Picked up a few new fishys

[04rwon]

We went to congressional tonight. Werent looking for anything, definately were not planning on buying anything. We saw a lot of fish we liked. Well the lady saw the ruby crystal and had to have it. The name and pretty colors did it for her. We didnt want to add just the 1 fish so we decided we liked the electric blue ahli. Well as he was getting that one out, after deciding which one should be a male, the lady saw the duboisi's down in the corner tank. I dont know how, the were hiding and there was no sign. So she had to have one(thankfully she finally found one!). So i didnt want to have the guy do all the work for the ahli for nothing so we got all 3. I tried to get some good pics but 2 of them were no cooperating.

The pics dont really show it, but the ruby crystal has beautiful fins. The poor duboisi is sticking to itself. Hopefully after a day or 2 itll swim with the others. They all got the typical greeting when entering our tank. Actually theres less chasing and "dancing" than normal. I guess bc we added 3 at the same time.

 

[zackcrack00]

Very nice Duboisi. What is the scientific name?

 

[04rwon]

Tropheus duboisi. I know its a herbivoire so we have to get some more food just for it. Although it wont hurt to mix up the diet a little for all the cichlids.

 

[jonclark96]

Good luck with them. Tropheus are mean...

 

[hollyfish2000]

I've never heard of a ruby crystal before. it looks like a peacock, maybe a hybrid? Congressional, at least in my experience, has only one person wtih any knowledge of cichlids, so I'd be very careful about their stock. I once bought a "male" peacock that turned out to be a hormoned female, which I had added to an all male tank. Well, that was an interesting little development! :wacko:

I hope you quarantined them first . . .

 

[04rwon]

Good luck with them. Tropheus are mean...

Thats a good thing. Hes got some mean tankmates.

I've never heard of a ruby crystal before. it looks like a peacock, maybe a hybrid? Congressional, at least in my experience, has only one person wtih any knowledge of cichlids, so I'd be very careful about their stock. I once bought a "male" peacock that turned out to be a hormoned female, which I had added to an all male tank. Well, that was an interesting little development! :wacko:

I hope you quarantined them first . . .

The guy we originally asked said he didnt know so he got someone who did. This guy seemed to be very knowledgable.
The only reason I want the ahli to be a male is to show colors, he said females will be grey. He said a female can go from blue to grey as it gets older.
We didnt quarentine them though. We dont have a tank setup for that yet.

 

[hollyfish2000]

the only reason I know of for a "female" peacock to go from blue to grey is if she is hormoned. Females don't aquire male coloring and then lose it as they age -- without human intervention! That does look like a male to me. Males also have pointy anal fins, while females are more rounded.

It's not hard to set up a 10 gallon tank for QT. You risk your whole tank of fish when you don't. I've gotten ick before from Congressional. Fortunately, it was confined to the QT tank . . .

good luck.

 

[04rwon]

Jeeezzzz plz dont say that. This is the most we ever spent on fish alone.

Cant a hospital tank double as a quarentine tank? We have a 20 that we were going to use for that.



Also, how long do you quarentine for?

 

[Forester]

A hospital and a quarantine are essentially the same thing. except in the hospital youre treating the fish for something. you should probably quarantine for about 2 weeks.

 

[hollyfish2000]

Yeah, a hospital tank and QT are just tanks that don't house your normal inhabitants. The idea is to either get them alone to treat or to segregate them until you're sure they're disease free. A 20 is perfect in most instances.

At least a week, probably two is better for QT. Also be careful that you don't cross contaminate by using nets between the two or even sticking your arm in one to clean and then into the other.

We've all learned the hard way about Qt'ing. I don't do it, BTW, when buying from club members, but always do when coming from the LFS.

Also, in terms of price, Congressional has by far the most expensive prices. Buying from CCA members is much much much cheaper and you're more likely to get quality guidance as far as cichlids are concerned. Nothing wrong with Congressional for plants and other fish IMHO.

 

[04rwon]

Well, i couldnt find anyone with the fish we wanted. And next wednesday is our last day in MD for a while so i cant make it to any meets to pickup any fish. We usually buy from petsmart, petco, todays pet, and House of Tropics. This is our first from congressional. We only dropped a fish off there before. When we got our 30 gallon it came with an oscar that we couldnt keep.

 

[WendyFish]

I haven't gotten sick fish from Congressional and I got my starter cichlid stock there. But no matter the source, quarantining is always a good practice for safety's sake.

The only time I ever had a disease issue after introducing new fish (even after quarantining for many weeks) resulted in ich. So, to the extent you've already introduced the fish, just be extra vigilant for little white spots.

I'll heartily endorse Congressional for plants. I have gotten really nice stuff there at reasonable prices.

 

[Yael]

I like the folks at Congressional but I know they were treating for ick in tanks the other day when I was in there - could see some on some fish. I don't know if the sterilize their cleaning equipment between tanks but I'll ask/suggest that they do next time.

You might want to take precautions now to head off a possible outbreak.

 

[dogofwar]

Just crank up the temp to mid-80s...

Matt

 

[04rwon]

Damnit.... The duboisi is black with white spots so that will be hard to tell. We run the temp at 80 right now. Ill be sooo mad if we get ich and loose any fish. Especially with the move next week. All our fish are pretty much replaceable with the exception of the ones we just picked up. However all our fish get along great, and thats saying something because of the mix lol.

Wouldnt going higher, mid 80's cook the fish?

 

[04rwon]

I guess it doesnt matter which tanks they were treating bc all their water goes together doesnt it?

Damnit, shouldnt they have told me? Isnt that messed up to sell fish that may be carrying the disease?


I dont have another tank to throw the new ones it at the moment. Its been packed up. Plus they have already been in the tank with the others for 24 hours.

 

[Yael]

Ich comes out more when fish are stressed. No matter how nice the lfs, fish are stressed in those conditions.

Their water doesn't go all together from tank to tank but I think they use the same siphon to clean the tanks. I hope that they dip it to sterilize (and nets etc too) but they might not.

Since they were treating they probably figured it was fine and really, most people isolate fish for awhile before adding them to an established tank.

The ich should show up just fine on the black fish body. Also, I didn't see ich in any of the cichlid tanks - I think it was in the rows with the goldfish.

Unless the ich gets really bad you're unlikely to lose fish from it. I think you could also safely raise the temps a couple of degrees.

Here's a good site with treatment options http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

 

[Yael]

If you don't see any signs of problems before your move, I'd just not do anything and wait till you get settled. At that point you can correct any problems that might arise.

 

[04rwon]

Thanks, you all put my mind at ease. I did see they had a bicket for the nets and the it looked like there was some type of solution in the bucket. In fact he used a different net to get each fish. Each net going back into that bucket.


I ment the duboisi already has white spots, its current pattern lol