Hello, my name is Connor ..

[connor]

.. and I'm a lochaholic from Germany.

After quite a bit of lurking on this really nice forum I thought it would be time to introduce myself. I like your site/forum alot and it made me a better fish-keeper too ..
so my fish say "thank you" as well.

Here are a few pictures of my tank, any comments are welcome.


Sorry that the fish look a bit fuzzy, I am considering to nail them to the wood next time .. grrr.

That's my 300 liter 120x50x50cm tank with Eheim 2217 canister filter and an additional JBL ProFLow 1000L/h powerhead - I am sbsolutely *amazed* how much the behaviour of my clowns changed after I added the powerhead. If some of you guys are still considering to add more current to your tank, go for it - right now. My fish love it - even the angels.
For the lighting I use two 38W Narva tri-band 860 FTs with reflector. I can truly recommend those lights .. a *lot* brighter than most "aquaristic" tubes, dirt cheap (~US$ 4,-) and very nice on the colours.

Currently I have these fish in the tank:
5x chromobotia macracanthus (of course!), added a month ago and still relatively small ( I can see them growing, tho )
5x botia striata - just added them last week
5x corys
2x ancistrus dolichopterus
1x epalzeorynchus frenatum
3x angelfish (I am consindering to give those away so I can add even more current to the tank)
4x nematobrycon palmeri tetras
2x pimelodus pictus catfish (I am in the process of giving 1 of them away to slighten the population of the tank a lil more)
1x synodontis ocellifer catfish which I am quite proud of .. he (or she?) is about 12 years old now and measuring in at approx. 20cm (safely hidden away on this picture, mostly comes out late at the evening and at night - despite of its size completely peaceful)

Sorry for all the latin names but I don't know most of the english names for my fish.


"Is it a flying saucer? No, it's a Hikari algae wafer - and it's all miiine!"


Last week I managed to solve one of the greater mysteries regarding zebra loaches .. why the heck do they wear lipstick?

See for yourselves:


"*hic* tasty alcohol they put into those thermometers *hic* .. but why do they have to dye it red?"
This picture was taken at night and I only had time to grab my cell phone quickly, so excuse the bad quality.

-Connor

[Mad Duff]

Lovely looking tank Connor, and welcome to LOL

[Emma Turner]

Hi Connor, and welcome to Loaches Online!

You've got a very nice loach tank there. It would definitely be worth your while adding a blue moon type of lighting to this set up, timed to come on just before the main lights go off, so that you can observe your loaches (and catfish) under their preferred dimly lit conditions. You'd be surprised at how confident this makes them and watching their antics in the semi-darkness is excellent fun.

Emma

[Oldfish]

Nice setup Connor and welcome

[Littlelady]

Welcome to Loaches Online Connor, your tank looks lovely

[ckk125]

that is not botia stratia but botia dario..

[Emma Turner]

Are you referring to the last photograph, Chen? If so, Conner is quite correct in his ID of Botia striata. It's a juvenile specimen and their markings do change with age. Botia dario have a completely different head shape, which is visible even as juveniles.

Emma

[ckk125]

But i bought botia stratia as that size and the colouration is very different compared to this...

[crazy loaches]

Looks like a striata too me. BTW I didnt even think Dario's get the lipstick look as mentioned anyhow. You can sort of see this in the striata in my banner too.

Tank looks very nice. keep up the good work .

[Graeme Robson]

Hi Connor. Welcome to Loaches Online!

[connor]

@ everyone
Thanks for the kind words!

@ ckk125
I am positive that all of my 5 zebras are indeed botia striata, they match the pictures at http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata perfectly.

@ Emma Turner
Funny that you would mention a blue moon lighting, because I am *just* in the process of adding one to my tank. I bought a 30cm blue cold cathode fluorescent light (CCFL) from the computer case modding section of a shop .. those are dirt-cheap (~US$ 10,-) high-brightness long-lasting tubes but I have to re-seal them with silicone before I install them just to make sure .. they run at 680 volts.

It will surely help to watch my catfish but I doubt it can do anything to bring my loaches out even more .. they're constantly foraging my tank all day long and usually go to "bed" (i.e. a hollow bamboo stick) before or at lights out:









By the way, is someome of you keeping clowns with a red-fin shark, too? I've noticed some peculiar behaviour between them .. it's like they are almost - but not quite - shoaling together, the clowns seek physical contact with the shark more than with any other fish and he seems to enjoy it, too.

-Connor

[helen nightingale]

Hi Connor, and welcome. you have a beautifull tank, and lovely looking fish. its nice to see the shark looking so good. too many people have very washed out sickly looking ones.

ckk125, striata have VERY variable markings, so its very likely yours look a bit different to yours. heres a rubbish photo of 3 of mine. i think Mad Duff also has a striata with a very unusual pattern.



now i know why striata dont always have lipstick Connor you have very good English

[crazy loaches]

I have one rainbow shark (around here the redfin shark is the kind with just a red tail fin and all other fins are black) in my tank with the loaches. Its less sociable than the loaches, mostly hiding. It seems like it chases the Yoyo's out of its turf but doesnt mind the clowns so much, probably because there bigger.

Helen your lucky to have such an interesting striata, wish I could find one with an interesting pattern like that. I assume thats a striata atleast, the one sitting up on the driftwood above the other two?

[helen nightingale]

yup, thats a striata. i consider myself very lucky too i am also lucky to be able to get my loaches from Emma, and she always has lots in stock. it takes a lot of time staring into her tanks to spy an unusual one - and then hope it doest hide when i try and buy it. last time i bought fish i found one with a Y shape on one side, but when Steve tried to find it for me it completely dissapeared he took all the decor out 3 tanks to search for it for me too.

[loachmom]

Welcome connor!!

I've enjoyed all your pictures, and reading about your set-up. Your tank is lovely, and your fish look wonderful! That shark is beautiful!