Let's Take a Peek

By:  Tom Neal
Published in The Daphnian, January 1991

It’s 3:00 on a Saturday morning.  What the devil am I doing up and writing?  I’m glad to be at work getting paid to do this or I really could be classified as insane.  (ED NOTE:  I think anyone who works nights is insane anyway.  Just don’t tell my wife as she has worked that shift for 16 years!)

How was your Christmas and New Year?  I hope they went well for you.  Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over you can take a timeout, relax, and enjoy my column.

First on the list is “Classing Catfish” by Chuck Davis.  Chuck tells us how to judge a cats feeding habits by the shape of its mouth. A sucker mouth means algae eater, down-turned mouth a scavenger, and a straight mouth means predatory.  This well written article was found in the 11/89 issue of Tank Talk (Durham Region Aqua. Soc.).

Next, we have the 1/90 issue of the Calquarium (Calgary Aqua. Soc.) in this I found “Spirulina - Food for The Future” by Linda M. Braun.  This article’s interesting value lies in the fact that it tells just what Spirulina is make of and what a great human food it could be.  Linda suggests that poor countries could rise this stuff in ponds.  They could then harvest it and use it as a food source.  Because of this algae’s excellent nutrition, it could be a valuable source in combating world hunger.

I found “Belonesox Revisited” by Jim Brown among the pages of the 4/90 issue of Tank Talk.  Jim said that these live bearing Pilies are not difficult to breed as long as you have plenty of live fish to feed them.  Optimum water levels were obtained by doing 25% water changes twice a week.  The fry are not very cannibalistic if well fed.

Next, in the 5/90 issue of The Mid South Aquarium Society Newsletter, I found “Antarctic Fishes” by Val Olcott.  It seems that fishes from the Antarctic region have their own anti-freeze built into their blood.  Glycopeptides, which are complex molecules of sugars and amino acids, are present just under the skin.  When ice starts to form in the blood, they cling to it, thus dissolving the ice.

Finally, the 5-6/90 issue of Cichlid Tales, (Texas Cichlid Association), has two articles.  The first one is “How To Bag the Ones (And Bring Them Back Home Alive)” by Chuck Larson.  His article is very in-depth and deals with bagging fish.  Chuck describes how to handle emergencies at an auction, whether you are buying or selling,  Anyone who does buy or sell at an auction should read this one.

The next article, “what’s This, Baby Multi’s”, by Thomas James, is truly fascinating.  It tells us that Synodontis multipart’s spawns with mouth brooking cichlids.  You see, while the cichlids are spawning the cats will dart in and out of the cichlids’ spawning area confusing the cichlids.  In the confusion the cichlids pick up the cats’ eggs and broods them.  Truly amazing!  That’s it for now.  See you next month.