dogofwar
CCA Members
One of my favorite fish that I've brought back from Uruguay is an acara from a little pond in NW Uruguay called Arroyo Zanja Honda - Cichlasoma sp. Zanja Honda.
Here's a picture from Felipe of a younger one.
One of my pairs has bred several times and does an excellent job of parental care...until they decide to breed again in a couple of weeks.
They have several hundred very small fry and I have tried to separate and raise the fry two times before, neither time with success. I've successfully raised a couple of other kinds of Uruguayan Cichlasoma so this one is a little puzzling.
Anyway, the first two times I set up a new 10g 1/2 full of water with a (mature) Poret filter. I fed Golden Pearls a couple of times per day for the first batch. The second try I added frozen copepods to the diet. Both times, after about a week and a half, the fry died off almost overnight. Not sure why. I added and removed some fresh water to the tank nearly daily and added some Polyfilter to remove any waste. This approach has served me well with most fry...just not these guys.
Here's what I'm doing with batch #3, which was free swimming a couple of days ago. I siphoned about 1/2 of the fry from the parents tank into a different 10g tank. This time instead of a Poret box filter, I used a large, fine traditional box filter that has been running in another tank for some time. I gave it a squeeze prior to adding it to the fry tank but it has plenty of gunk on it (which I've seen the fry grazing). I have air to it running slowly.
In addition, I added prepared newly hatched brine shrimp to the feeding mix. It's easier to feed a couple of times a day over a weekend. During the week it's harder. I'm going to try to feed 2-3 times per day and add/remove water daily to keep up with water quality, There are a couple of hundred babies, at least, in the tank.
I'd really like to get a group of fry from this fish. It's otherwise, I don't think, in the hobby. They're quite striking and very different than the "Bella Union" Cichlasoma dimerus in the hobby.
Happy to get advice and keep everyone updated!
Matt
Here's a picture from Felipe of a younger one.
One of my pairs has bred several times and does an excellent job of parental care...until they decide to breed again in a couple of weeks.
They have several hundred very small fry and I have tried to separate and raise the fry two times before, neither time with success. I've successfully raised a couple of other kinds of Uruguayan Cichlasoma so this one is a little puzzling.
Anyway, the first two times I set up a new 10g 1/2 full of water with a (mature) Poret filter. I fed Golden Pearls a couple of times per day for the first batch. The second try I added frozen copepods to the diet. Both times, after about a week and a half, the fry died off almost overnight. Not sure why. I added and removed some fresh water to the tank nearly daily and added some Polyfilter to remove any waste. This approach has served me well with most fry...just not these guys.
Here's what I'm doing with batch #3, which was free swimming a couple of days ago. I siphoned about 1/2 of the fry from the parents tank into a different 10g tank. This time instead of a Poret box filter, I used a large, fine traditional box filter that has been running in another tank for some time. I gave it a squeeze prior to adding it to the fry tank but it has plenty of gunk on it (which I've seen the fry grazing). I have air to it running slowly.
In addition, I added prepared newly hatched brine shrimp to the feeding mix. It's easier to feed a couple of times a day over a weekend. During the week it's harder. I'm going to try to feed 2-3 times per day and add/remove water daily to keep up with water quality, There are a couple of hundred babies, at least, in the tank.
I'd really like to get a group of fry from this fish. It's otherwise, I don't think, in the hobby. They're quite striking and very different than the "Bella Union" Cichlasoma dimerus in the hobby.
Happy to get advice and keep everyone updated!
Matt