Meet Chewbacca the Chocolate Cichlid

[Poseidon2.0]

Recently suffered the loss of a longtime cichlid friend Darth Vader, a bumblebee Oscar. Rather suddenly despite consulting with a vet and putting him on antibiotics.

Anyway, was time to move on and had a 120 gallon with no centerpiece. On our way back down from a short holiday in Maine we stopped at Uncle Ned’s Fish Factory just outside of Boston. Great shop with a lot of fish but in particular went there to pick up a Chocolate which they said they had.

Never owned one before but so far he’s great. Single cichlid with a small school of clown loaches. Not sure if I’m keeping the clowns long term but really looking forward to watching him grow.

My son named him Chewbacca and it kind of suits him. A little change from the dark side that was Vader. He is 3” inches long. Plenty of room for him to swim around in the 120. He’s really settled in and starting to eat like a champ.

 

[DMD123]

Great looking Chocolate!

So sorry for the loss of the Bumblebee. That was an awesome Oscar, a Rapps classic.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

Thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing him grow out. They are supposed to match oscars in growth speed. He is totally settled in now.

yeah sucks to lose a great fish. They were a special batch from Rapps. I think the Crassipinnis that Tangled calls bumblebees now only grow to about 10” and have a different patterning and color that doesn’t appeal to me as much. Darth reached 13” and weighed a good two pounds.

 

[Rocksor]

Thanks! I’m looking forward to seeing him grow out. They are supposed to match oscars in growth speed. He is totally settled in now.

yeah sucks to lose a great fish. They were a special batch from Rapps. I think the Crassipinnis that Tangled calls bumblebees now only grow to about 10” and have a different patterning and color that doesn’t appeal to me as much. Darth reached 13” and weighed a good two pounds.

What symptoms did Darth start showing after owning him 7 years?

 

[Poseidon2.0]

What symptoms did Darth start showing after owning him 7 years?

He got a growth above one eye that sprung up in a week. He began to get a bit sluggish but was still eating and swimming around. A vet had me give him a sequence of Beytril injections (44 units every three days). He seemed to improve but then a few days after the last injection I found him suddenly dead. The growth fell off after the first shot when I netted him and the vet said that indicated it wasn’t a tumor but an infection of some kind. He was a solo Oscar in a 120 and I gave him large weekly large water changes. Not sure why it occurred.

 

[Rocksor]

He got a growth above one eye that sprung up in a week. He began to get a bit sluggish but was still eating and swimming around. A vet had me give him a sequence of Beytril injections (44 units every three days). He seemed to improve but then a few days after the last injection I found him suddenly dead. The growth fell off after the first shot when I netted him and the vet said that indicated it wasn’t a tumor but an infection of some kind. He was a solo Oscar in a 120 and I gave him large weekly large water changes. Not sure why it occurred.

What are your tap water parameters? PH, hardness. TDS etc.? Just wanting to know for my mental info bank for this type of oscar

 

[Poseidon2.0]

What are your tap water parameters? PH, hardness. TDS etc.? Just wanting to know for my mental info bank for this type of oscar

Ph is 7.0, Nitrates are 0.0, ammonia is about 0.05 or 0.1, the TDS is usually ranges about 30-50 mg/L (though batteries on my reader just stopped working-gotta replace them)

He lived half his life in Philly and half in NYC (the above readings). Philly’s water is much harder, Ph 7.8, Ammonia about 0.25 and TDS was about 350 mg

ETA:I use Safe which is supposed to neutralize ammonia elevation a little bit and didn’t worry too much about it.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

It’s been a couple months since I posted. Chewie is growing up fast! Is the dominant fish in the tank but hides in the head when water change time.

 

[Poseidon2.0]

Adding a couple more

 

[DMD123]

Looking good!