# 48 g Congo tank journal



## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Moved from here

A lot happened in the last few days!

My custom lid from C & H Glass and Mirror in Scarborough arrived and so did the substrates I ordered from Angelfins (Fluorite, Aqua Soil Amazonian Light, and Carib Sea sand).

It took a long time to wash the fluorite, in particular, and I'm not thrilled with the way it looks (too red), but I hope it will be good for the plants.

Some of the plants and also the fish are expected to arrive later today.

Water parameters yesterday, 24 h after adding the substrate: pH 6.75, nitrites < 0.1 ppm, nitrates < 5 ppm, ammonia undetectable. (The filter was the same as before, and I saved about 20% of the aged water from the tank, so this is unsurprising). I put my catfish in a 15 gallon quarantine tank for 24 hours to let the cloudiness in the big tank clear. He's back in there now and behaving normally.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Sounds like a good sequence of events.
Looking forward to seeing this develop.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe, thanks for following me here. 

The fish and a few plants arrived yesterday afternoon are now settling into the quarantine tank.

Two of the butterfly fish are female and one is male. The male is the biggest of the three, at about 6 cm long. They are all way more active than I expected. This morning I fed them a broken-up shrimp pellet and they ate all the bits that floated, but the second any piece fell under the surface of the water, they ignored it. Yesterday I had also received an order of small crickets along with the fish and I have been gut-loading them overnight. I threw in a small cricket and, BAM, it was gone almost faster than possible to imagine. Each of the butterfly fish ate two crickets. It is amazing how far their mouths open.

(I will be receiving a package including more plants and some floating stick food from a different source later in the week. I don't intend to feed them only live food).

The Ctenopomas are very shy. They're about the size of two stacked quarters, quite small and too young to sex. One seems to be significantly more freaked out than the other. The more confident one has taken up a place next to/under the filter. The other one mostly hangs out near/around one of the coffee mugs I put in the quarantine tank as caves. It looks really skinny and not super healthy, and yet it is more interested in the sunken bits of shrimp pellet than the other one. I treated the quarantine tank with flubendazole this morning in case any of the fish have worms. I hope that this will solve the problem.

I also installed (?) the first wave of plants in the 48 g: _Bolbitis heudelotii_ (tied to the driftwood), _Anubias barteri_ var. _angustifolia_, and two tiny corms of _Nymphaea lotus_ no bigger than hazelnuts. I hope all of them survive!

Pictures: 48 g with lights off and lights on -- both Nymphaeas are behind driftwood -- and all 3 butterfly fish in the quarantine tank (the ctenopomas were hiding).


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Butterfly fish are so weird looking.

Looks like this project is coming along nicely


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Almost one week in and the plants are doing OK in the main tank. Nothing has melted or turned brown. I have the light on for 6 hours a day at about 60% intensity and will increase it over a period of weeks as the plants get established. I was also expecting a delivery of a few new plants this week but I didn't even get a shipping notification yet. Fingers crossed for next week.

There is no significant algal bloom, unless the fluffy greyish white stuff all over the new driftwood is algae and not fungal. Whatever it is, it does not seem to affect the water chemistry. I will be scraping and siphoning it off when I do water changes, but otherwise leaving it alone and letting it run its course.

In the quarantine tank, the skinny and deformed-looking ctenopoma has died, but the rest of the fish are thriving and eating like pigs. The healthy ctenopoma has probably doubled in weight. It is becoming a lot less shy and has figured out that I am the source of food. I am waiting for a shipment of floating pellets. In the meantime, the butterfly fish are eating crickets and whatever bits of baked salmon and/or shrimp pellets actually float for long enough to retain their attention. The ctenopoma eats whatever bits float down. I saw it engulf a cricket leg about a quarter of its own length, and then eat several bits of crumbled sinking wafer I threw in.

Tails & Scales has said they'd compensate me for the ctenopoma that didn't make it. They let me know that they're getting in a shipment of new West African fish (and possibly plants) soon. I'm waiting to hear the specifics before I decide what to do. After reading articles and viewing numerous videos of Congo biotope tanks, I'm not sure that Congo tetras would be comfortable in my 48 gallon -- it's only 1 m long. I may seek out other mid-level fish that do something other than go back and forth all day. If this tank ends up being full of predators lurking in what I hope will become lush plant growth, that's OK with me -- I would like the fish to feel at home and not overly confined.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe said:


> Butterfly fish are so weird looking.


The more I learn about them, the weirder they seem! Their eyes are also super-specialized (scientific article about butterfly fish vision, less technical overview of butterfly fish weirdness).


