h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That looks like a huge hassle, doesn't it?

You can save yourself much time and effort by driving the extra distance, and paying the extra 50p/fish at a store that actually quarantines their fish. Many stores will tell their employees to say they quarantine, but repeated querying of staff, and tracking of infection sources reveals to me that many are outright lying to their wageworkers. Insist on seeing the quarantine tanks if you don't see any tanks in the shop that say 'not for sale, under quarantine'.

a good rule of thumb is to watch tank behaviour paterns in tanks for a couple of days before you buy, i stopped 20 tears ago, the larger the shop the less ,care given to stock.

I the shop i worked in on and off for five years, customers where individuals, and needed more care than the stock!!

Dont miss shifting a ton of catlitter or sliceing up 110 kilos meat
but do the animals,logicus being one of them

Also bred some nice fish ,and some suprises ?

Thanks for all your fish advice, Sea Change. It's a pity my fish books can't be as informative!

"Are your fish getting along?"

As I have just one fish now, it's academic--but I'd never buy incompatible fish species. The tetras always got on well with each other when they were alive.

"You are doing regular water changes, right?"

Yes. I also filter it all before it goes near the tank, and I carry out regular chemical tests on it once it's in there. It hadn't occurred to me that the parasites might come via the tap water, but I'd have thought the filtering would stop them in their tracks.

"Use only a sponge or a wheel."

Check.

"Stop or seriously slow down the feeding of the fish"

Check. I hadn't heard of the medicated food, though. We get Tetra products in Britain, too, so I'll look out for the stuff you mentioned. It sounds like it might not be suitable for the parasites I've got, though: isn't a vermifuge a worm killer?

You mention a wide selection of chemicals I could use, but I'm loath to choose that option unless I have no other choice. I'm currently drying everything out, instead, in the hopes that the parasites will dehydrate and die. I've emptied the big tank and rinsed the gravel and ornaments and now they're just drying. The plants are a bit of a problem. I've cut them back almost to the root in case there were any parasites in the leaves, and I'm keeping them in a container of their own for the time being. What do you think about these measures?

I haven't seen any parasites since I did all that--touch wood--and my hospital tank is nice and hot, as per your instructions.

Still no parasites, and Sideshow Bob is looking happy and healthy. Phew!

Sorry for late reply, got distracted by RL. I am glad to hear Sideshow Bob is doing OK.

There are two kinds of Tetra ( "Tetra Medica" ) medicated flake foods. One claims it's an antibacterial and the other a antiparasitic, but one or the other of them (which I find out by trial and error) seems to work well on just about any parasite I've encountered.

I've never encountered any parasite that has as long of an external-to-the-fish lifecycle as you have mentioned, so I was thinking it was something that lives inside your fish (like a worm, as you have correctly translated from my snooty latin). I have encountered some that encysted themselves when the tank was dry in storage, and then revived again once the tank was set up again and re-wet.

"I have encountered some that encysted themselves when the tank was dry in storage, and then revived again once the tank was set up again and re-wet."

Well, I guess I'll soon find out whether my ones are those; my big tank has spent a good while drying out and all the fittings and ornaments have been washed. The tank is one-fifth full of water and will get filled over the course of the next few days; then I'll switch the heater on and see what happens.

Sideshow Bob's doing well in the hospital tank, and seems to have escaped affliction by the little rotters. Fingers crossed and touch wood and all that....

He eats pellets rather than flake food, but I'm sure there'll be a catfish variant of Tetra's medicated food about. Thanks again for the advice.

Tracticus:
"a good rule of thumb is to watch tank behaviour paterns in tanks for a couple of days before you buy"

Yes, that's an eminently sensible thing to do and I wish I'd done it from the start instead of relying on shop workers to tell me the truth. Sometimes it's not practical, though: if the shop is far away, I can't just pop in to check on the fish. But from now on, I'll be buying new fish in early Spring, to be on the safe side.


