May2008

CONTENTS Articles

NEWSLETTER

April Meeting p.1 Meet a fellow GHAC member p.2

May 2008

Fish of the Month p.3

April Meeting

Tank of the Month p.4 April Meeting Pictures p.5 Plant of the Month p.5

Items of Interest

GHAC Officers p.2 How to contact the GHAC p.2 Useful Websites p.4

By Tim Bell

The April meeting was bitter sweet at best. It was the last GHAC event held at Mike’s Tropical Fish and Pets. Mike’s store is now closed to the public. I want to personally thank Mike for his giving nature and for allowing the Greater Houston Aquarium Club to use his store as a venue to hold meetings. For those who don’t know Mike, he is truly a hobbyist at heart. You could se that when he interacted with his customers. He gave each person, frank and honest advice … and wouldn’t hesitate to tell you when he doesn’t know the answer to a question. This, in my opinion at the very least, is the sign of someone who truly cares about what he is doing and is passionate about fish. Perhaps this is why about a dozen individuals, many of them GHAC members, volunteered their weekend to help Mike move most of his fish and tanks from his store. If that doesn’t say anything about a person’s passion for the hobby, then I don’t know what does. Mike’s Tropical Fish and Pets will sorely be missed.

“Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. It is their way of falling”

-André Gide

David looking like he knows what he is doing.

Loretta -“Can I raffle David off?”

Meet a Fellow GHAC Member This Month: Fiona Bell My foray in the aquatic world has been a rather short one. I had fish growing up as a child in Canada. One of them was named “Sammy” and he ate all the others. In college, my boyfriend (now husband) bought a ten gallon aquarium and a couple baby Oscars for me as a gift. He told me, don’t worry it would be “easy”. Well, it wasn’t. I killed both of them in a couple of months. My boyfriend was alternating between the rwords “sick – lid” and Oscar. I thought maybe he just forgot the name … or got them mixed up. Regardless, I didn’t like to see dead fish, and let the gift just sit in my room without fish in it (but full of bubbles). Several more years ran by, without me ever keeping any fish. My knowledge base about the fish basics was slowly increasing, however. My boyfriend talked incessantly about fish. I couldn’t help but learn the names of all the different fish that are in most local fish stores. Whenever we went on vacation, we would HAVE to go to the local public aquarium or zoo. Eventually I married Tim. When we moved in together, I requested that he decrease his tank arsenal from 20 down to 3 tanks. However, in order to prevent Tim from trying to annul the marriage, I told him those three tanks could be any size he wanted. Of course, it never got down to three—apparently “sick tanks” don’t count as “real tanks”—but at least there aren’t any breeding tanks in the kitchen any more! I don’t have a tank of my own, so I “force” Tim to keep a tank full of Electric Yellow Labs, because they always seem so active and (intrinsically) happy which, in turn, makes me happy.

We want to hear from you. After all, you are the reason that we are here. Email any suggestions, comments, or questions to Raul_GHAC [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Your GHAC Officers are: Raul Turner (rrocket2002) President

Tim Bell (armthehomeless) Vice President

David Abeles (Tiapan) Co-Vice President

Loretta Mitchell (fishlady) Secretary

Mary Beth Petranek (Mzungu) Treasurer

Fish Gallery Store Hours Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm Sunday 12pm-5pm

Fish of the Month

Benthochromis tricoti Benthochromis tricoti By Tim Bell

General: Benthochromis tricoti are a large, micro-predatory fish fish, native to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. This fish is dimorphic, meaning that there are distinct differences between males and females. As with most dimorphic African cichlids, the males are more colorful than females by having purple and blue horizontal stripes and a yellow “throat” area.

Habitat: Benthochromis tricoti is found in the deep (300-450 ft), open waters of lake Tanganyika. This fish has been collected in water with a pH range: 8.5 to 9.2 and dH range of 8.0 - 14.0.

Care: Benthochromis tricoti, like all Tanganyikan fish, likes hard water. My water is fairly alkaline, and I wouldn’t recommend trying to lower the pH on these graceful cichlids. The temperature of my tank stays in the upper seventies. I conduct regular partial water changes of 20-50% on the tank each week and I found this suited my fish just fine. I’ve heard many people say that Tanganyikans are super sensitive to water changes. I have yet to find any validity to this statement. Just make sure that the temperature and chemistry are very close to that of the tank. Since this fish does grow very large, I wouldn’t recommend keeping this fish in anything less than a six foot aquarium. Benthos won't upset your plants; another endearing trait. I’ve got mine in a tank with Valisneria. Just keep in mind they need room to swim.

Feeding: In the lake, Benthochromis tricoti feed on insects and a variety of invertebrate organisms. In your tank, though, they present no problems. Mine eat flake food, frozen brine and mysis shrimp and various small pellets like NLS.

Breeding: If you are planning on breeding these large cichlids, also known as the “King of the Featherfins”, then good luck. There is not a great deal of information out on the web about breeding these guys – perhaps a reason that you don’t see them at most LFS. Benthochromis tricoti are maternal mouthbrooders and the male looks like he is yawning while courting females. Most people that have been able to spawn these fish have reported extremely small numbers of eggs produced. It was reported that newly hatched fry, despite having large mouths, could barely swallow “just hatched” brine shrimp. There is not much more that I know about the breeding behavior of these guys – yet!!!

Tank of the Month We want to see your tanks! Send us a photo of your tank along with a brief description of the flora, fauna, water parameters, equipment used, and anything else you want to include. We will post a new tank each month!! Let us see what you are working with…

Check out our great new website…

www.myghac.org

May TOTM Tim’s 26 Gallon Tank

, • Dimensions: 36" (back) x 12" x 16" • Substrate: Blasting Gravel from a hardware store with fertilizer tabs by the sword • Lighting: 2 x 24” Full spectrum Fluorescent Bulbs • Filtration: Whipser 330 HOB filter • Water Changes: 30% every three week • Flora: Anubius sp., Hygrophilia sp., Echinodorus amazonicus, Microsorum pteropus, Hygrophila difformis • Fauna: Neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi), juvenile Irian Rainbowfish (Glossolepis incisus)

April Pictures

Plant of the Month

Water Wisteria Hygrophila difformis By Tim Bell

Water wisteria is a great started plant. It can grow in a wide variety of water conditions and temperatures. It is a fast growing plant, however. This means that is does need to be constantly trimmed in order to remain full looking. Without trimming, the plant becomes long a leggy looking. The bottom leaves fall off because they are not getting the same light as the leaves on top. Because it grows fast, most people tend to put this plant in the back of aquariums. Water wisteria looks very similar in appearance to water sprite. The many difference is in the method of reproduction. Water wisteria grows from a stem whereas water sprite grows from a crown. To get water wisteria plantlets, simply clip off a stem with at least 6 leaves, trim off the bottom two, and plant the stem with the remaining our leaves in the substrate. I have found that the process can be done when fewer leaves are present, but the chances for successful reproduction diminish substantially.

The GHAC proudly welcomes our new sponsor…

Tim and Fiona's Home 1709 Brun St Houston, TX. 77019 June 7th, 9am to 1pm