Hello from Texas!!!

Hello and welcome to the forum drew .
good, a lifetime with aquariums, besides fresh and marine water.
Here you also find fans planted aquariums .
I'm glad you found the information you were looking in the article of Lacantun River .
For that we like viviparous , Mexico is a paradise full of them .
If you want more information on this question and try to help with information.
Share anytime photos of your aquarium or fish , will be a pleasure to see them.

Thanks for your words, we are a little forum but passionate with fishes and aquariums.

Greetings and talk

Thank You SOOOO MUCH for the help!!! I have been trying to research more info on the alvarezi, but it is hard to come by other than what their founder listed about them in 1960! So any info is much appreciated! I know plenty about the care for the fish themselves, but it is more about making a TRUE BIOTOPE AQUARIUM, and trying to find fish that will serve as a "clean up crew" and bottom dwellers that can be housed in a 40 gallon Breeder aquarium long term! I found plenty of catfish that come from that area, but they all get WAY TO LARGE or a normal home aquarium! And I have found nothing on any type of algae eating fish, that again stays small enough for a 40B! I know their Biotope tank is supposed to have some algae on the rocks for them to pick on as they do in the wild, but I don't want a tank filled with plants and rocks completely covered in algae where you can't tell what anything is or keep the plants alive!!! Heck, I can go to the local Big Box Pet Stores and see that any day I want! I wonder if there are any shrimp, snails, or if the Mexican Dwarf Crayfish are found in that area, and that eat algae and will leave healthy plants alone?

So if you happen to know of any, or run across any bottom dwellers, similar Cory Cats, or Algae eaters like Otto's or Siamese Algae eaters but from that area it would be a HUGE HELP if you could post a link to them here!!! And if I find anything I will do the same! I am going to try to get some pics of the Alvarezi today, and I can hopefully figure out how to post them on this forum. Should be close to the same way as you do on the Planted Tank Forum as well as others.

Again, THANK YOU and NO WORRIES about YOUR ENGLISH!!! Heck I have lived in the U.S. my whole life, and my Parents are both retired Teachers and I still can't spell worth a dang or remember where to use commas at etc... LOL As long as we can understand each other and our fish tanks look good and our fish and plants are healthy, that is all that matters!!!

Take Care!
Drew

Thanks for the link!!!

Will Do!!! There is a Dwarf Crayfish that I have seen called the Dwarf Mexican Self-Cloning Crayfish, and a Small Orange one that is sometimes called a the Dwarf Orange Mexican Crayfish, and unfortunately I don't know the scientific names right now or if they are even truly from Mexico. They both do stay very small, and from what I have read usually do pretty well in Planted Tanks! Most have pretty good luck with most fishes unless they tend to rest on or near the bottom at night then they can cause problems catching the sleeping/at rest fish and will then eat them if the fish are small enough to keep a hold of!

I will check out the ones you listed at see which ones they are and I am still trying to keep the Dream alive of having a "TRUE" Swordtail Biotope! If not I will DO MY BEST TO KEEP IT AS TRUE AS POSSIBLE!!! I tried to join the Catfish site you posted the link to so I could ask questions to the people who have kept the catfish you found, but they STILL have not e-mailed me an activation link, so I am going to try to get in touch with them today to see what the problem is! I even tried to re-register, but the site says my screen name and e-mail are already in use, so I know the registration went threw the first time, but I can't log in???

I am also in search of a Spanish to English translator program so I can really understand 100% of all the posts and threads on this AWESOME SITE and in the GREAT MAGAZINE found here too! I can understand some of what is being written or talked about when I know the subject matter! A few of my closest friends growing up were Mexican, but I am in NO WAY FLUENT!!! The main problem I have run into with programs lately is my computer is older and is still running Windows Vista! IT SIX!!! BIG TIME And every thing now is only being supported by Windows 7 or newer, and the DANG TAX MAN just took all of our extra money, so it will be a while longer till I can upgrade to Windows 7!

BUT I AM IN NO WAY GIVING UP ON A 100% TRUE BIOTOPE YET!!! IT is just the Swordtails are constantly popping out Babies and so far they haven't been eating them that I have seen, so the 10 gallon that they are in is going to get crowded very quickly!!! A few of the fry that were born on 04/04/16 are 1/2" long or longer and when I put the food on the surface of the water they will come up and feed with the Adults, and are being left alone to eat in peace! I have never seen that before in Swordtails or Platties! The Last Swords I had, which were an Aquarium Strain would eat fry until they were an 1" long or maybe longer, but these adults haven't even go after new born fry while I have been watching! Even the male has swam right by a fry that was not even 24 hours old swimming with a piece of food in its mouth and the Male paused for a second and watched it, then kept on going to another piece of falling food!!! NO B.S.!!!!! They are acting more like Brichardi's do and form a Family Group with the different generations of young tending to the others, instead if live bearers!!! It might all change today, but that is what I have seen with my own 2 eyes so far! ANd if they keep on like that I am going to have more Sword tails than I am going to begin to know what to do with!!!

Well I will holler at ya later on, and hopefully I can get the Catfish Forum problem figured out soon! If I find out something there I will let Yall know!

Thanks Again for the Help!!!
Drew