Hey Sa Lovers!

[Julie]

I've got alot of SA fish, but I only really count the ones that I keep to spawn! That would be the cren. regani, plecos galore, and lots and lots of cories!! I have been sucessful at spawning one pair of wild apistos, and hope to add several more species to that list in the near future!

our latest and craziest fish to acquire to try and spawn are the blue-eyed plecos.

And of course, my truest, best love... the stingrays!!

 

[mscichlid]

Alright Julie! We are looking forward to the additions to your list of SA cichlids. It's amazing with all the tanks and your business that you are able to do so!

List your plecs in the bottom dwellers and list your other non-cichlids in the other forum. I'm going to list what I have. too. Cool!

 

[dogofwar]

Julie - are those Panaque suttoni blue eye plecos?

I seem to remember reading article back in the day about them being very territorial with each other. I don't think that they've ever been bred in captivity. How big do you figure before they're mature?

Before they were rare (back in the '80's), I had one that grew so big - about 12-13" as I remember - that he got his head stuck in a piece of driftwood. Had to saw the driftwood to get him out...

 

[mscichlid]

Don't confuse me! Pleco talk in plecoland. Start a thread in bottom dwellers.

 

[Jumbie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mscichlid @ Aug 6 2008, 07:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Well all righty then! Thanks for your list! I may have a pair of Cr wallaci for you. But you'll have to wait until one of them spawns.

How many tanks are you running? What sizes? How do you do your water?[/b]

Good question Francine!
Apsitogrammas and Crenicara Frilamentosa Pelvicachromis Pulcher, and Pterophyllum: The tanks are all planted tanks ranging from 10,20L, 30, and 60g with plenty of tank mates i.e. tetras/barbs.
Cichlasoma Meeki and Nandopsis Tetracanthus: Tank is a 110g and it contains artificial decoration with no tank mates smaller than them. (Need I remind you that any tank mates housed with these fish need to be able to hold more then there own share lol)
Water changes: *I do 30% water changes weekly on all tanks* The Cichlasoma Meekis and Nandopsis Tetracanthus tank is the easiest SA tank I have to change. I use Kold Sterile water and add just a little acid buffer so the PH drops to about 6.6 or so and there done. The Apistos are just a little more difficult due to there water chemistry requirements. I now try to keep the PH in most of my Apistos tanks at 5.5 and my Borellii at 4.4 because they need to have a lower PH level inorder to breed. I fill three, ten gallon buckets with Kold Sterile water and allow them to sit for three days. During these three days I try to match the PH/temp in the bucket with the PH/temp in the tank. I never use to perform such drastic water changes on my Apistos but after learning so much more about the fish from Kevin and Julie this past weekend I decided to change a few of my methods. (By the way I had the best time at Julies this past weekend; time could really fly when all you are doing is talking about fish!!!) We all agreed that the Apsitos will do fine in regular tap water with a PH of about 6.6-7.0 but I prefer to keep mine on the lower side now.

 

[SubMariner]

As far as South Americans, I have the infamous...SubMariner

 

[dogofwar]

Not to be a tool, but kribs (Pelvicachromis) are from West Africa...and Thoricthys and Nadopsis are from Central America.

A lot of people keep kribs with small SAs because of similar water requirements and relatively calm temperment.. I've bred and raised a couple of them in tap water (Sacramento and Ohio tap water

 

[mscichlid]

Tool! LOL! @ Matt! Okay. :love0030: Point taken. I just wanted to get the pleco forum going is all.

 

[dogofwar]

Some of us are (thread) lumpers and some of us are (thread) groupers

To add to the species list, Julie just got me some Teleocichla xinguensis, which I think are technically T. sp "xingu": http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Teleocichla

Right now they're ~2" non-descript silver/brown tubes. Kind of like a mini-rheophilic pike. I had bad luck with my previous batch of Teleocichla (monogramma) butchering each other, but maybe the abundance of PVC pipe and other distractions will help. They seem to be eating flake, so that's a good sign!


