My Big Black Pleco

In the year that I was born my father bought a 55 gallon fish tank.  He decided to raise guppies.  Along with the guppies he bought a very small Plecostomus, AKA a pleco.  It's also known as one of them "Sucker Fish" that gets rid of the algae on the side of your tank.  I ended up naming him, "Big Joe" as he was six inches long and much bigger than any of the guppies in the tank.

Big Joe lived to twelve years old.  That's not bad considering how much care was put into the tank.  Dad kind of gave up on it.  When I was old enough to really start taking care of the tank I cleaned it up, and changed the kind of fish we had in it.  That's when we bought, "Joe the 2nd."  We bought him at about two inches long.  He ended up growing to about six inches and then passed away.

Well, I'm a bit over forty years old now.  The last fourteen years (or more) we've had "Joe the 6th."  Honestly, I didn't expect that Joe would even make it in the tank.  The store employee didn't treat Joe all that gently.  First she didn't put in the a bag that was big enough.  You see, Joe was about six inches long when I bought him, and the bag she put him in wouldn't let him turn around.

So I said something to her about the bag not being big enough.  So she grabbed another bag, and went to put him in it.  Unfortunately, Joe fell out of the bag and into a small dish where they kept the brine shrimp.  The employee then grabbed Joe by the head, and chucked him into the much larger bag.  I thought to myself, "There's no way he's going to survive the night.  She had to of hurt him too much."

But the next morning I found him alive and well.  Joe the 6th actually grew to be my biggest pleco (of all the Joes.)  He was about seven inches.  That's when I read up on feeding him supplementary foods.  Even I figured there wasn't enough algae in the tank to feed him.  So I started adding shrimp pellets and algae wafers.  Everything in the tank loves the shrimp pellets so that worked out well.  Joe would end up snacking on the pellets and wafers.

 Little by little he started to grow.  But lately his growth has just taken off.  It seems he went from nine inches long to much larger.  One day he was hanging on the side of the tank.  I happened to have my tools with me for a project inside the house.  So I took my measuring tape out just to find how big he had gotten.

He had grown to exactly twelve inches.  That makes him the biggest pleco I've ever had by a whopping five inches.  Here is a photo of my giant angelfish Blackie Lawless (yes he's named after the lead singer of W.A.S.P.)

Here is a photo of Joe next to Blackie.

You can see just how big he has gotten.  The only real problem I've had is when Joe gets excited, swims too fast, and jumps out of the water.  He ends up hitting his head on the glass canopy.  I'll admit, it's scared the bejesus out of me a few times.

I've heard aquarium owners say they've had plecos live up to twenty years.  Now, Joe was already pretty big when I bought him.  I know he has to be around sixteen years of age at least.  I'll keep taking care of him as I want to him keep hanging around the tank.  I mean, look into those eyes.  He's kind of adorable, right?

Spring Cleaning For The Fish Tank

As all my friends know, I constantly remind them to clean their fish tanks on the 1st and the 15th of every month.  Which is strange because I don't think any of my friends have fish tanks?  But as sure as the sun come up in the morning, and goes down in the evening, I make sure my fish tank is clean.

I had noticed a problem the last time I was cleaning my fish tank.  It seems there was a lot of debris from my fake plants.  My pleco, Joe the 7th, had been chewing on them so long they were coming apart.  So it was time to buy some new fake plants.

Here's a tip a friend of mine shared.  Since aquarium plants sold in pet stores have a ridiculous markup, buy your plants at Michael's Arts and Crafts.  They have a wider selection, and are much cheaper.  Now, they aren't copies of underwater plants like you would find in pet shops, but some of them can pass very closely.

So not only did I throw out all the old plants, I gave my aquarium a heck of a cleaning.  I mean, I changed 40% of the water vs. the 20% I usually do.  I also gave the tank a good shaving.  As in, I took a straight razor blade, and shaved the algae off most of the tank's sides.

I've learned that since I have a bubble sprayer I have to shave my glass lid when I clean the tank.  Otherwise, there is too much algae buildup, and it cuts back on the amount of light that can come through.

So onto the photos.  Here are photos of the aquarium during the daytime.

