My Mexican Tail Spot

We placed this fish in the big pond a few years ago. Two weeks ago we were able to capture it and placed it inside one of the house aquariums. My friend Gary Battung gave it to me a few years ago and somehow (miscommunication between me and my assistant who placed in the big pond - by the time I found out it was too small in size and the pond was too big, catching it would have been bothersome) it ended up in the big pond along with the convict cichlids ( Archocentrus nigrofasciatus or Cichlosoma nigrofasciatum). When it was placed it was the size of the convicts, rougly around two inches. Soon enough it grew and became top predator of the pond. Fortunately though the pond was big enough and had enough aquatic plants (Vallineria and Lotus) to protect the convict population from the predator fish.

Can you imagine if the Uropthalmus was placed in a community tank? All of the other fish would have been sushi. But then again the convict cichlid is also aggresive and it would have been easier to get it out of an aquarium.
Its really nice to see a fish in this case a cichlid grow. But what is a cichlid? Click here.

For more information about the Uropthalmus or Mayan Cichlid click here.

Meeting and buying fish

Yesterday, Along with my nephews we went to the meeting of Aquarium Science Association of the Philippines or ASAP. It was hosted by Mr Angel Ampil, one of ASAP's past presidents. Present President Ben Vallejo called the meeting to discuss the possible involvement and setting-up of a public aquarium in the Philippines.

ASAP of course is not the one funding the Public Aquarium. An MNC, Multi National Corp, seems to be keen in establishing a public aquarium here.This is of course not the first time a Public Aquarium was set-up here. During Pre-War time, The Americans built a public aquarium just outside of Intramuros. It was placed inside one of the small bastions. When the Japanese came during World War II they used the place as a jail of sorts. Some time after the war it was rehabilitated and during
my last visit, during the Centennial Celebration of the Philippine Republic, it was maintained and operated by a private company.

It would be worthwhile to see a modern Public Aquarium in the Philippines. After the meeting the members of the club look at the fish stocked inside Angel's office, place also doubles as an ornamental fish shop.Wait, I think it should be the other way around, the fish shop also doubles as an office.Ended up buying a Betta smargdina (?) and a couple of rummy nose tetras for my nephews.

I like to bring my nephews to such places. It can be tiring though. But it was worth it. At least when I get old and pass on, they will inherit the fishes and the fish-lore.

Web groups & resources

Aquarists and aquarium aficionados need reference sources in order to succesully keep beautiful aquariums. People have been to this road before and their knowledge is invaluable to the success of keeping an aquarium. This knowledge of course can be obtained from books, magazines and people in the know, through friendships and aquarium societies. The Internet though has opened up new forums and sites for aquarists to meet and gather information.

Fishbase -

On-line version of fish database. The database provides not only the scientific name and source of the fish, it also provides information on breeding habits, commercial use and other information -including if the fish is endangered or not.

Fishrank.com-

Ranks the different aquarium sites on the web. A good start-up point to check web resources.

Forums/Egroups
On-line communities of aquarists and fish enthusiasts. Find information, pertinent details, advise and develop friendship with fellow hobbyists. Note, most of the sites are Philippines-based.

Aquarium Science Association of the Philippines



Click to join aquarium_science


Betta Club Philippines



Click to join BettaClubPhils

Cichlosomania
Philippine Association of Arowana and Luo Han Society or PALHS
Aquatic Photography forum

Tiger Cichlid/Convict Cichlid

The Convict Cichlid or Tiger Cichlid will probably one of my favourite fishes in the world. I encountered this Central American cichlid when it was still known as known as Cichlasoma Nigrofasciatum, now it is called Archocentrus nigrofasciatus.

This is a small feisty cichlid with a blue-gray body with eight to nine bands. A dark blotch is usually present on the gills. It has a red patch near its belly. There is a white variant of this fish and it is devoid of the dark bands, but has the red patch.

The fish are very prolific breeders and aggresive. Once a pair develops they chase of any fish in the aquarium. The female is bigger than the male and as they get much older this becomes more evident. And once they start breeding the red spot just above their belly will become fiery red.

As egg-layers they need a smooth surface to lay their eggs. Once all the eggs have been laid the male fertilises the eggs. These guys are multiple spawners and can spawn around 100 to 150 frys or baby fishes.

Hardy, prolific, omniverous (can eat meat and plant matter) this cichlids are good starters for aquarists who would like to start keeping cichlids.

They are also inexpensive. I really like this fish. And up to today I have a population convict cichlids in my house.

Data about Archocentrus nigrofasciatus on fishbase.

Betta Club of the Philippines dines with Betta Expert

August 2 - the BCP hosted a dinner for Betta expert Philip Ngo. One the nice things about being a member of club is you get the chance to meet experts and well-known figures in the Betta keeping world. Aside from the food and friendship the evening was a success because most of learned a lot of things from Philip.


Betta expert Philip Ngo flanked by BCP members Angel and Ed.


Philip Ngo with the members of Betta Club of the Philippines.

Ionized water for fish growth?

The other day while I was surfing television channels I came upon the TV channel RPN 9 and it was airing one those Japanese documentaries circa 2000 or so.

This particular documentary attracted my attention because it was featuring one those incredible public aquariums in Japan. In one of those aquariums they had not only had full grown sharks but whale sharks and Mola Molas. The whole building was a big aquarium.

Amazing as it seems this was not the bit of video that eventually won my attention. This was just the tip of the iceberg. What was interesting was to be found in the following documentary. It featured a an ordinary goldfish almost a 8 to 12 inches long, total length. More amazing was that it was stocked inside a 30 gallon tank with around 30 smaller gold fishes. Why did this fish attain this size? And why can it succesfully stay inside a small tank with a couple of smaller fishes with no sign of stress.

According to the documentary the water was treated with ionized oxygen. A Japanese company called Bio-mate claims the increases the metabolism of the fish and it keeps the water clean from disease all leading to a bigger fish.

The application, a ionized oxygen generator, is now used in commercial aquaculture of flatfish and the grow out vegetables in hydrophonic gardens.

Now to my mind ionized oxygen seems to be ozone. Ozone sterelizes water (I learneed while keeping marine tanks) but its also toxic when overdone. At least on one occassion I have seen what over ozonation does to a fish, and its not a pretty site. Thus I am at a quandry as to what this bio-mate apparatus. I did the cursory check on the Net found mostly anecdotal tales and more questions than answers.

A few years ago, the Chinese were selling a magnetic device that promoted the rapid growth of the fish.

This is probably more important from a aquacultural perspective, eliminating days of culture (DOC).