Azedenkae's Rheoheros lentiginosus Aquarium, Part 2: Maturation and Growth Progress

Just a last video. Here we see the Camax swimming with the african cichlids, while a Tengo hide away in the background.

Yesterday someone was giving away tricolor platies, and I got them to add to this aquarium. Five in total. That, and a yellow guppy. Given the drastic changes in direction for this setup, I will end the progress report here.

There has yet to be significant changes to the R. lentiginosus anyways, and this is also an interesting opportunity to examine their behavior in a more 'typical aquarium', i.e. one where someone will mix a lot of different fish together anyways, versus a species-only aquarium.

Should the aquarium transition back into something that is species-specific, biotope-specific, or similar, then the progress report may recommence.

Continuation thread is here.

Up until now, the Tengos have stayed predominantly within the wood hovels in the two corners. The Camaxes have always been more out and about. Part of this I could tell is because the Tengos tend to chase the Camax away from where they are hiding, but certainly the Tengos seem to be far more shy compared to the Camax. Any time I approached the aquarium, the Tengos tended to hide away.

Today, most of the african cichlids are still out and about, but one of them has taken up residence in the hovel in the front right corner, and the Tengo that was normally there has been displaced. As far as I can tell, this was not due to aggression - I have not witnessed the african cichlids chasing the R. lentiginosus. More than likely, the Tengos are simply afraid by nature and even after having to enter open space, try to hide underneath the heater, behind rocks, and so on.

The Camaxes however have no problems with the african cichlids, and even sometimes 'shoal' with them, using the terminology loosely of course.

Hard to take pictures or videos of these behaviors, but I do hope to have something visual to present soon.

I do wonder about the differences in personality between the Camaxes and Tengos then. None of them are wild-caught, to be clear. The Tengos are F1 (of wild-caught parents), however. I wonder if the differences in personality is due to their size, specific strain, differences between collection localities, or generation post-capture. At this point, I have not found any evidence to suggest the differences in behavior is likely due to any one or combination of these variations.

I transferred the african cichlids from the other aquarium to this one over earlier today. It seems to have a positive impact in bringing the R. lentiginosus out more… so that’s a good thing, potentially. So far it did not seem like it was because the R. lentiginosus were displaced by the african cichlids, but rather simply that they are feeling more comfortable venturing out.

The fish are still going well, however there are updates for the future that will change the intended trajectory of this project.

I have another aquarium with a convict cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) and a few other cichlids. Given the convict cichlid has now matured, it needs a mate, and that also means the other cichlids have to be moved - specifically, into the same setup as the R. lentiginosus. This setup will therefore be converted from being mono-species to being a mixed african/american setup, plus a single clown loach. This will take place within the next few days, depending on when the mate for my convict cichlid arrives.

I will also be most likely moving houses within two months, and so the setup will be moved over. But it is also then a good chance to see whether my transfer methods work to keep everything alive and safe.

So far there has been no significant changes in behaviours of the R. lentiginosus. The Camax are still active and tend to be out and about, asserting dominance over each other. The Tengos are still shy and hide most of the time.

The Camaxes have grown quite a bit, pushing past 2" now from being around 1.5" or less.

It's been two weeks since the MaxOut Pro was added, and the water color has improved significantly, as can be seen here. During that time, the pothos have also started to really develop roots as well, so it is possible the pothos is also competing somewhat with any algae in the water.

I have turned the light schedule from 11-11 to 11-8, so only nine hours of light now. I doubt that would have had a significant impact in decreasing algae growth however.

Quick update, about 5 or so hours after I emailed Fritz Aquatics, I got their response:

I figured it could have been the pre-rinsing, though just wanted to be sure. So all is good, and I have taken out the activated carbon from the internal filter and dumped out the MarinePure spheres that was in there near the pile under the heater.

There was SO much detritus in there. So that was where it all went, seems like it acted somewhat like mechanical filtration. The bag of MaxOut Pro is pretty big, sitting pretty snuggly in my palm. Wish I took a photo for easier visualization of its size. Took a bit of effort to shove the whole bag into the internal filter, but eventually managed.

As far as I can tell, it is not really causing the flow to significantly diminish, so that's good. So now the only chemical filtration in the tank is by the MaxOut Pro. Let's see how it performs, especially given the activated carbon previously made no change to the water (see below).

