So, some action has finally taken place. Noel has collected his pair of Kribs, group of five African butterfly cichlids and the white-tip Synodontis, which leaves the shark (Labeo frenatus) and the neon tetras to go. As a result I have set up another pair of Kribs (another pair that I bred myself - the male is the brother of the one I currently have looking after a healthy brood of free-swimming fry, both lovely 'super reds'). I've sadly forgotten the history of the two females...
Yesterday I posted a couple of spare cutteri to London. Still waiting to hear if they arrived okay - always a bit nerve wracking! Hopefully it will all be fine, as Royal Mail are surprisingly reliable.
Okay...I wrote the above on Tuesday, it's now Sunday and much has happened since then....
First of all, the cutteri arrives safe and sound, so I can add another success with Royal Mail to my untarnished record.
On Friday morning I finally met Ross Evans, of Oddball Express fame. Amazingly it has taken me nearly 2 years to work out that the Oddball Express unit is literally 6 minutes from my work office!!! I couldn't believe it when I put the postcode into Google maps.
The set up is amazing. Stunning rare cichlids galore. As usual I was like a kid in a candy shop and despite meeting Ross at 8:15am, I was still trying to work out what I was going to take home with me at 9:00! There was so much I wanted, but in the end common sense prevailed and it came down to how much space I could provide. I came away very happy with a stunning pair of exCichlasoma istlanum, who spent the whole day in the boot of my car until I got them back to Cambridge from Stafford. They went into the dining room tank, which started off a whole chain of events that have made this weekend a bit stressful!
First off, I decided that the Istlanum pair were too precious to be left alone with my horrible F2 hybrid convct/HRPs, so I promptly caught them all up and removed them from the tank. They were unceremoniously deposited in the 6' tank in the fishroom.
On Saturday morning I went in to the fishroom to find all the fish in the 6' tank gasping for breath and looking genereally miserable - too many fish sharing too little oxygen. Crap. So in I went with the net, this time to catch all but two of the big F1 convict/HRP males. Their time had come to be culled and removing them would drop the stocking levels on the tank and hence improve the situation for the rest of the tank inhabitants.
I was really undecided about the cull, as I find culling adult fish pretty traumatic, but I decided that seeing as I have no intention of spreading hybrid convicts throughout the UK, I should just get on with it. I dispatched them promptly and humanely and the bodies went back into the 6' tank as a large meal for the other fish. In retrospect this was a dumb move.
Switch to this morning, when I enter the fishroom to find it stinking of rotting fish, all four dead bodies left untouched by the other fish and all of the latter looking miserable. Big problem. Quickly I removed the offending bodies and disposed of them. I had already started down the path of culling fish and getting rid of the extras, so I put an ad in two places online offering the following fish for free if picked up today:
- Piar of Brown acaras Male 7" Female 5"
- 2 x Vieja melanurus 7"
- Paratheraps bifasciatus (unsexed) 10"
- 2 x Rotkeil severum 5"
Within an hour I had someone offer to takle the lot!
When they arrived things were going from bad to worse in the 6' tank, but all the listed fish were doing okay and the guys who came to pick them up were very happy. To be honest they got an amazing deal, I reckon they got well over £100 worth of fish for diddley squat!
Then fish started dying. I lost the loach that has been terrorising that tank since the day I got it (sad about that even though I hated his guts for abusing my other fish). Then some of the small hybrids started dying - they went straight into my Jaguar cichlid tank. But then my male Blockhead was lying on his side, followed by two of the Paratheraps synspiuls from Rusty Wessel. Oh....MY....GOD! I went into panic mode. The Blockhead went straight into a spare cube tank, as did the two synspilus (both held upright by a stone each). Then I started a huge water change and crossed my fingers.
The end result? Well, thankfully I think the 2 synspilus have pulled through, as has the Blockhead, so all in all I lost one loach and two hybrids convict/HRPs. It could have been sooooo much worse. I just hope the fish I gave away have all made it safe and sound.
What a day! Seriously, sometimes I wonder how I cope with the stress of it all...
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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!
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!
Monday, 10 May 2010
Happy hybrids
A quick photo of one of my pairs of F1 convict x HRP and their fry. They are merrily defending them against a 6' tank full of other Central American cichlids as if it was child's play.
I was in the fish room with a torch just now and it looks like I have even more fry: the new guppies have already started giving birth and, best of all, I was wrong about the bristlenoses - I shone the torch into a pot and it was full of baby Ancistrus!
I was in the fish room with a torch just now and it looks like I have even more fry: the new guppies have already started giving birth and, best of all, I was wrong about the bristlenoses - I shone the torch into a pot and it was full of baby Ancistrus!
Sad news and good news
First off, the sad news: my breeding male EBJD died about a week ago. I started treatment too late and he was gone in days. Absolutely devastating to lose such a beautiful fish.However, my other fish have cheered me up by breeding away merrily. I never got those baby suckers I mentioned in my last post, nothing came of the eggs, but currently in my tanks I have:
- Mayan cichlid wrigglers
- Flier cichlid fry
- Nicaraguan youngsters (1.5") (I sold the breeding pair on eBay, posted last Friday)
- Paratheraps bifasciatus fertile eggs!!!
Also I have pairs of Kribensis, CRRH midas and Cutter's cichlid getting ready to spawn.