These are the photos of the tank at the "Dusk" setting.  My light has about 20 settings, and this one is pretty trippy.  I put it on this setting at the end of the day/night, from 9PM to 10PM.

And this is the "Ocean Blue" Nighttime setting.

I have to say an aquarium can be an awesome thing.  But it depends how much time and money a person puts into it.  I want a clean environment for my fish so I put a fair amount of time into my aquarium.  And as you see it pays off.  Like Professor Moody said, "Constant vigilance!"

Let Sleeping Loaching Lie

I've recently redecorated my fish tank.  It still looks a lot like I previously had it.  I bought new fake plants from Michael's Arts and Crafts as well as Wal-Mart.  Some of those I managed to snag on clearance.  Here's what it looks like after I redecorated.

But I had a funny thing happen, and of course it involved my yoyo loach.  Loaches are silly fish, and ever so entertaining.  So I have this loach, I'll call her, "Shirley."  Shirley likes to hang out in a certain parts of the tank.  If you are looking at the photo above, it is all the way to the right in the back of the tank (where you can't exactly see.)  But look at the giant green plant all the way to the right.  She likes to sit at the bottom of it.

This lead to a problem.  Namely I just stuck a plant where Shirley likes to sit.  So what does she do?  She digs out the stem of the fake plant, then wiggles the gravel out of the way, and makes a little scooped out place for her to stretch out and rest her fins.

I managed to snag a picture of Shirley doing this.  My camera does this irritating thing where it will shine a red light right before it snaps a picture.  This of course warns my fish that I am taking a photo so of course, they run away from the camera.

But here's the funny thing about Shirley that no one believes.  She likes to sleep on her back and side.  That's right.  There were many times I thought she was dead or dying only to discover she was napping.  And I can't blame her for sleeping on her side.  I mean, I do too.

So I knew I would have to take a photo of her doing this.  The problem with this, as I stated before, is my stupid camera likes to flash the red light before I take a photo.  This of course wakes her up, and she rolls over.  However, I did manage to take a somewhat blurry photo of her sleeping on her back.  Take a peek at this.

It's like that photo of Bigfoot.  Some folks will believe that my loach absolutely slept on her back.  Other's will say it's a complete fake.  Still yet, some will never be able to be sure, one way or another.

I was almost mad about Shirley digging out the stem of the plant, but I thought, "She spent a lot of time and effort digging that out.  I should let it stay like that instead of digging it back into the gravel.  I'll let her sleep in the hole she dug out."  So in the end I decided to let sleeping loaches lie.

View From The Recliner: Feed Me

My fish tank sits right by my recliner.  I like having it there.  Namely since I can look directly to my right, and see the fish tank in all it's glory.  However, I have noticed something.  My Angelfish are starting to become a little too smart.  I grabbed my camera, and took a photo.  Do you notice something?

They say to have a large fish tank for Angelfish to live in.  But do you notice what they are doing?  All five Angelfish are over in the corner looking right at me.  This is pretty much what they do all day.  I have a 46 gallon Euro-tank, and all they do is sit in the corner waiting for food.

I don't want to give the wrong idea.  Believe me, they get plenty of food.  I actually worry I'm overfeeding them.  It's just the giant danios and other fish don't hang out in the corner.  Only the Angelfish.  They sit there eyeballing me throughout most of the day.  Well, at least I know they are in the corner when I'm in my recliner.  I'm not sure what they do when I'm not there. 

I do like having Angelfish.  They are more personable than any other fish I've had.  I just wish they wouldn't eyeball me all the time.  There's a lot more tank to explore.  Maybe they can swim over to the other side and hang out there?

Overhauling the Fish Tank: New Light, New Fish, New Look

In an earlier post I showed the pictures of the new fake plants I had bought.  It gave the fish tank a great look.  Here's the link:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2017/02/time-to-spruce-fish-tank-up-new-fake.html

In the past week I have really spruced up the tank.  First up was a new light.  It's amazing what technology can do these days.  Check out the Current's website for what this light can do:

http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/satellite-led-fixtures/satellite-freshwater-led-plus/

I won't go into everything it can do since I would just be repeating what the website link would say.  But here is the view of my fish tank with the full spectrum setting on the light-strip. 