Except for some additional cloudiness due to me releasing all the debris, the second picture looks not really different from the first color-wise. Let's see if the MaxOut Pro can finally bring clarity to the aquarium.

Been a while since the last update. The MaxOut Pro I ordered has finally arrived, but I have been busy attending a conference and preparing a manuscript for publication, so had no time for the aquarium until today.

I opened the MaxOut Pro container and found a single pouch, wet to the touch. Very suspicious, though I also do not know how it is shipped. I have emailed Fritz Aquatics just to confirm it is normal, before adding the pouch to the tank.

Meanwhile, I tested the tank to see what parameters were like, especially so that I have a frame of reference to compare with what happens after adding the MaxOut Pro. It does say it buffers pH, so I am curious if it will change the pH of my tank from my current point.

Here are (some of) the test results. pH is 7.8, as expected. Ammonia and nitrite is zero. Nitrate is 5-10ppm or so, can’t tell. But still low, so that's cool. Phosphate is 1-2ppm, again, can't tell. GH is between 447.5-501.2ppm, i.e. 25-28 drops with the API test kit. I was impatient so I dropped like 3 drops at a time. Either way, it is high. KH is 152.15ppm, i.e. approx. 8.5 drops with the API test kit. Why 8.5? Because eight turned the tube greenish-yellow, and 9 definitely was yellow. So I took 8.5 as an estimate.

Currently I have taken out the Poly-filter pad, so there is only some activated carbon in the internal filter that I will be taking out once I am sure I can use the MaxOut Pro.

I added a piece of Poly-filter to dampen the sound, but well, it kind of really inhibited air from flowing up into the wavemaker too. So I moved it to the side just to act as extra filtration for a while... especially given that it has changed color pretty quickly.

Ammonia read 0.25ppm and nitrite 0.5ppm this morning. So, still okay. For now. But yeah, I guess the food is starting to really decompose and releasing ammonia, enough that the nitrifiers can't keep it at zero. Does not necessarily mean ammonia will steadily rise though, partly because excess ammonia can trigger additional reproduction of nitrifiers, fast enough to take on the additional ammonia. But also, it is pretty common for aquariums to read 0.25ppm ammonia after a while. I wonder if it is rather there is a basal amount of ammonia constantly produced in such aquariums, enough that ammonia oxidation is not effectively instant, just a bit above 0 to register on the API test kit (as 0.25ppm, even though it is likely far less).

I will keep an eye on the parameters for a few days and see.

Fritz Aquatics got back to me today. The MaxOut Pro and MaxOut Pro Freshwater products are 100% identical.

Yesterday I added a lot of food to the tank as I was trying to reconfigure my autofeeder to output the amount of food that I wanted (it did not work, it spilled food all over, including outside the tank). I could have cleaned it all up with a net but decided to see what would happen if I left the food in instead (while still having the autofeeder feeding on the old schedule). Pictured is about a third of the food that is still remaining in the tank, the rest is in a small crevice. And I'd estimate would be maybe about a 1/2 to 2/3 of the excess food I added yesterday.

I did a check about 15 hours later (i.e. just now) and ammonia is reading zero still, but nitrite had reached 0.5ppm. This is not exactly surprising, and there is a chance that it will grow even higher over the next few days. This is the downside to targeting 1ppm ammonia consumption/day rate, as there may not be any buffer in case something goes very wrong. But even then, as you can tell, there is already some buffer here given that ammonia is still reading zero despite the excessive amount of food added.

I did check pH just in case the presence of nitrite may be rather due to a 'weakening' of nitrification due to a pH swing or something. It was 7.8. So no, not really significantly different from what it was.

One thing I noticed today when checking the tank was that aeration was significantly decreased. There were barely any bubbles. Had a look and yeah, it was because of the filter pad. That's what I don't like about this particular product, they don't really let anything through too easily.

So I removed it and... tada. Also surprisingly there is not too much noise. Not definitively sure why, most likely just that the larger bubbles released from the sponge filter do not flow directly into the impeller.

Oh and no, I do not believe the change in aeration caused nitrification capacities to change (and therefore the nitrite increase). Yes, nitrifiers need oxygen, but not so much that the lack of aeration specifically from this mechanism I set up impacts nitrification.