So much new life!
My shoal of BGJDs is also still doing well, growing at a good rate and keeping their bellies fat.
Recently bought some Israeli bred guppies from Swallow Aquatics - they are lovely green cobra tails, so I'm looking forward to breeding them en masse if I can.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Nics a plenty!
The mighty brood of Nicaraguan cichlids is growing like stink!
Mom and dad are still very shy, but attentive.
In other news:
- finally switched on the Fluval FX 5
- about 30 BGJDs all growing well
- sold the tinfoils, firemouths and spare HRPs weekend before last
- the Ancistrus trio have spawned, so hopefully I'll have baby suckers soon
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Mom and dad are still very shy, but attentive.
In other news:
- finally switched on the Fluval FX 5
- about 30 BGJDs all growing well
- sold the tinfoils, firemouths and spare HRPs weekend before last
- the Ancistrus trio have spawned, so hopefully I'll have baby suckers soon
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, 18 December 2009
Lost and found
Sadly I lost my female Chocolate cichlid this week. She got the same awful body rot that her sister died from and there was nothing I could do but watch her die. I went for a combination of salt and Protozin in my attempts to fix her, but to no avail. Makes me wonder at the intelligence of whoever it was who came up with making it illegal to sell fish antibiotics in pet shops. I'm sure I could have saved her with antibiotics, but finding a vet in Cambridgeshire who treats fish and wouldn't charge the earth to do so is a none-starter. All very sad.
Yesterday I parted with my pair of Honduran Red Points. I was fed up with them to be honest. Beautiful fish, but not enjoying their tank and certainly not intending to pair up with one another. I have replaced them with a lovely little pair of African Btterflies who I am very much looking forward to spawning. Here's the closest internet image I could fins that does these little gems justice:
They are the Guinea race, and very smart they are too!
Yesterday I parted with my pair of Honduran Red Points. I was fed up with them to be honest. Beautiful fish, but not enjoying their tank and certainly not intending to pair up with one another. I have replaced them with a lovely little pair of African Btterflies who I am very much looking forward to spawning. Here's the closest internet image I could fins that does these little gems justice:
They are the Guinea race, and very smart they are too!
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Back from holiday and all is well.
Got back from a week in The Gambia yesterday. Nothing too exciting on the aquatic front, the only fish I saw were some form of Tilapia and of course, several fish steaming away on my dinner plate (all with funny names: ladyfish, butterfish, captainfish...).
Plenty of other wildlife though. Hundreds of beautiful birds, lots of monkeys (Red colobus and Vervet) and my first 'wild' acquaintance with Nile Monitors (Varanus niloticus), one of my favourite lizards of all time. I was lens-to-mouth with one by the hotel swimming pool and got this great photo (among others)...
There's always a feeling of dread when you know that at some point you're going to have to check the fish tanks for casualties. I left everything in very capable hands though, my good friend Noel is a fellow enthusiast and takes great care of my wards when I'm away. To my immense relief there have been no casualties. Instead I have several pairs forming who should, over the next month or so, keep me busy with thousands of fry. Needless to say, I have some remedial water changes to accomplish, but that in itself should get things moving on the spawning front.
The only bad news is that my male Kribensis is probably going to lose his left eye, which will cause him all sorts of problems (and probably put a stop to his breeding activities). It's a real shame.
My list of potential pairs to isolate is as follows:
- Mayan cichlids
- Blockheads
- Red-shouldered severums
- Nicaraguan cichlids
- Jack Dempseys
Plus I'm expecting to get fry from my EBJD/JD pair and also the Jags.
Everything looks set for a productive festive season in the fish room!
Perhaps the happiest sight is my 4 lovely new angelfish that I bought a week before leaving on holiday. I've missed having angels in my life and they're still a species I haven't managed to raise fry from, so it's nice to have a challenge to look froward to. In the past week they have grown visibly and are looking fantastic...
Plenty of other wildlife though. Hundreds of beautiful birds, lots of monkeys (Red colobus and Vervet) and my first 'wild' acquaintance with Nile Monitors (Varanus niloticus), one of my favourite lizards of all time. I was lens-to-mouth with one by the hotel swimming pool and got this great photo (among others)...
There's always a feeling of dread when you know that at some point you're going to have to check the fish tanks for casualties. I left everything in very capable hands though, my good friend Noel is a fellow enthusiast and takes great care of my wards when I'm away. To my immense relief there have been no casualties. Instead I have several pairs forming who should, over the next month or so, keep me busy with thousands of fry. Needless to say, I have some remedial water changes to accomplish, but that in itself should get things moving on the spawning front.
The only bad news is that my male Kribensis is probably going to lose his left eye, which will cause him all sorts of problems (and probably put a stop to his breeding activities). It's a real shame.
My list of potential pairs to isolate is as follows:
- Mayan cichlids
- Blockheads
- Red-shouldered severums
- Nicaraguan cichlids
- Jack Dempseys
Plus I'm expecting to get fry from my EBJD/JD pair and also the Jags.
Everything looks set for a productive festive season in the fish room!
Perhaps the happiest sight is my 4 lovely new angelfish that I bought a week before leaving on holiday. I've missed having angels in my life and they're still a species I haven't managed to raise fry from, so it's nice to have a challenge to look froward to. In the past week they have grown visibly and are looking fantastic...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)