Here is the moonlight setting.  I use it at nighttime when the fish "go to bed."

There are a lot of other settings, but my camera is not nuanced enough to display the difference in colors. 

I was able to make a few additions to the tank.  Two new angel fish followed me home.  When I saw them in the pet store they caught my eye.  They were no bigger than black tetras. 

What's neat is that, when I had them in the bag from the pet store, when I would hold them up to the light they were incandescent.  I could actually see through parts of them.  I could also see the heart and insides of the gills.  As they get older I'm sure some of their color will come in.

It's hard to get a good picture with my camera.  It doesn't have a fast shutter speed, and the fish don't like to hold still.  Anyway, you can get a glimpse of how small the little angelfish is next to my oldest one. 

I have to say the lighting from the new light really makes the fish look awesome.  It really highlights the plants and rocks as well.

In addition to the two new angelfish I brought home some giant danios.  They move really fast so it was hard to get a decent picture of them, but I think I did okay with these shots.

So I feel really great about the fish tank at the moment.  I really needed to update it, and I think I did a great job.  I like having it right by my chair.  I can stare off into it, and feel a nice calming sense flow over me. 

I should really invite some hippies to sit by the fish tank.  That way, they could just stare into it for a few hours.  Of course, I risk a drum circle breaking out.  But that's okay.  Nothing can get me down.  I have a pretty awesome fish tank, and that makes me feel pretty good. 

Time To Spruce The Fish Tank Up: New Fake Plant Day!

It was time for me to spruce the fish tank up.  I was kind of tired of the bare rock look.  The fish tank really needed some pizazz.  To start, I needed some plants as the tank had none.  I was talking to a friend/ fellow aquarist, and I was complaining about the cost of (not so) cheap plastic plants at pet stores.  They can't cost over a few pennies to produce.  I'm betting that the packaging they come in costs more than the plants themselves. 

My friend mentioned that he goes to Michaels to buy fake plants for his aquarium.  I go to Michaels on a regular basis, and it never occurred to me to buy some of their fake plants. 

I was worried, and asked if he had ever had any problems with them being in the fish tank.  Namely, are they fish safe?  He said they were made of plastic, and he never had any problems. 

So this evening, I went to Michaels and bought four plants.  Two of them were huge (for my tank.)  The other two were medium size, but great for a fish tank.  I let them soak in a 5 gallon bucket outside for a few hours just to make sure the dust and dirt were knocked off. 

So here are the results.

It looks pretty awesome.  They have a lot of movement just like in real life.  And the best part is yet to come.  I have a new LED fish light on order.  And the things it can do are just over the top.  It has all sorts of settings.  But that will be my next blog.  So stay tuned.  

Welcome Bob A. Fish To The Fish Tank

I was aiming to post this a little while back, but as you can see down my blog feed my Grandmother passed away.  So this post had to be put on hold for a while. 

A few weeks ago I dropped by Pet City to see about adding some more fish to my fish tank.  I had five angelfish already so I wasn't looking to add anymore.  I was checking the price on certain tetras or other fish that would get along with angelfish.

But that's when I saw him.  Bob.  Bob Angel Fish.  He was so tiny, but had some amazing markings.  So he had to come home with me.  This is Bob.

You can see just how tiny he is for an angelfish.  I was worried he might be picked at by the larger fish.  However, I have not had any trouble with these angelfish.  Honestly, I've had more trouble with mollies.  That's right.  Those "community fish," that are supposed to get along with each other?  I had one molly flat out kill another many years ago.  I have had no trouble at all with these angels.

I have to say the five angelfish I bought a couple of months back have been some of the smartest fish I've had.  They know who feeds them.  I can sit in my chair, and they will stare at me or at least come over to check on me.  Yes, I've had fish do that before, but none learned to do that within three days. 

Here's a picture of Bob with some of the older angels.

Here's one of the bigger angels in what is one of my better pictures.

It's funny in that, they were so tiny just a couple of months ago.  I remember commenting on how their bodies (not counting the fins) were no bigger than a quarter.  Now, they are much, much bigger.  Bob is no bigger than a black tetra at this moment.  But I think he will get some size on him in no time.  Much like his tank mates.

