Texas Cichlid – Herichthys cyanoguttatus

Texas Cichlid, Herichthys cyanoguttatus formerly called also Cichlasoma cyanoguttatum is one of the most interesting freshwater aquarium fishes if you prefer study fish behavior and not just relax near a tank. Yes, if you’ll keep this fish in community tank there will be not too much time for relaxation.

I’m talking about notorious aggression in this fish behavior. Usually is not advised keep together American cichlids with other ciclids ( for example African “Mbuna” species and so on), but I has interesting experience, when a pair of Jewel cichlids, a group of about 10 Fairy cichlids and one big Cichlasoma lived together in one tank. It was really interesting community, Fairy cichlids defense central tank area, permanently spawning  Jewel cichlids occupied one corner, and big Texas cichlid – another corner. From time to time there was some attempt to conquer “foreign” part of tank from different groups, but in a whole there was permanent equilibrium and no one fish was seriously hurt in skirmish.

By the way, it’s not my recommendation to keep so different species together in single aquarium, but as from my experience it was one of most interesting tanks to study fish conduct.

Texas Cichlid is a beautiful and big fish. Do not feed it with “meat” food only, give them some “vegetables” too. Frozen spinach or lettuce from time to time will help to keep this interesting and smart fish in good health.

Synodontis multipunctatus

Some Synodontis multipunctatus also known as the cuckoo catfish and cuckoo squeaker, looking for granulated fish food under the gravel. This movie taken in the one of the pet shops , thats why there are so many fishes in this tanks.
You might presume these fishes was not fed for a long time and are very hungry? Wrong, they fed every day. Actually they just like to eat and do it regularly. If you wanna see full-fed Synodontis catfish you really need give him a lot of food, probably a whole bag at once. But it’s not healthy for them.

p.s. Please do not take this post very seriously and do not overfeed your fish.
p.p.s. Do you know why it called cuckoo squeaker? Its because of the squeaking sounds he produce when taken out of the water. And cuckoo – because this catfish swimming between spawning cichlids, eating their eggs and depositing their own instead of eaten. Synodontis eggs then are picked up by the mouthbrooding cichlids and nursed as their own eggs.

Iodotropheus sprengerae

Just a small picture. here you can see Iodotropheus sprengerae hiding under mangrove roots. Take a look on it’s “smile” – you can see teeth on this photo. Mbuna cichlids have special teeth to scrape algae from the stones in their native Malawi lake. Unfortunately in our tanks we rare feed these fishes with vegetarian diet.

Neolamprologus brichardi

This elegant and beautiful lake Tanganyika cichlids also known as Fairy cichlid, Lyretail Lamprologus, Princess of Burundi and Neolamprologus pulcher.
Too many names for so small fish i think 8-).
Anyway, this names quantity show this fish popularity among aquarium keepers.
It is an usual specie for beginners in Tanganyika ciclids tank.

These fishes live in strict and clearly organized group, each fish know their place in local hierarchy.

Fairy cichlid are cave breeders, so they need some stones and caves to spawn.
Neolamprologus brichardi fry from older generation watch over younger brothers and sisters.
They will not eat or harm fish from their group.

Aquarium plants for beginners

What are best aquarium plants situated for beginners? Easy and fast growing, for sure. Not demanding and not expensive. And of course nice and good for aquascaping (aquarium landscape design).

The first place goes to… Vallisneria species! Commonly called eelgrass or tape grass, these long leafed plants fits all the requirements. Vallisneria is not demanding plant, it easy grows almost in every water, hard or soft, without adding CO2 and additional fertilizers. It even doesn’t requires a lot of lighting. Standard 1-2 daylight luminescent lamps in aquarium cover will be enough for vallisneria.

However, aquarium tank with only vallisneria growing in will not satisfy even demanding beginner. So you can choose something from Echinodorus species, or as they commonly called, sword plants.

Echinodorus with red leaves or with green leaves, or even with spotty leaves.. They are nice an can be gardened almost as easy as vallisneria. Simple sword plants as Amazon Sword (Echinodorus bleheri) or Ozelot Sword (Echinodorus ozelot) requires a little more lighting and like water change every week or so. But the most demanding sword species definitely are not for beginners.

On the photo above you can see aquarium tank with simple and nice design, just for beginners. There are two different plants used – vallisneria on the back and some sword plants at the front.