Monday 26 July 2010

Oh the misery of this hobby sometimes!

Another long overdue update. I keep saying to myself that should do more writing; that somehow this might open the door to new things; that I should finish off that damn book about EBJDs...somehow life gets in the way - or more accurately I get in my own way.

There has been an EACG auction since I last posted. It was a bit of a let down, to be honest. Great to see friends and listen to a wonderful (if excessively long) talk from Juan Miguel Artigas on the cichlids of Mexico, but the auction was depressing - not enough people and too many lovely fish going back from whence they came. I put it down to bad timing, rather than poor promotion of the event.

Anyway, I came home with a bag of 'super-red' Kribensis grow-outs, a lovely pair of marble convicts (now with free-swimming fry) and three Herichthys pantostictus which I obtained for the princely sum of just £6!

My joy has been short lived. I have been losing precious fish over the last few weeks. Just before the auction I lost my female Amphilophus cotrinellus 'Costa Rican Red Head' after the male beat her up (post spawning). Then I lost one of the pantostictus (turns out they really can't stand large water changes). Finally today I found my stunning male Green Terror lying dead on the tank floor having been very obviously beaten up. That's a real tragedy as he was beautiful.

On the plus side, I have my spawn of marble Convicts, my healthy colony of Israeli bred guppies, a seething mass of baby bristlenoses and the latest bifasciatum spawn to contend with. Two of my Rotkeil Severums have also finally paired up and I have plans to breed my two remaining pantostictus (if they do indeed turn out to be a pair, as I suspect they are).

I have been fish-sitting for my buddy Noel for several months now and will be giving the fish back soon, so hopefully I'll have a bit more space soon.

I wil undoubtedly have baby kribs in a few weeks' time and probably another spawn from my Jaguars and Fliers. However I've got so many busy weekends for the rest of the year that I don't know when I'm going to do all the necessary water changes.

So much to think about. I do way to much of that. Less thought and more action required!
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Introduction

I have always been fascinated by cichlids. They are among the most stunningly beautiful of fishes; they come in all shapes and sizes (there is a cichlid to suit everyone); and they have some seriously awesome behaviour. Since I started keeping fish 15 years ago I have kept and bred several species, but I never had enough tanks to house all the individual pairs I wanted (and their subsequent fry). In April '08, I was lucky enough to have a space-heated fishroom built into the garage conversion my girlfriend and I were having done. This diary is my way of keeping track of all my fish breeding projects. I hope you find it informative!