Gymnogeophagus Balzanii tank...

[abhishek@1985]

Dear friends, Thanks to all the support you have provided me.1 week ago I have ultimately picked up my first group of Balzaniis..1 m : 3 f in a 3 feet 55 gal tank.They are accompanied by 8 lemon tetras.Here's a few pics of the tank and the mal..The females are too shy still for me to click with my crappy mobile camera.Poor guy am I!No money left to buy a camera to capture the beauty of teh balzaniis.Amazingly the male is a little too yellow with red just coming in the upper fins.He's just 1.5 inch and the females are less than an inch.They are fed Tetra bits,frozen bloodworms , frozen artemia, green peas and soon will get NLS.

I wonder if I can have any other dwarf cichlids out there with them or not.Please suggest.Badly want a pair of Laetacara or Bolivian rams.

The tank when Balzaniis were not there : -



Male : -



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[MonteSS]

Lookin good

....Bill
_________________
75g CA
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’-leucistic
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’
Thor Mixteco Gold
H. Nicaraguense pair
A. Centrarchus
A. Nigrofasciatus

75g SA
Gymno labiatus Yerbalita x3
Gymno labiatus Balzani x4

46g SA
Australoheros "oblongum pair
Keyholes x3

[abhishek@1985]

Guys great news. Yesterday I have added lots of peat in the filter and theres alittle bit of tanning.Today only just now found the smallest Balzanii female laying eggs on one of the stones.She's very aggressive now.Don't know if they will hatch or not.But atleast the female has laid eggs.She's so small now.Not even an inch.Pretty surprised.

Heres a few pics of the eggs....

[a7oneal]

Well done!

I like the tank, and the fish are obviously doing well.
_________________
"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." -Jebediah Springfield

[MonteSS]

Very nice. I cant believe they spawned at that small a size.

Good luck....Bill
_________________
75g CA
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’-leucistic
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’
Thor Mixteco Gold
H. Nicaraguense pair
A. Centrarchus
A. Nigrofasciatus

75g SA
Gymno labiatus Yerbalita x3
Gymno labiatus Balzani x4

46g SA
Australoheros "oblongum pair
Keyholes x3

[abhishek@1985]

Just a small update..the female has already taken up the eggs in her mouth.Should I risk separating the female from the rest.This may stress her making her swallow the eggs...please suggest......

[HiImSean]

congrats on the spawn. maybe i'll add some peat to help my gymnos to spawn.

[abhishek@1985]

Well thanks guys.A little update...the female has taken up the eggs in her mouth on last Sunday morning at around 6:00 pm and is now happily mouthbrooding....

Female getting ready to pick up eggs......



Mouthbrooding female ...bad picture quality...please forgive me....



Only sad thing is that she watches the others to eat tetrabits and frozen artemia helplessly...Feeling sad for her ...

[aspen]

ime lemon tetras won't allow her to keep any fry. they will just swarm in and take what they want when the fry are swarming. maybe move her with her eggs or fry in her mouth or get a plan together and wait till the next spawn- ie set up an appropriate tank for her and have some filter media ready. if she spawned once, she'll likely spawn again.

good luck.

rick

[DeadFishFloating]

I just sold my Lemon tetras for this very reason. It's like watching a school of sharks attack a large ball of sardines.
_________________
"And yes, there are other fish besides cichlids surprisingly enough, for all you mbuna keepers out there! And NO I'm not talking about saltwater fish either!!"

[MonteSS]

Ya, once the feeding frenzy starts they go nuts.

....Bill
_________________
75g CA
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’-leucistic
A. ‘‘Hond. red pt’
Thor Mixteco Gold
H. Nicaraguense pair
A. Centrarchus
A. Nigrofasciatus

75g SA
Gymno labiatus Yerbalita x3
Gymno labiatus Balzani x4

46g SA
Australoheros "oblongum pair
Keyholes x3

[abhishek@1985]

May be this weekend I shall also sell off the lemon tetras.But can you advice me some tankmates in place of them that would behave better.....

[DeadFishFloating]

Hey abhishek@1985,

If you want to breed your cichlids, and raise the fry to sell, your best off going with no tankmates.

This is where I have struggled for a couple of years now. I like having small community tanks based around a pair or trio of cichlids. But I would like to breed my cichlids and sell the juveniles. Make my hobby self sustaining, well close to it anyway.

I've come to the conclusion that, apart from hatchetfish, almost any other tetra or dither species will present a threat to fry. And with hatchetfish you need very secure lids, with minimal gaps for hatchets to jump out of.

Good luck.
_________________
"And yes, there are other fish besides cichlids surprisingly enough, for all you mbuna keepers out there! And NO I'm not talking about saltwater fish either!!"

[abhishek@1985]

Sad news...had been out of town due to the sudden demise of my uncle.. ..didn't look after them for 5 days . Asked my friends just to feed them.Came back today morning..even then the female was carrying.But today night found that the fries didn't make it upto free swimming .The eggs weren't fertile... Now the female is eating like a pig .Had been starving for 10 days.Anyways will surely try next time.Will be updating the thread from time to time.

[gage]

don't be discouraged, they were very young to spawn and I'm surprised they even tred at this size, I am sure they will do it again.