Data Sheet		Semi Picasso Clownfish
Scientific Name:	Pomacentridae Amphiprioninae
Other Names:	anemonefish
Origin:	Asia -Pacific Coral Reef
Adult Size:	2-5 inches, depending on species
Social:	Very good. peaceful fish, but may get territorial
Lifespan:	3-5 years
Tank Level:	bottom, coral	Tomato Clownfish
Minimum Tank Size:	20 gallons (but bigger recommended)
Diet:	Omnivore
Breeding:	Easy
Care:	Medium
Ideal pH:	7.0
Temperature:	75° F. to 82° F.
Tank setup:	With corals, etc
Sexing:	Females are the largest.

two banded clownfish Maroon clownfish Goldbanded Clownfish Sabae Clownfish Tomato Clownfish two banded clownfish Amphiprion Clarkii Saddleback Anemonefish Allards Clownfish Yellow Clownfish Percula ClownFish Black Ocellaris

Description: Clown fish are a speices of very beautiful fish that comes in various colors from yellow orange to red, and usually have white strips on their bodies. It grows to be about 8 cm in length. Habitat/Care: Saltwater fishes requires more space and care than freshwater fish. They are not recommended as beginner fishes as a result. For more information on requirements for saltwater fishes, please see the saltwater tank setup. In the wild they all form symbiotic relationships with sea anemones.Clownfish and certain damselfish are the only species of fishes that can avoid the potent poison of a sea anemone When a sea anemone is not available in an aquarium, they may settle in some varieties of soft corals, or large polyp stony corals. If the fish settles in a coral, it could agitate the fish's skin, and, in some cases, may kill the coral. Once an anemone or coral has been adopted, the clownfish will defend it. As there is less pressure to forage for food in an aquarium, it is common for clownfish to remain within 2-4 inches of their host for an entire lifetime. Clownfish that are far removed from their parents through captive breeding may not have the same instinctual behavior to live in an anemone. They may have to be coaxed into finding the anemone by the home aquarist. Even then, there is no guarantee that the anemone will host the clownfish. Diet: Most clownfish are omnivores. They should be fed a diet of brine shrimp, or chopped shrimp, squid or clams. They will also eat plant matter and can eat flake food, although the majority of their diet should consist of animal protein. They will also nip at algae and plant matter that grows in the aquarium and benefit from live rock growth. Breeding: Since these fish live in a warm water environment they can reproduce all year long. Each group of fish consists of a breeding pair and 0-4 non-breeders. Within each group there is a size-based hierarchy: the female is largest, the breeding male is second largest, and the male non-breeders get progressively smaller as the hierarchy descends. If the female dies, the male changes sex, becomes the breeding female and the largest non-breeder becomes the breeding male. The fish apparently form lifetime pairs, exhibit courting behavior, and depending on the size of the female spawn about 400-1500 eggs per cycle The fish lay their eggs in a safe spot close to the anemone from where they are easily protected, and the parents can retreat to the safety of the anemone if danger threatens. Anemonefish usually lay their nests in the evening after a few days of carefully cleaning and examining the chosen site. Preferred egg sites are flat or slightly curved rocks or some other item the fish have dragged near their nest for the purpose. (In captivity, clay pots and saucers are an attractive choice.) First the female deposits some eggs with her ovipositor (a whitish tube descending from her belly), making a wiggling pass over the surface, then the male follows behind her fertilizing the eggs. After many passes, the nest is complete and will hatch in 6-8 days shortly after sunset, usually on a very dark night. In the meantime, the male is very protective of the nest and ceaselessly fans the eggs to provide proper oxygen circulation, and checks them for any bad eggs, which he eats before they can rot and damage more eggs. Females may or may not help the male tend the nest. At hatching, the larvae burst free and swim up toward the moonlight and the open ocean to ride the currents and eat plankton for about a week, before the still tiny metamorphosed clowns return to the reef and look for an anemone to settle into. Species: Amphiprion ephippium clownfish looks very similar to the Tomato and Cinnamon clownfish in body shape, but it lacks the single white stripe behind the eye in the adults. A white stripe may appear in juveniles and a very small white stripe in sub-adults. Amphiprion frenatus is usually bright red as juveniles, older females will often be mostly dark red or black on the body. Juveniles can often be seen with 2 or 3 white stripes, but it will only have one stripe behind the eye as an adult. Amphiprion melanopus (Cinnamon) normally has a red face and dorsal fin and a predominantly black body, pelvic and anal fins, and a pail yellow tail. Most have a white stripe behind the eye, but in some fish in some populations the white stripe can be absent. Amphiprion ocellaris (Ocellaris/False Percula or Nemo) is the most common clownfish in the hobby. This fish is nearly identical to the Percula clownfish (Amphiprion percula) in appearance. The general differences between the two species is the thicker black border surrounding the white stripes on the Percula, and the amount of dorsal spines, Ocellaris having normally 11 and Percula having normally 10. The thickness of the black border can vary on Ocellaris, on some fish it is very thin while on others it can be a couple millimeters wide. The color of Ocellaris is variable, from light yellow, orange, brown, and in rare specimens black (reported to come from Darwin, Australia). Amphiprion percula The color on this fish is variable from light orange to red, and often with such thick black borders around the white bands that they often connect the white bands. Amphiprion perideraion (Pink Skunk) is normally a pink color with a white stripe down the back and a white stripe down the operculum (gill plate). Amphiprion polymnus (Saddleback) is variable colored, ranging from light brown, black, and orange and black. This clownfish has 2 or 3 broad white bands with the middle band starting mid body and extending into the to back of the dorsal fin. The middle stripe often resembles a horse saddle. The black color form of this clownfish is often misidentified as a Black Percula, of which is also a misidentification of the Black Ocellaris. Amphiprion sandaracinos (Orange Skunk) is very similar to the Skunk Clownfish in color, except that the overall color of the fish is orange, and the white stripe down the back extends all the way to the top of the upper lip. Premnas biaculeatus (Maroon) is the largest clownfish with females some times reaching as much as 7 inches (16.25 cm). Females of this species are usually a dark maroon red or brown in color while the males are more bright red. This clownfish most often has 3 white or yellow bands. It is often difficult to pair this clownfish. Large females will some times if not often kill a potential mate when introduced to an aquarium together.

