The Red Devil Diary
- Thread starter Cichlids-r-beasts
- Start date
Hey all, been a while since I’ve given an update. Since this is my first post for the year I just wanna say Happy New Year to everyone (even though I’m very late lol). Life has been pretty crazy lately but I’ll be more active now. Kratos is doing well, he’s probably around 8-9 inches if I had to eyeball. Growth has really slowed down now but that’s fine by me, I’ve been feeding him once every 2-3 days so it makes sense. He’s as healthy and active as ever, aggression levels have really gone up a notch. Not much of a Nuchal hump but unpaired fins are in fantastic shape as always. I’ll take some photos tomorrow.
I apologize to all for the bad lighting, glare and algae in the photos. Haven’t been doing much with the tank outside of water changes and gravel vac but that’ll change soon.
It doesn’t help that he can never stay still and tries to go after my phone or my hand when I’m trying to take photos. So active and very, very territorial as per the norm with most males in the Amphilophus family.
It doesn’t help that he can never stay still and tries to go after my phone or my hand when I’m trying to take photos. So active and very, very territorial as per the norm with most males in the Amphilophus family.
It looks like that when he’s glass banging and flaring haha. He’s not too tall and not too streamlined, love his unpaired fins as well. The Nuchal Hump is slightly more pronounced now that I compare these photos to the older ones though. I think when he matures more and enters the 10-12 inch mark is when the nuchal hump will get larger. All in all I’m happy with him and I love his personality. He has really filled the void my Butti left behind when she passed.
Took some quick photos this morning, I think they came out slightly better, I held up a ruler near him before I did and he seems to be just around the 8 inch mark.
@phreeflow Thanks! Yeah he’s really changed over the last 7-8 months. Slight nuchal hump and the color change is pretty crazy.
10th June, 2024
August 2024
As compared to 2 days ago:
Honestly, his slower growth rate now doesn’t bother me since I chalk it down to feeding him once every 2-3 days. I’ll probably go back to feeding small amounts once a day now to get him to pack on a bit of size a little quicker though. If he can retain .75” a month I’d be fine with, don’t really wanna power feed to get him to put on size so quickly if it impacts him later on in life.
10th June, 2024
August 2024
As compared to 2 days ago:
Honestly, his slower growth rate now doesn’t bother me since I chalk it down to feeding him once every 2-3 days. I’ll probably go back to feeding small amounts once a day now to get him to pack on a bit of size a little quicker though. If he can retain .75” a month I’d be fine with, don’t really wanna power feed to get him to put on size so quickly if it impacts him later on in life.
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Interesting study I found on the dietary biology of the species. The study was done in Indonesia where the species is invasive though, so the results may be a bit skewed. Anyways, thinking of varying his diet a bit more so I was thinking:
STAPLE
- Omega One Cichlid pellets
- NLS Cichlid pellets
- Sun dried Shrimp (2x a week)
- Fluval Bug Bites (2x a week)
TREATS
- homebred livebearer fry (every 2-3 weeks)
- NLS Algaemax (1x a week)
- homegrown earthworms (1x every 2 weeks)
I’m trying to find a good balance. Ive been feeding him Omega One and the NLS as staple and he’s doing very well on them, along with the sun dried shrimp twice a week. I’ve heard good stuff about the bug bites so perhaps I’ll try him on that. He’s not picky at all and eats anything pretty much. I also soak his pellets in garlic once a week for what it’s worth.
Thoughts anyone?
Anyway, here’s a photo of him in a grumpy mood (when is he not?!) this morning lol.