CONTENTS
Articles
April Meeting p.1
Meet a fellow GHAC
member p.2
Fish of the Month
p.3
Tank of the Month p.4
April Meeting Pictures
p.5
Plant of the Month p.5
Items of Interest
GHAC Officers p.2
How to contact the
GHAC p.2
Useful Websites p.4
“Fish die belly upward, and rise to the surface. It is their way of falling”
David looking like he knows what he is doing.
NEWSLETTER
May 2008
April Meeting
By Tim Bell
The April meeting was bitter sweet at best. It was the last GHAC event
held at Mike’s Tropical Fish and Pets. Mike’s store is now closed to the
public. I want to personally thank Mike for his giving nature and for
allowing the Greater Houston Aquarium Club to use his store as a venue
to hold meetings. For those who don’t know Mike, he is truly a hobbyist
at heart. You could se that when he interacted with his customers. He
gave each person, frank and honest advice … and wouldn’t hesitate to
tell you when he doesn’t know the answer to a question. This, in my
opinion at the very least, is the sign of someone who truly cares about
what he is doing and is passionate about fish. Perhaps this is why about a
dozen individuals, many of them GHAC members, volunteered their
weekend to help Mike move most of his fish and tanks from his store. If
that doesn’t say anything about a person’s passion for the hobby, then I
don’t know what does.
Mike’s Tropical Fish and Pets will sorely be missed.
-André Gide
Loretta -“Can I raffle David off?”
Meet a Fellow GHAC Member We want to hear from you. After all, you are the
This Month: Fiona Bell reason that we are here. Email any suggestions,
comments, or questions to Raul_GHAC [at] yahoo
My foray in the aquatic world has been a rather short [dot] com.
one. I had fish growing up as a child in Canada. One
of them was named “Sammy” and he ate all the
others. In college, my boyfriend (now husband)
bought a ten gallon aquarium and a couple baby
Oscars for me as a gift. He told me, don’t worry it
Your GHAC Officers are:
would be “easy”. Well, it wasn’t. I killed both of them
in a couple of months. My boyfriend was alternating
Raul Turner
between the rwords “sick – lid” and Oscar. I thought
(rrocket2002)
maybe he just forgot the name … or got them mixed
President
up. Regardless, I didn’t like to see dead fish, and let
the gift just sit in my room without fish in it (but full
of bubbles).

Several more years ran by, without me ever keeping

any fish. My knowledge base about the fish basics
was slowly increasing, however. My boyfriend talked
incessantly about fish. I couldn’t help but learn the Tim Bell
names of all the different fish that are in most local (armthehomeless)
fish stores. Whenever we went on vacation, we would Vice President
HAVE to go to the local public aquarium or zoo.

Eventually I married Tim. When we moved in

together, I requested that he decrease his tank arsenal
from 20 down to 3 tanks. However, in order to David Abeles
prevent Tim from trying to annul the marriage, I told (Tiapan)
him those three tanks could be any size he wanted. Of Co-Vice President
course, it never got down to three—apparently “sick
tanks” don’t count as “real tanks”—but at least there
aren’t any breeding tanks in the kitchen any more! Loretta Mitchell
(fishlady)
I don’t have a tank of my own, so I “force” Tim to Secretary
keep a tank full of Electric Yellow Labs, because they
always seem so active and (intrinsically) happy
which, in turn, makes me happy.
Mary Beth Petranek
(Mzungu)
Treasurer

Fish Gallery Store Hours

Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
 Fish of the Month
Benthochromis tricoti
Benthochromis tricoti
By Tim Bell

General:

Benthochromis tricoti are a large, micro-predatory fish

fish, native to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. This fish is
dimorphic, meaning that there are distinct differences
between males and females. As with most dimorphic
African cichlids, the males are more colorful than
females by having purple and blue horizontal stripes
and a yellow “throat” area.

Habitat:
Benthochromis tricoti is found in the deep (300-450
ft), open waters of lake Tanganyika. This fish has been
collected in water with a pH range: 8.5 to 9.2 and dH
range of 8.0 - 14.0.
Care:
Benthochromis tricoti, like all Tanganyikan fish, likes
hard water. My water is fairly alkaline, and I wouldn’t
recommend trying to lower the pH on these graceful
cichlids. The temperature of my tank stays in the upper
seventies. I conduct regular partial water changes of
20-50% on the tank each week and I found this suited
my fish just fine. I’ve heard many people say that
Tanganyikans are super sensitive to water changes. I
have yet to find any validity to this statement. Just
make sure that the temperature and chemistry are very
close to that of the tank. Since this fish does grow very
large, I wouldn’t recommend keeping this fish in
anything less than a six foot aquarium. Benthos won't
upset your plants; another endearing trait. I’ve got
mine in a tank with Valisneria. Just keep in mind they
need room to swim.
Breeding:
If you are planning on breeding these large cichlids,
also known as the “King of the Featherfins”, then
good luck. There is not a great deal of information out
on the web about breeding these guys – perhaps a
reason that you don’t see them at most LFS.
Benthochromis tricoti are maternal mouthbrooders and
the male looks like he is yawning while courting
females. Most people that have been able to spawn
these fish have reported extremely small numbers of
eggs produced. It was reported that newly hatched fry,
despite having large mouths, could barely swallow
“just hatched” brine shrimp. There is not much more
that I know about the breeding behavior of these guys
– yet!!!

Feeding:

In the lake, Benthochromis tricoti feed on insects and a

variety of invertebrate organisms. In your tank,
though, they present no problems. Mine eat flake food,
frozen brine and mysis shrimp and various small
pellets like NLS.
 Check out our great new website…
Tank of the Month
We want to see your tanks! Send us a photo of your tank
along with a brief description of the flora, fauna, water
parameters, equipment used, and anything else you want www.myghac.org
to include. We will post a new tank each month!! Let us
see what you are working with…

May TOTM
Tim’s 26 Gallon Tank

• Dimensions: 36" (back) x 12" x 16"

• Substrate: Blasting Gravel from a
hardware store with fertilizer tabs by the sword
• Lighting: 2 x 24” Full spectrum Fluorescent
Bulbs
• Filtration: Whipser 330 HOB filter
• Water Changes: 30% every three week
• Flora: Anubius sp., Hygrophilia sp.,
Echinodorus amazonicus, Microsorum pteropus,
Hygrophila difformis
• Fauna: Neon tetra (Paracheirodon innesi),
juvenile Irian Rainbowfish (Glossolepis
incisus)
 April Pictures Plant of the Month
Water Wisteria
Hygrophila difformis
By Tim Bell

Water wisteria is a great started plant. It can grow in a wide

variety of water conditions and temperatures. It is a fast
growing plant, however. This means that is does need to be
constantly trimmed in order to remain full looking. Without
trimming, the plant becomes long a leggy looking. The bottom
leaves fall off because they are not getting the same light as the
leaves on top. Because it grows fast, most people tend to put
this plant in the back of aquariums.

Water wisteria looks very similar in appearance to water sprite.

The many difference is in the method of reproduction. Water
wisteria grows from a stem whereas water sprite grows from a
crown. To get water wisteria plantlets, simply clip off a stem
with at least 6 leaves, trim off the bottom two, and plant the
stem with the remaining our leaves in the substrate. I have
found that the process can be done when fewer leaves are
present, but the chances for successful reproduction diminish
substantially.

The GHAC proudly welcomes our new

sponsor…

Tim and Fiona's Home

1709 Brun St
Houston, TX. 77019

June 7th, 9am to 1pm