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Do you actually want more than one ctenopoma?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe said:


> Do you actually want more than one ctenopoma?


Not anymore!


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

So all the plants are doing well -- I'm surprised how many new leaves the little Nymphaeas cranked out in a week -- and the fish in the quarantine tank are growing. It is amazing how fast the ctenopoma is growing. It is about 50% longer than it was a week ago, no kidding. It eats crumbled shrimp pellets and whatever cricket bits sink after the butterfly fish do their thing and it comes back for more. This morning I saw it even try to grab a live cricket from the surface of the water (of course, a butterfly fish got there first). It likes to spend time hiding in a giant coffee mug with just its nose sticking out, but it also patrols the tank and sometimes rests near the filter and heater with the butterfly fish.

Meanwhile, the male butterfly fish, which is a little bigger than both females, has started to push the females around. He's not a total jerk and he is not biting them, but he is ramming them and making it clear that he gets the choice lurking spot. I hope that once these guys are introduced to the main tank and especially once I get some floating plants, there will be several ideal lurking spots to choose from and also interrupted sight lines to reduce the jerkdom.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Quarantine is now over! Well, at least for my fish. 

I fed all the fish in the morning in their respective tanks and waited until the lights in the main tank went off in the afternoon before transferring the new fish to their new home.

I was a little surprised that the butterfly fish seemed to settle in almost immediately -- circling around the surface of the water and trying out various low-flow spots -- whereas the ctenopoma was freaking out at first, breathing heavily and flaring all its fins for around 10 minutes. It has still (more than an hour later) not explored the entire tank, though it is now becoming bolder and not spending all its time behind the filter intake pipe.

The biggest surprise for me is how my catfish has been behaving. He's a gentle fellow whose #1 concern in life is food. (I have been known to refer to him as the "gluttonous vacuum beast.") He lived all of his 8 years with two headstanders, which are middle-of-the-tank fish who also spent time near the bottom in choice lurking spots and also at the surface, especially when there was floating food, largely plant matter. The catfish prefers to stay at the bottom of the tank but he also cruises around. But he's never at the surface of the water unless he's either eating, begging for food, or gulping a mouthful of air (normal behaviour in his species).

First, there was the introduction of the new fish, which came with the introduction of a bit of water from the quarantine tank, which has a different smell from the water in the regular tank, which might mean FOOD! Cue catfish frenzy looking for food.

Then it became clear that this catfish does not know what to make of the butterfly fish. They hang out just under the surface, and what floats near the surface? FOOD. But the butterfly fish are not food, just fellow fish. But why would they be there unless there is FOOD? The catfish keeps looking for food wherever the butterfly fish are. They quickly figured out that he's not after them and either ignore him or dart out of the way, but not very far or with much effort. The ctenopoma occasionally comes to the surface to see what the fuss is about, determines there is nothing worthwhile going on, and returns to behind the filter intake. This little drama has been going on for around an hour.

Since the order for floating food sticks and other plants has not shipped yet, and I am starting to run low on crickets, I know what my strategy will be for feeding the fish tomorrow morning. Before the lights come on, I will feed the fish some composting worms. With some luck, the new fish will catch the mania for worms from my catfish. I will report back soon . . .


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the plants grow in on this one.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Thanks! My second order of plants arrived today and another is in the mail. I will post photos soon. (I cleaned the tank when I planted the new plants so the water is full of bits of stuff right now). I think the butterfly fish appreciate the Amazon frogbit I specifically bought to provide some cover in there before the plants that actually come from the Congo get big enough to take over.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

It's now week 3 of my build.

*Light*

I have increased the number of hours of light in the tank from 4 hours/day (first two weeks) at 80% of the maximum intensity to 6 hours/day at 80% of the maximum intensity. So far, there has been green hair algae growth on the _Bolbitis_ but no green water or other major algae outbreak.

How soon should I increase the hours of light to 8 and increase the light intensity to maximum?

*Plants*

This week I planted the new plants, namely _Anubias barteri _var. _nana_ (tied to driftwood) and _Lilaeopsis mauritania_, separated into bits and poked into foreground of the substrate behind the front sandy area. My catfish managed to dislodge several bits of the _Lilaeopsis_. I'll replant them when I change the water next. In the meantime, the loose bits are floating with the Amazon frogbit.

Amazon frogbit is obviously not native to the Congo, but I figured the butterfly fish and ctenopoma would appreciate some kind of floating plants as cover until my other plants get big enough to provide more shade.

The _Nymphaea_s are putting out new leaves but they're still very small. The _Anubias barteri _var. _angustifolia_ put out one new leaf, and the _Bolbitis_ has not put out any new fronds, but it has both hair algae and bits of loose slime from the driftwood trapped on it, perhaps blocking the light a bit too much.

The slime on the driftwood is about 90% gone now, thanks to a booming population of MTS.

*Fish*

I have seen some interesting fish behaviour in the past few days.

1. The ctenopoma hates the camera, whether it's a real camera or cell phone. When it sees it, it hides. It also hides most of the time when the tank lights are on.

2. When the lights are off, the ctenopoma can sometimes be a jerk and go after the butterfly fish. I don't know why it does this -- entertainment/boredom? Sometimes it also just hangs out with one or more of them near the surface. The rest of the time, it lurks around the driftwood. It has several preferred spots.

3. The butterfly fish don't seem to care that I put a piece of black plastic over part of the tank to create a dimmer area for them. Instead, they hang out where the frogbit is and/or next to the filter intake (full light exposure but relatively low flow area).

4. My catfish is obsessed with floating food now, even though I feed him sinking pellets or worms before I feed any of the other fish anything just so he'll stay out of the way. Yesterday I even saw him sleeping vertically, bracing his dorsal fin against the filter outflow tube to maintain his position (see attached picture). I've had him for 9 years and this was new behaviour to me. I don't know why he was doing it, but it could have been so that he could watch for floating bits of food without having to move his body. (A less likely, but possibly more fun reason he might have done this is that the place where he fell asleep is right next to one of my crested gecko cages. The geckos and catfish are around the same size. The geckos also sometimes like to sleep on the glass. Was there some sort of imitation going on?)

5. As for the floating food, it did arrive and the fish love it -- but the sticks are so big that I have to break them into 4 or more pieces each or they can't be swallowed. (I'd thought they were going to be smaller). The butterfly fish try to swallow these bits but as long as they float, they are apparently too crunchy to do this. I may have to buy some floating betta food and use that until the butterfly fish get bigger.

6. I thought one of the butterfly fish had gotten sick and was about to die. She was completely pale, her pelvic fins were loose and close by her sides instead of spread out jauntily like normal, and her tail was sagging. I had no idea what could have caused this. But about 5 minutes later, she woke up and has been fine since! I guess she was just really deeply asleep.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

I rearranged the driftwood when I cleaned the tank today and replanted the smaller _Nymphaea lotus_, which my catfish had uprooted. The fish are all growing. The plants are getting new leaves. New plants are delayed.

The ctenopoma is being a total jerk to the butterfly fish, contrary to everything I've ever read about ctenopomas. It is a beautiful fish but it is stressing me out with its harassing behaviour. It has the whole tank to roam in and plenty of crevices but it insists on rushing the butterfly fish for several hours a day.

I have ordered a coconut with my next grocery order so that I can make it a second coconut hide that it can fit into but that the catfish can't get into. I'm hoping that knowing that it has a secure lurking place will make it behave better.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Interesting developments. 
Do you think the jerk fish may have to be removed entirely?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe said:


> Do you think the jerk fish may have to be removed entirely?


I hope not. I will give it a few days. The grocery order with the coconut is expected to arrive on Sunday.

In the meantime, I have been feeding the fish a lot. The ctenopoma is a glutton. It definitely is less of a jerk when it is full, but even when it can't fit any more food in its body, it is still sometimes a jerk.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Generally with most organisms I figure there is a natural behaviour involved and we don't understand it fully, but also maybe it's just not nice?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Pictures!

The Nymphaea on the left has been growing really well but it is not visible from the front of the tank yet because it's behind the driftwood.

The Nymphaea on the right is about 4 cm tall but at least has not been uprooted in the past few days. It is growing. I hope that being actually planted will allow it to flourish.

Everything else is starting to grow new leaves!

The past two days, the ctenopoma has also been less of a jerk. Fingers crossed.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Today my most recent order from Tails & Scales arrived.

I had ordered more plants and some small floating pellets that should enable me to use the automatic fish feeder. There was also a surprise fish with the order! I had asked for a refund on the ctenopoma that had died a few days after it arrived but instead I was sent me another one. Luckily for it, I had left the quarantine tank running after I moved the last batch of fish to the new tank.

The new fish is half the size of my existing ctenopoma. It will be a challenge to get it to grow enough while it's in quarantine so that it can hold its own in the main tank. I really hope it will not get beaten up by its bigger and more well-adjusted conspecific. (I told the guy from Tails & Scales this and he said that if I have to return any fish because of aggression or whatever that I should call the store).

