current tank inhabitants
Freshwater angelfish
Pterophyllum altum
Certainly the most graceful members of the tank. Their stripes fade in and out with the light. At first I thought it was my imagination, but no, it’s a thing.
Diamond tetra
Moenkhausia pittieri
This guy’s kind of an asshole. He’s the reason we can’t have any cherry shrimp.
Gold dust molly
Poecilia sphenops
They mostly hide in the bushes
Paleatus cory
Corydoras paleatus
These amazing little dudes help keep the substrate clean. They school! They wink at you!
Otocinclus cat
Otocinclus vestitus
More speedy little members of the cleanup crew.
Image courtesy Fremen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Bristlenose pleco
Ancistrus dolichopterus
The bristlenose pleco is known for three things:
1) Ugly. 2) Armored.
3) Does not give one single fuck.
Image courtesty JanRehschuh, CC BY-SA 3.0
Brilliant rasbora
Rasbora borapetensis
More great schoolers. Maybe a little too speedy, as a couple of them leaped clear of the tank. The four that are left are being more careful.
Image courtesy I, Lerdsuwa, CC BY-SA 3.0
Zebra nerite
Vitta zebra
I tend to basically hate snails (and don’t get me started on slugs – I really should have skipped Slugs, Muerte Viscosa back in the 90s) but the nerites are cool. They can come to my birthday party.
Image courtesy Evan Baldonado, CC BY-SA 4.0
Amano shrimp
Caridina multidentata
I keep thinking these dudes have died, and then one of them wobbles out of a rock and goes to work. Love ’em. Love those mouthparts.