Monster Tank (Let's Learn Fish)

This article is under construction
Oscars: These fish are legendary for their aggressiveness (they more or less deserve this reputation). They often are brutal to their fellow tank mates and should only be kept with very tough fish. Oscars should be kept alone in a 70 gallon or even better have a small group of them (6 fish) in a 400 gallon aquarium.
Despite their daunting space requirements, these fish are very easy to keep. They will eat almost anything; from flake food, to feeder fish, and even that weird ant on your deck ( I don't recommend feeding them the ant, however). Keep the water at a proper 74-82 tropical fish range.

Red Devil: This particular cichlid deserves its name. This fish is aggressive (like the Oscar) and should only be kept with very robust, aggressive fish. This fish has the same space requirements as the Oscar and has the same food requirements. A group of red devils might work (Note that I stress the "might"). A male and female pair would be best. This fish is probably one of the hardiest fish in aquarium trade. When on vacation, leave an automatic feeder, but make sure large pellets or other heavy duty carnivore food won't clog it.

Clown Knifefish: If you're ever going to see a knifefish, it'll probably be a clown knifefish. This large and eerily beautiful fish is always a fav among monster fish fans.
DO NOT skimp on the tank size! I've seen a great deal of beautiful clown knives in tanks where they can only swim a foot before having to turn around. A tank size of 100 gallons or up is necessary. They can get above 2 feet in length.
Keep them with large fish but keep in mind they can be bullied by especially mean tank mates as they are semi-aggressive.
Feed them live black-worms, and various carnivore food. Worms are essential to the diet of all knifefish. Just watch the blackworms carefully to make sure they don't mess up the substrate (they have a tendency to burrow into gravel and degrade your water quality). You can feed them frozen bloodworms, as a slightly safer alternative. Again, keep this fish at a proper tropical temperature.

Jack Dempsey: Well, there's not much to say about this fish that wasn't already said about the oscars and red devils. Another beautiful but aggressive fish. It basically has the same requirements as red devils (maybe just a tad less aggressive).

Red Tailed Catfish: And (drumroll) the greatest fish of them all! Well maybe not. The red tailed catfish is one of the largest freshwater fish you can keep in captivity (arapaima gigas excluded, as it's really not an aquarium fish). This fish is the unfortunate victim of the "red tailed catfish" syndrome. What happens is some poor, ignorant aquarist goes to the fish store.
That same aquarist sees a cute little red tailed catfish four inches long.
That same aquarist acts on "cute alert" and buys the fish.
That aquarist puts it in his/her 20 gallon aquarium.
That aquarists watches the red tailed catfish grow, filling the entire fish tank up. Don't make this mistake. If you are getting a red tailed catfish, get a tank of at least 300 gallons. These fish get 4 feet plus. Feed them the biggest bottom feeder pellets you can find or ask the fish store.

Black Pacu: Pacus are very (VERY) large fish and are always a staple in a "Monster" fish tank. The Black Pacu is the largest of the pacus, and will get five feet in length. A tank size of 500 gallons is needed to house this fish. When scared they dart around quickly for a hiding spot (so give them hides and plants), but a five foot fish darting around a tank can mean a lot of water on the floor. Make sure your top can resist this. In nature they eat fruits and almost anything that falls onto the water. They will investigate almost anything as a food item. Feed them foods including grapes, peas, cichlid pellets, live foods, meaty foods, cherry tomatoes, and vegetable matter. Slightly acidic P.H. is recommended, so it's a good idea to keep them between 6.5 and 7.5 PH. They are tropical fish.

Announcements Nov-Dec 2009

I have some announcements about upcoming Let's learn fish videos, thought I'd post them so I could get some input:

I do have an issue which I need some viewer advice on: Should I change the name of my fish series? While I think "Let's Learn Fish" sums up my videos pretty well, its really cheesy and lame sounding. Maybe "Fish School" instead? Comments are very welcome.

Stay tuned for these upcoming fish videos:

Koi( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R-0esMFi_k ): I'm going to take another video of the freshwater koi pond at the fish store. The original video I took was very popular, but it was recently set up: That's why there is an ill fish and the Koi aren't very impressive.

Monster tanks ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqBvWhnKjlU ): This was an extremely popular video when it came out, my first "big hit" (so to speak). I've noticed a decrease in the popularity of this video over time. I don't like this particular video: I think it's poorly filmed.
Please note: I'll have a certain amount of difficulty filming this video. The fish store has disassembled this particular monster tank (and turned it into a koi tank). I'll see if they have another monster tank up, but they might not. If I can't find a monster tank I'll just film a bunch of large/rare fish and compile them into one video.

Goldfish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Lw4Oiif5M and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjNR8lMqtw8): Not much to say about this, except to expect a more comprehensive goldfish video soon.

Reef tank ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bigrm3bcKOs ): Definitely a video I am excited to remake. My wonderful Panasonic DMC-FZ3 takes nice photos (3.2megapixels, yeah its getting old), but it was never designed to shoot video. The reef tank unfortunately turned out to be a blurry artifact covered mess.

Bichir ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJYmAmfgM0 ): as one of my viewers politely pointed out, my camera cannot refocus while taking video, nor can I zoom out. Bichir are my favorite fish (sadly, I do not own one), so I'm going to try to show off how interesting they are.

Stay tuned, videos will be out soon!

-Arven

New camcorder

A few weeks ago, I acquired a camcorder! I'm very excited, hopefully I can find some time to take a trip to the fish store and do some video shooting.
I was going to give a demo of the camcorder by filming my 75 gal tank, but I've done two videos of that in the past year, which I think is plenty for now. Maybe I'll add another one, I just feel weird putting up two fairly identical videos of my 75 gal right next to each other.

This solves what I think is my viewers biggest complaint, and that is the poor quality of the videos.
Stay tuned!

-Arven

Motoro or Teacup Stingrays

Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hlsiktDsVI&feature=player_embedded

Introduction:
Stingrays are fascinating fish, and are quite an eye-catcher in an aquarium. However, they do have rather specific requirements. If you are seriously considering getting a stingray, please read through this article in entirety and do extra research. Please look at the warnings at the end of this article: There are some very important details in there.

Getting your fish:
Because a stingray looks nothing like any other fish, wouldn't it be hard to tell a "good" ray from a "bad" ray? The answer is no, with a little extra care.
To get this out of the way: I've heard about de-spined stingrays (the ray in the video isn't), but honestly I have no idea the repercussions of removing a stingrays spine. My guess is that the fish wouldn't be harmed if it's done correctly, but I'd be extra careful in making sure the fish wasn't harmed in the process of removing its spine. Make sure the fish store tells you very clearly if the fish has its spine or not. In the long term it won't matter (treat spined and de-spined fish in the same way), but just in case there are other complications it is good to know. Have the fish seller show you that the fish is de-spined, if it is not inherently obvious. Remember: It's their job to make sure you are choosing a fish you are confident in keeping.
Other than the whole spine/no spine deal, look for rays that have no obvious deformations. Check the eyes, gills, tail, spine, mouth, underside (this might be a little difficult, but try to do it), etc. Make sure the stingray isn't skinny: Make sure no bones or anything is prominent on the back of the fish, and that the eyes don't look like their sticking out in any odd way. A happy ray looks like the top of a pie with a tail. The ray in the video is a little skinny, but was just shipped so that's to be expected.

Buyer beware: While I am using the term "teacup" to describe this stingray, it really isn't a scientific term. Occasional fish stores can pull the slip on you, selling a fish labeled as a "teacup stingray", that could be any freshwater stingray. Make sure you know the exact species you want, how to identify it, and any stores that specifically sell that variety.