The plants that arrived today are _Anubias hastifolia_ (beautiful arrowhead-shaped leaves), _Anubias congensis_ (wide leaves) and _Crinum calamistratum_, a bulb plant with long leaves that resemble frilly ribbons. The plants are all fairly small right now but the tank already looks even better than before. I will post pics tomorrow once the water clears up from the planting.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Tank photo! That's _Anubias hastifolia_ on the far left (with the smaller _Nymphaea zenkeri_ behind it), _Anubias congensis_ in the middle, _Anubias afzelli _on the far right, _Anubias barteri _var. _nana_ on the wood (two plants with roundish leaves). The leaves of _Crinum calamistratum_ are barely visible to the left of the _A. congensis_, next to one of the coconut hides. The _Bolbitis heudelotii_ ferns are tied to the wood and _Lilaeopsis mauritania_ is planted all over the substrate. In this photo, the larger _Nymphaea zenkeri_ is behind driftwood and so are all the fish except for the butterfly fish, which are hanging out in the Amazon frogbit (_Limnobium laeviatum_) at the surface.

The only problem that has come up with the plants so far is that there's a green hair algae infestation on the Bolbitis. I pull off clumps every time I have a reason to put my hands in the tank. I'm not sure whether to just keep removing it manually or whether I might need to get some shrimp -- and I suspect that shrimp won't last long if the "big" ctenopoma keeps growing at such a fast rate.

Meanwhile, the new little ctenopoma is hiding at the back of the quarantine tank and not eating. Its behaviour is not worrisome yet as it must be a big adjustment for the little fish.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Apologies for the least photo-heavy thread in the planted tank photo subforum!

A week and a half after the latest shipment, all the plants are doing well except for the Bolbitis ferns, two of which have green hair algae infestations that I have to pick off around twice a week. Everything else is producing new leaves. My catfish is doing fine, the butterfly fish are growing (and one that I thought was the smallest female is actually showing itself to be a male), and the ctenopoma in the main tank continues to be a jerk towards the butterfly fish.

The new little ctenopoma quickly got over its rough first day in the quarantine tank and started to eat -- and eat and eat and eat. It grew a lot in just a week and a half and appears vigorous and healthy. For various reasons I needed to move it to the main tank ASAP, so as soon as the lights went out in the main tank this afternoon, I did a 25% water change and then transferred the little one in. I also changed 50% of the water in the quarantine tank and left its filter and heater running, just in case.

Unsurprisingly but unfortunately, the bigger ctenopoma has been a jerk to the little one, following it around, feinting at it, shaking its head at it and showing it its pelvic fins. The little one also showed its pelvic fins. Within an hour of being in the new tank, the little one was hiding in a corner just over the gravel and breathing heavily.

I had to take out all the driftwood to catch it, but I did catch the bigger ctenopoma and moved it to the quarantine tank. Obviously it is not thrilled, but this should give the little one some time to find its groove in the bigger tank.

I hope it won't be a jerk.

I will be contacting the store tomorrow to see if they will take the jerk ctenopoma back.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

So what have we learned here?

Some fish are not as good in pairs as they are as singles?
I guess some fish are too territorial to work in pairs, and that given that we don't have natural conditions in the relatively little glass boxes, it doesn't always work.

I'm still looking forward to seeing how this tank develops as all the plants grow in. I forget; did you put in a background?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

A week and a bit on, the jerk ctenopoma is still in the quarantine tank. The store told me last week that they'd drop by when they're doing deliveries in my area at the end of this past week and pick it up, but they did not contact me in the past few days to specify/confirm when.



ksimdjembe said:


> So what have we learned here?
> 
> Some fish are not as good in pairs as they are as singles?
> I guess some fish are too territorial to work in pairs


I'm not sure about that. It didn't fight with the other (first) ctenopoma that was the same size as it and that died. It could well be that it is not primed to be a jerk under all circumstances. I suspect that part of its jerk behaviour comes from the fact that it spent two weeks in quarantine with just the butterfly fish. It learned from them to prefer floating food and to ignore sinking food/food on the bottom. Then it fought with them for food and "dominance" (I don't think they cared), especially when it was (likely) also intimidated by the much larger and much more gluttonous catfish. It may also not have been a total jerk to the new little ctenopoma if the new one were around the same size or bigger.

Anyway, there's no way to tell what it would do under other circumstances. Under the present circumstances, it is a jerk.

Meanwhile, in the main tank, the little ctenopoma is behaving exactly like all the material I'd read beforehand suggested that a ctenopoma will behave: it is somewhat shy, but very smart. It does not bite or otherwise harass any of the other fish or steal food from them. In fact, none of the fish is behaving in an antisocial way. They are all getting along well. The only behavioural trait that the new ctenopoma shares with the jerk ctenopoma is that it also hates the camera, so I have no photo to share! It is eating well and growing, though.

