More tank pics, updated

[jjohnwm]

Your big tank full of psychopaths and antisocial lunatics is an eye-catching and spectacular tank, if not necessarily to my taste in decor.

That same tank with just Brick in it would be every bit as spectacular and interesting, and way less stressful for all concerned...including Brick. His current life sounds similar to mine, if I were forced to live in a house crowded with screaming kids and teenaged girls...i.e. horrifying beyond description.

Just a thought.

By the way, if you get yourself an apurensis Jelly Cat, a big Gulper Cat, or maybe a nice big Redtail for one of your other tanks...you won't even have to re-home all those other nutcases. They can stay with you forever...just in a slightly different form, with their molecules somewhat re-organized.

 

[FINWIN]

LOL I don't think I'm cold blooded enough for that but I get what you're saying. Brick's general method is SLAM 'EM IF THEY GO IN MY PIT. That's why they scatter so much. For most of the day they stay in their 'safe' areas. Usually Brick ignores their squabbles. One of the monster ones (Hulk) tried to challenge and almost got chomped, so...no more challenges. Since Boss is the enforcer he clears them from the pit as well. But hrps are funny, at least mine. When the lighting goes to evening/night mode their switch goes 'off' and they disappear for the night. Magenta light seems to signal fish to enter rest mode and once it hits dark blue, they pretty much stop. I adjusted the light schedule to increase total darkness from 3 to 6 hours.

Syno Spot's stumps are growing back nicely. Those catfish are literally bulletproof with their healing factor. They get skin stripped, scratched and 'shaved' but in 2 days it's like nothing happened. I would have had the fish ready to go this week but a clown seller on ebay sold me tubs with no lids and refuses to send lids.

Hulk may be huge for an hrp but charging at the buisness end of an oscar is just dumb.

 

[jjohnwm]

See, there you go again.

An enforcer...slamming...chomping...somebody growing back their stumps...! Yikes!

What's the longest you have gone lately without at least one fish in a bucket somewhere...either recuperating from a beating, or getting treated for injuries incurred, or just needing a break from the Thunderdome?

This can't possibly be good for you. Pretty soon there will be other terms bandied about: ulcers...high blood pressure...anxiety...stress headaches...alcohol...

Cichlids are the devil's fish...

 

[FINWIN]

So the plan moving forward is this. All donation fish will be going in a spare bathtub downstairs. Tiny fry won't go out yet. Only adults/sub adults. That way they're all in one location vs me trying to fish them out from separate tanks when they go.

The fry in Lazarus' tank will go in the growout and the breeding pair of Squiggy/Flash will be separated. The fry in the 125 I'll leave be for now. Only the larger ones are going. Maybe a couple of the adult males too. What's annoying about cichlids is how the dynamic changes over time. You have 'em and everytthing is cool until they hit that "it" phase. Then the next thing you know it's follow the bouncing tanks.

A few handpicked ones (like Harlequin) will remain. All the quad colors are keepers as is the one solid pink sub adult.

 

[jjohnwm]

...All donation fish will be going in a spare bathtub downstairs...

You do realize that "normal" people...i.e. people who don't belong to a forum dedicated to keeping giant live fish in their homes...would consider this a strange statement...

 

[FINWIN]

You do realize that "normal" people...i.e. people who don't belong to a forum dedicated to keeping giant live fish in their homes...would consider this a strange statement...

LOL I suppose so, but it makes things easier for me at this point. I actually did this once before when the original stand for the 225 split and was failing. Everyone went into the tub. Brick was 12 inches at the time. By the time I got temporary tubs he'd broken the back of my syno named Rex and skinned him. Tried to save him but the poor thing suffered for about 3 days. If you go way back in this thread to around Oct 2020 the details are there.

Catching Brick at the time was no fun. I had to change clothes. Just glad I don't have to move him now.

 

[FINWIN]

Phase one of "the big move" is underway.

225 got a water change, complete decor refresh and substrate scrub. Had to remove everything to catch those hrps...an extra hour of fun. Why? Because they kept hiding under the oscar. Syno Spot kept hiding under the oscar. Brick has become the all purpose blanket during water changes and removals. Add to the fun Brick refuses to move, so I end up pushing him sideways. 1 hour drain, one hour catch, 2 hour fill...yeah it was fun.

As usual I can't count correctly when it comes to tank occupants. I assumed I had around 8 adult hrps in the 225. WRONG. I had 14! No wonder they were constantly squabbling. When I took them out 12 of them had battle marks. Guess who was clean? The OG queen Pip and her smaller son Bumper, he of high energy and nice color. Fortunately I didn't see severe injury. The hrps made things eventful by jumping OVER the net to escape. Amazing.

The keepers are Bumper, Tank, Hulk, Pip, and Bruce. Bumper has been moved to the 125. All the rest are in a bath tub. I may add an airstone or two later.

Did some measurements since I'm keeping the 3 biggest males. Pics coming soon.

 

[FINWIN]

Pics of Phase 1:

Here's Red Rainbow Salt. He was jet black before I put him in the bucket. I removed all the hrps from the 225 (except for a small one who escaped me). Salt is a permanent resident of the 225 so he went back.

 

[FINWIN]

Salt at 5 1/4" inches. Held his own with the wild mob of hrps and didn't have a mark on him.

 

[FINWIN]

Here's Bumper, one of the smaller hrp brothers at ~4". Very colorful.