coldmachineUK
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Well, my cichlids have given me the most stressful time out of all my fish it seems!
First of all they were supposed by saulosi and turned out to be metriaclima msobo magunga, then they decided they were going to breed for more readily and rapidly than even livebearers I've kept before. On top of that, they were leaving all the fry and juvies alone in the tank, so it was rapidly getting full...
So, talk about constantly having to change things to suit the occasion!
I went with a grow out tank in the end, just to get the fry and juvies out of the main adult tank. I spent a few good hours removing all the rockwork, and catching them all. The poor RTBS I have who was enjoying his own 20G now has them for company. He's funny with them though tbh! It's almost like he's the old man and they're the naughty kids irritating him now and then. He just chases them away from his cave when they all decide to provoke him some
So, that's one plan that changed. I wasn't going to have a grow out originally.
Then nobody was interested in buying them. Seems like people want things for nothing these days. I'd rather they have a home than the other unthinkable solution though, so I've now been offering them for free and the interest has suddenly been overwhelming! I've got a waiting list, LOL!
So then I decided that since the rockwork in the tank was so extensive it takes hours to remove to catch fry, I was going to take the risk of removing a heck of a lot of it to make life easier for ME in the long run. I was worried that my cichlids had been so passive purely because of the amount of territory they had (even in a small tank). So, I took it out and expected the worst. There was some aggression for a couple of days as they all re-established territory: the synos were actually the most aggressive about the whole thing. But, now things have settled and they're back to hiding out and being timid lol. There was a funny moment when the only purpose made cave (the rest is lava rock nooks and crannies) ended up with the original occupant (2nd dom. male), the dom. female, and the dom. male all inside at once
So now the aquascape looks really barren, but at least there's space to get in there now. Their reaction to the whole thing has been really good, I'm so relieved! They did dig up all the vallis and java fern in there though overnight. I'm thinking it's their way of telling me what they think about the whole thing
I finally got a few pics of the dom. male since he lost his huge territory in the lava rock network. And, he's pretty much fully coloured up now; he's got one more 'stage' to go!
First of all they were supposed by saulosi and turned out to be metriaclima msobo magunga, then they decided they were going to breed for more readily and rapidly than even livebearers I've kept before. On top of that, they were leaving all the fry and juvies alone in the tank, so it was rapidly getting full...
So, talk about constantly having to change things to suit the occasion!
I went with a grow out tank in the end, just to get the fry and juvies out of the main adult tank. I spent a few good hours removing all the rockwork, and catching them all. The poor RTBS I have who was enjoying his own 20G now has them for company. He's funny with them though tbh! It's almost like he's the old man and they're the naughty kids irritating him now and then. He just chases them away from his cave when they all decide to provoke him some
So, that's one plan that changed. I wasn't going to have a grow out originally.
Then nobody was interested in buying them. Seems like people want things for nothing these days. I'd rather they have a home than the other unthinkable solution though, so I've now been offering them for free and the interest has suddenly been overwhelming! I've got a waiting list, LOL!
So then I decided that since the rockwork in the tank was so extensive it takes hours to remove to catch fry, I was going to take the risk of removing a heck of a lot of it to make life easier for ME in the long run. I was worried that my cichlids had been so passive purely because of the amount of territory they had (even in a small tank). So, I took it out and expected the worst. There was some aggression for a couple of days as they all re-established territory: the synos were actually the most aggressive about the whole thing. But, now things have settled and they're back to hiding out and being timid lol. There was a funny moment when the only purpose made cave (the rest is lava rock nooks and crannies) ended up with the original occupant (2nd dom. male), the dom. female, and the dom. male all inside at once
So now the aquascape looks really barren, but at least there's space to get in there now. Their reaction to the whole thing has been really good, I'm so relieved! They did dig up all the vallis and java fern in there though overnight. I'm thinking it's their way of telling me what they think about the whole thing
I finally got a few pics of the dom. male since he lost his huge territory in the lava rock network. And, he's pretty much fully coloured up now; he's got one more 'stage' to go!
