vieja zonatus

[jaws7777]

Already lost one.

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Just wanted to add a couple things. I tried the multi-quote...but can't figure it out. oh well....

Thanks for the correction, I thought they were now described as same specie's

First off...really nice looking fish. Even that one in the corner should come around. Personally, I'd give them more cover than what I saw. Some pots...rock caves...whatever. I started off with seven...and ended up with eight. They are aggressive little guys. I never had an opportunity to have them pair up since mine killed all of his siblings. As pointed out by Duanes...6 or seven inches is about the norm...but I have seen CA cichlids breed MUCH smaller. One thing you should consider...if they breed early they won't grow as fast or as large. Energy gets diverted to breeding and not growing.

canamonster "guttulata which is just also a zonatus"....no sir. It is a different species (for now anyway) that is commonly mistaken for Zonatus. Usually it's the other way around. People have Zonatus and mistake it for Gutulatus. Harder to find IMHO.

I'm with Duanes on not knowing the variations based on collection locale. I did look at the Cichlid Room Companion to see if there was any information there on the variant. There were two there....one from Rio Tehuantepec basin and the other from La ventosa, Oaxaca. Both looked different than the Zonatus that I owned. As to the electric blue....males will get bluer than the females. And I guess it's possible to have one much more blue than the others. Fish that are close, like Coatzacoalcos exhibit this variation among the group with one or two showing an electric blue while other more mixed with reds and white. I can imagine that this could probably be line bred out to give more fish with electric blue.

Ahud....the monogamy comment was interesting and very timely. I was just yesterday reviewing an ACA grant application from a graduate student who's dissertation research is focused on "the role parental care in shaping offspring behavior and development." Interesting stuff....in a nutshell can fish pass on acquired behavior (in this case from predatory threat) to their brood. She made mention that she will be using Convict cichlids since they are monogamous. Of ALL the cichlids...this was the least likely I thought would be monogamous. I just fired off an email to Paul Loiselle for any insight he might provide on cichlid monogamy.

Jaws...I'd be really careful with Tetracycline...and any medication for that matter...especially with treating an entire tank. I would always remove fish to a hospital tank to minimize any impact the drugs would have on the bio balance of the tank.

Good luck with the zonatus. Hands down one to the nicest bruisers in the bunch of CA cichlids.

 

[duanes]

Losing some zonatus is the rule, rather than he exception.
I lost 4 out of 6, and I think Mojo said he ended up with only 1, so for you to only lose 1 so far, is a pretty good percentage.
I must admit when I get any new cichlid as juvies, (and I always try to get as many as possible), I hope for a pair, and expect to lose all the rest. When I end up with more than 2, I am amazed.

 

[jaws7777]

Im just happy to finally have some. Even if the whole pairing thing fails and i end up with one...
Oh well

 

[jaws7777]

Ive been feeding them a mix of nls and spirulina flakes no issues but they wont eat the pellets tried 1mm and 2mm nls and they spit them out. I had this problem with an argentea..

Are they too small to starve and force them to eat the pellets ?

 

[jaws7777]

So these guys are all healed up and are eating everything i offer them. Unlike other viejas i have kept they seem to be real skittish and freak out when ever i approach the tank unless im feeding them

 

[tomojsg]

nice! keep em pics and vids coming!

 

[jaws7777]

Thanks tomojsg

 

[jaws7777]

So far i cant tell whos the dominant one they are all kind of nippy but the aggression looks like it died down im noticing much less split fins. The largest spends most of his time chasing othrr out of his cave.

 

[tomojsg]

So far i cant tell whos the dominant one they are all kind of nippy but the aggression looks like it died down im noticing much less split fins. The largest spends most of his time chasing othrr out of his cave.

nice, looking good! btw what is that blue thing i saw on the left around the wood?