Anyways, for now I have turned off the autofeeder. I have added (marine) salt to the tank before so it should render the nitrite I am measuring non-toxic at the moment, though I will keep an eye on the fish to see how they go. I'll add another tablespoon of marine salt into the tank just to be sure.

I notice that the bellies of the Tengos are still pretty sunken. I have decided to quadruple feeding - hopefully it's an issue of underfeeding as opposed to worms or whatever.

I have also relented and decided to buy some 'better' chemical media to help polish the water. I could do a massive, like 100% water change - nothing inherently gonna go wrong with that most likely, but I am just too lazy. Plus, I do want to see if good chemical media can actually clear up my tank.

I mean, while making this collage for a moment I literally thought I had accidentally uploaded the same pic twice. But clearly the tank water color from a few days ago versus now looks no different. I had to start checking for specific details, like the snails or the filter pad I added underneath the wavemaker to temper the noise from the larger bubbles flowing into the propeller of the wavemaker, to realize they were indeed two different pictures.

So I got some Fritz Aquatics MaxOut Pro. Apparently this is the saltwater version as there is a freshwater version available, though I can't tell what is the difference. I had a look at the product info sheets, and they are practically identical:

https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/MAXOUTPRO_SALES_SHEET.pdf

https://fritzaquatics.com/assets/files/uploads/MAXOUTPRO_FW_SALES_SHEET.pdf

I have sent them a message to ask for clarification.

Random - I notice a small bladder snail alive today. No idea how there is still one around, but there is.

Lastly, the LONDAFISH automatic fish feeder is terrible quality - it is made very cheaply, and spills food everywhere. It does not have the finesse fine-tuning that I want either, so I have a lodged a return for it and bought an Eheim fish feeder instead. Up until now I have bought five Eheims and they all worked great, I really don't know why I decided to get something else this time. Even though Eheims are a bit more expensive, their quality really is top-notch.

Some of the mystery snails are still alive. Not entirely sure what the feeding patterns of the cichlids are - and why they hunt some but not others. Seemed like they cleaned up the bladder snails quickly, so I had figured they would also consume the snails pretty quickly too. Will keep on observing them to see if there are any patterns I can recognize.

There is one dead mystery snail near the water surface decomposing. Kinda gross but anyways, the tank will handle it one way or another.

Measured ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate today. Ammonia and nitrite is zero, nitrate is 20ppm or so. Which is expected given I have noticed decaying mystery snails seem to produce quite a lot of ammonia. But well, perks of cycling an aquarium properly is that the nitrification capacity can be pretty robust and handle extra ammonia relatively easily if need be. I mean, 20ppm nitrates, assuming produced entirely from nitrification, corresponds to almost 5.5ppm ammonia oxidized, so quite a bit over the last few days. And that's on top of whatever amount of nitrate produced but is already consumed (by plants).

The ammonia likely not only comes from the snails, but also a bunch of organic matter that I kinda released into the tank last time I cleaned the lids.

So water quality is fine. The other day from stirring up the sand plus all the cleaning I did there was so much detritus floating in the water, and most of it has gone away. However, I really do not like the discoloration, so I may do a big water change anyways.

Just a quick update. The R. lentiginosus are really starting to color up nicely!

So the Tengo initiated an attack on a snail and now all the fish are in a frenzy as they viciously hunted the mystery snails I added.

So erm, I mean great to see their natural behavior - they do eat molluscs in the wild after all, so it’s probably good that they get to replicate their natural behaviors in the aquaria. But… yeah my plan completely failed. Don’t know why they did not predate on the mystery snails before, they had quite a few days.

An option is to breed inverts in a separate tank. Personally I find it to be too much work though, so might just feed them pellets and let that be that.

Here is a video of feeding time. It has been a week, and as you can see, the Tengos are still not very lively. Like the one in the back. The Camaxes are all in on the feeding frenzy.

At least when I sit in front of the tank looking at them anyways. In other times I can see the Tengos being a lot more active. As I wrote this, I turned around and saw three of the Tengos in a corner rolling around each other. Two specifically seemed to be either asserting dominance or displaying mating behaviour. Not sure which. They were kinda swimming around each other a bit but there was also biting behavior towards the gill plates. Unfortunately because there was three, the third kept on interfering and I could not fully figure out what was going on.

