Acara19
CCA Members
Hello, this is my first thread.
Took me awhile to figure out how to post...
Anyway, at this year's big fish deal, I got a pair of these strange golden acaras from Jeff Rapps. He sold them as "cichlasoma sp. 'rio esmeraldas gold' "
I had the pair in a 10 gallon (they were both around 2-3 inches at the time) and they paired up immediately.
in the first week I had them, they spawned. It was a small spawn at the base of their sponge filter. That spawn never hatched, as they ate them 2 days after laying them. Most of the eggs had already died and were covered in fungus.
They spawned 5 more times after that, (on a regular basis of every 4 weeks or so) and all of those times unsuccessful. I tried leaving the fry with the parents, but they got eaten after 2 weeks. I tried separating them from the parents (once they hatched), but once they absorbed their yolk sacs they wouldn't eat that much, (I was giving them finely crushed pellets and flakes, as I couldn't find any actual fry food for them at any stores) and they would all die off at 2 weeks. As for the last 2 spawns- one spawn lasted for 3 weeks. The fry started developing color and actually looked like tiny fish- then the parents ate them. I figured out the process of breeding them- leave the babies with the parents for 2 weeks, then move them.
They spawn for the last time, the babies live to 2 weeks, I'm ready to move them, then the parents eat them all the day I wanted to move them
Recently, the pair got sunken bellies. i have been treating them with metroplex. I treated them both in the same tank, since they were both dealing with the same thing. The male got better before the female, (and before I realized it too) and he wanted to spawn. He started doing all his mating dances and nipping at the female. Of course she can't spawn since she's sick, so them male didn't like that and was just attacking her frequently. I moved her to what was supposed to be the fry tank, and she's been getting better since. Her fins are healing, she's a lot more energetic and I guess she's good now, except her fins.
I probably won't put the pair together for awhile though, as the male Is almost twice the size of the female now.
I could use some help / tips on breeding them, as well as identifying them. I don't have any good pictures of them, but I'll post pictures from Jeff. Another guy- ryansmith83 on youtube, has his own pair, and has had success breeding. (his fry are now 8 weeks old)
I have been trying to identify these fish since I got them. If anyone has any thoughts on what they could be, that would be greatly appreciated.
list of what I thought they would be:
-blue acara (disproved with a fin ray count)
-port acara (same amount of fin rays but doesn't look the same)
-aequidens rondoni (Jeff said they haven't been in the hobby or america in decades so those are out of the question)
Just a quick description of them:
- Male has a whitish body and chin, with his head and back being a light gold color, he also has a bit of orange on his fins (his fins also have long extensions)
-Female has a darker gold color on her head and back, her body and underbelly are more of a very pale orange with grayish fins
-both male and female have long white pelvic fins that they use to rest (they extend them out and sit like a bipod, also the male has a bit of blue on his)
-both male and female have a white band between their eyes
-eyes are a light blue with bite of orange around them
-dorsal fin ray count - 9 hard rays, 16 soft rays
anal fin ray count - 4 hard rays, 8-9 soft rays
sorry for such a long post...
Thank you
Took me awhile to figure out how to post...
Anyway, at this year's big fish deal, I got a pair of these strange golden acaras from Jeff Rapps. He sold them as "cichlasoma sp. 'rio esmeraldas gold' "
I had the pair in a 10 gallon (they were both around 2-3 inches at the time) and they paired up immediately.
in the first week I had them, they spawned. It was a small spawn at the base of their sponge filter. That spawn never hatched, as they ate them 2 days after laying them. Most of the eggs had already died and were covered in fungus.
They spawned 5 more times after that, (on a regular basis of every 4 weeks or so) and all of those times unsuccessful. I tried leaving the fry with the parents, but they got eaten after 2 weeks. I tried separating them from the parents (once they hatched), but once they absorbed their yolk sacs they wouldn't eat that much, (I was giving them finely crushed pellets and flakes, as I couldn't find any actual fry food for them at any stores) and they would all die off at 2 weeks. As for the last 2 spawns- one spawn lasted for 3 weeks. The fry started developing color and actually looked like tiny fish- then the parents ate them. I figured out the process of breeding them- leave the babies with the parents for 2 weeks, then move them.
They spawn for the last time, the babies live to 2 weeks, I'm ready to move them, then the parents eat them all the day I wanted to move them
Recently, the pair got sunken bellies. i have been treating them with metroplex. I treated them both in the same tank, since they were both dealing with the same thing. The male got better before the female, (and before I realized it too) and he wanted to spawn. He started doing all his mating dances and nipping at the female. Of course she can't spawn since she's sick, so them male didn't like that and was just attacking her frequently. I moved her to what was supposed to be the fry tank, and she's been getting better since. Her fins are healing, she's a lot more energetic and I guess she's good now, except her fins.
I probably won't put the pair together for awhile though, as the male Is almost twice the size of the female now.
I could use some help / tips on breeding them, as well as identifying them. I don't have any good pictures of them, but I'll post pictures from Jeff. Another guy- ryansmith83 on youtube, has his own pair, and has had success breeding. (his fry are now 8 weeks old)
I have been trying to identify these fish since I got them. If anyone has any thoughts on what they could be, that would be greatly appreciated.
list of what I thought they would be:
-blue acara (disproved with a fin ray count)
-port acara (same amount of fin rays but doesn't look the same)
-aequidens rondoni (Jeff said they haven't been in the hobby or america in decades so those are out of the question)
Just a quick description of them:
- Male has a whitish body and chin, with his head and back being a light gold color, he also has a bit of orange on his fins (his fins also have long extensions)
-Female has a darker gold color on her head and back, her body and underbelly are more of a very pale orange with grayish fins
-both male and female have long white pelvic fins that they use to rest (they extend them out and sit like a bipod, also the male has a bit of blue on his)
-both male and female have a white band between their eyes
-eyes are a light blue with bite of orange around them
-dorsal fin ray count - 9 hard rays, 16 soft rays
anal fin ray count - 4 hard rays, 8-9 soft rays
sorry for such a long post...
Thank you
