Japes' 2010 Eartheater Work/Photolog

[jgentry]

Great pictures and nice fish Japes. Your OH's are really coloring up nicely. I remember pictures of when they were small after you first got them. I've got to say that I'm not a huge fan of all of the tetra's. They are nice looking tetra's it just seems like there are 2 many of them for a 4ft tank. The school seems to start at one end of the tank and end at the other. Not sure if it is just too many of them or if the tank is too short. I wonder what it would look like in a 125g instead? That's just my opinion which doesn't really mean squat though.

Lovely fish though and great pictures!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrAzYNeSs]

Amazing looking geos!

 

[japes]

Great pictures and nice fish Japes. Your OH's are really coloring up nicely. I remember pictures of when they were small after you first got them. I've got to say that I'm not a huge fan of all of the tetra's. They are nice looking tetra's it just seems like there are 2 many of them for a 4ft tank. The school seems to start at one end of the tank and end at the other. Not sure if it is just too many of them or if the tank is too short. I wonder what it would look like in a 125g instead? That's just my opinion which doesn't really mean squat though.

Lovely fish though and great pictures!!!!!!!!!!!

More than valid opinion and I could almost agree with you. The 140G is a 48x24x28" so it is a short tank, but the plan has always been to move them to at least a 5x2x2, more than likely a 6x2x2 setup this year, probably around June. This is of course for the benefit of the S. leucosticta. Ultimately a 5x2x2 will have me sell of 3-4 of the leucos to an established colony, but if I can make room for the 6x2x2 the tank will stay exactly as is.

The school of rosaceus hang intently around the driftwood structure on the left, darting in and out happily. Unfortunately the Glowlights have a lot less structure, and either school very loosely in the mid level of the tank or spread themselves out in the lower levels and hang around the leucosticta just above the substrate. I've lost 3 of them now, being a Hemigrammus genus member and my experience with Rummynose Tetra, I think they're still recovering from a 3 hour trip home.

I've still got those juvenile photos, they're quite quick growers.

Geophagus sp. "Araguaia Orange Head" were picked up at around 2-3cm TL in January 2009, so they're about 14 months old.
Satanoperca leucosticta pictured was picked up at around 4cm TL max, in September 2008, I'd say he's about 18 months old now as he's sexually mature and spawning.

S. leucosticta is right on the glass so I'd consider that a fairly accurate TL measurement, possible add a few millimetres, so a little over 6".
Orange Head is perhaps a few inches back from the glass, so maybe add a centimetre. Rulers blurred from depth of field but I'd say he's 13cm, so just over 5".

 

[jgentry]

I'll be very interested to see what the tetra schools do once you upgrade to a larger tank. I suspect a 6' tank will make all the difference and you will likely see a lot tighter schooling activity. It will be interesting to see either way!!

Don't you think it is strange that in the states you never see OH's listed as the Araguaia variety? All you see here are listed as tapajos. I wonder if that is a collection issue due to restrictions or if the fish are just labled wrong. If you go back and look in some of the literature a lot of the ones in the states look more like the Araguaia according to orginal descriptions.

 

[japes]

I'll be very interested to see what the tetra schools do once you upgrade to a larger tank. I suspect a 6' tank will make all the difference and you will likely see a lot tighter schooling activity. It will be interesting to see either way!!

Don't you think it is strange that in the states you never see OH's listed as the Araguaia variety? All you see here are listed as tapajos. I wonder if that is a collection issue due to restrictions or if the fish are just labled wrong. If you go back and look in some of the literature a lot of the ones in the states look more like the Araguaia according to orginal descriptions.

From research and collection, no such Orange Head Eartheater exists in the Rio Araguaia and is most likely a variant from the Rio Arapiuns. Heiko Bleher covers this in a thread on an Australian forum. The Rio Arapiuns is a blackwater Tapajos affluent, meaning that most collections could very well be of this different variety but end up just being labelled as the Tapajos variety, even though to an experienced eye the specimens can be quite different in colouration.

http://www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=24039&st=0

The Araguaia name comes as a result of Weidner's listing in his book South American Eartheaters, even though this collection point was simply (and seemingly incorrectly) traced back through other keepers and breeders.

Sticking with it for now until the fish are properly and scientifically classified. Mind you I still find it quite humorous that everyone lists their Tapajos variants as "Red Heads", with this being a prominent method of identification between the two species. A quote from Heiko from that thread:

1. Geophagus sp. (or G. proximus variant, as explained in my book on page 269 and provisionally identified by S. O. Kullander) with a pink (or light orange) coloured head is from the Tapajós river - I collected it there myself and introduced the very first into the hobby.
2. Geophagus sp. (also classified at this time as G. proximus variant) with a almost red head (some times bright red, as shown with the specimen I collected in the Rio Arapiuns - an black water affluent of the Tapajós - and introduced as well is the ONLY second varinat known from the so called Geophagus sp. "Orange-Head".

