I love freshwater tropical fish keeping. You get access to some of the most unique and beautiful fish in the world while not needing all the chemistry that goes along with a saltwater tank. I've mentioned my tank a few times in aquatic forums and had people get very confused about my combination of fish, some going so far as telling me it's not possible.
Let's take a quick tour together!
This is my 55gal freshwater tropical ecosystem. It contains a mixture of three type of unique fish families. First, we have the African cichlids. These are the bright 'fishy' looking fish.
male frontosa
They are from tropical lakes in Africa and are some of the most intelligent fish out there. They are regularly studied for their nest-building skills. I have a variety of cichlids, all hand picked to coexist together. This includes two breeding pairs, more on that later.
Next we have ropefish and bichirs! These amazing animals are all members of the family of fish who first grew psudo-arms, used them enough for their arm bones to connect to their spine, over time gained muscle, and used those arms to crawl right out of the water! I love these guys and have three different species: ropefish (reedfish), common bichir, and very small albino bichir or undetermined species.
Ropefish, also the best picture I will ever take.
Finally, we have the janitors of the tank: catfish. I have three species of catfish in my tank currently: albino common pleco, synodontis panda, and a queen arabesque pleco. The synos are a group of 5 who, at this point, may have bred so, maybe more. They are constantly cleaning the tank by eating the bits of things that fall in the cracks. The other two catfish are breeds of 'suckermouth' catfish and they eat different types of algae that collects in the tank. They are also gorgeous!
"Queenie" the Queen Arabesque pleco is ready for her close-up.
In my experience, these three types of fish can absolutely thrive together and, in my tank, have shown zero aggression of any kind against each others. The cichlids in-fight and I've spent a lot of time and energy designing the tank and maintaining it to limit that while still having beautiful cichlids.
Happy campers. Notice the over abundance of places to hide and hollow cichlid nesting stones.
Cichlids have a ton of quirks and one of them is that, once grown, they can show aggression towards other fish that look like themselves. This means I have to limit the fish I keep of specific colors to limit tank aggression. At this point I consider my cichlid group 'done' as I picked up a breeding pair of my most sought-after color morphs.
But do they like to snuggle you ask? Yes, yes they do.
Fish keeping gives me an excuse to get out of the house. Here is the shop cat Pandora checking out my latest picks.
So, how have I done this? Truth be told I work from home and observe my tank closely daily. If something needs fixed, such as a broken heater or filter, I notice right away and this has been invaluable. This is not an easy project or hobby but the rewards are beyond description. Remember I mentioned I have a few breeding-pairs in this communal tank? Well, breeding fish can be a very clear sign of over-all tank health and our female electric yellow lab is pregnant again!
Here she is in here tankside mini maternity tank.
After laying and fertilizing the eggs a cichlid mother takes the eggs into her mouth and holds them here (protecting and warming them) until they hatch. The baby fish (known as frye) then spend some time living in their mothers mouth until they are strong enough to live alone without her. The downside of this is, for about a month, momma cichlid cannot eat and our female electric yell was already skinny. I'm keeping a very close eye on her and her eggs to make sure I can intervene if needed.
I hope you have enjoyed this tour. It's been a real pleasure showing you around. If you would like it would make me really happy to keep you in the loop about news in the tank and maybe provide some more fish based posts. Have a good day.