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Anostomus vulgaris belongs to the family “Anostomidae” and belongs to the most common species of this family. About 50 years ago, this type of aquarium fish appeared with us, but soon all individuals died.
Appearance Description
The striped headstander is the same common anostomus. For this species, a characteristic pale peach or pinkish coloration of the body is noted with the presence of long stripes of a dark shade on both sides. On abramits you can see uneven brown stripes. Aquarium anostomuses grow up to 15 cm in length, no more, although under natural conditions they manage to reach a length of about 25 cm.
Interesting to know! Anostomus vulgaris bears some resemblance to Anostomus ternetzi. At the same time, it can be distinguished by the presence of a red tint in which the fins are painted.
The head of the fish is slightly elongated and flattened, while the lower jaw is slightly longer than the upper one, so the mouth of the fish is slightly curved upwards. The lips of anostomus are wrinkled and slightly massive. Males are slightly smaller than females.
natural habitats
The anostomus fish is a prominent representative of South America, including the Amazon and Orinoco basins, as well as the territories of countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. In other words, it is a heat-loving aquarium fish.
Their preferred habitats are shallow waters with fast currents. As a rule, these are areas of water areas that have a rocky bottom, as well as rocky and rocky shores. At the same time, it is almost impossible to meet a fish in flat areas, where the current is rather weak.
Anostomus Anostomus @ Sweet Knowle Aquatics
Maintenance and care in the aquarium
The conditions for keeping anostomus in aquariums are reduced to ensuring that the aquarium is spacious and densely planted with aquatic vegetation. With a lack of vegetation, the fish will eat all the aquarium plants. Therefore, it is necessary that an excess of algae be observed. In addition, foods of plant origin should be included in the diet.
It is desirable that floating vegetation be present on the water surface. These fish spend most of their time in the lower and middle layers of the water. It is very important that the filtration system and water aeration system work perfectly. In addition, you will have to replace a quarter of the water once a week. This suggests that these fish are quite sensitive to the purity of the water.
Preparing the aquarium
When preparing an aquarium before settling anostomuses in it, you should pay attention to a number of factors. For example:
- Any aquarium will have to be covered with a tight lid on top.
- For one fish, you must have free space, up to a minimum of 100 liters. A flock of 5-6 fish requires a volume of up to 500 liters and no less.
- The acidity of aquarium water should be in the order of pH = 5-7.
- The hardness of aquarium water should be at dH = up to 18.
- A filtration and aeration system is required.
- It is necessary to think about the presence of a current in the aquarium.
- The water temperature is about 24-28 degrees.
- Sufficiently bright lighting.
- The presence in the aquarium of a rocky-sandy bottom.
It is important to remember! The aquarium must be properly designed. To fill it, you can use driftwood, various stones, artificial decor, etc. However, they should not fill the entire space too much.
These fish are quite demanding on water quality, so you need to constantly monitor its quality. As aquatic plants, it is better to use hard-leaved species, such as anubias and bolbitis.
Diet and diet
Anostomus are considered omnivorous fish, so their diet can consist of dry, frozen or live food. In this case, it is necessary to adhere to certain proportions. For example:
- About 60% should be food objects of animal origin.
- The remaining 40% is food of plant origin.
Under natural conditions, the basis of the diet of anostomus is vegetation, which fish scrape off the surface of stones, as well as small invertebrates. In aquarium conditions, these unique fish prefer animal food in the form of tubifex. Despite such preferences, anostomus are fed with bloodworms, coretra and cyclops. The basis of vegetable feed is flakes scalded with lettuce, as well as spinach, which are stored in the freezer. The frequency of feeding adult fish is no more than 1 or 2 times a day.
Compatibility and behavior
Anostomus are aquarium fish that do not show aggression. They prefer to lead a flock of life and quickly get used to new living conditions, including the conditions of aquariums. Since these fish are exclusively peaceful in nature, it is permissible to keep them next to fish that are not aggressive and prefer similar living conditions.
Loricaria, peaceful cichlids, armored catfish and plecostomuses are suitable as such neighbors. Anostomus are not allowed to settle with aggressive species of fish or too slow, as well as with species that have too long fins.
Reproduction and offspring
Being in natural conditions, anostomuses reproduce as usual, seasonally, and in aquarium conditions this process requires hormonal stimulation by gonadotropes. During this period, the water temperature should be between 28 and 30 degrees. In addition, it is necessary to make the process of filtering and aerating water more efficient.
Interesting fact! Males from females can be easily distinguished by a more slender body, while females have a fuller abdomen. Before the spawning process, males acquire a more contrasting shade, with a predominance of a reddish color.
These fish become sexually mature at the age of 2-3 years. The female lays no more than 500 eggs, and after a day, anostomus fry appear from the eggs.
After spawning, it is better to remove the parents immediately. On the second or third day, the fry are already free-swimming and begin to look for food. For their feeding, a special starter feed is used, in the form of “live dust”.
Breed diseases
Anostomus represent a category of aquarium fish that are quite trouble-free and rarely get sick. As a rule, any disease can be associated with violations of the conditions of detention.
These fish, like any other aquarium species, can get sick by picking up any infection, fungus, bacteria, viruses, as well as invasive diseases. At the same time, some of the problems may be associated with the presence of injuries, with a violation of the hydrochemical balance of water, as well as the presence of toxins in the water.
Owner feedback
Experienced aquarists advise keeping Anostomus in small groups of 6-7 adults.
As a rule, fish in the water column move at a certain inclination, but in the process of feeding they easily take a vertical position. These are fish that lead an active lifestyle. They are always busy with something. Basically, they are busy eating algae, which are surrounded by decorative elements, stones, and also the walls of the aquarium.
In conclusion
Keeping aquarium fish in your apartment is an amateur business. Unfortunately, not every apartment can accommodate an aquarium with a capacity of up to 500 liters. Therefore, this is the lot of those who have a huge living space, which is not so easy to furnish. It is they who can afford the maintenance of fish that grow in length up to one and a half dozen centimeters. As a rule, in the conditions of modern apartments, as well as in the conditions of apartments of the post-Soviet regime, they place aquariums with a capacity of no more than 100 liters, and then such aquariums are already considered large. In such aquariums, small fish are kept, up to 5 cm long, no more.
Anostomus are quite interesting fish, both in color and in behavior, so it is very interesting to watch them. In addition, the aquarium is arranged so that the fish are comfortable and feel like they are in a natural environment. These are peaceful fish that lead a peaceful, measured lifestyle, which will be very interesting for households, and especially for children.
Keeping fish in such large aquariums is quite an expensive pleasure. Moreover, this is a troublesome pleasure, since you will have to change the water once a week, and this, after all, is up to 1 liters of water, which you need to take somewhere else. Water from the tap is not good, because it is dirty, and with bleach. Such a substitution can kill all the fish.
In this regard, we can conclude that keeping fish in aquariums at home, especially such as anostomuses, is a costly and troublesome business, although this does not stop real aquarists.