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Electric Blue Acara

73K views 50 replies 22 participants last post by  NJmomie 
#1 ·
Is there anyone else around here keeping these? I received 8 back in June and there doing great.





 
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#28 ·
Jersey_cichlid_guy said:
Do you pull all of the fry? Would the parents eat them if they were left in the tank?
I pulled the first two batches just so I would have some fry. All three of the females have spawned two more times and I didn't pull them and they disappeared. I have the EBA in with a school of large Gold Barbs that are about 3 inches long with a few Bushynose Pleco's. The females have been spawning about every two to three weeks and usually right after a water change.
 
#32 ·
Hi- I decided to try and breed these beautiful fish. I really had never tried any of this before. I ended up starting with 20 juvies. So far I've now had 7 successful hatches and am raising approximately 900 fry. The oldest are almost an inch long. These are truly amazing fish to watch. Very interesting.
 
#33 ·
dkd49424 said:
Hi- I decided to try and breed these beautiful fish. I really had never tried any of this before. I ended up starting with 20 juvies. So far I've now had 7 successful hatches and am raising approximately 900 fry. The oldest are almost an inch long. These are truly amazing fish to watch. Very interesting.
I think there the perfect cichlid! Their hardy, colorful, not to big, full of personality, live long, and are true "Wet Pets"!
 
#40 ·
ZeroSystem44 said:
I have one of these guys in a 15 gallon. He's about 1½ inches. I was planning on moving him to a 75 with CA cichlids eventually, however if he'd be alright in a 15 with a few dither fish, I'd like to do that instead. Is a 15g too small for a lone EBA?
These guys get up to 4-5 inches and really need at least a 30 gallon tank. I tried one in a 20 gallon and it soon became obvious he needed more space. He would do much better in the 75 with your other CA Cichlids assuming the 75 is not two crowded.
 
#41 ·
Just bought 8 the same 1.5" - 2" size you folks are referring to. My old male green sev died and the female was acting skittish. I figured I'd try a new cichlid in my 135 and try some breeding again. I saw these for the first time a couple of weeks ago at a pet shop in Denver. When I put them in they were terrified of the old female, (about 6"), but now they all get along fine. My sevs loved frozen bloodworms as well as live nightcrawlers. Anybody got an opinion on the same for the EBA's ?
 
#45 ·
Had quite a surprise this morning. I've got my ebc's in this 135 that is bare bottom, (no gravel), with one end a pile of driftwood where the outside filter is with siphon tube. The other end is a 6" x 6" x 4" double stacked foam filter with a power head on top that I made. I usually do 2 10 gallon water changes per week that I water my plants with in my greenhouse. I'll shut off the power head and gently move the foam out of the way, while I siphon the crud that congregates there. When I moved the foam one of the ebc's came out and attacked the hose. I thought it odd that they weren't afraid and swim to the other side of the tank like normal. Then I realized when was happening. I let the stuff settle in the bucket, and gently poured out clear water until I got down to the last half inch or so. Sure enough I saw about 8 little fry which I returned to the parents and saw a whole lot more in the corner. I've decided to leave them in together for now, so I took a large piece of plastic and wedged it at an angle with suction cups to hold it in place. This serves as a tank divider to keep the other 6 ebc's and a large pleco at bay.

My plan is to feed them some frozen baby brine, and what they can graze off of the foam. I'm sure there's a lot of little organisms that live on those things as well. When they get a little larger, I'll move them to a nursery tank.
 
#47 ·
Julie0811 said:
I am quickly skimming thru these post trying to figure out how to tell the difference between a male and female? Thank you
Sexing Electric Blue Acara can be a bit tricky as they are almost sexually monomorphic; however, if you are working with mature EBA it's a bit easier. I am no expert on the matter by any means, but I have successfully spawned EBA on several occasions and have developed a few helpful methods of identifying males vs females.

1) In mature EBA the male is usually substantially larger than the female... For instance, my breeding male almost hits 7" in length; however, his breeding partner is only 2 1/2 inches in length, both fully grown.

2) The dorsal fins on the males tend to be longer than the females, often extending past their tail fin with a hair like extension on the tip, while the females dorsal fin will be shorter than the tail fin and be rounded on the tip.

3) the tube from which eggs/seaman is extruded is longer and more prominent on the females than on the males.

4) during courting the female will demonstrate a very dark face coloration, or as I call it the "homer simpson beard"; where as the males body tends to darken rather than his face.

I can't stress enough, the above comments are by no means an absolute method of identifying males vs females, but rather some common trends between males and females that can help make you an educated guess; but simply put, you can always be wrong even when all of the above point to that you are correct.

On a personal note... I can say that hands down this has been my favorite species to keep to date... Their mild temperament, courting behaviors(I swear mine play peekabo while guarding the eggs to pass the time), parental skills and overall beauty make them a fish that can't be overlooked!
 
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