So maybe I will get a few more fish in the tank.  I do have the room.  I think some black neon tetras would get along well with everyone.  I've had great luck with them before.  But we'll see.  If I do, you can be sure that I will write a blog post about it. 

Restocking the Fish Tank: Angelfish Sunday

Today was the day I finally put some angelfish in the fish tank.  There is an independent pet store called Pet City that had the smaller marble angelfish in stock.  So a few were purchased, namely five of them.  Also purchased was some specialty food, aquarium salt, and a new Marineland jet sprayer.  Let's take a look at the pictures.

For clarity, the funny looking white things are the air bubbles shooting from the sprayer.  The angelfish are still schooling together.  Since they are in a new environment, they don't like separating that far from one another. 

Here's a short video clip that I took of the tank.

I'm glad I was able to get the angelfish while they were small.  That will give them plenty of time to grow.  Since they are young and small, they are getting along well with the danios.  Everyone is getting along nicely. 

The old Marineland jet sprayer finally bit the dust last week.  But honestly, it hadn't worked well in years.  I should have replaced it back then.  But the good news is I assembled it correctly, and it's working just fine in the fish tank.  It looks pretty, and I'm sure the fish are yelling, "BUBBLES!!!!"

I could put more fish in the tank, but I'm not sure what kind.  I think some glo-light tetras would get along well with everyone.  I could add some clown loaches since my last one passed away.  I'll get on the internet, and see what fish get along with angelfish.  I'll try to pick something that I haven't had before. 

Fish Post Friday: More Danios

In my last post I wrote about how I had bought a few Longfin Zebra Danios to add to my mostly empty tank.  Here's the original post:

http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2016/09/long-finned-zebra-danios-and-mike.html

So today I went to a different pet shop and bought some "mixed" Danios.  Basically, there were three different types.  So I bought six total.  Two white ones, two regular zebra ones, and two that I could only describe as "speckled." 

This time I thought I would be smart.  Since they won't hold still I decided to take some pictures of them in the bag.  It didn't work out.  They are still just too fast for my camera.

So I decided I would let my camera work for me.  I took a short video of the Danios swimming around.  Take a peek.

Everyone seems happy, and they really fill the tank after it being empty.  I really like having them.  I'm not sure why I never had them before.  So, please look forward to more updates when I add some Angelfish in the tank. 

Long Finned Zebra Danios and Mike Nugget, The Pleco Hide And Seek Champion

My last Gold Gourami passed away last week.  I didn't want to add any more fish to the tank with her still in it.  Namely, since I wanted to change the tank over to Angelfish, I didn't want them fighting.  I know they are "supposed" to get along together, but I had Gouramis fighting each other.  I wasn't about to add other fish to the mix.

So today I decided to buy some Zebra Danios.  I know they're not Angelfish, but I have a method to my madness.  After giving my tank a good cleaning, I needed to reestablish my good bacteria.  I also wanted to have some fish to go along with the Angelfish I will be getting in a few weeks.  Danios are great since they are off the minnow line, and aren't fin-pickers like some other "community" fish.

But as life is fickle, things didn't exactly go my way.  You see, they didn't have any of the cheap Zebra Danios.  They had the prettier, more expensive Long Finned Zebra Danios.  So I decided to buy three of them.  They have quite a bit of room in my 46 gallon bow-front Eurotank. 

I tried to get some nice pictures of them, but dang, they are fast.  They just won't slow down for me to take a picture. 

Trust me, they are a lot prettier in person than they are on in the photos.

Also in the tank is Big Joe the Sixth.  Joe don't care.  He's just been hanging out there for 12 years or so.

Even though I gave the tank a good cleaning last week, I couldn't find Mike Nugget, the Gold Nugget Pleco.  In fact, I hadn't seen him for over two weeks.  I thought he had passed away, but today I found him.  I have to give him credit.  He is the Pleco hide and seek champion. 

Here's the only pictures I could get of him.  Look directly in the middle of the photo.  He's hiding between the rock and the glass of the aquarium.  If you see the yellow polka dots, that's him.  Like I said, he's good.

So that's the exciting fish tank news for the day.  In two weeks or so I should have some new Angelfish to show off.  They will be the classic Marble Angelfish.  Stay tuned.