Two of the three Bolbitis are suffering from green hair algae pretty badly and I may need to take them out. It is hard to remove the algae.

Everything else is growing well. The Nymphaea has now reached a size where it is visible from the front of the tank! It is really beautiful. (That's just one of them. The other one is still tiny and struggling after having been uprooted 4 or 5 times by overenthusiastic catfish behaviour).


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe said:


> I forget; did you put in a background?


Oops, forgot to reply to you before. There is no background. The tank is in a corner of a room but the corner has a funny shape so there are strange shadows.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Yesterday I cleaned both fish tanks. I felt bad for the larger cteno, all alone in the quarantine tank. I also thought that I have all day in the house (weekend, intermittent rain) so I might as well do an experiment.

I put it back in the main tank.

My reasoning was that the other, newer ctenopoma has had more than a week to grow and get familiar with the main tank, whereas the bigger one had hardly been eating in the quarantine tank and was not at its best. It is still twice the size of the new one, though, so I was/am fully prepared to remove them at any time if things didn't go well.

The two ctenopomas found each other almost immediately and started displaying to each other -- and then the small one started chasing the bigger one around! A multi-hour series of displays and nonviolent skirmishes ensued. Nobody was hurt, and all other fish were left out of it. At the end of this establishment of the ctenopoma hierarchy, one was hanging out at the one side of the tank and the other at the other, roughly near each of their preferred lurking spots in the absence of the other cteno.

This morning, same deal. They did not fight over food with each other or with the butterfly fish. They also seem to be able to hang out for limited periods in the same area at the same time without conflict.

Major fingers crossed for this peaceful state to continue!

(Oh yeah, and the catfish uprooted the smaller Nymphaea _again_, for probably about the fifth or sixth time now. Poor plant. I need to put it back into the substrate again, possibly with rocks or something around it to secure it).


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Maybe the tank will continue to provide calm as the plants continue to grow in.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Tank update, July 25th

*Plants*

The Amazon frogbit grew so much that I'm giving some of it away. I also removed about 50% of it to the quarantine tank just because it was getting so dense in the main tank.

The _Nymphaea _has put out several new leaves that reach the surface of the water. They are solid green, unlike the submerged leaves, which are covered in red and green splotches. Last week I tied the tuber of the little _Nymphaea_ to a piece of wood so that it would stay upright and in the same area even if my catfish knocks it around. It has responded by putting out a tiny 4th leaf. There is hope!

All the _Anubias_ are growing well.

The _Crinum_ (hiding at the back) has been uprooted by the catfish once but is putting out new leaves anyway.

The _Lilaeopsis mauritania_ (grassy-looking foreground plant) is slowly growing.

Unfortunately, there's been an outbreak of both brown algae and slime on the wood. The slime is probably coming from inside the wood as an outgrowth of fungal (?) activity in there. I expect the snails will eventually eat it. The brown algae is growing all over the place, on the wood, on the roots of the Amazon frogbit, on the _L. mauritania_, and, worst of all, on the _Bolbitis_. It was interfering with the growth of the _Bolbitis_ and I could not scrape it off so I cut off the worst-affected leaves. I don't know if the _Bolbitis_ will all survive.

I am wondering whether it's worth trying to get some shrimp to eat the algae or whether the ctenopomas will eat them before they accomplish anything.

*
Fish*

The butterfly fish and catfish are thriving. The larger ctenopoma is still somewhat of a jerk, but not so much that I've had to remove it. It likes to boss the smaller one around, but it also likes to hang out in crevices. The smaller one spends most of its time next to the filter output. But the smaller one is growing well and is now half the size of the bigger one. In the past few days, the smaller one has taken to lurking in other places for hours at a time and the larger one has left it alone. Positive developments!

The last coconut I bought to use as a hide was rotten so I had to throw it out. I have yet to open the next coconut. (Rotten coconut smells gross, for the record).


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

I didn't think it would happen, but after cleaning the tank on Sunday, the brown algae problem has become noticeably worse. I have purchased some cherry shrimp. They should arrive on Wednesday. We will see whether they eat the algae or whether they'll get eaten before they have a chance. I will be starting them off in the quarantine tank with a bunch of Amazon frogbit; all of the frogbit roots are currently covered in brown algae, so they'll have plenty to eat while they're in there.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

OK, so it's now a week after my last post about the brown algae (diatoms). Diatom numbers went down after I changed the water repeatedly, but to keep them in check while the vascular plants ramp up leaf production, I purchased a few cherry shrimp.