Once I've got everything sorted, I'd like to get a shoal of angelicus pims. They have so many different names, here's a picture:
http://www.jciaquariums.com/livestock/catfish,%20pimelodus%20pictus.jpg

Unfortunately, I haven't yet managed to find out certain information about them; perhaps one of you two can help me.

1. They come from Peru and Columbia, but don't seem to be captively bred. Are they endangered, and are they imported in a humane manner?

2. What size tank is necessary for them? My books tell me the total length of fishes suitable for each tank size, but not the maximum length of *individual* fish for a given tank. They also don't take swimming habits and tank shape into consideration.

Nice fish. I like V's catfish best of the ones I can see. The lurker is lovely but hides too much to be admired. The _<@o" in there probably win overall though.

Have you seen what Sideshow Bob looks like?

http://www.petresources.net/fish/catfish/anc_sp1.html

Cant see picture but if memory serves, torpedo/shark type body silver background,dark spots long whiskers, ?

Memory tells me where not endangered(but 80s since kept fish) do recall 4 ft be smallest aquairium i would keep them in ,will grow +6" (inches),prone to "whitespot" needs above average temp ,think does better in brackish(peat/soft/acheoli) water conditions

Thanks for the swift reply, logicus. Yes, you're right about what it looks like. I guess I'll have to give up on the idea of getting any, as I don't have a 4-foot tank. I know the Chilean ones are supposed to be a bit smaller, but not by much.

Back to the drawing-board....

I mean Peruvian, not Chilean.

Some of the cory catfish can be nice "juli" being one also several nice pygmy. the ghost catfish in groups also can be very effective darting in and out of plants,being middle swimmers see them ,unlike pimladella .
http://groups.msn.com/hannahshomefreinds/freindsandfamily.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=59
had ghost breed (mistake not planned).
My fav fish where Rameriz(bad spelling) and several rift valley cichlids

Gorgeous tanks Tractatus!

About pimellodids, what Tractatus said is good. I would add that their skin is weak against copper medications.

The pimelodids are rather carnivorous and nocturnal/crepuscular and have much bigger mouths than you think they do. Some fish that can avoid getting eaten by them tend to also be agressive towards their gorgeous feelers. Even if they are small (yet larger than a mouthful) fish, this harassment can make the catfish quite shy.

I've seen more than one pimellodid in a tank, but it was very large, and they each liked their own hiding place. They would come out and school when the owner fed them feeder guppies and brine shrimp and were quite beautiful. I have read that they can be antisocial towards each other, but his didn't seem that way.

And yes, he had a huge tank. I had mine in a 100 gal tank with some good hiding spaces and this was only space enough for one (in addition to other inhabitants).

My 1985 TFH Encyclopedia of Freshwater Tropical Fishes says that the pictus cat is 'not predatory' and 'peaceful and be kept with much smaller fishes', both of which contradict my experience. It also says temperature 22-25C, accepts most water conditions, and accepts dried foods, which do match what mine did.

Ah-ha! Perhaps what you had was not one at all then but a shape-changing alien cunningly disguised as one.

yes but when the pimladela yawns little fish think oooh nice cave serously there mouth is to big for there body size must be on a par with a Oscar twice there size.

Side show bob on the other hand is algae feeder but his size and skelitor skin tends to shred plants as they sqeeze or slither through tnem.

I used to love designing fish tanks,underwater landscape artist me.
a ice cream container can be made to look like a perfect cave cuting entrence in side after covering outside in gravel or slate slate is good as with a little deft work with hack saw or sharp blade can give inpression of rock face also giveing planting area close to surface for some plants that do better in shallower water.

they can be antisocial towards each other:: when conditions are poor,also when aproaching breeding condition.Also most juveniles will get on and in the wild they would live (rest) apart from others of species but in a tank they cant.

Siamese fighters should not be kept with guppies as they mistakenly think they are competators, also fish like sailfin mollies and other fish with delicate fins should not be kept with fast swimimg shoals
as this leads to trouble.But most shops will happily sell these fish
as communial fish !