and rivers, which are heavily planted with underwater plants, like Vallisneria, Elodea, Bacopa, etc and with floating masses of milfoils, hyacinths, pistias, lemnas, duckweeds etc. The color changes and the band changes can be due for the protection and camouflaging, making them blend to the environment completely.

Badis prefers an aquarium that is well planted with dense vegetation and free areas. You should also provide them with roots and rocks among which they may hide. Provide a minimum of one hiding place for each Badis

Badis accepts most small foods including small flake food. Badis comes from the waters where live food can be found of all sizes. Daphnia, Cyclops etc are very common in the flood plains of Ganga and Brahmaputra. Badis have very small mouth and you will have to give them something which they can get hold of. Live Tubifex is a delicacy for them, though it carries with it the dangers of infection.

They say that Badis is relatively easy to breed, though I have not bred one myself. The males can be identified by the fact that they are much more colorful then the females. Young Badis males and females all look the same with the same drab coloration, The males guards the eggs and fry which are laid in a cave or other hiding place.

Species name: Badis Badis

Common name: Badis

Maximum size: 8 cm / 3 inches They say that it can grow that big, however I have not seen one more than 2 inches

Environment: freshwater

Temperament: Peaceful

Koi can bring you 'GOOD LUCK' - try keeping one

2010-10-12T18:52:00.000+05:30

Koi keeping is again gaining importance as a Hobby. People have started keeping the Koi's and goldfishes even in Aquariums. Pond Koi keeping is an age old hobby requiring good knowledge as well as an adequate budget.

Koi fish is a popular hobby over the last several decades, and rightly so. They're very beautiful, as well as a sturdy with an ability to survive even in freezing conditions. They're best suited to large ponds and can grow to over 1-2 feet in length, and this provides the rare pleasure to watch fish swim and prosper in a large outdoor or indoor ponds in a more natural environment. However they can also be kept is large aquariums. You’ll eventually be able to hand feed your koi when they gain confidence. Some Koi are worth thousands of dollars, and are a thriving industry for Koi breeders. They are believed to bring good luck, in Chinese culture. There are various varieties of Koi those are available and they’re classified mainly according to their color characteristics.

Fish having white excreta and not feeding - Its Internal Parasites

2010-10-11T19:24:00.000+05:30

If you see your fishes are excreting white excreta, and the fish will also not eat then it must be that there had been a attack of Internal Parasites in your tank. In this case the fishes can be de-wormed by the following method.

Use Metronidazole B.P. Tablets - 200mg. (Buy for the entire 5 days tablet together so that you use the same brand of tablets for the entire course. A change of brand can cause a little change of the chemical composition causing problem with the fishes being treated.

Dosage: Use 1 (200 mg) tablet per 25 gallons water (94.6 Litres) (Dosage: 200mg per 25 US G, you will have to calculate the dosage according to the volume of water in your tank). Mix the tablets in a mug of water and stir thoroughly so that it makes a complete solution. Pour this water in the tank which is going to be treated. Never drop the tablets directly into the tank. Change water and repeat the treatment everyday for 5 days. Each day check whether the fishes still continue to have white excreta. If you still do not see black excreta after 5 days then continue the treatment for another 3 days.

When white excreta disappear and you see black feces from the fishes, then all the internal parasites have been killed and cleared.

Ram's Horn Snail, the most prolific of all snails

2010-10-10T16:50:00.000+05:30

Ram's Horn snails are very common. They are a type of mollusc. The shell is a simple flat coil with no spire or point.

Planorbis species

Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Pulmonata

Ram's Horn snails are very common. They are a type of mollusc. The shell is a simple flat coil with no spire or point.

Habitat Ramshorn snails live in the water at the edges of ponds (the pond margins).

Moving around

They glide about by muscular action of a flat, slime-covered "foot". Waves of muscular contractions push and pull the snail's body along the surface of plants and stones.

Feeding They eat: algae that coat water plants. They are herbivores. Snails use a file-like structure called a radula, which consists of rows of teeth and is moved backwards and forwards to rasp the algae off the surface of plants or rocks. They are eaten by: fish and ducks.