I put them in the quarantine tank with a bunch of Amazon frogbit plants that had diatoms stuck all over their roots. The shrimp ate a lot of the diatoms in three days. (These shrimp are native to Taiwan, not the Congo, but they have a lifespan of less than a year even if they don’t get eaten).

Meanwhile, the jerk ctenopoma has not quit being a jerk. It had the run of the entire tank, including plenty of crevices and two coconut hides, but kept the smaller cteno literally cornered by the filter output. The smaller one has been growing well and is now half the size of the jerk cteno, but spending all of one's time in an uncomfortable position is no fun. I got fed up with the larger cteno's bullshit so today I moved the shrimp to the main tank and moved the jerk cteno to the quarantine tank.

Since the quarantine tank is not being used for disease quarantine purposes right now, I put in a coconut hide as well as a mug for the jerk ctenopoma to lurk in, and this time there is a layer of floating plants in there as well as some other plant material that came with the shrimps. In other words, it is relatively comfortable so the jerk cteno can stay there indefinitely. I am really pissed off at it. I gave it lots of chances but it will have to go to another home where there are no smaller ctenopomas to boss around. (It is a beautiful, healthy fish who will make someone else happy).

In the hour since I changed the water in the main tank and removed the larger ctenopoma, the smaller one has been swimming all over. The shrimp are exploring, too, and eating bits of stuff off of all the surfaces. I hope this is the last major renovation I will have to do for a while. (And for those who are curious, the butterfly fish are lurking in peace and the catfish continues to do his thing undisturbed and without bothering anybody else, other than the plants. He has uprooted multiple plants in the past week in his search for worms and other tidbits. I just replanted them).


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

did the cherries become an expensive snack?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe said:


> did the cherries become an expensive snack?


I was out of town for a few days last week and when I came back, a lot of the worst of the algae/diatoms had disappeared. So did the shrimp, and I have a pretty good idea who ate them (i.e. the little cteno, who is both otherwise peaceful and confident, now that the jerk ctenopoma is not bossing it around).

The jerk ctenopoma was doing well in the quarantine tank for the last two weeks. I played a lot of phone tag with Tails & Scales but today the owner came by to pick it up. It was three times bigger than when it had arrived. I have mixed feelings about sending it back but I couldn't keep it in my main tank and a quarantine tank is no suitable home for a fish like that. I hope it finds a good new home where its cichlid-like attitude does not cause it or any other tank inhabitants any serious problems.

Also when I was away, one of the female butterfly fish jumped out of the tank and died. I am impressed but saddened that she made it out. There was only a small slit in the lid open so that the automatic fish feeder could drop food in. Next time I go away, I will have to tape over or otherwise block the crack everywhere but under the feeder.

There are two butterfly fish left, a male and a female. The male is starting to harass the female. He sidles up next to her, turns his fins bright and flares them, and vibrates his whole body, creating ripples across the surface of the water as well as in the water. She ignores him. He chases her around, and she avoids him. Then he repeats the process. I may well have to purchase some more females to dilute the masculine energy here so that the female does not become too stressed.

And in plant news, although two of my three clumps of _Bolbitis_ seem to have succumbed during the worst of the algae, one is now doing better now that the algae is mostly gone. It has started producing new fronds. But over the last few weeks, everything else has not been growing as much as I thought it would. The Amazon frogbit and one of the _Anubias_ are producing spindly, pale yellow leaves, and none of the leaves are as green as they should be. It is probably a nutritional deficiency so I added some Thrive fertilizer with the most recent water change. I also increased both the light levels and duration to 7 hours per day. I hope to see some positive changes in the plants within a week.

Finally, my order from Tails and Scales that arrived today also included two additional _Crinum calamistratum_ plants. I will post new photos soon -- the tank was a mess today after I changed the water.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Photos of the tank from yesterday, showing new _Crinum_ plants. The ctenopoma is hiding, as usual.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

I cleaned the tank yesterday. It is looking pretty good! Most of the improvements are probably due to changes in the light and fertilizer regimes.

Nitrates: undetectable
Nitrites: undetectable
Ammonia: undetectable
pH: somewhere between 7.0 and 6.5 (very slightly acidic, i.e. good for a Congo tank).

Two weeks ago I increased the light in the tank from 6 hours per day to 7 hours per day. I added half a dose of fertilizer to the tank when I changed the water. Finally, I added a handful of acorn "hats" to help add tannins. I will add more of them later in the year.

