Two ~16" Xingu, four 10"-16" Meta, and one unknown ~1' peacock bass in 4500 gal

[thebiggerthebetter]

When you mentioned Kelberi in the beginning of the video if those were sold to you as Kelberi they look like possible hybrids could they be kelzuls

Thank you, pbass Sensei! I think I see what you are saying (which doesn't mean anything coming from me) but... I'd think Jeff Rapps knows his cichlids as good as anyone else on the planet but when they are small, who knows I guess...

I bought them from Jeff in Oct 2017. From my records:

Cichla kelberi, 2.5", $50 ea. x3 = $150, Jeff's description: "F1 Rio Doce 'gold spangled bass' juveniles in ltd qty only".

So they have been with me for under 1.5 years and have reached 16"-18" now.

I see kelberi for sale for a lot more money, even exceeding $100, and I thought that perhaps these three would not be of great quality being $50 but they appear to look more like a generic pbass than kelberi to my poor eye - so few faint spangles they show. Perhaps it's how I keep them. IDK.

Does this info help you help me any??

Two were easy and one of them tiny guys was hard to wean over onto my feeds - pellets and cut fish. The fish had me cave and buy and target feed it bloodworms for a long time before it caught up with its two brethren as to what I was offering. It was either that or it was willing to die.

In the beginning of the video montage the three of them are in a 240 gal. Later on, the same trio is in the 4500 gal with all the rest of the pbass. If it helps any...

I value your suggestion and will continue to observe with interest and report as we grow here.

 

[cigars]

Thank you, pbass Sensei! I think I see what you are saying (which doesn't mean anything coming from me) but... I'd think Jeff Rapps knows his cichlids as good as anyone else on the planet but when they are small, who knows I guess...

I bought them from Jeff in Oct 2017. From my records:

Cichla kelberi, 2.5", $50 ea. x3 = $150, Jeff's description: "F1 Rio Doce 'gold spangled bass' juveniles in ltd qty only".

So they have been with me for under 1.5 years and have reached 16"-18" now.

I see kelberi for sale for a lot more money, even exceeding $100, and I thought that perhaps these three would not be of great quality being $50 but they appear to look more like a generic pbass than kelberi to my poor eye - so few faint spangles they show. Perhaps it's how I keep them. IDK.

Does this info help you help me any??

Two were easy and one of them tiny guys was hard to wean over onto my feeds - pellets and cut fish. The fish had me cave and buy and target feed it bloodworms for a long time before it caught up with its two brethren as to what I was offering. It was either that or it was willing to die.

In the beginning of the video montage the three of them are in a 240 gal. Later on, the same trio is in the 4500 gal with all the rest of the pbass. If it helps any...

I value your suggestion and will continue to observe with interest and report as we grow here.

I also purchased 3 F1 Rio Doce Kelberi from Jeff Rapps I lost 2 of them to my intermedia that out grew and out competed for food I have 1 left and to me looks a lot like a Bahia Kelberi mine is not as large as yours he’s around 10” mark, I ended up keeping him alone for a while until he put on some size and has grown very slow for me. Hope you don’t mind if I post a pic of him here just for comparison, also not sure if my Rio Doce Kelberi is from the same batch as yours interesting non the less and also completely agree with you about Rapps knowledge

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

I also purchased 3 F1 Rio Doce Kelberi from Jeff Rapps I lost 2 of them to my intermedia that out grew and out competed for food I have 1 left and to me looks a lot like a Bahia Kelberi mine is not as large as yours he’s around 10” mark, I ended up keeping him alone for a while until he put on some size and has grown very slow for me. Hope you don’t mind if I post a pic of him here just for comparison, also not sure if my Rio Doce Kelberi is from the same batch as yours interesting non the less and also completely agree with you about Rapps knowledge

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Of course, I don't mind. You are helping me, including with the photos, why would I mind?

Now that's a pretty and instantly recognizable kelberi. Did you buy your three from Jeff around the same time - fall of 2017? Same $50 each? My three have none of these pretty spots on the fins. I must assume ours are from different batches.

One important difference is you keep yours alone while mine have always been together as a group and also in company of other pbass and a bunch of other tank mates.

 

[cigars]

Of course, I don't mind. You are helping me, including with the photos, why would I mind?

Now that's a pretty and instantly recognizable kelberi. Did you buy your three from Jeff around the same time - fall of 2017? Same $50 each? My three have none of these pretty spots on the fins. I must assume ours are from different batches.

One important difference is you keep yours alone while mine have always been together as a group and also in company of other pbass and a bunch of other tank mates.

I payed more than $50 each so it may have been second or third batch. He is with a community of other bass, oscars, catfish, wide bar silvers etc.

 

[Jim9]

Wow! Awesome setup.

 

[Tony A.]

What ever they are they look nice and healthy. And the rest of the fish also.

 

[HyPHyISM42o]

great post and great looking bass

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Updated videos with 3 feedings. All the pbass we have are in this 4500 gal tank.

All doing well, the "non-kelberi kelberi", or as Cigars proposed the kelzul hybrids, have grown a bit more, put on another inch or two, but I don't see anything impressive about them as both kelberi and azuls look better to me, so why anyone would cross them beats me, unless it was an unintentional accident - after all they were marketed as F1 kelberi, so I wonder if the breeder sincerely believed the ID.

Does anyone have pics of kelzuls? Is it known what they look like?

The orinos and the temensis grew as well, especially the sole survivor, the 1 for 10 orino, I think it might be the only male among the five. The temensis is getting scary large. I can fit two fists in its mouth easily. I am starting to worry a bit about the smallest of the tank mates. I feed the tank thawed marine bait fish religiously twice a day to keep them well fed and the temensis feeds vigorously every time.

Azuls feed ok but don't seem to grow anymore, having stuck at 1.5' or some such for a long, long time, perhaps a year or longer. Is this their typical captive max size?

The exception is the one-eyed ocellaris from Suriname that Wes caught himself. This guy has stopped feeding perhaps several months ago and has been steady losing weight. IDK what's wrong because the two 4500 gal that share this 23,000 gal system have been pretty stable for the last half a year, no illnesses noted. How long do pbass live for? I wonder if it is at the end of its lifespan...

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Two days ago Wes' one-eyed ocellaris from Suriname has eaten one thawed fish. That's it. It had done the same perhaps a few months ago, that I saw. Hence, it seems to feed very little and very sporadically but overall has been withering away.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

Wes's one-eyed ocellaris passed away peacefully. I assume from age but I don't really know what to expect from them in terms of life span. Got it from Wes in Aug 2015 at about 16". So it has been with us almost 4 years and has grown to about 21", final measure. It was a miracle it made it here from Los Angeles - the bag was punctured, there was little water left, the fish was squeezed by the bag...

fugupuff Wes do you remember when you got it, you said you had caught it yourself in Suriname, and what size it was then? I am trying to guesstimate the fish' age and see what likely to attribute the passing to.



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A video update on all pbass, when the ocell was still alive, its last vid: