More tank pics, updated
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Brick is ok, and the nicks on his head are gone.
Things got hairy in the grow out because as usual what works with cichlids at any given point won't work eventually. Hrps Speck and Slade have new wrigglers! But the parents were no longer very accommodating to the older kids and were giving them hell. Slade had them herded into one half of the tank while Speck did her random dive bomb attacks. After three days of this the teenagers started agitating to fight back. So mama and papa got split up. Slade is back in the 125 getting 'reacquainted' with his family. The big nephews were neutral. Mongo resumed his role as the more naturally aggressive brother with mild chasing. Interesting to note Mongo has caught up in size with Slade now...this happened while Slade was out for weeks. As babies, Mongo was larger. As adults Slade outgrew Mongo but now they're equal.
Mongo has two grandfry that are his satellites. I think they're both males...they hang around him and guard Mongo's area. They're about an inch, striped with red bellies and one has a red tail. Fins are electric blue. I'll get pics soon.
As far as sexing goes I'm reduced to guessing as they pair up...the red belly blotch does not apply to the pink ones. Dotty, one of Speck's daughters is pink with black spots(no red belly) and had fry with her brother Blackbeard, a pink male with a huge splash of orange on his belly and red tail. Only the red tail thing has so far been reliable regardless of body color. The striped ones with red tails are males. Same with the pink. I'd like to see if any pink male ends up bulky like Hulk, Tank, or Stripey.
Speck herself has added some size and bulk after each fry batch but she's not the size of her mother Pip. She's equally prolific though. Currently Pip shows no interest in breeding and I hope it stays that way! It's why I'm not foolish enough to put Mongo back in the 225 with her.
So for now Speck is in the growout with her 15 or so teenagers and I dunno how many wigglers just yet. When the teens are donated I'll probably put her in with Tango the bp BUT I'll introduce them first.
I'm also interested to see if Slade will re-bond with his 21 wigglers in the 125. We'll see.
There is one fry that is absolutely stunning I've named Harlequin. Don't know the sex, but it's around 1 1/2" inches, pink body with blue fins, and body patches of black/blue/ and red. Pics coming of this one!
Something else has changed. Mongo used to have the blue gill extensions but they've turned black. Not sure why or if they'll go blue again.
Brick is ok, and the nicks on his head are gone.
Things got hairy in the grow out because as usual what works with cichlids at any given point won't work eventually. Hrps Speck and Slade have new wrigglers! But the parents were no longer very accommodating to the older kids and were giving them hell. Slade had them herded into one half of the tank while Speck did her random dive bomb attacks. After three days of this the teenagers started agitating to fight back. So mama and papa got split up. Slade is back in the 125 getting 'reacquainted' with his family. The big nephews were neutral. Mongo resumed his role as the more naturally aggressive brother with mild chasing. Interesting to note Mongo has caught up in size with Slade now...this happened while Slade was out for weeks. As babies, Mongo was larger. As adults Slade outgrew Mongo but now they're equal.
Mongo has two grandfry that are his satellites. I think they're both males...they hang around him and guard Mongo's area. They're about an inch, striped with red bellies and one has a red tail. Fins are electric blue. I'll get pics soon.
As far as sexing goes I'm reduced to guessing as they pair up...the red belly blotch does not apply to the pink ones. Dotty, one of Speck's daughters is pink with black spots(no red belly) and had fry with her brother Blackbeard, a pink male with a huge splash of orange on his belly and red tail. Only the red tail thing has so far been reliable regardless of body color. The striped ones with red tails are males. Same with the pink. I'd like to see if any pink male ends up bulky like Hulk, Tank, or Stripey.
Speck herself has added some size and bulk after each fry batch but she's not the size of her mother Pip. She's equally prolific though. Currently Pip shows no interest in breeding and I hope it stays that way! It's why I'm not foolish enough to put Mongo back in the 225 with her.
So for now Speck is in the growout with her 15 or so teenagers and I dunno how many wigglers just yet. When the teens are donated I'll probably put her in with Tango the bp BUT I'll introduce them first.
I'm also interested to see if Slade will re-bond with his 21 wigglers in the 125. We'll see.
There is one fry that is absolutely stunning I've named Harlequin. Don't know the sex, but it's around 1 1/2" inches, pink body with blue fins, and body patches of black/blue/ and red. Pics coming of this one!
Something else has changed. Mongo used to have the blue gill extensions but they've turned black. Not sure why or if they'll go blue again.
Welcome to the breeding capital of honduran redpoint world, Washington DC. Everybody is getting it on, and I'm ready to get out. Speck is now raising wigglers along with her teenagers...of course she's giving them a hard time. Slade is settled back in the 125 and I'm hoping Harlequin is NOT a female...he/she is hanging out with pops a LOT. In Lazarus' tank, I've discovered Flash is female. First it was Dotty and Blackbeard, now Squiggy and Flash are protecting their own cloud of babies...it goes on and on. I keep separating, they keep breeding. My predators all suck, and every fry thrives and grows. We're now at generation four.
