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An
Article by Francesco Zezza
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Admit it! No matter how many
tanks you have there’s always one missing. One more
“environment” needed to take a closer look at yet another
“unknown” fish (“By the way : my 10th species of the
Pseudotropheus genus…”), simply because its temperament and
behavior need to be investigated.
This finally results in you publishing the acquired knowledge
on the web. Let’s face the truth: If you ever answer “No!” to
this “question” then you’re a damned liar (at least that’s
what I would be). Now, here comes my real story :
At the moment, I’m running
nine tanks, how about you? A few of them are still at mom’s house,
since I do not have enough room at the place me and Stefania (aka My
Better Half) live. Despite that, every day I find myself wondering
(again, how about you?) : “Well, those fishes have been swimming
in my tank for three years now; it’s too short a time to get rid
of them. I cannot even think of it” and then “That Aulie female
should release in a week or so. I do hope these Pseudotropheus will
sooner or later decide to spawn (I’m actually referring to my Ps.
Gracilior quartet). How about one more tank?” I think you know
this story pretty well.
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In the meantime, the total
amount of your “filtered water” is always increasing (my actual
total volume is about 1850 lt – 500 US gals now), while the same
is true for the Electricity bill. All of the sudden you’ve also
become the best friend of the nearby lfs owner and so on. I think
this is OK for an introduction, now let’s go on with my real story
!!
In the place I live there is
a corner in the basement which is crammed with rocks, bogwoods,
roots, bags of sand/gravel etc. This corner increases in size by the
day. Since we both (Stefania and I) agree that a “fish house” is
not at the top of our wish-list we decided to follow George’s (see
elsewhere in this site) principle of “not more than one tank in
each room” which resulted in us having a tank even in the
bathroom! Drawers and shelves filled with aquatic equipment are
rising almost everywhere (should I say piling ?) and, sooner or
later, those “monuments” are going to collapse. As you know, I
am also running MCH (not alone; I couldn’t stand the effort in any
way; morover, I have to add, I’m intrigued by this “shared”
activity). Therefore,
it should be obvious by now that Malawi cichlids are my main
interest. A huge number of M’buna / Utaka (Haps) swim here and
there; their behaviour still has something mysterious.. hence
“that” new book is really needed. And then: “Should we buy it
next month, honey? I’ve already fired-up my credit card allowance
for this month…” These cute fellows are, almost every one,
massive spawners, which inevitably leads to “Where the hell shall
I put this new batch of Copadichromis fry?” and many things like
that. I presume you know what I’m referring to.
As if this was not
enough, Stefania, during our Amazon trip (I promise to report on it
soon) fell in love, God bless them, with Angel fish (Pterophyllum
scalare) and is pestering me about keeping some discus, too ! We
brought back home a few Angel fish from Amazon. Quarantine has been
sort of a nightmare since all our tanks were already filled and –
once back home - we were sitting there with many bags filled with
Corydoras, Apistogrammas, every kind of loriicarid you can think of,
characins etc. I still
wonder why and how – can you believe it? This ended in a change of
plans (concerning a new small tank) and now (yes, its true) there is
a 360 liter brand new Amazon tank in the piano room.
Ok, now let’s talk about Loriicarids. First, we will not
talk about the two monsters – over 1 foot each - swimming around
in the 750 lt tank; we will take them for granted. These fishes are
interesting, aren’t they? I collected a few myself while exploring
Rio Orosa in Perù. Once
back – what a coincidence – I was offered a “spawning” pair
at a price I couldn’t resist.
I said to myself: “Spawning bristlenose is, or at least
should be, interesting. I already have those in my bags, and this
pair is very cheap, so ...“– you got the picture. The story
ended in one (more!) book and a 200 lt tank devoted to them …
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What the hell should I do
with my Thorichthys meeki pair? I always trade their fry for food at
my lfs (and at a good price) but, where … where … OK, OK, OK !!!
Here comes an 130 lt tank on the right side of my twin tank devoted
to them for the sake of … I don’t know what. Then, to finish the
“job”, I ended up adding a few livebearers to this tank!
OH my! Gotta trade some fry
sooner or later...to speak the truth they’re no longer fry -
and I’m almost out of space !!! Is anyone interested in …
ROCK BOTTOM PRICES !
“Honey” – God bless
Stefania – “Spring is coming … wouldn’t it be nice to have
some fishes to look at in the garden, how about it?” … A silent
smile was the answer! An old bathub is on its way to become our
brand new goldfish pond. Work is in progress …
Water changes have been, at
last, scheduled and divided into groups: alkaline water tanks,
acidic ones, then tanks of fishes which don’t care about it that
much (mostly captive bred specimens). This is the only way to know,
or even remember, what you are doing. You know how it is when it
comes to water chemistry and related matters ...cans of food, every
kind of food you can possibly imagine, are everywhere (the one I
need is ALWAYS close to another tank!). Twice per week – apart
from the pleasure of meeting her – I visit mom’s house to
service/check tanks still running there. The freezer is piled up
with frozen fish food (bloodworms, black mosquito larvae, daphniae,
to name a few) next to our own food (packed separately of course - I
wouldn’t really appreciate a soup of bloodworms for dinner!!!). I
always have to write down whatever I do in my tanks to avoid
forgetting something. My last “great” idea was to condition a
fairly rare and definitely expensive Pseudacanthicus leopardus
(L114) - a loriicarid from Brazil (pics coming, don’t worry!).
A shy and secretive (wild caught) fish sized less than 2 cm.
Here comes a new 30 lt tank of its own to be correctly quarantined
and conditioned (you know: methronidozole and the rest …). Well,
I’m almost done … for now (and, should I add, for ever l!). No
way … some Fundulopanchax nigerianus (killifish) pairs will soon
be delivered to us. Uh – Oh where shall I put them …?
Oh My … I forgot my very
last (another damned lie!) wish! I’d like to have a freshwater
stingray: “… how about finding a new place for these two
armchairs, all I need is 500 lt (125 US gals) more … Am I going
slightly mad, my Dear?”
Oh, Oh … what are You
doing my Dear? … Put it down!!! I’m kidding, I’m just kidding:
I swear on it! I’m kidding, REALLY: no more tanks, I’ll even
quit one! No more tanks … … sure! Would You (I mean all of you
ll!) believe me ?!?!?!
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FINAL REMARK: a serious article on the actual
situation of my tanks (not too different from the one pictured
above) is on its way. Meantime I hope you’ve enjoyed this story
the way I enjoyed writing it.
NOTE: Whenever I say “get rid” I mean
either donate or sell/trade
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