The true Tapajos as far as I can tell from experience with them here in Australia, and from what Heiko has written, are truly Orange Heads. It makes sense that a blackwater species such as the specimens in my photographs display more vivid colouration in the head (with no disrespect intended for the Orange/Copper gradient colouration of the Tapajos variety)

Perfect example above (not my fish, Keith/fella/chevguy, an Australian keeper who I believe has sold up unfortunately).

Left is what we know as the Araguaia variant, in a breeding colouration that's not at full intensity. Right is an F0 Tapajos male in breeding colouration.

 

[jgentry]

From research and collection, no such Orange Head Eartheater exists in the Rio Araguaia and is most likely a variant from the Rio Arapiuns. Heiko Bleher covers this in a thread on an Australian forum. The Rio Arapiuns is a blackwater Tapajos affluent, meaning that most collections could very well be of this different variety but end up just being labelled as the Tapajos variety, even though to an experienced eye the specimens can be quite different in colouration.

http://www.perthcichlid.com.au/forum/index.php?showtopic=24039&st=0

The Araguaia name comes as a result of Weidner's listing in his book South American Eartheaters, even though this collection point was simply (and seemingly incorrectly) traced back through other keepers and breeders.

Sticking with it for now until the fish are properly and scientifically classified. Mind you I still find it quite humorous that everyone lists their Tapajos variants as "Red Heads", with this being a prominent method of identification between the two species. A quote from Heiko from that thread:



The true Tapajos as far as I can tell from experience with them here in Australia, and from what Heiko has written, are truly Orange Heads. It makes sense that a blackwater species such as the specimens in my photographs display more vivid colouration in the head (with no disrespect intended for the Orange/Copper gradient colouration of the Tapajos variety)

Perfect example above (not my fish, Keith/fella/chevguy, an Australian keeper who I believe has sold up unfortunately).

Left is what we know as the Araguaia variant, in a breeding colouration that's not at full intensity. Right is an F0 Tapajos male in breeding colouration.

Thanks for the information. For what ever reason over here they just lable everything as Tapajos and no ones seems to ever question it. Even though many of the fish clearly show the traits of a Araguaia. That's just my observation though. I'm hardly an expert.

 

[bl00]

Awesome shots and great information as always

 

[japes]

Had a pretty crappy week.

Purchased a replacement impeller and impeller shaft for one of my Eheim Classics, and got the impeller before the new shaft so figured I would install it as the old one was clicking slightly. Somewhere along the line I managed to cause a seal issue which resulted in a little leaked water on the floor the next morning. Thankfully the new impeller shaft arrived in the mail early so I figured I'll install that and sort out the leak at the same time. To get the canisters where I keep them, they need to be lifted over a low bracing, there's plenty of room and it's usually a non-issue. Unfortunately the water did make it an issue, as I managed to have it slip out of my hands as I was putting it down onto the floor, leaving a hairline crack that ran around about 2/3 of the base and up the side slightly.

Not really a big deal, easily fixed with silicon, however in the process (and this could be what caused the initial leak the night before), the quarter-circle revolving pipe which the intake connects to has sprung a reasonable leak, meaning it had to be siliconed in place. This causes big issues for maintenance and I really can't make it that strong.

Unfortunately the price for a replacement Canister/Housing, which is essentially a bucket with a hole in it and some clips, is getting on to 2/3's of the price of a whole new canister. Even more unfortunately was that the wallet is a little light this time of the year, so I've had delay my plans to rotate, drill, and re-plumb my 140 with a new Eheim pump for a few weeks.

Have lined up the purchase of 2 Eheim Professional 2228's which will eventually run the upgraded 75G which will be getting an extra 9" of width to make it a 60x24x20" 125G. This and the aforementioned re-plumbing plans will be completed within the next month or so.

For now, here's some photographs of my S. leucosticta preparing to breed.

 

[abarilot]

Just picked back up on this thread and I must say I greatly appreciate the info! That photo of the two OHs is awesome, you can see the subtle differences between the two. I picked up a group of 6 about a month and a half ago so now I'm curious what varient they are, but they are still babies so just have to play the waiting game.

Sorry to hear about your fliter but it seems your on top of the problem. Btw I'll start calling them Orange Heads rather than Red Heads from now on

 

[jrflanagan]

very cool pictures and great info.