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mscichlid @ Aug 7 2008, 05:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Tool! LOL! @ Matt! Okay. :love0030: Point taken. I just wanted to get the pleco forum going is all.[/b]

 

[mscichlid]

Jumbie, Julie is right about not having to keep your apistos in those conditions unless you are planning to breed. The blackwater apistos are the species that appreciate those parameters.

Richard! Very nice specimens!

Matt, Congrats on the Teleocichla xinguensis. Hard to come by! Do they need heavy current?

 

[dogofwar]

I have them quarantining in a tank with a sponge and a box and they seem happy. I might add an additional pump to provide some current across the tank.

I kept the previous group of Teleocichla in a highly turbulent sump set-up. They did well, until the male killed both females


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mscichlid @ Aug 7 2008, 08:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Jumbie, Julie is right about not having to keep your apistos in those conditions unless you are planning to breed. The blackwater apistos are the species that appreciate those parameters.

Richard! Very nice specimens!

Matt, Congrats on the Teleocichla xinguensis. Hard to come by! Do they need heavy current?[/b]

 

[Spine]

I had a group of Teleocichla cinderella(6) and had the same experience :unsure: :angry: :angry: :angry:
My dominate male killed the other males and then the females one at a time.

I got 6 Teleocichla Xingu from Julie, I hope I have better luck with these guys. I plan on taking some picture today, one thing I noticed is there aren't very many pictures of Teleocichla.

 

[dogofwar]

Cool Kevin - how do you have yours set up?

I'd recommend "condos" (AKA rubberbanded together groups of 3/4 PVC pipe). As an aside, I had a bunch of these set up in various tanks and the rubberbands on several failed within a couple of days of each other (resulting in a bunch of piles of PVC pipes in several tanks...not that the fish seemed to care!)

The condos seem to be working for my Gobiocichla wonderi, which are pretty much the african equivalent of a Teleocichla...

Matt

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Spine @ Aug 7 2008, 11:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I had a group of Teleocichla cinderella(6) and had the same experience :unsure: :angry: :angry: :angry:
My dominate male killed the other males and then the females one at a time.

I got 6 Teleocichla Xingu from Julie, I hope I have better luck with these guys. I plan on taking some picture today, one thing I noticed is there aren't very many pictures of Teleocichla.[/b]

 

[Julie]

:addpics2:

<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS">for us who are imaginitively challenged... a picture is worth a thousand replies! RE: condos and such.

And my rubberbands dissolve in my water fairly rapidly, also! Used them for my plecos caves, then went ahead and glued them instead.</span>

 

[dogofwar]

Will a glue gun / hot glue work and not kill all the fish? Of course the next step is to "bedazzle" them

 

[Spine]

Aquarium cement or Plastic zipties will work also. You can get them at any Home Depot or Lowes

 

[Julie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dogofwar @ Aug 7 2008, 03:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Will a glue gun / hot glue work and not kill all the fish? Of course the next step is to "bedazzle" them [/b]

<span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS">I found it hard to get the fish to hold onto the gluegun AND press the trigger at the same time.

but I did use aquarium sealer/glue... but did it outside ot the tank, let it dry for 2 days, then re-house the plecos..


runs away muttering about the too literal people of this world... :wacko: </span>

 

[maddog10]

Just to recap what goes on in the world of South American cichlids. Just a quick sampling of what has been discussed so far, the Cliff Notes if you will.

FFC's (Feral Florida Cichlids) from the "Tank of Death", also known as Freaks of Nature, have taken over plecoland with their partners the Infamous Oscars. They are all tools, those damn thread lumpers or was it groupers. Oh well, I can't remember because of the hot glue fumes I inhaled while bedazzling my PVC condos. Who was it that had the 2" tube?

(This is what happens when I sit in traffic for 3 hours, the mind just goes - somewhere)

 

[cyradis4]

Lol!!!!!!

I haven't responded before because I'm ungodly buisy right now. Well, I have a whole lot of SAs, some geos, some dwarfs, some Angels, some Discus, and some others. I have some wild ones, some tame ones, and some that I swear had to come from a circus cuz how else could they have learned to do tricks like that?

Later!
Amanda.

 

[SubMariner]

Love the new Avatar!



RM