I blame Pip and Mongo who started all this. They currently have around 350+ total descendants. The 125 has a ridiculous variety of sizes, from 1/2" babies to 5" jumbos all in a nutty mix.
Slade is doing his part as well with around 100 descendants so far. So it's follow the bouncing tanks. Maybe I should get 100 gallons of silicone, seal off the house and just fill it with water.
I blame Pip and Mongo who started all this. They currently have around 350+ total descendants. The 125 has a ridiculous variety of sizes, from 1/2" babies to 5" jumbos all in a nutty mix.
Slade is doing his part as well with around 100 descendants so far. So it's follow the bouncing tanks. Maybe I should get 100 gallons of silicone, seal off the house and just fill it with water.
Looks like it will have to come to that. I've had enough!
Harlequin appears to be pairing with Slade. Mongo also appears to have a fiery little friend (aka Spark)...the four of them were squaring off this morning...
News and more news...
It was time to get Speck out of the grow out tank...while defending her new wrigglers she had 23 of her sub adult offspring frozen on one side of the tank, dangling in plants, under branches, or tucked away in the back behind more plants. Some of them are bigger than her now and it doesn't make a lick of difference. Her over the top aggression kept them piled up in corners. So out she went.
I paired her with bp Tango. I floated her in the cup along the edge of his tank so he could get used to seeing her. I find this method works better than just plunking a fish in a new tank. But I follow the 2-run-rule. Add 2 so the new fish won't be targeted. So I grabbed one of Speck's sub adult daughters Rerun. Tango tried his best to get at them in the cup so I watched once they were let in.
These centrals are unflappable. After the initial "wtf" moment, they swam around like home. I put Pip in first and Tango gave chase. I put in Rerun and he freaked out, hiding his house...PATHETIC. A softball sized parrot hiding from two redpoints who haven't even settled in yet.
He chased again while they split up and ran circles around him. He plowed into the plants, getting tangled up while the hrps darted and scooted underneath, popping out on the other side. It's like watching Wile E. Coyote chase the Roadrunner...Tango has no hope. By the time he changes direction they're clear across the tank. The hrps use the huge bunch of plants in the middle of the tank for cover and their new home. They've adjusted quickly. Speck has already scoped out the tank with Rerun doing her own exploring. She even went in Tango's house while he chased her daughter. After exhausting himself Tango was all "F it" and went into his house. Things should settle down after a day or two. I may get a small betta log for Speck and Rerun.
I collected 25 new wrigglers from the growout and plunked those in the 125. They swam between their larger wiggler siblings in a group.
The most unique hrp of all is Harlequin, who is turning into a true firecracker. He/she (starting to think a he) stays near Poppa Slade and fends off three other fiery siblings at one time. Harlequin even took on Mongo, all one inch of him. He actually made his grandfather back off, the crazy little snit. He's pink with blue fins and has red with black body spots. If he ever stops fighting I'll take a pic.
Brick has once again decided he wants to be hand fed or not. I have to leave the room when he eats, maybe or not. It all depends on his mood and sun spots. He 's got a nick under one eye from last week that is closing up.
Hrp Hulk and BP Boss have the world's slowest fight/standoff ever going on. Hulk uses one of the jumbo logs Boss has claimed sometimes. It only works when Boss is elsewhere. Right now he's in the log and refuses to budge. Hulk's done everything possible to get the parrot out. He bum rushes into the log then Boss rams Hulk back into the open. So now Hulk just sits outside of the log waiting while Boss relaxes inside.
It was time to get Speck out of the grow out tank...while defending her new wrigglers she had 23 of her sub adult offspring frozen on one side of the tank, dangling in plants, under branches, or tucked away in the back behind more plants. Some of them are bigger than her now and it doesn't make a lick of difference. Her over the top aggression kept them piled up in corners. So out she went.
I paired her with bp Tango. I floated her in the cup along the edge of his tank so he could get used to seeing her. I find this method works better than just plunking a fish in a new tank. But I follow the 2-run-rule. Add 2 so the new fish won't be targeted. So I grabbed one of Speck's sub adult daughters Rerun. Tango tried his best to get at them in the cup so I watched once they were let in.
These centrals are unflappable. After the initial "wtf" moment, they swam around like home. I put Pip in first and Tango gave chase. I put in Rerun and he freaked out, hiding his house...PATHETIC. A softball sized parrot hiding from two redpoints who haven't even settled in yet.
He chased again while they split up and ran circles around him. He plowed into the plants, getting tangled up while the hrps darted and scooted underneath, popping out on the other side. It's like watching Wile E. Coyote chase the Roadrunner...Tango has no hope. By the time he changes direction they're clear across the tank. The hrps use the huge bunch of plants in the middle of the tank for cover and their new home. They've adjusted quickly. Speck has already scoped out the tank with Rerun doing her own exploring. She even went in Tango's house while he chased her daughter. After exhausting himself Tango was all "F it" and went into his house. Things should settle down after a day or two. I may get a small betta log for Speck and Rerun.
I collected 25 new wrigglers from the growout and plunked those in the 125. They swam between their larger wiggler siblings in a group.
The most unique hrp of all is Harlequin, who is turning into a true firecracker. He/she (starting to think a he) stays near Poppa Slade and fends off three other fiery siblings at one time. Harlequin even took on Mongo, all one inch of him. He actually made his grandfather back off, the crazy little snit. He's pink with blue fins and has red with black body spots. If he ever stops fighting I'll take a pic.
Brick has once again decided he wants to be hand fed or not. I have to leave the room when he eats, maybe or not. It all depends on his mood and sun spots. He 's got a nick under one eye from last week that is closing up.
Hrp Hulk and BP Boss have the world's slowest fight/standoff ever going on. Hulk uses one of the jumbo logs Boss has claimed sometimes. It only works when Boss is elsewhere. Right now he's in the log and refuses to budge. Hulk's done everything possible to get the parrot out. He bum rushes into the log then Boss rams Hulk back into the open. So now Hulk just sits outside of the log waiting while Boss relaxes inside.
March the band, blare the trumpets, sound the alarms!! Brick ate pellets today...after 3 YEARS of refusing them randomly, now he ate some randomly. I purchased some large cichlid pellets in bulk from Aquatic Foods. I tossed in a few as a taste test and heard slurping (once I left the room of course). Maybe he likes the flavor of these over Hikari (for at least today). So the Zodiac aligned, there were no sunspots and I wore a red shirt. Then again he might refuse them tomorrow.
To say Oscars follow no fixed course is putting it mildly. They are the masters of
To say Oscars follow no fixed course is putting it mildly. They are the masters of
News.
Hrps Speck and her daughter Rerun have settled in nicely with the parrot Tango. In true hrp style they've piled mounds of sand around their log hides. The chasing has stopped. Tango appears to have decorated nicely since his tankmates have gotten familiar. On his side there are two plant partitions on each side of his house. He's moved a small tree plant between the log hides. Speck and Rerun like to hang around it. Speck's gone dark, almost navy blue with stripes. Rerun has more contrast with her stripes, silver on black. When excited both will show blue cheeks.
After weeks and weeks of being apricot-pink with red splotches, Boss has turned back to his day glo blood orange tones (see avatar). Parrots stay weird.
I'm moving (acara) Jazz into a treatment bucket of epsom salt tomorrow. She's suddenly hovering nose down and swimming 'floaty'. Her tube has been out for around three days. I can't tell if she's impacted or injured her swim bladder. She CAN swim normally if chased but goes right back to the head down position. She still has good appetite. I've had problems regulating her food intake because she's extremely greedy trying to force down chunks of food. She goes bananas over blackworm cubes, jumping out of the water to grab one. She eats pellets too but isn't as greedy about them. I've reduced her food dramatically the last 2 days.
Her sides have gone down slightly since yesterday but her condition is staying about the same.
In the 125 the group of wigglers are now 1/2 inch in size and chunky, 50/50 pink/striped. The tiny babies I transported from the growout are being guarded and protected by two of their older siblings who are on the small side.
In the growout things have calmed down since the removals of Speck and Slade. The teens have their weird shoving matches but nobody gets hurt. Then they dangle in plants or disappear in the back. The biggest males are now Brutus (pink) and Scratch (striped). Blackbeard (pink) is slightly smaller than Brutus. Scratch is one of the elongated striped ones that is more typical of the 3rd generation...the long bodies resemble the OG males Mongo and Slade.
In Lazarus' tank its status quo...everyone stays in their hide 90% of the time. The babies out of Flash and Squiggy are getting bigger and now explore the tank. Squiggy peeps out of his log and keeps an eye out. Flash just flies out at anyone she thinks gets too close!
Hrps Speck and her daughter Rerun have settled in nicely with the parrot Tango. In true hrp style they've piled mounds of sand around their log hides. The chasing has stopped. Tango appears to have decorated nicely since his tankmates have gotten familiar. On his side there are two plant partitions on each side of his house. He's moved a small tree plant between the log hides. Speck and Rerun like to hang around it. Speck's gone dark, almost navy blue with stripes. Rerun has more contrast with her stripes, silver on black. When excited both will show blue cheeks.