Reproduction Snails are hermaphrodite (they have both male and female organs). All of them can therefore lay eggs. Each egg is covered in jelly for protection, and is attached to a plant. When the eggs hatch, tiny baby snails emerge.

Breathing Ramshorn snails rise to the surface of the water every so often, to take air into a cavity under the shell. The cavity holds air, and does the same job as a lung. This is different to many other water snails which breathe through gills.

Size 25 mm

Ramshorn snails are very common and come in various sizes. Their shape is as their name suggests. The smaller varieties (under 1 cm) are not too damaging to a plant tank, although they seem to relish the tender leaves of the Hygrophila family. The other type is the dark and light brown striped Columbian Ramshorn that can grow big as large as 2 inches in diameter. The stripes run the length of the shell with a pattern of random width light-dark- light stripes that stays constant throughout the snails life. These snails are extremely prolific and have a terrific appetite for plants. Snails lay eggs on the plants in the pond, the eggs are covered in jelly to protect them. When the eggs hatch they are full of little baby snails. These snails use lungs to breathe air, but since they can trap and store some air inside their shells, they can tolerate water with low dissolved oxygen.

Position in Food chain

Primary consumers herbivore
They eat algae
They are eaten by fish, tufted ducks

They lay disk-shaped gelatinous clusters of eggs adhering to anything - plants, rocks etc. Plants also seem to be a choice for egg-laying. The ramshorn snails are all shaped like a flat coil, or the horn of ram. The genus Helisoma are American snails. The most popular of this group is from South America, does well in heated aquaria with little attention and is often introduced by accident where it breeds prolifically. This is the red ramshorn. The genera Planorbarius and Planorbis are found in cold waters, and thus are suitable for ponds. The Planorbarius snails may be up to 3cm in diameter, while the Planorbis grow only to 1.5cm. P.corneus, the Great Ramshorn, is brick red in colour, and likes still or slow-moving water. It will eat any detritus, both plant and animal, that it comes across. Like the apple snail, it is amphibious. The snails are hermaphrodite, and lay disk-shaped gelatinous clusters of eggs adhering to anything - plants, rocks etc. RAMSHORN SNAILS (PLANORBIS CORNEUS)

A generation ago, the European Red Ramshorn Snail was a common sight in freshwater aquariums. Today they are somewhat of a rarity due to careless breeding with the common ramshorn snail that has a less interesting brown body color.

The brown ramshorns are somewhat hardier, but both varieties are excellent choices for the freshwater aquarium as long as they are not kept together! If they are kept together, virtually all future generations will be brown, since the red color is a recessive characteristic.

Freshwater Angelfish with its newly born fry

2010-10-08T00:33:00.000+05:30

Know whether the pet you have is a part of the ENDANGERED list

2010-10-06T11:29:00.000+05:30

Lots of animals are sold in the market those are actually endangered, so we should refrain from keeping them as pets. The initiative that we all can take may be is to stop buying, so the selling will also stop and that will help the species to regenerate in wild.

International Union for Conservation of Nature, popularly known as IUCN have a database of most of the known species and they are classified as the following:

LC= Least Concern

NT= Near Threatened

EN= Endangered

CR= Critically Endangered

EW= Extinct in Wild

EX= Extinct

First you will have to know the scientific name of the species that you are looking for and search in the link below for the classification of the species.

http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Kindly note: " If the buying stops Killing can too ..."

Discus Habitat

2010-10-05T01:04:00.001+05:30

Lots have been written about the natural habitat of Discus Fish, so I do not to add to the literature anymore. I have never been to Rio Negro or Amazon basin to experience the habitat first hand, however all the knowledge that I have is from the research on the internet. Here there are a few pictures of the natural discus habitat which I have found from the Internet, which can be replicated in Discus Habitat Aquarium.

Click on 'Continue Reading ->' for more picture of Discus Habitat

Fish Balancing

2010-10-03T10:42:00.000+05:30

I have noticed that many people leave the hobby of fish keeping pre-maturely, because they complain that fishes die very easily, water gets fouled and they have to do complete over-haul and water changes with the cleaning of the entire tank every week.

Now, if I over-haul the entire tank and make 100% water change every week, then this is tedious and also fishes are bound to die.

The basic reason for the fish death is that there are in-compatible species those have been kept together. Over feeding and fish death are the reasons for fouled water.

I started studying the new-comers tanks, I found that there are two sides to this problem, one people are not aware when buying fishes from store whether they are compatible with the fishes he already has back at home (I have published a compatibility chart earlier) and also while buying fishes they do not consider fish balancing.

Fish balancing is a tool which will help you to control any overfeeding to a certain extent.

The knowledge of where the fishes feeds is very important for fish balancing. I divide the fishes into following categories:

Surface Feeders – Feeding from the surface anything that is floating
Middle Feeders – Feeding on anything that is falling or floating or swimming in mid-waters.
Bottom Feeders - Feeding from the bottom anything that has fallen on the substrate, or they may also dig below the substrate to find food.
Scrapers – Feeding from the tank walls, rock surfaces by scraping, they also feed from the bottom.

First is whenever we buy fish from the store we must consider not their present size but the size they can grow to if given proper environment. Considering this we must also consider the volume of the aquarium we will put them in and the number of such fish that can go into that tank. Tank water volume must be measured considering the amount of substrate that is placed.

Now let us take an example from freshwater:

Suppose I want to keep Angels. Considering the size of my aquarium I can keep, say, suppose 5 Angels.

First is the Tank setup. For Angels we need to have a planted aquaria with long reed like plants like valisneria sp. at the background, like amazon sword plant in the foreground, you can add other plants also. If you buy plants from the store or you collect it from the wild then there are possibilities that they will carry snails with them. These are the plant eating snails and they are prolific breeders and once had destroyed one of my planted 30 G tank within 15 days. So we need to control their population. The best biological control are the Botias. YoYo Loaches are the cheapest and best controllers of these snails, and if you are considering to spend some more money you can keep clown loaches or any other Botias.

They will eat all the snails and will keep the tank snail free. I once had YoYo in one of my tanks with large golden apple snails. Due to the size YoYo were no threat to Golden Apples, however in course of time they laid eggs. As snails are born very small, they were a perfect food for the YoYos’ and I lost almost 50% of the hatch.

Back to the point, Botias are really helpful however they will reduce the number of angels you can keep. So say now that I have taken 2 Botias so I reduce the angel number by 1. So we can now keep only 4 angels.

Now considering that you want a planted aquarium and your tank gets some amount of sunlight in any time of the day, it is likely that algae will grow in your tank walls and they are a complete nuisance. To eradicate algae and having a continuous house-keeping done for your glass walls and plants, Plecos or any sucker mouth catfishes are the best. Believe me I do not clean my tank walls any day, they do it for me. But they will again eatup your angel numbers. So say now that I have taken 1 Suckermouth catfish (they grow very large, though the size is directly proportional to the size of your tank), so I reduce the angel number by 1 again.

So my angel numbers are reduced to 3.

Botias and Suckermouth catfish will also help by eating up any uneaten food that floats to the bottom.

There is another important thing to consider. Whether you will be giving floating food, or the food that sticks to the glass wall, or the food that sinks to the bottom, such as live food. It is important because angels are middle feeders, so they will only take feed on the middle layers, so if there is any uneaten food that is floating the surface feeders will pick it up.

Now if consider 2 surface feeders such as mollies or guppies, then it will again reduce the number of angels by 1. So now my angel numbers are reduced to 2.

However the entire population of the Tank looks like this

2 Angels

2 Botia

1 Suckermouth catfish

2 mollies

We actually ended up in stocking the tank with more fishes, however there will be no competition for food, and neither there will be any food that will remain uneaten and decay in the tank. The basic or the first problem which anyone faces, who is new to the hobby is overfeeding. This layering of fishes will help to reduce overfeeding largely, helping to remove any uneaten food that may have decayed earlier, increasing the nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels dangerously. Thumb Rule: Feed only the amount you think is good for the middle-feeders (in this case 2 Angels), and rest assured that everyone will have its share.