Monster Guapote Community Update...

I haven't been on much lately. Things are still going very well. Breeding has slowed way down though. They must be on some kind of cycle. It has happened before where spawning didn't take place for two or three months. After that, it was more than ever. So, I'm sure they'll start back up soon enough.

There are still fishes alive that were spawned many months ago (10 or so). They are more than well on their way to long term survival.

I take for granted having so many big Parachromis together. It's become routine and I often forget how lucky I am to be able to get away with this. I've had most of these guys together for over two years now. But, at the end of the day, it is still very rewarding and all the hard work that goes into this tank pays off each and every day when I sit and watch them.

Here's a couple of pics I took tonight that turned out ok.


Parachromis dovii male, 8"++



Guapotes for days...



Tank shot. How many guapotes can you count?



Cat: "If only I could figure out how to get in there and get me some feeeesh..."
Fishes: "If only I could figure out how to get outta here and eat that cat..."




I am still on the lookout for a female Parachromis sp. "la ceiba yellowhead" from Jeff Rapps stock (for species propagation), male and/or female Parachromis friedrichsthalii, and a female dovii if you're local to me. You can click on the pics for a larger version. Questions and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking and thanks for this great forum.

beginneralex14;3290193; said:

awesome tank

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fly river said:

Sweet tank...

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Thanks guys.

peathenster said:

amazing tank!

did you add them as juvies or adults?

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Thanks. I've added full grown adults, juvies, and barely bigger than fry sized fishes. It hasn't made a difference in my tank what size they were when added. There has only been one murder in over two years. Around January of this year, I added the male dovii pictured above and a female dovii. The male was 4.5" and the female was maybe 3.5" and she was very timid. She chose to hide in the big loiselli pair's fry grazing area when they had fry. The morning after adding her, I found her missing half her face. I attribute that strictly to fry protection rather than flat out fish on fish aggression.

big dovii said:

What kind of plants are all in there?

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Mostly Java Moss, Amazon Swords, and a lot of surface algea. There's a few other plants I got from a local planted tank guy, but I don't remember the names. I like big hearty plants that don't require any special care. I use eight 4' T5's for lighting.

I also use mangroves in my sump to help deal with nitrates.

flowerpower;3290238; said:

Acquiring mates for those fish would desrupt the delicate balance in that tank, don't you think? Very impressive though. Who in there have you bred?

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I've done it before with success. I believe my success comes from examining each and every variable that I as a fishkeeper am able to control and manipulating those to work for me rather than against me.

I have had as many as five breeding pairs at one time. I moved a smaller pair of jags and another male "la ceiba" a while ago to make room for the planned additions. Now there are four breeding pairs that up until a couple of months ago spawned like clockwork every four to six weeks. I've had as many as four different batches of fry in the tank at the same time. I have also had two seperate batches of fry from the same pair at the same time. I've had jaguar spawns that produced AT LEAST 5,000 fry. I've had fry that would last up to 12 weeks before finally disappearing. I currently have about 10 or so sub-juvies that have been around over six months now and are well on their way to growing out to long term survivability. There's a large loiselli pair, a large jag pair, large motaguense pair, and a super large pair of Oscars that have all spawned. And as I said before there was also a 10" pair of jags that I moved out a few months ago.

Search my past threads. There's a lot of good spawning/fry pics, fish pics, and just a whole lot of good guapote info in them from me and other knowledgeable MFK'ers.