Got a photo? Contact me

References Cited:

SeaView Aquarium, Keeping Clown Fish CareSheet, [Online][Available], http://www.seaviewaquariums.com.au/images/caresheets/caresheet-clown.pdf ;

Peto, Clownfish Care Sheet http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/Clownfish.pdf

Wikipedia, Clownfish, [Online], [Available], http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphiprion_percula

The Aquarium Wiki, Amphiprion Percula, [Online], [Available], http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2124+755&pcatid=755

Live Aquaria, Ocellaris Clownfish, [Online] [Available], http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+2124+755&pcatid=755

AquaWorld Aquarium, Clownfish and their Host Anemone, [Online], [Available] http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/clownfish_and_their_host_anemone.htm

John H. Tullock, Clownfish and Sea Anemones: Everything about Purchase, Care, Nutrition, Maintenance, and Setting Up an Aquarium

Tatia aulopygia is quite a pretty catfish as most of this genus are. The eyes are large with a skin over them and a few non catfish aquarists tend to think that they have cloudy eye’s and it is a disease, but this is normal for the Auchenipteridae family.
The barbels are moderate in length reaching to the end of the dorsal fin and they tend to bend them upwards when looking for food. They can also tuck their barbels alongside their cheeks making them nearly invisible.

Tatia possess a very small adipose fin and a moderately sized ventral and anal. In its native habitat this fish feed on small invertebrates and crustaceans and in the aquarium they will eat anything given such as frozen bloodworm inserted in to their hideaway, catfish tablets, white worm (sparingly) and prawns and shrimp.

They do like their food and you can see them shooting out of their hideouts and swimming in a frenzied manner to try and take all for themselves, especially when you feed them their favourite food, frozen bloodworm.

tatia aulopygia

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Osteichthyes
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Auchenipteridae
Genus: Tatia
Scientific name: Tatia Aulopygia

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We had two power outages which lasted over 24hours, and I was getting really worried becuse my fish tank temperatures dropped down to like 16 degrees Celsius when the power went out since the heater wasn’t working anymore.  Luckily, during both outages I didn’t lose any fish even thought the temperature dropped so much.

