Contents of the astronotus
Such a large fish with a bright coloring looks very impressive, but keeping it is not easy. For novice aquarists, this option is not suitable. These fish are more often bred in decorative office aquariums.
The astronotus is best lived in a largeaquarium Picture: Getty The optimal water temperature is from 21 to 30 degrees, the rigidity is up to 23 °. Water should be constantly filtered and replaced daily by a fifth. Lighting should be soft. Planting living plants in a container with an astronotus is useless. Over time, it destroys and tears out everything that can be torn out, so we have to decorate the aquarium with artificial algae, securely fixing them. At the bottom it is better to pour a large smooth pebble so that the fish do not get hurt on the sharp edges of the stones. All decorative elements, stones and snags should be strong and securely fixed so that the fish can not move them. The aquarium should always be covered. Having seen a fly flying over the water, a predator can rush after it and find itself on the floor. Feed such a fish is not so simple as the habitual inhabitants of the aquarium. To buy ready-made food is expensive, so you often have to cook food yourself. Adult individuals are fed once a day, fry - three times. The sample menu looks like this:
- large moths;
- tadpoles;
- earthworms;
- correter in large numbers;
- scalded leaves of cabbage and lettuce;
- beef heart;
- frozen squid;
- pieces of cod, hake, pollock.
It is convenient to prepare a portion of food for several days. Individual components are ground in a blender or cut into small pieces and frozen in a polyethylene film in the form of a thin pancake. From such a preparation it is very easy to break off a piece of food.
Compatibility of astronotus with other living beings
Contain astronotus together with other smallthe inhabitants can not. These predators show aggression, so victims are possible. It is better to keep a pair of fish of this kind in a large aquarium with a capacity of at least 200 liters. Find other inhabitants is difficult, except that you will have to buy an even larger aquarium. As neighbors, large specimens with hard scales and sharp fins are suitable. To avoid frequent cleaning of the aquarium, it is possible to select a large spiny catfish as cohabitants. He will not be afraid of these fish and at the same time will pick up the leftovers of food from the bottom. When buying it is better to immediately buy 4-5 fish and leave them at home until they grow up. Then you can choose the most successful pair, and sell the rest. Adult individuals with no problems give offspring and in captivity. The aquarium with such a large fish will decorate itself with any office or house. But care and feeding takes a lot of time. Also interesting:
