• We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

More tank pics, updated

Okay...

So I'm still not sure if my acaras Rocky and Jazz are a pair. They seem to be but nothing happens. Anyway they went full blown @hole yesterday morning, charging at fish and pecking their fins. This happened a few weeks back then settled down.They seemed to be defending an area (didn't see any eggs). The two were fanning/slapping. Rocky would grab plants and shake them.

I moved some stuff around which did confuse them a bit. Then for the first time they went after Bobo the choc. He does a side body tilt and immediately goes tiger stripe. He hit one of them but they were so fast Jazz nipped his tail anyway. Bobo backs up. So now we have these two intimidating this big chocolate. Then they went after Boss. The parrot refused to 'run' and just turned his side when they charged at him, almost like "go ahead and hit this." Not so much intimidated as not wanting to get hit face on (like being stuck in a room with a wasp).

Then they went after Pip (HRP), and Pepper (Rainbow)...it was getting stupid. They despise Corn and gave the severum shots to the side and face. Corn in turn would chase Pepper.

I blocked the easy access points the acaras were using to ambush fish, since they wouldn't do it out in the open. This forced them back towards the center and in the plants.

For awhile the larger fish avoided that spot but soon worked around it by simply swimming to the upper/mid level when passing through. This happened the last time the acaras went nutty. Their antics got old in a hurry, so I let the fish sort it out after that.

Hours later I did a quick check before lights out. The larger fish were back in their areas like nothing happened. Plants had been pulled from the back wall and piled up in the middle of the tank (where the acaras stay). Basically clogging everything and boxing them in. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who did that. :ROFL:
 
Payback is hell. The acaras got lit for the foolishness... ??

The main tank was back to 'normal' today after the acaras had their brain cramp / meltdown. After getting hit in the face and sides multiple times, Corn took it to them (he got the worst of it yesterday). My severum has a good memory. He's also figured out the acaras aren't so tough once you split them up. So he nailed each of them separately. Rocky and Jazz are mostly staying in their area, coming out to glass surf.

All the other fish are like, "whatever."
 
So I tried the cicada experiment again. Bobo gulped one down. Brick was still 'meh'. He took more shots but wouldn't eat it. Maybe too prickly? So he chowed down jumbo mealworms instead.

I didn't go downstairs at all yesterday until early evening. Water all over the floor and two of the glass lids knocked open on the main tank. An aquaclear lid was tipped up too. Everyone 'innocently' swam round. Brick's ball was on the floor near the tank.

No attention = mischief. They're worse than kids running loose in the house. :irked:
 
News!

There's a new arrival, another rainbow cichlid! The sellers didn't know how to sex them (I asked for a male) so I said "Just give me the biggest one you got!" And they did! Looks like a male to me...good size so it won't be a grow out as much as a qt. Length is similar to Pepper, but he's nowhere near as bulky.

This one is very different than Pepper already. He's hiding in one of the logs I put in. Pepper was exploring (and ramming the divider) right out of the box.

Very healthy looking fish! He's supposed to be a red rainbow but looks kinda like washed out beige. We'll see. Pics coming soon!
 
FINWIN said:
News!

There's a new arrival, another rainbow cichlid! The sellers didn't know how to sex them (I asked for a male) so I said "Just give me the biggest one you got!" And they did! Looks like a male to me...good size so it won't be a grow out as much as a qt. Length is similar to Pepper, but he's nowhere near as bulky.

This one is very different than Pepper already. He's hiding in one of the logs I put in. Pepper was exploring (and ramming the divider) right out of the box.

Very healthy looking fish! He's supposed to be a red rainbow but looks kinda like washed out beige. We'll see. Pics coming soon!
Click to expand...
Please name it salt for all that is good in this world.
 
Introducing the my newest rainbow cichlid, Salt!

He's classified as a 'red' rainbow. Hopefully he'll color up that way. Approx 4 inches in length. At first I thought he was 'just like Pepper' but nothing could be further from the truth. First, his eyes are ENORMOUS. They remind me more of a chocolate or oscar cichlid's eyes. The color is burgundy/deep red. Salt settled in pretty quickly after hiding for a couple of hours. Came right out and explored and doesn't startle easily. And I've been adding salt to Salt (lol) as a preventative during QT in case there's any 'sleeping' ich.

Check out the buggy eyes!! Salt's black banding is close together. He's already eaten twice and munched on the loose salt (of course).

Salt 1.jpg

Salt 2.jpg
 
Body type is different too. Even though Pepper is pretty massive now, he's always been taller in the front and narrowing to the tail, kind of wedge shaped. Salt is elongated and bullet shaped.

In Salt's tank I dumped the previous sand (Hawaiian Blue) and put in a fresh skim of the new color Denube Blue. Oddly enough it doesn't look much different under LED than the hawaiian blue, just a bit 'cooler'. The Hawaiian Blue color is in the main tank and Tango's tank. Patch has an ugly mix of three colors that I plan to get rid of soon (Hawaiian Blue/Grass Green/Baja Blue) because it hides too much and frankly always looks dirty even when it isn't. Kong has the deep Baha blue. Patch will get a mix color of the danube blue/pink sand for a purple effect.

Speaking of Patch, she gave me a fright the other day with her crazy sleeping habits. The female parrots change color when laying eggs and often get very pale. Well Patch goes nearly white except for her fins. So I see her floating upside down in her house stiff as a board and white as paper. I lean in to get a better look. She rolls over, looks at me like "Problem?" and swishes off. :irked:

Showing Salt's 'bullet' shape...

Salt 3.jpg

Salt 4.jpg
 
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