My Oscars looked really cold, and they huddled together at the bottom of the tank to conserve heat I think, but once the power came back on and the temperature slowly started to rise they were back to normal as usual.  In my other tank, all my fish survived both power outages with no ill effects due to the temperature drop, so that was good.

The Oscars are growing rather quickly and they are always hungry.  I call them my little “Piggy’s” because all they ever want is food.  In fact, right now as I’m writing this they are staring at me through the glass waiting for their food.  If I don’t give it to them, they’ll start splashing soon and making noise to tell me it’s time for food again, hehehe.  They are very cheeky, but I totally enjoy them.

I’ll try to get some newer pics up soon.

Just in the freshwater fish category alone, there are so many different species of fish and they each have their own little unique set of behaviors and personalities.  I think it is very important to learn as much as you can about all the different types of fish out there, and to try keeping a variety of them to see which ones you really like.

Every person will like different things so I think there is a lot of personal preference involved.  For example, the Oscars that I picked up a few weeks ago are really keeping me entertained.  There is just two of them in my tank, along with the Pleco I’ve got in there, and the two of them can be more entertaining to watch than my other tank which has over a dozen fish in it.

Today when I went to feed my Oscars, instead of eating the pellets I fed them they decided to hoard them and play with them.  Here’s a picture of one of my Oscars after it shoved like SIX pellets in it’s mouth and swam around with it’s mouth open.  It reminds me of when kids put a whole bunch of mashed potatoes in their mouth and then show you their food with their mouth open, hehe.

The other thing I noticed about the Oscars is that if I’m sitting here on my computer and I haven’t fed them yet, they eventually get tired of waiting for me and start making noises.  Sometimes they’ll just splash the water a bit to try to get my attention.  If I don’t pay attention, they’ll start to smack things in the tank.  I’m not really sure what they’re smacking, because every time I look they are off on the other side of the tank pretending like they didn’t do anything, but I know it’s them.  I think they may be hitting my filter intake pipe as it makes a CLANK sound when they hit it. 

I was also over at my brother Bart’s place today and I was checking out some of his fish and I noticed that there is a distinct difference in atmosphere in his 55 Gallon tank compared to mine.  He has a bunch of Tetra’s in there and Cray Fish, but what he doesn’t have is the Giant Danio’s and Pictus Catfish that I have in mine.  The Pictus Catfish and the Giant Danio’s I have really changed the atmosphere of my tank when I put them in.  They are both very fast swimming fish and whenever I go to sit down to watch the tank for a bit, they fly around the tank like crazy and all the other fish just go hide in the corner.  It’s really annoying.

I think I’m going to have to give them away, and I’m probably going to stick with calmer and smaller fish in that tank like the Tetra’s and Guppies I have in there now.  Maybe I’ll get an Angel Fish as well, as they are kind of neat to watch.  I also really did like my Female Betta’s before they were eaten, so maybe I’ll get some of those as well.

It’s almost impossible to figure out what kind of fish you’re going to enjoy keeping just by seeing them at the pet store, so I really think one of the best ways to figure out what you’ll want to keep is to just try picking up a couple of fish of different varieties and see what you end up enjoying.  Everyone is different and the person at the fish store will probably have a totally different preference from yours as will other aquarium hobbyists so I think it’s good to experiment on your own.

There are three main types of food I’ve tried feeding my Oscars with varying degrees of success.  Let’s start with the most basic:

Flakes

The first type of food you’ll find readily available on the market are Flake type foods.  One flake type food suitable for Cichlids is called Tetra Cichlid Large Flakes.  These types of foods last a long time, they are easily digested by fish and they promote naturally vibrant color and strong immunity.

I wasn’t sure if my Oscars would like this type of food, but they seemed fairly satisfied with it.  This type of food usually floats on top of the water for a few minutes and then starts to sink down to the bottom so if your Oscars don’t eat it before it drops, they might have a hard time finding it in the gravel or sand below.

If the Oscars don’t finish eating what’s floating on the surface, it’s recommended that you use an aquarium net to remove the excess food before it sinks to the bottom.