Since the increase in light and fertilizer, all the vascular plants put out new leaves except for the Nymphaea. The waterlily took the increase in light hard. All four of its surface leaves died and two of the submerged leaves started producing bulbils, the plant equivalent of "oh crap, got to get out of this hostile environment!" The bulbils are still too small to plant out. I expect that it will also soon start producing new leaves that can cope with the brighter light levels.

Last week, I also shut down the quarantine tank and reintroduced all the Amazon frogbit that had been in there to the main tank. There is no light on the quarantine tank and the frogbit had been languishing for more than a month.

All of the Amazon frogbit in the main tank had been suffering as well, even though it was getting light. It was all losing roots and not growing well. I realized that its poor growth was probably due both to inadequate nutrition and too much water movement at the surface. Over the past week, I replaced the filter output nozzle with the original spray bar and angled it diagonally so that it does not break the water at the surface.

In the last week, since I reduced the surface disturbance, the Amazon frogbit has all been growing well, producing new leaves and roots. The butterfly fish also seem to prefer the stiller water at the surface. They are very well camouflaged in the Amazon frogbit.

I added more fertilizer yesterday.

Finally, I changed the timing on the automatic fish feeder so that it feeds the fish before the tank lights come on and after they go off. The butterfly fish and ctenopoma are nocturnal or crepuscular and they prefer to eat in the evening. (The catfish is diurnal but will eat whenever).

The tank still has a fair amount of green hair algae growing on the wood and plastic tubing. I removed a lot of it manually. I hope that the addition of fertilizer will help the vascular plants to outcompete the algae in the long term.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

No change this week other than more green hair algae and significantly more Amazon frogbit. All the other plants are growing well except for the _Nymphaea_. I planted the two new bulbils. The original big plant has only one leaf. The other original plant seems to have lost its leaves. The _Anubias nana_ is pretty hairy with green algae but at least still putting out new leaves and its roots are growing. I tried to rub the algae off its leaves with my fingers but it didn't seem to work.

I didn't add any fertilizer this week.

Amazingly, all four of my fish are visible in the photo attached! Cteno is in top left.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Long-awaited update:

All plants are doing very well except for the original _Nymphaea_, which have been reduced to three sad little bulbils that kept getting uprooted. I Krazy glued them to acorn caps and we'll see if that helps them maintain some kind of security against catfish disturbance.

This week I also received a shipment of more _Nymphaea lotus_ from GaryC. They arrived intact with healthy root systems, and look absolutely gorgeous! You can see them in the photos below to the left of and behind the driftwood.

The Amazon frogbit is ridiculously productive to the point where I'm giving handfuls away and also composting handfuls every week in order to maintain a clear patch of water surface where the automatic fish feeder can sprinkle food. If the waterlilies thrive, I will get rid of all the frogbit so that the tank has only Congo plants.

The _Bolbitis_ is practically dead/gone and both little _Anubias nana_ plants are very hairy with green hair algae. The algae is resistant to being scraped off and the snails seem uninterested in it. I'm removing lots of green hair algae manually every time I clean the tank.

All the fish are doing well. The butterflies are growing slowly. The ctenopoma is growing relatively quickly. It is smart but shy and most active when the lights are off. The catfish is his usual boisterous self.

I'm fertilizing the tank every two to three weeks.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

This is a nice looking tank.
Is there a reason you didn't go with a black or dark blue background?
Have you considered a snail like a limpet or nerite for algae control?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

ksimdjembe, thanks for your ongoing support! The tank doesn't have a background -- the wall behind it is visible. I like the light and airy (watery?) feeling.

Similar to the last time I posted, I am manually removing lots of strands of green algae every time I clean the tank.

The _Nymphaea lotus_ plants mailed to me by GaryC have been growing luxuriantly. They are the ones with burgundy leaves.

The _Nymphaea lotus_ I had purchased from Tails & Scales and that had produced bulbils and then died is now doing well. One bulbil grew into the light green lotus at the front left with burgundy spots. Another bulbil that I glued to an acorn cap has two small leaves and is hard to see in the attached photo.

All the _Crinum calamistratum_ are doing well. I had to replant one of them almost every week because of overenthusiastic catfish activity, but it seems to be relatively stable in its position at the front left of the tank, close to the roots of some of the waterlilies.

The _Anubias_ are mostly doing OK. I'm surprised at how well the _A. nana_ have responded to ferts. They each have one or two leaves that grow faster than the algae that carpet the rest of their leaves. The _Anubias congensis_ leaves mostly died about a month ago but the root system stayed alive. I tied it to a stick and now it is starting to produce new leaves. Same with the _Bolbitis_ -- most of it died but the rhizomes were still alive, and the bits that I secured to driftwood or other sticks continue to put out small but healthy leaves.

