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Re: flying fox and terra-cotta

>>>>> Colin Anderson <colin_d_anderson at hotmail_com> (here: "CA"),
>>>>> on Fri, 16 Oct 1998 09:02:54 PDT,
>>>>> pondered the meaning of life, then wrote down:

   CA> I've recently heard two things and would like verification and the like:
   CA> 1.  Flying fox = Siamese Algae Eater--it took me two months to figure 
   CA> out that SAE as Siam....

A Flying fox is not the same as a Siamese Algae Eater.  Sometimes a true 
SAE is labled "Siamese flying fox".  Forget the common name, since I suspect 
that most shopkeepers and fish suppliers can't tell the difference.  If 
you're looking for a true SAE, you're looking for Crossoheilus siamensis.

Look in Liisa Sarakontu's webpage for the different drawings and read their
descriptions.  There are four or five fish that look remarkably similar,
especially when they're young.  You can only tell the difference when you've
seen them side-by-side, and Liisa's webpage is a huge help here:

  http://www.hut.fi/~lsarakon/akva.html

   CA> 2.  Why the heck turn your whole tank into a mudbath--if you've got a 
   CA> u/g like most novices do, why not just take thin terra-cotta dish, fill 
   CA> it with your favorite slurry and bury it in one corner.  Voila--you now 
   CA> have the flexiblity to learn, experiment and see which grows best in 
   CA> the slurry and which doesn't

I'm not a UG fan and I usually try to talk novices out of using them.  There
are some that do great with them on this list, but I doubt any of them use 
anything but gravel substrate.  If you're providing extra nutrients with
a *functional* UG, you're limited to dosing drops (PMDD) and individually-
potted plants.  

If you don't have a UG, you can also provide nutrients at the roots directly 
with soil, clay balls, laterite, Jobes sticks, etc., without mucking up the 
entire tank.  If you have a UG, you can always turn it off, plug it and
switch to clay balls with Jobes sticks inside. If you've ever seen an amazon
sword a month after one of these clay ball-feedings or seen your crypts or
micro-swords after their roots reach soil, you'll probably never go back to 
UG again.  

Carlos E. Munoz 
<cmunoz at crystal_cirrus.com>