Tank setup:
Stingrays of all (freshwater) types can be kept in typical tropical freshwater tanks. Most stingrays get to good sizes, and Motoro stingrays are no exception. If you're going to keep a healthy stingray, it needs tanks over 90 gallons. Large flat tanks with lots of bottom space are preferred, though not required.
Set up your tank like an underwater sand dune-Lots of open space, no big obstructions. You can use a variety of substrate, though nothing too sharp or jagged. Please avoid using larger grain substrates, as the stingrays will have a more difficult time burying themselves in this material. The tank in this video is not designed for a stingray, due to the fact that this is a fish store.
It is possible to keep a bare-bottomed tank, but if you want to go for that "natural" look, make sure to have a decent amount of finer-grain substrate in place (more than 2" of vertical fill). Aquarium sand will make your stingray happiest-It replicates their natural environment, and allows them to bury themselves with ease. However, sand is a serious pain to clean, and absolutely cannot be used with any sort of under gravel filter (best to avoid UG filters for a happy stingray). See the warnings section for advice on heaters

Diet:
Stingrays are not picky eaters, so feed them like most other carnivorous fish. They enjoy live shrimp (not fish) very much, but make sure any live food you get is in easy reach of the ray. You can feed them big bottom feeder pellets (I'd recommend doing a little extra research to find the right brand)
Stingrays also love to eat earthworms. Make sure the earthworms you get are sanitary, and free from pesticides (NOT from your yard). Cut the worms into smaller chunks, and rinse thoroughly to get as much dirt out of them as possible. Yeah, it's a little gross, but the stingrays will appreciate your effort. Worms are very fatty, so feed them worms probably once every two weeks, one week at most.

Tank Mates:
Of course, tank mates for stingrays are an issue. Stingrays do not sting very often, but will if they are provoked by other fish. Bichirs, lungfish (I seriously recommend NOT keeping lungfish with any other types of fish), and any bottom feeder are at risk for getting skewered. Plecos appear to be fine, but I wouldn't bet on it. Best to keep tank mates to stuff that stays well out of the way of the ray.
Contrary to popular belief, rays ARE NOT monster fish. They are semi-aggressive, and while opportunistic hunters, do not go out of their way to mess around with other fish. They are not very territorial, and get along fine with each other.
I've seen cases where rays are stuck in tanks with large aggressive fish like arrowanas. Arrowanas are a serious threat to rays: I've seen pictures of rays who were completely shredded by arrowanas. Do not put any fish in the same tank as the ray that is a threat to it.
Honestly, my policy is to not put any fish in a stingray tank besides the stingray and feeders. This is the best and easiest way to go.

Warnings:
Stingrays do not have scales like fish, thus they can get injured fairly easily. Avoid putting any sort of sharp object in the aquarium. As a side note, plants are fine (be sure to take off the weight at the roots!) as long as you aren't worried about them being dug up by the rays. Stingrays can be burned quite brutally by heaters, leaving nasty scares, and possibly causing death. Therefore it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that you put a HEATER COVER on your heater.

Stinging:
This is probably the biggest issue that most people have with stingrays. First off, let me say that stingrays are not aggressive creatures. They will not attack you. Stinging for them is their ultimate last resort-if everything else fails.
You can keep a stingray from its birth to its death and not get stung. It's not as hard as it sounds. Treat stingrays with respect. Touching the stingray (especially near the tail) is akin to sticking your finger in snakes mouth and hoping it doesn't bite. Fish are not pets: You should never touch your fish.
If you do need to get a stingray out of your way (especially when cleaning the tank), gently waft water towards it. Don't touch the fish, just lazily move your hand towards it, then away. The stingrays should automatically avoid you. If a ray is buried, and you don't know where it is, gently waft something over the bottom. The ray should appear (I recommend doing this with the end of the vacuum, and not with your hand.)
In the event you are stung, run the injury under water (slightly warm) and call 911. There are some first aid tips you can do if you are stung, so print out a list of them on a laminated sheet, and keep it with the tank that has the ray.
To sum this all up: Keep a phone, first-aid equipment, reference sheet handy and treat the ray with respect. If you do all this odds are you will never be stung.

First post!

Just to start things off I'll highlight what this blog is about.

A few years ago I created a youtube series called "lets learn fish". Due to my lack of video editing software, and the amount of space in the description boxes, I've decided to pull some information to this blog for easier access.

Hope you like it!