Pleco... It is that hardy?

Last year I bought a total of 5 pleco. (2 were bought by my mother but influenced by me). All of them died within a month. They manage to live under me for about 2 - 3 weeks. No injuries or diseases were seen . Its tank mates were 4 firemouths (juvenile) and one adult krib.

My New Fire Mouths

I bought 4 fire mouths last year. 2 died while i am in college. Than during my break I bought 2 more. I still cannot figure out which one is male or female. The 2 survivors are a lot bigger than the newbies. The largest usually chase the others for no good reason ( dominant feeling). I am hoping it will start breeding this year.

Red Vs Green Colour Food

Most cichlid(and most fish that I have reared) for no good reason at all like to eat like pellet food that is red in colour. Maybe they just like the red colour. Or maybe green is for softies. I have experimented this hypothesis with jewel cichlid and the result is red pellets are eaten much faster than green ones. Coincidence????

9 Convicts Vs 2 Hybrid Jewels. Who Will triumph?

The images shown where the fight takes place. The jewels are a pair and those 9 convicts are in doubt at each other heads. Technically the convicts control 2/3 of the aquarium and 1/3 to the jewels. And to add the commotion is a silver Siamese Gourami act as the middleman.

Tilapia: Is it hardy enough?

Tilapia are considered one of the fastest breeding fish. But it is considered hardy enough? I bought 8 tilapias (fingerlings) last week at a price of RM1 ($1 is equivalent to RM3.50 so do your own math) and by today all are dead. So i say to myself "What the hell is this?". The first one died because it jump out while transportation. Then 3 more died because of fin rot. Then 3 more died for unknown reason after I gave some medication and added some salt. And the last one died today. So this fish is not as hardy as it tought it be.

Live Food

Any kind of fish would love to devour any kind of live food based on their species though. Some fish will only accept live food as their main diet. Some channa sp are like this. Some can be taught to accept commercial food but mostly are to stupid to eat it. My haruan (channa striata) still eat live food. I tried giving it food stick but it spits it out. Darn stupid. 

Look out more in my blog the secret technique on how to persuade wild fish to accept commercial food. 

Carbon

Carbon are used by plants to make glucose. Same as underwater plants. For aquarium used it is to make the plants stay green. It can also make the water much clearer. Sometimes even there is fish in the aquarium the carbon produced ny them are not sufficient. So it is essential to add a little bit of carbon to your tank.