Of course I haven't even finished detailing the fish in the 55 and I already have added three more and have a couple more on the way.
Picking up where I left off, I've also got a male/female pair of Nigerian Red Kribensis, Pelvicachromis taeniatus var. 'Red'. I bought them from Nikolay, originally intending to get just a female and he threw in a male for free. Apparently when the females get full of eggs they get extremely feisty and terrorize everyone else in the tank unless they have a male to attempt to mate with. I think I just went through a misfired spawn with these guys as they both got really, really red for a couple of days and she had a big round belly. After a couple of days everything went back to normal, so she probably laid her eggs somewhere in the rocks. There's no way they could successfully spawn in this tank as the loaches will scarf down all of the eggs very quickly if no one else eats them. When I get the new tanks set up I may try to breed them as apparently they aren't too tough.
I also have one Siamese Algae Eater (SAE), Chrossochelius siamensis. It's not an overly attractive fish, kind of plain, but invaluable for eating algae in the tank. You have to really know what you are getting with one of these guys because the local stores often mix them up with several other species of Flying Fox. They all look similar, but the breeders in Asia often have them labeled wrong and some of the rookies that work in the stores don't know the difference. The other species don't eat algae, so if you're buying for algae control you don't want to end up with one of those. They are all pretty neat little fish. I was in a store last weekend that had chrossochelius siamensis and Epalzeorhynchos kalopterus in the same tank labelled as Flying Fox. The latter is a Flying Fox while the former is an SAE. Too bad they didn't figure it out as SAEs are in much greater demand than flying foxes. There also is another species that often gets mixed up in here, so a bit hairy until you know what you're looking at.
One of my favorite fish is a small, wild-caught Blue Ram that I have in this tank (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi). It is a beautiful little fish with outstanding colors and a great personality. I wish I had more as I'd like to breed these guys. Apparently with the right conditions, much like the Nigerian kribs, they aren't too tough to breed. A local friend just had a spawn, so if his eggs hatch and the fry grow up (a very big if) maybe I'll buy a couple from him. I don't know what sex my fish is. I do know he's wild-caught, which means he was caught in his natural habitat and imported as opposed to bred in a tank. The wild-caught specimens are believed to be more hardy as many have had trouble keeping the tank bred fish alive for more than a year. He's from the Orinoco River Basin in South America, so I think it's kind of cool to know that he actually came out of the river down there.
Finally, my showcase fish, my angelfish, Pterophyllum scalare. These guys occur in the wild in the Amazon River Basin, though wild-caught fish are very rare in the hobby because they breed so readily in the tank. There also is only one common color morph in the wild, whereas in the hobby we have selectively bred for a wide range of colors and markings that would never be seen in the wild. Most of these guys would get eaten in a heartbeat in the wild because you just don't see a shiny gold fish in the Amazon River. That's like wearing a neon sign on your back for predators.
As of Friday I am up to seven angels in the 55. I have a pair of Koi, a pair of Zebra Lace Veils, a big pair of Albino Pearlscales, and a Gold Veil that's probably going to end up as a superveil. The terms veil and superveil refer to the style of their fins, each getting progressively longer and more ornate. The subject of angelfish breeding and genetics is a fascinating one and there is a ton of information on the internet regarding which genes are present in which morphs and what you'll get when you cross various different morphs. All but the zebras are pure bred, and the zebras may be, I just don't know as I bought them in a local store. The zebras have defective pelvic fins, which makes me think they probably aren't pure bred but that isn't necessarily true. They could easily be pure bred that were traded into the store due to the genetic defect instead of being culled, which is what most serious breeders would have done.
To wrap up the fish descriptions, I thought I try to insert a couple of quick pictures. There aren't my best work as they were quickie photos taken with the phone. I haven't even taken the time to try and edit them at all, just posting up here for a little eye candy. Soon I'll get out the good camera and tripod and take some good ones.
This is the new gold veil. I believe she will grow up into a superveil but it will be a few weeks until I know for sure.
This is one of my zebra lace veils. The lace refers to the markings on his fins. You can see the genetic defect in the pelvic fin when you compare to the others. This guy is missing his left ventral fin and the right one is a bit misshaped, but I don't mind because his marks are so beautiful. The picture doesn't really do him justice.
And here is one of the new albino pearlscales. The red eye is not from the camera, he's albino, so he has no coloration pigment in him at all (supposedly). All albinos of any species have red eyes. These guys were a little more expensive, but compared to my other angels they are HUGE. He still has plenty of growing left to do, though. Check out the bling bling on this bad boy! Again, the picture doesn't really do justice. The pearlscales are so named because their scales all look like little individual pearls. Very shiny.
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