B. Macrostoma - Housing

Quick Links:

• Rooming Arrangements
• Tank Size
• Furnishings
• Filtration

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OK.... so you have been reading stuff on the web and now you are utterly convinced that you need to go get a pair of macs, otherwise you will never be able to live with yourself. Now you have to start thinking about housing arrangements and tank setups. Here I'll try to talk about some of the tank setups and experienced that I have gained over the years.

Rooming Arrangements

Just like their more commonly known cousins B. Splendens, adult Mac males should never be housed together because they tend to be very aggressive with other males. In my experience, females however may be housed together in the same tank but with caution at first. In my female-only tanks, there seems to be some chasing and nipping, but nowhere near as severe as in a male-only tank. The trick to housing females together is to have at least 4 or more females in the same tank. This helps to diffuse the "bullying" (usually by a dominant female) and spread out the aggression. During the first few days (or sometimes hours) of putting new females together, watch them closely to see how aggressively they behave. Sometimes it may be necessary to completely isolate an overly aggressive female if she harasses the others too much. But as mentioned earlier, it is generally ok to house 4 or more females together in the same tank.

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Tank Size

The simple answer to what size tank to house Macs is THE BIGGEST ONE YOU CAN ACCOMODATE. The reasons are multifold. Firstly, chances are you are going to have a tank with pretty low pH. My wilds live in pH 4.8 - 5.0 which usually means that the water is going to be naturally poorly buffered. Having a large volume of water helps to keep the pH stable and also allows for more time between water changes. Secondly, although i'm not a fish and don't really know how fish think, but if i was a fish, i would definitely want a little more living space (just remember those pet store Bettas that you see ever so often). A larger space allows the fish to "stretch it's fins" a little more by being able to roam around the tank a little more. Also, if you have a community tank which houses more than a single pair of macs, the larger space would give less dominant fish more room to run away from more dominant fish.

Much literature out there recommend at least 48" for a full grown mac. This usually translates into a standard 55 gal or a 75 gal tank. Many times, the reason that they give is that macs tend to suddenly "spazz out", start darting all around the tank, hit its head against the glass and die of a concussion. In my experience, this is absolutely not necessary. I have never seen a Mac dart around a tank as violently as these texts claim... not even among my wild stock. Hence, unless proven and documented otherwise, i would say that although a large tank is preferred and recommended, the whole "concussion" thing is definitely not the norm.

My pairs live comfortably in standard 29 gal tanks (30 x 12 x 18). I find this to be a great size to house pairs. It gives enough volume such that water parameters don't fluctuate too much, it gives them adequate room to swim around, and it doesn't take up too much of my house space. Here's a pic of my 2 breeding tanks, each housing a pair.

Recently, I've had successes with my proven pairs in 20L tanks. Seems like once they get the hang of spawning and incubating, they will readily do so in smaller tanks. I still have yet to successfully spawn a new pair in anything smaller than a 29gal. Below is a pic of 20L. You see the female hovering in the top left. The male is hiding somewhere.

For the purposes of temporary isolation, hospital and quarantine tanks, I generally use the standard 10 gal tanks. The most common time that i use this tank is to temporary house the females while waiting for the males to recuperate in between spawnings. Otherwise, they will immediately breed again which may not be good for the males who has not eaten in 3 or so weeks while holding eggs. Here's a pic of a male under QT in a 10 gal. Note that this is a Bare Bottomed tank which allows for easy cleaning and avoids trapping detritus which can easily foul the water in a tank this small.

Growout tanks generally range from 29 gal to 55 gal. As mentioned earlier and in "food", growouts need to be fed frequently and having a large tank (together with regular water changes) allows more stable water parameters and also doesn't foul too quickly due to the more frequent feedings.

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Furnishings

While I find that Macs do not absolutely need to have furniture, it seems that they feel a little more comfortable with something to hide under. I routinely find my Macs just hovering under a large leaf or just lazing around in the more shaded areas of the tank. Besides that, a well furnished tank looks better and is more pleasing for us to look at.

Typical types of stuff that I put in to my tanks are driftwood, pvc pipes, teracotta pots, and low maintenance plants such as amazon swords, java fern and java moss (see pics above).

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Filtration

Personally for my adult and juvie tanks, I'm a very big fan of Aquaclear "Hang on Back" (HOB) filters. They are small, quiet, simple to use and effective. On top of that, the ability to adjust the flow rate means that I am able to vary the current according to how much flow I need. Usually i have the flow to the minimum for juvie tanks and have it open full blast for adult tanks.

Almost all AC filters come with filter inserts such as charcoal, some round porous bio material and a sponge. My suggestion is to toss out the bio material... that stuff gets clogged way to easily with gunk to be effective. Hang on to the charcoal, but don't use it in your tank unless you have medications or stuff that you want to get rid off. Always remove the charcoal when it has done its job, otherwise when it becomes saturated, it will leach back all the nastiest into our water.

I HIGHLY recommend bio-balls (you'll see some black balls floating in my 29 gal tanks pictured above). Every advanced aquarist should have at least heard of them. They are plastic balls (or diamonds) which greatly increase the filter area which allow beneficial bacteria to grow. Also, their holes allow good water flow and are not so small that they clog easily (like the stuff that comes with the AC filters). Stuff the media tray with bio balls, and place the sponge on top of the balls to keep the balls from floating out of the filter and into the tank. The sponge should be placed such that it is at least 3/4 submerged. That way, the balls and sponge will provide the bio filtration and the sponge will provide the added mechanical filtration.

Here's a pic of what i just described above.

ALSO!... if you ever need to cycle another tank instantly, just simply transfer the bio balls from the old filter to the new filter and your new tank will be instantly cycled!

So... what if you are NOT a fan of AC filters?... well... the next best thing I can recommend are the "hydro" sponge filters. Not the little dinky "magnet" sponge filters that you get off petco or petsmart. Those have hardly enough area to support a good colony of bacteria. IMO, the Hydro filters have enough surface area for nitrifying bacteria and it has great lifting capacity when used with a good air pump.

If you are not a fan of either AC nor Hydro sponges, then make sure that you get a filter that is simple to operate, has adjustable water flow control, has good mechanical filtration and has a large bio capacity. IMO there are not too many models out there which do all well.

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PLUG

On the urging of my friends, I started this website by putting together the original (and quite successful) B. Macrostoma pages. Since then it has grown by quite a bit. All this time I've provided all this info and lots of free e-mail support to anyone who needed help. The advertising on this page helps out a little to offset the cost of webhosting. So if you see something that you may be interested in listed within the Google Ads banners, then please don't hesitate to check it out.

I thank you all for your great interest in my articles and I hope to keep hearing from you guys, even if it is just dropping me a note to say hi. God Bless!

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