CONTENTS
Articles
GHAC Auction p.1
Meet a fellow GHAC
member p.2
Fish of the Month
p.3
Tank of the Month p.4
Plant of the Month p.5
Items of Interest
GHAC Officers p.2
How to contact the
GHAC p.2
Sponsors p.3
Useful Websites p.4 & 6
David looking like he knows what he is
doing.
NEWSLETTER
September/October 2008
GHAC Auction 2008
By Tim Bell
The September edition of the GHAC newsletter got washed out along with the
September Auction. Because of Hurricane Ike, the GHAC officers elected to
push the date of our very first large scale auction back to October 25th. The
time and location will remain the same. The auction is at the “Hall on
Hammerly” and will start at 11am. Sellers can start checking in at 10am.
Nobody knows quite what to expect at this auction – that is part of the draw!
The club has managed to gather donations from multiple local fish stores,
private groups, as well as distinguished nationwide retailers. This is certainly
guaranteed to be an auction that will be talked about for months to come! See
you there!
The Hall on Hammerly
10644 Hammerly Blvd.
Houston, TX. 77043
“Big fish swim at the bottom.”
-Chinese Proverb
…and this is the first person who beat
David at Air Hockey that night.
 We want to hear from you. After all, you are the
Meet a Fellow GHAC Member reason that we are here. Email any suggestions,
comments, or questions to raul.turner@myghac.org.

Want to introduce yourself to the GHAC

community? All you have to do is to send the editor a
quick little blurb talking about you and what
aquarium related experiences you’ve had. Many
people have chosen to talk about their favorite fish as Your GHAC Officers are:
well.

You can rread about other GHAC members by Raul Turner

scrolling through the previous newsletters that are (rrocket2002)
located online at www.myghac.org. President

Tim Bell
(armthehomeless)
Vice President

Megan’s Tropical Emporium Hours David Abeles

Monday 11:00 - 6:00 (Tiapan)
Tuesday - Friday 11:00 - 8:00 Co-Vice President
Saturday 10:00 - 6:00
Sunday 12:00 - 6:00

Megan’s Emporium will be closing their doors to the Mary Beth Petranek
public in the coming months. Megan’s Emporium (Mzungu)
has been an avid GHAC supporter from the Treasurer
beginning, and will be sorely missed. We wish
Megan the best of luck on her next venture!

Traci Davis
(imagirlgeek)
Secretary

Fish Gallery Store Hours

Monday-Saturday 10am-8pm
Sunday 12pm-5pm
 Fish of the Month
Niger Otocinclus
Hisonotus leucofrenatus
By Bhushan Dalvi
I came across this inconspicuous but interesting fish about 6
months back at a local fish store (LFS) which gets in some
interesting fish once in a while. The first time you see this
fish you will probably pass it up as a baby common pleco
(Hypostomus Sp.). But I assure you the similarity ends right
there. Hisonotus belong to family Loricariid and are more
closely related to the Otocinclus Sp. than the Hypostomus
Sp.
When I first saw these little buggers I was not really sure if I
wanted them. They were labeled as Otocinclus “Niger”.
Talking to a knowledgeable LFS employee revealed that
these were wild caught and did not come in quiet often. I
decided to get the last 3 they had. After having them for a
while now I regret that I could not get any more. I haven’t
seen them offered for sale around the town for a while now.
Coming back to my purchase, I came home and added them
to my then newly set-up 10 G tank, “Boraras Dream”. The
tank was already thickly planted and all three of them
quickly disappeared in the thicket of Hemianthus
Micranthemoides and Microsorium pteropus “Needle”. I
saw them again after a couple of days grazing away on the
diatoms and green spot algae on the back wall of the tank.
From my experience I can now say they are herbivorous and
excellent algae eaters. They are a perfect addition to a
planted tank.
From what I have read about their biotope and my own
observations of their behavior I would say that they love
well oxygenated water with decent flow. In my tank
they love to hang around the filter outlet right under the
leaves of Microsorium pteropus “Needle”.
This portion of the tank has the maximum flow. Another
thing which I have observed is they don’t like to be
photographed. You have to be really careful in
approaching the tank if you want to get a good picture.
The temperature in my tank varies from 75-78°F, but a
lot of references point out that these catfishes can
withstand far lesser temperatures. I haven’t seen any
breeding behavior from my trio yet, but it would be
really hard to tell as these fish are egg-scatterers and do
a really good job of hiding their eggs in a well planted
tank. I am hoping I will find some babies when I take
down the tank.
Finally, I would say don’t miss an opportunity to keep
this very interesting fish if you happen to come across
some and always get at least a group of three.
₪
 Check out our 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…

October TOTM
Tim’s 30 Gallon Planted Tank

Decoration: Driftwood, Slate

Substrate : Aquasoil Amazonia II
,
Lighting: Coralife 1x65W 6700K Power Compact
Inhabitants:
• Veil-tail Albino Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.) October 25th
• Red Cherry Shrimp (Neocaridina heteropoda (var. Red)) 10am- ???
• Chocolate Killifish (Aphyosemion australe “Chocolate”)
The Hall on Hammerly
10644 Hammerly Blvd.
Houston, TX. 77043

9426 Laurel Wind Court

Houston, Tx 77040

August 15th, 7:45pm to ???

 Plant of the Month
Shield Pennywort
Hydrocotyle verticillata
By Bhushan Dalvi
Hydrocotyle verticillata even tough a common
marsh plant through out the southern states of
North America is not as establish in the
planted tank hobby as the other member of the
genus Hydrocotyle leucocephala. This
probably is attributed to the difficulty of
growing this specie underwater. H.verticillata
is commonly known as the Whorled
Pennywort or Shield Pennywort. Hydrocotyle
verticillata can be found growing all year
round throughout Texas wherever there is
moist to wet soil. There are a few people I
know who ordered this plant from online
dealers later to find out this plant growing like
weed in there own backyard. I have found
large groups of this plant growing in quiet a
few place around my house. Even though
considered as a perennial plant this plant
suffers quiet a bit in the Texan summer. I have
found that during summer only group of plants
in well shaded locations survive. H.verticillata
can be found growing submersed in large
groups in fast flowing water of San Marcos
River all year around. The water temperature
of this river stays around 72 °F all year.
H.verticillata growing on the bank of San Marcos River.
H. verticillata is considered a moderately difficult
plant to grow submersed. It requires a lot of light
supplemented with good carbon dioxide addition
and regular fertilization. Lack of nitrogen will cause
quick yellowing of the older leaves. It also likes soft
and slightly acidic water. I have been growing this
plant both emersed and submersed. H.verticillata is
a fast growing weed when grown on land in
sunlight as well as when grown emersed under
lights. But its rate of growth significantly differs
when grown underwater. It grows painstakingly
slow. The stem of this plant grows along the
substrate with 1-2 leaves growing upright at each
node. The height of leaf stalk in an aquarium is
decided by the amount of light. I had this plant
growing under 65w of light in a 10 gallon aquarium.
The maximum height to which it got was 1-1.5”. In
low light tanks the leaf stalks try to reach out
towards the light and hence can have long stalks.
When I first started with this plant I planted it in
two different tanks one with Aquasoil Amazonia II
and one with just plain river sand. The few nodes
which I planted in Amazonia II sent out new leaves
within a couple of weeks of planting, but the ones in
river plant took a lot longer than that. This makes
me believe that it appreciates a nutritious substrate.
This plant can also be grown as a floating plant. If
grown as a floating plant it will appreciate a lot of
nutrients in the water column. This plant has small
white flowers growing in tight group on the tip of
the stalk.
 Pictures inside the Hall on Hammerly
See you here on October 25th!!

I haven’t seen H.verticillata in use by a lot of

aquascapers in their aquascapes. This probably is due
to the unique leaf shape which makes it difficult to
incorporate in a scape. Mr. Takashi Amano has used
this plant in quiet a few of his earlier scapes as a
foreground plant. The most memorable use of this
plant was in his scape called “Grace of Angles” from
AquaJournal Vol.18 (December 1995). A picture of
this scape pops in my mind every time I see this plant.
H.verticillata’s unique leaf shape and easy availability
prompted me to use it in “Boraras Dream”. It was
placed in this scape on the extreme left corner to draw
attention of the viewer to that corner while adding
interest to that shaded section. In a small aquascaped
tank H. verticillata can be used as accent plant to
draw attention to its unusual leaf shape. In larger
tanks it can be used as the main foreground plant. I
believe a lot of aquascapers will appreciate the slow
growth of this plant underwater. It does not get unruly
like Glossostigma elatinoides or Echinodorus
tenellus. If you can satisfy all its need H.verticillata
can be a great addition to any aquascape. Some pictures of the GHAC Auction Volunteers!

Bhushan Dalvi is an active member of NASH (Nature

Aquarium Society of Houston) and was kind enough
to let us use his articles in this issue. For more
information on Mr. Dalvi, go to his blog at
http://bhushandalvi.wordpress.com.