Floating Pellets

The second type of food you’ll find out there are floating pellets.  Hikari Cichlid has one that comes in four sizes – baby pellet, mini pellet, medium pellet and large pellet.  Depending on the size of your Oscar you would purchase the pellet size that fits in their mouth.

My Oscars are about 1.5″ right now so they are still pretty small.  I wasn’t sure whether to go with baby pellet or mini pellet so I bought both and tried them both.  It turns out that the mini pellets are still a bit to big for them right now especially since they do get a bit bigger once they absorb some water from the aquarium.  So if you just bought your Oscar and it’s still a small baby around 1-2″ in length you’ll be better off with the baby pellets to start.

There are two different types of floating pellets I have found out there and tried with my Oscars.  One is green and it’s called Cichlid Staple Pellets and the other one is red and it’s called Cichlid Gold Pellets.  Cichlid Staple Pellets are the economical food that has the nutrients that the fish will need at an economical price.  The Cichlid Gold Pellets are usually a little bit more expensive but they have something called Astaxanthin (a natural nutrient) in it which helps to promote rich coloration in Oscars and Cichlids.  My Oscars are dark grey and black with bright red markings and I do want the coloration to stay bright and pronounced so I bought a package of these pellets for my Oscars as well.

So far, the Oscars haven’t really liked this type of food though.  They like playing with it since it floats on top of the water, but they just eat it and spit it back out.  I left a few pellets floating to see what will happen and when I came back a few hours later they were still there uneaten.  I’ll try feeding them these pellets again over the next few weeks, but there is one other type of food that they absolutely love…

Frozen Blood Worms

Frozen Bloodworms (red mosquito larvae) sound really disgusting but the Oscars love them.  This type of food typically comes in small frozen individual cubes.  You keep it in the freezer and when you’re ready to feed your Oscars, you simply pop out one of the frozen cubes and feed it to them.

One thing to keep in mind though is that you don’t want to just dump the frozen cube into the aquarium water.  What I do first is I use a small shot glass which I’ve dedicated to this purpose and I put a frozen cube into the shot glass and fill it half way with hot water swirling it around thawing the cube.  It only takes a few seconds to thaw out the worms and then I pour the water with the worms into the aquarium.

The Oscars I have absolutely love this type of food.  At first I was a bit worried because the worms floated down and settled in the gravel below and I thought I would have a mess on my hands, but the Oscars are very thorough when eating this type of food.  They’ll move gravel around to get at the worms below.

Other Types of Food

From the research I’ve done, I’ve hard of people feeding their Oscars everything from feeder fish to small lizards.  Personally I am going to completely stay away from this type of food.  You never know what kind of diseases feeder fish carry when you bring them from the pet store, and you’re going to be really sad when your Oscar dies because he ate a sick fish.

I’m not even going to touch the topic of feeding lizards to your Oscar as I think that’s just cruel and disgusting, but that’s just my personal opinion.  I read an article about someone who tried to feed their fully grown Oscar a puffer fish to see what happens and they were really surprised when the Oscar spat out the puffer after a few seconds and then croaked.

You can spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars and countless hours taking care of your Oscar, so why chance killing it in a few seconds by trying to feed it something you shouldn’t just to see what happens.

Summary

I’m always on the hunt for new information about Oscars, but from my research and testing I believe the best bet for feeding an Oscar fish is to feed it a variety of foods of different types such as Flake Foods, Floating Pellet Foods and Frozen Bloodworms.

Data Sheet
Scientific Name:	Procambarus alleni
Other Names:	Blue crayfish, Blue Florida Crayfish, Electric Blue Crayfish, Everglades Crayfish
Origin:	Florida
Adult Size:	10-15 cm
Social:	Poor. Highly territorial and aggressive.
Lifespan:	20 years
Tank Level:	bottom
Minimum Tank Size:	20 gallons and bigger
Diet:	omnivore (scavenger)
Breeding:	Egg-Layer
Care:	Medium
Ideal pH:	7.0
Temperature:	10-22 C (55 - 70F)
Tank setup:	Allow for gravel or sand substrate. Some caves will be welcomed. Plants are highly recommended.
Sexing:	The male blue lobster's claws are generally larger and more elongated and if you turn him upside down he has two claspers near his vent that look like hockey sticks. The females blue lobster claws are shorter and more rounded and she lacks the claspers.

