I LOVE THESE XINGUS...HOPEFULLY NEXT TIME I WILL BE READY. IM JUST STICKING WITH MY BAHIA, ORINOS, AND SOON TO COME BROKOPONDOS. LOVE THE UPDATE GUYS AND LEARNING FROM YOU OLD SCHOOL CICHLA KEEPERS. GIVES US SOMETHING TO PUSH FOR HAHA
Official Xingu Grow Off Thread!
- Thread starter High City Rida
- Start date
I believe your on to something for sure here. My thought's are my normal 2x a week at 50% is extrem but I also I have the bare minimum of filtration on most of my tanks. I also believe that I maintaint a stable ph through W/C and even out the buffering with drift wood. I know what the ph is out of the tap and I have seen the drop because of the driftwood. I know Cichla love low ph and can thrive in such water but aquarium size is an issue if not moniterd. Also I do clean so much because my tanks are bare bottem I can't stand looking at the cloud on the bottem. Ken you and already talked about that it sucks but im dedicated. LOL
I making rearangment's around my house a week at a time so to not stress the fish to much but I am aimig at getting the Xingu into the 150g by Dec. This is the only tank with a sump and in reality is my CICHLA grow out tank. It's ideal for long term housing having the abnormal size for a 150g it's perfect for me. Tore down the 29g and move the remaining Orino with the Xingu. The 29 gallon crashed fast with my W/C schedule so I am sure I would have had to move them sooner to save the 2 I lost. (Also had a lot of personal things came up so my whole collection got tested). I have found it's not what happens when your around it's what happens when your not able to stick to the scedule.
Ken excellent observation and when we talk again I will add more of my two cent's.
Yes Mike I also find a water change is like us taking a shower it realxes you so in turn with a Cichla I am sure it makes them relaed as well other then the stress of the whole ordeal so idealy a 24h drip system would be best used with a canister filter or sump. This would cut the amount of stress and also giving them a constant supply of fresh water. This would be the ultimate set up for sure and ideal for large fast growig eating machine's. I came to the conclusion of what effect the WC had on my group in the 240g because of the constant breeding. In order to maintain that enviroment where they lay eggs every 2 weeks I kept up my normal schedule and offten have gotten more extreme. With the little ones though I think less stress is key. I have cut back as well but I guess I am just in the zone so I am doing things by instinct. Like right now is the time they all need to go to the 100g or 150g so I am making this happen in the next few weeks.
I also feed pretty much once a day. I do throw pellet's in the Xingu tank but they don't go for pellet's at all. They look at them but the know I feed talapia and that's what they want so there feed pretty large chunks of talapia soaked in Boyd's Fresh Water Vitachem once a day but I do feed at different time's a day. I also have missed a few day's of feeding in the past few weeks. I think it's good for all Cichlids to have day's off of feeding.
Ok now my big Boy has finally started to spangle a couple of pics of him and a few and one shot of a couple others with more spangle ....
Thanks Ken! The spangling and color on mine are not as intense as yours. What kind of filtrations do you have? Yours are super HOT!!
I think yours does have good color. Yours is pellet only.... right?
I got a filter with crushed glass media. It acts as a mech and bio. I backwash it once a week to maintain the thin film process in the filter. A member got the same filter and he told me he saw improvements in his cichla color. I was hoping he would post the results.
I still have not moved my xingus to a larger tank because I have not moved the brokos out yet. Just not enough time. Shooting for the Thanksgiving break. Once in the bigger tank, I'm expecting better growth and color as I saw in my bahias.
I think everyone knows that we are not going for pumped up big fish but healthy, vibrant cichla. IMO if you hold the color, the cichla will look good at any size and with good health the size will come.
I got a filter with crushed glass media. It acts as a mech and bio. I backwash it once a week to maintain the thin film process in the filter. A member got the same filter and he told me he saw improvements in his cichla color. I was hoping he would post the results.
I still have not moved my xingus to a larger tank because I have not moved the brokos out yet. Just not enough time. Shooting for the Thanksgiving break. Once in the bigger tank, I'm expecting better growth and color as I saw in my bahias.
I think everyone knows that we are not going for pumped up big fish but healthy, vibrant cichla. IMO if you hold the color, the cichla will look good at any size and with good health the size will come.