After weeks and weeks of being apricot-pink with red splotches, Boss has turned back to his day glo blood orange tones (see avatar). Parrots stay weird.
I'm moving (acara) Jazz into a treatment bucket of epsom salt tomorrow. She's suddenly hovering nose down and swimming 'floaty'. Her tube has been out for around three days. I can't tell if she's impacted or injured her swim bladder. She CAN swim normally if chased but goes right back to the head down position. She still has good appetite. I've had problems regulating her food intake because she's extremely greedy trying to force down chunks of food. She goes bananas over blackworm cubes, jumping out of the water to grab one. She eats pellets too but isn't as greedy about them. I've reduced her food dramatically the last 2 days.
Her sides have gone down slightly since yesterday but her condition is staying about the same.
In the 125 the group of wigglers are now 1/2 inch in size and chunky, 50/50 pink/striped. The tiny babies I transported from the growout are being guarded and protected by two of their older siblings who are on the small side.
In the growout things have calmed down since the removals of Speck and Slade. The teens have their weird shoving matches but nobody gets hurt. Then they dangle in plants or disappear in the back. The biggest males are now Brutus (pink) and Scratch (striped). Blackbeard (pink) is slightly smaller than Brutus. Scratch is one of the elongated striped ones that is more typical of the 3rd generation...the long bodies resemble the OG males Mongo and Slade.
In Lazarus' tank its status quo...everyone stays in their hide 90% of the time. The babies out of Flash and Squiggy are getting bigger and now explore the tank. Squiggy peeps out of his log and keeps an eye out. Flash just flies out at anyone she thinks gets too close!
Update on Jazz...she seems to be pretty normal today. Three days of fasting seems to have helped. Her tube has retracted some and she's swimming pretty normally. She still goes vertical at times but it looks like she's pushing out eggs. Her puffiness is almost gone too.
And I might have one solid pink hrp fry! Too soon to tell for sure as it's so small. There's another hrp fry in the growout that has Harlequin's color pattern! No name yet...it's pink with black/red body areas and the fins are turning blue! Will try and grab a pic tomorrow.
The group out of Flash and Squiggy appears to be about 50...good grief. Getting bigger.
The OG hrp mama Pip observed her daughter Speck and granddaughter Rerun in Tango's tank directly across from the 225. She still runs the 225 crowd of sons. Hulk stays on the same side with her along with Bumper and two brothers. Tank leads the group that stays on the opposite side. Hulk and Tank have skirmishes at times but bp Boss breaks it up.
In the 125 the babies keep growing at a rapid pace. The most recent 25 from Slade and Speck congregate and stay together in a herd. Harlequin is Slade's lieutenant, all 1+ inch of him, lol. The tiny wigglers are somewhere. I won't know more until they get bigger.
Brick is still eating pellets. I've checked outside for raining toads.
And I might have one solid pink hrp fry! Too soon to tell for sure as it's so small. There's another hrp fry in the growout that has Harlequin's color pattern! No name yet...it's pink with black/red body areas and the fins are turning blue! Will try and grab a pic tomorrow.
The group out of Flash and Squiggy appears to be about 50...good grief. Getting bigger.
The OG hrp mama Pip observed her daughter Speck and granddaughter Rerun in Tango's tank directly across from the 225. She still runs the 225 crowd of sons. Hulk stays on the same side with her along with Bumper and two brothers. Tank leads the group that stays on the opposite side. Hulk and Tank have skirmishes at times but bp Boss breaks it up.
In the 125 the babies keep growing at a rapid pace. The most recent 25 from Slade and Speck congregate and stay together in a herd. Harlequin is Slade's lieutenant, all 1+ inch of him, lol. The tiny wigglers are somewhere. I won't know more until they get bigger.
Brick is still eating pellets. I've checked outside for raining toads.
Welp...
Woke up to yet another cloud of fry...Mongo and Blaze. We're now to generation 5. So here's the lick. In Lazarus tank we have babies out of Squiggy and Flash. I'm keeping an eye on the growout tank. The 125 has three groups of fry in different sizes.
At least I'm getting a handle on identifying the striped females. The pink ones are tougher. Did I mention most of the males in the 225 (1st generation) are getting huge? They're good at keeping my oscar in shape. He uses them for target practice when they invade his pit. Pics at some point.
Woke up to yet another cloud of fry...Mongo and Blaze. We're now to generation 5. So here's the lick. In Lazarus tank we have babies out of Squiggy and Flash. I'm keeping an eye on the growout tank. The 125 has three groups of fry in different sizes.
At least I'm getting a handle on identifying the striped females. The pink ones are tougher. Did I mention most of the males in the 225 (1st generation) are getting huge? They're good at keeping my oscar in shape. He uses them for target practice when they invade his pit. Pics at some point.