Blue Lobster coming out of hiding place. Blue Lobsters with pincers raised Close up of a dark blue Close up of bright blue colors. Lots of baby blue lobster Lobster with shell mold.

Description: The blue lobster that is found in aquarium hobby is actually not a true lobster, but rather a blue color crayfish. For the purpose of this article, I will refer to them as blue lobster. Like its name suggest, the Blue lobster is blue in color and shades of blue vary from bright electric blue to a duller bluish white. Other then their unique coloration, they are highly similar to other crayfish and lobsters. By maturity, Blue Florida Crayfish achieve lengths of 15 centimeters. Habitat/Care: In the wild, Blue Lobsters are usually found in wetlands biome or habitats that have distinct wet and dry seasons. Although Blue Lobsters trend to be abundant in wet seasons, they are extremely well hidden in periods by burrowing into the mud. When water is abundant, Blue Lobsters stay near the bottom of the flooded area, eating invertebrates and algae. It is recommended that the tank mirror their environment by providing some fine sand or gravel, and allow a cave or place for hiding when the blue lobsters are stressed. Plants are highly recommended as they provide a source of food and hiding places. As long as the tank contains enough water, blue lobsters should be bury themselves. Because they require a large tank, blue lobsters should be keep in a tank of at least 20 gallons. They are excellent escape artists, and the tank should have a tight lib.. Temperatures should remain between 10 and 22 degrees Celsius. They usually require pH values upward of 7.0. It has been reported that the addition of freshwater salt greatly enhances the health of this species. Usually, Blue Lobster get along well with other fast, medium size fishes. However, small and slower fishes will be eaten, and larger but slower fishes may be injured by the Blue Lobster. Larger, carnivorous fishes view Blue Lobsters as a tasty snack. Blue Lobsters are highly territorial and they should NOT be kept with others of their kind, or they may fight and gravely injure one another, unless there are lots of hiding place and the tank is large enough for all of them. Blue Lobsters continuously molds (they will drop off their shell) as they grows bigger. During the juvenile period, the molding is fairly rapid, but slows down as it grows Diet: Blue lobsters aren't actually very fussy when it comes to food. In the wild, they eat aquatic plants, algae, rotting vegetation that falls into the water, snails, fish, and even the decomposing flesh of animals that die in or near the water. The trick is never to over-feed them, as uneaten food could contaminate the tank quickly. Fish flakes are great for baby lobbies, while shrimp pellets are perfect for adults. Two large crushed flakes a day are plenty for babies, one in the morning and another in the evening. For adults, a large pellet for breakfast and then another for dinner should do it. You can also try feeding them water lettuce, water hyacinth, water cress and romaine lettuce. Breeding: The male blue lobster's claws are generally larger and more elongated and if you turn him upside down he has two claspers near his vent that look like hockey sticks. The females blue lobster claws are shorter and more rounded and she lacks the claspers. During the mating act, the male initiates copulation, and the Blue Lobsters will clean each other as part of the mating ritual. After mating, the eggs are carried in the female pleopods. Blue Lobsters eggs normally hatch in about four weeks. They emerge as miniature versions of adults, though lacking reproductive organs. In the first 24 hours of life, Blue Florida Crayfish fry must molt, and many may not survive this first molt. You should begin changing the water regularly and maintaining the best water conditions possible to aid the fry in surviving. They can be fed freshly hatched brine shrimp, microworms, or liquefied foods. After about two weeks, the young Florida Blue Crayfish have generally become much more hardy. They will still be rather transparent, but by the time they reach sexual maturity they will have gained adult coloration.

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References Cited:

Pet Central Com [Online]. Available, http://www.centralpets.com/animals/fish/freshwater_inverts/fwi5009.html

Lobster Care Sheet, [Online], Available, http://www.petco.com/caresheets/fish/Lobster.pdf

Charles Drew (2004) Spawning the Florida Blue Crayfish Procambarus alleni, newsletter of the Hamilton and District Aquarium Society, October 2004

Holy Spirit Spirit Interactive, Lobsters Care and Feeding, , [Online], Available http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/pets4us/lobsters/lobsters_03.asp

Blue Lobsters, Online, Available http://trouble.iotashan.com/animals/lobster.cfm