All the fish are doing well. The butterfly fish are slow growers, but they have recently started to show pretty blue patterns on their winglike pectoral fins. The ctenopoma is about the size of a credit card now. It is less and less shy and now will "dance" to get my attention so that I might provide food.  It is a much pickier eater than my catfish and will spit out everything other than its favourite foods. I swear it makes a face when it spits out Hikari Sinking Wafers (a catfish favourite) and Hikari Cichlid Staple. (The butterfly fish like the Cichlid Staple but the pellets are still a little big for them to eat comfortably). On the other hand, it really likes Omega One Shrimp Pellets and is now big enough to eat NorthFin Tropical Sticks broken in two (I used to have to cut them each into four pieces). All of my fish enjoy NorthFin Betta Bits and NorthFin Bug Pro. (Why yes, my fish are spoiled. I had no idea what they would eat when I got them, so I got them lot of different things).


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Tank is looking good!

I gave away the last of the frogbit several months ago.

The hair algae is getting under control, finally, with weekly manual removal, increased production of lily pads blocking out light from the top of the tank, and increased uptake of nutrients from the vascular plants (especially the _Nymphaea_ lily pads). Some of the _Anubias_ that suffered from major algae problems are now producing new leaves. The light green _Nymphaea _with the showy leaves that was at the front of the tank dropped dead for some reason, but produced bulbils before it did, so there are actually three smaller light green _Nymphaeas_ in various parts of the tank now.

Despite wanting to keep the inhabitants of this tank from the Congo, I introduced a small _Ancistrus_ a bit more than a week ago to further control the algae. It did a great job so far of eating algae off the leaves of some of the _Anubias_ as well -- not 100%, but enough to let some of the leaves photosynthesize better. The other fish generally ignore it and it ignores them and just eats.

The ctenopoma is shy but it is also growing fast and it gets hangry and harasses the butterfly fish when the automatic fish feeder drops in their food. I am in the process of trying to train it to eat at the other end of the tank, notifying it with gentle tapping on the tank when I do this to alert it to the presence of food/distract it. It hasn't 100% figured things out yet but it seems to be catching on.





























(The last picture was taken shortly after cleaning the tank. Normally the water is clear, not cloudy like this).


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

This is quite the tank and I have enjoyed seeing its progress.
Any updates?


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Here is what the tank looks like today, after a water change and trimming out a good 20% of the Nymphaea leaves. I have also changed the colour balance of the light. We will see if the plants still thrive on this lower output regime.

Unfortunately, I lost my two remaining butterfly fish a few weeks ago. One of them jumped out through a 1 cm crack in the middle of the night. A few days later, the other one died. It did not look like anything had injured it, but the ctenopoma was still harassing it, and since it was the last one of its school, it was also probably too lonely to live. I feel bad for these little guys. I had to keep the tank open a crack so that the automated fish feeder could drop the food in.

The ctenopoma and two catfish are doing just fine, though they're all hidden/sleeping in this photo.

I am still considering upgrading to a 90 gallon some time in the near future so that I can add a school of at least one species of tetra native to the Congo so that there will be activity in the tank during the day as well as at dawn and dusk.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Quite a tank! A larger tank to accommodate a school of fish would be interesting indeed. Will follow!


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Thanks for your ongoing interest!

In addition to "ordinary" Congo tetras, _Phenacogrammus interruptus_ (9 cm at maturity), I recently learned about yellow tail Congo tetras (_Alestopetersius caudalis_), which are only 6 cm at maturity, so a school would even fit in my existing tank. But then I found out about golden (or blue-eyed) Congo tetras (_Phenacogrammus aurantiacus_), which are even more gorgeous! They're 8 cm at maturity. I think it would be awesome to have a mixed school.

And then I'm still drawn to oddball fish, such as _Brienomyrus brachyistius, _which has the stupid name of "baby whale." They're mormyrids that get to 20 cm at maturity, so if I had a 90 gallon, I could add a few of them. Mormyrids love worms and I have a vermicomposter so feeding them on a regular basis would be easy, but it could be trickier to get someone to come in and feed them worms if I go away for a week at some point.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

It's been interesting to see this tank progress.

A school of yellow tail or golden would be something. I think that I would steer clear of adding too many others other than a little school, but that's me. And really it's not my tank. lol.

I still think a dark background would really make the scape pop. But again... not my tank.


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## characinfan (Dec 24, 2008)

Yeah, in my current tank, a school of 7 yellow tail Congo tetras would be the maximum I could add. If I got a 90, though, I could add a few of another species instead or as well. The trick is to obtain fish of a size that the ctenopoma won't eat. . .


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