Water is still brownish/green though. I wonder if the activated carbon is doing anything and now it's just shifting to the green of algae-filled water, or if it is still mainly just tannins and that the activated carbon is not doing much. I may just bite the bullet and get some Purigen or something.

This is how much food I am feeding the fish a day by the way. It may be a bit hard to see, but it comes out to be 0.48 grams. The food has a minimum crude protein % of 38%, so could be higher. But let's just go with 38% for now. Following the formula here, and assuming a water volume of say, 38 gallons, I am adding 0.261 ppm ammonia a day max from feeding the pellets, so a far cry from the 1ppm ammonia nitrification capacity I ensured the tank can handle. Even if I feed four times as much, it should still be okay - worse case there may be a small ammonia spike before the nitrifiers catch up.

On that note, there is zero sign of any snails or scuds left in the tank. Nada. Yesterday one of the Tengos was basically assaulting the pothos stem and leaves that was in the tank - which reminded me that I had seen snail eggs on them before. Perhaps the Tengo was eating it all up. Whether as eggs or newly hatched snails, not sure.

The three mystery snails that I chucked into the tank are doing fine though, interestingly. Even the 1cm one. So I got 24 (I ordered 20 via ebay from a seller called cmcd15aquatics, but they sent an extra 4) more today. They can help clean the tank I guess, and hopefully eventually start breeding and hopefully the R. lentiginosus will enjoy the baby snails then as snacks.

The Camaxes coming out for feeding time (and to chase each other around a bit).

They have pretty rounded bellies nowadays, while the Tengos’ bellies are pretty sunken.

At this rate the Camaxes may actually catch up to the Tengos in size.

Day 5 since full stocking (of the R. lentiginosus).

The Tengos are starting to regain some of the color and pattern I initially saw, namely the ‘freckles’ that is the namesake of the species (lentiginosus = ‘covered with freckles’ in Latin).

However, the Tengos are still very shy, spending most of their time hiding in the wooden hovels. Not necessarily complaining, that’s what I designed the hovels for. Not sure if it is due to rearing conditions, their age, their F1 status (versus the Camaxes being a few more generations tankbred), or something else entirely.

So much fun watching the fish and seeing how things change over time. Observing fish and their behaviors provide me with endless entertainment.

I also moved the activated carbon to the internal filter. Had to take out a MarinePure sphere to do that.

My aquarium today. Looks green in the picture but is actually more like brown. I blame tannins. I added the bag of activated carbon from the Nicrew internal filter, that I initially took out, to the back of the sponge filter. just kinda sitting there. Let’s see if it helps clear up the water.

On an unrelated note, caught one of the Tengos eating a snail today. So they are hunting the invertebrates after all. Makes sense. Ever since I stocked the tank with the R. lentiginosus (even from when the Camax were first added, before the Tengos), I already noticed an appreciable decline in the number of scuds and snails I would see. Yep, these guys are certainly invertebrativores (can confirm this word is used, according to 44 search results via Google lol) alright. Although with that said, I did add three apple snails yesterday - smallest is about 1cm across, largest 2.5cm - and they are still fine. So that's cool. Maybe I'll grab a bunch of apple snails instead to provide a food source for the fish.

I also measured ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate today. The first three are all zero across the board, unsurprisingly. Phosphate however is either 1, 2, or 10ppm (I really can't tell from the color chart).

Evening of the second day since the individuals from Rio Puyacatengo arrived, and there's more and more activity, so that's good. The individuals from Rio Puyacatengo (okay I am going to shorten them further to 'the Tengos') are still pretty pale however, compared to the ones from Rio Chacamax (shortening that to 'the Camaxes').

The Camaxes have dark stripes going horizontally down their bodies even at a younger age, showing regardless of the situation. One of the Tengos upon arrival I did notice much more vibrant colors, and what I have read does indicate they should color up a bit more. So hopefully in the next few days as they become more familiar with the tank they will color up.

Currently New Life Spectrum Ultra Red (regular pellets) not for any reason other than that I have them on hand.

I am contemplating doing a big water change to 'fix' the color of the water. It does not harm the fish and does not look as bad in real life, but I'd still like it to be a cool white color rather than having this tinge of green/brown.