Speaker 1: At the moment, I have two aquariums. This 150-gallon custom aquariums complete setup that I've had for almost five years and a quarantine tank down in the basement. I just recently restocked this big aquarium with a bunch of new fish that we collected in Columbia. Let's take a look.
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This is my custom aquariums, 150-gallon aquarium. It measures six feet long, 18 inches front to back, and 30 inches tall. It's a complete filter system, the Simer sump filter system with a stand and a canopy. Everything in here except for the decorations and the background comes from custom aquariums. The background is a Universal Rocks background that I put into this tank about six months ago. About one-third of the fish in this tank have been in here for quite a while. They're all South American, but only a few of them actually came from Columbia. Most of them just came from friends, aquariums as I needed some fish in this tank. About two-thirds of the fish in this tank have only been in here for about a week and they were in quarantine for about a month, and they were shipped up from our last trip to Columbia that we did at the end of January. For this video, I'm going to tell you about the fish, the old ones and the new ones. Talk a little bit about where they came from and what they are. I'm not going to talk a whole lot about the aquarium itself. I'm going to save that for another video.
This display is set up around this fish. This is my large male Crenicichla species, Inirida III, the Blood Tear Pike. It's a pretty rare fish. I got this fish when I was in Columbia three years ago, so I've had it for quite a while. They grew up and while they were growing up they got pretty mean and they needed a bigger tank, and he can be pretty brutal. The main reason that I have filled this tank with lots of other South American cichlids and catfish and put a whole lot of fish in here and a whole lot of hardscape is to moderate the aggression of this big male pike cichlid. The female Blood Tear is not as large as the male, and until recently, she would hide quite a bit.
This is that female species Inirida III. She's been in here for quite a while, and the guy that's coming out and kind of challenging her, that is the new pike cichlid. That is a species of Venezuela. It could be a pretty aggressive species, but in this tank, he is not the king of the tank. That male species Inirida III is the king of the tank. What's nice is that this female Inirida III is now been a lot more outgoing with this other pike in the tank. She doesn't hide quite as much, and as I had hoped, adding that Venezuela has reduced the amount of aggression that this female is experiencing from that bigger male.
The pike cichlid I brought back from Columbia, still is shy. He hides back here in the corner and about the only time he comes out is to eat or to spar with that female Blood Tear. This fish was actually collected in the Rio [unintelligible 00:03:08], which is a tributary of the Rio Meta, but not very far from where the Rio Meta meets the Rio Orinoco. Here are some video of the same species, in the Cano Verdi, which is a tributary of the Cano Negro, which also runs into the Rio Orinoco. Even though they are different streams and different river systems, it's basically the same fish.
Another of the new fish is good old hypostomus plecostomus. This is not the common pleco that you see in the aquarium trade. Those get huge. These will get up to 10 inches or so, so not monsters, but they're really good at cleaning off this wood and making a really big mess. I got two of them. I'm excited they're not going to breed and overpopulate the tank. I'm happy to have them. I did not collect these leporinus fasciatus. We did see them, but it really isn't a species I want for this tank because they get too big and they'd be kind of nippy, but they're colorful. At this size, they are not doing too much damage. Eventually, I'm going to take them out of here. I'm not exactly sure why they got shipped up except maybe they were extra in the fish room down in Bogota and there was room in the box. This fish is aequidens metae. It's the aequidens from the area that we were in. I did collect this fish and a few others like it. When it's really colored up, it's beautiful, bright golds and bright colors. This is one of the species I really wanted to have in the tank, so I'm glad that I got them. Here is some video of aequidens metae in the wild. I love this fish. Beautiful animal.
Here's another new fish from Columbia, but not one that we collected. This is geophagus steindachneri, the redhump eartheater. These do not come from the area of Columbia that we were collecting in. They come from much further west. Someday, I hope to see this fish in the wild. This must have been another fish that was sent up as an extra box filler. I am happy to have them. They're pretty cool. This fish was a surprise to see in Columbia. This is hypselecara coryphaenoides, the chocolate cichlid. A lot of people consider this to be a pretty common cichlid, but I haven't seen them for a while, and they were just so much fun to see in the wild. I actually caught this little guy on hook and line. That's how secretive they are. I couldn't catch them with a net. Here is another fish that's probably going to outgrow the tank, platydoras costatus, the Striped Raphael cat. I know what you're thinking. Geez, Ted, you're bringing back all these common fish, but you know what? It's what I like. It's a pretty fish. It's a peaceful fish. It's going to be a lot of fun. When we saw them in the wild, we mostly saw really big ones up inside logs. Here's what they look like. Another new fish I'm excited about is boulengerella lateristriga, the striped pike characin. Both of these fish are eating. They tend to take stuff off the top of the water and we'll see how they do. They can sometimes be a little bit finicky.
The mesonauta in here are not actually from Colombia. This is a species from Brazil and Guyana. This is mesonauta insignis. These actually were imported about four years ago, so they are quite larger now. They were at friends of mine's home, but I needed some fish for this tank and they were available. Even though they're not the Columbia species, there are mesonauta where we were at. Look a little bit different than this guy. I might eventually replace these fish with the actual fish from Columbia, but maybe next year after we go back and collect some more. Here's a look at some of the mesonauta that we saw when we were in Columbia in a mixed school that also includes severums and some juveniles of that Crenicichla species Venezuela.
The last new cichlid that's going into the tank are two of those heros species. Not exactly sure what species they are, but I only brought back two of them because they are going to get a pretty good size. That's it for all the new species that have gone into this tank so far. I do have one more species of fish to go into it, but they're still in quarantine, not because they're sick, but because they're a little small and I want them to grow a little bit. When I add those fish, I will tell you what they are. You may have seen some keyhole cichlids bumping around in this tank. Those have been here for a while. I actually use them to cycle the tank and get it going, and they've kind of grown up in here. It's just five males. They're not from Columbia, but they are nice to have in the tank. That's it. That is my 150-gallons, semi-aggressive South American community tank featuring fish that we collected in Columbia. When I add the other fish that are in quarantine to this tank, I'll do another video. In that one, I think I'll give you a tour of the tank and how it's set up itself and how I maintain it. Thank you for watching Ted's Fishroom.
