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Re: Farlowella habits



Thu, 14 Dec 95 Stephen.Pushak at saudan_HAC.COM writes:

<<On a slightly related subject: feeding patterns of Farlowellas,
[...] Maybe they would have been happier in much
reduced lighting? What feeding patterns do Farlowellas normally
follow? Would they be interested in live worms possibly? Maybe
they only eat a specific kind of algae that was lacking in my
environment? How active should they normally be during daylight
or at night time?>>

Hi Steve - we have one farlie (should I be typing f*rlie?), believed to be
female, who I never see eat anything either.  Amend that - never see her do
anything but squorp along leaves, glass, & the wood that's in the tank.  She
doesn't seem to touch the Hikari wafers we give the pl*co, & though it's
possible she picks up bits of flake that have landed on leaves/wood, she
doesn't make an obvious habit of eating that either. Her "active times" are
variable - I don't peer into the tank all night to see what's happening, but
we definitely see her moving about during the day.

Given that there are large stretches of time where we can't find her no
matter how hard we try, I think farlowellas have that catfish need-to-hide
quality in abundance.  Our tank is strongly lit, but there is a large,
convoluted piece of wood that affords many totally dark hiding places for all
the cats (cories etc) - as well as fodder for the pl*co & farlie.

Might there be another fish that is (was) intimidating the farlowella?  They
are not strong swimmers, and a bully can really cramp their style unless
there're many places to get away from aggression (our big C. festivum wanted
to bite the farlie's nose in the worst way for the first few weeks we had
her).  Is there a strong current in the tank?  

Others will probably have more wisdom to offer - but I'd just say try again!
 They're lovely fish.

Anne
Santa Cruz CA