CHK,...realy gorgeous fish :thumb: They are true stunning fish in their breeding colors and congrats on the spawn :thumb: Seems like quit a challenge to give them the cool period in your part of the world isn't it? Keep on the good work and nice to see the Uruguayan fish increase in popularity :thumb:

Ruurd

 

They are gorgeous fish. Having just restarted fish keeping this last year after a long hiatus, I don't recognize them. Did they have a diferent name in the 80's & 90's? Can you share anything about them regarding care? I take is they need a cool season? Tanks size? Just Stunning
madzarembski

 

very very nice. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

Nice pics CHK. What size tank is that and how did the Gymnos get on with the Australoheros? I have always thought the Australoheros would be too aggresive for Gymnogeos in anything smaller than a 6' tank.

 

Thanks for your comments guys!

Ruurd: Also want to add that your comments in the past have helped me understand how to better keep these fish and contributed to the successful spawn :thumb: Yes, I think there has a surge in Uruguayan cichlids too, no doubt to their recent availability. I am still working on the "cool period". Frankly, I think it will be until I eventually move out of this apartment that I can satisfy myself and the fish fully on this point. :?

mazdarembski: A friend of mine who runs an LFS and has 40yrs of fish under his belt told me that these fish were loosely called chanchitos in the past. It seems they enjoyed popularity up to the 1940s or 50s. After that, due to lack of imports from the region, they were "lost" to the hobby so to speak. He showed me his fish books from the 1950s and the chanchito was represented. I believe in the 80s and 90s they may be found under "Cichlasoma" facetum or even Herichthys facetum as I found in an Axelrod atlas at Borders a month ago... As to their upkeep, I refer to these excellent articles by Wayne Leibel:
http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-a ... chito.aspx
and Claudia Dickenson:
http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=371
From what I gathered, the Uruguayn cichlids will do well with 2-3 months at perhaps 50F or so. I am not able to go that low at this time. They are in a 20H, and at 2 inches, suits them just fine but the eventual goal is to move them into the 55 once I get the juvie growouts out of there

Howler33: I do not know the compatability of australoheros and gymnos as these are still very young adults.... I have been told it wouldnt work. I may still try, keeping a careful eye but keeping a spare tank should I see anything wrong.

I am sure there many more hobbyists with their own australoheros. Feel free to post your pics too :thumb: . Looking forward to your pics! opcorn:

CHK

 

Very nice CHK! The breeding colors are very nice, defninitely the nicest Australoheros species IMO. Good luck and keep updating with details and pictures :thumb:

Ed

 

OMG...I think I NEED some of those fish! Absolutely STUNNING.

 

I got 11 Red Ceibals from Spencer Jack Two months at 1" now they are 2" I have two pairs and about 20 fry swimming around. I really like the color on them.

Alaina would you like some?

Heres a pic

 

[No message]

 

OMG Yes, yes I would!

 

I got 11 Red Ceibals from Spencer Jack Two months at 1" now they are 2" I have two pairs and about 20 fry swimming around. I really like the color on them.

Alaina would you like some?

Heres a pic

Congrats on your spawn! :thumb:

 

Congratulations!

I still have the 'oblongum' fry I got from you several months ago and they're doing well.

 

Congratulations!

I still have the 'oblongum' fry I got from you several months ago and they're doing well.

Thats great! Thanks for the update :thumb: My juvies from the same batch are beginning to pair up. I see the breeding tube drop already but no clutches probably because there are too many of them :roll: - have to thin them out first.

 

What's the current situation with the red c's? Did the pair continue spawning after the first brood? Will you have any juvies available?
I recently moved my spawning pair of oblongum to a 55 to allow some of their last brood and some BN fry to grow out. Soon after they were moved I saw a huge increase in the ramshorn population. BN fry too for that matter, I now have well over 150 instead of just 1. As soon as I get the current fry moved into another tank for growout I'll likely return the oblongum pair to the tank for population control.
I did find 3 fry each from their 2 previous spawns that had managed to survive on their own. They are excellent parents up to a point, then their protective instinct seems to fade away. It does appear to last longer with each successive spawn. They're both still in breeding dress, weeks after being moved to a different tank.

 

Good job on the oblongums :thumb: Post pics when you can. I am not aware they eat ramshorn, as I keep MTS, but I will not be surprised that they do. Their feeding habits as I see it tend towards opportunistic; they will nip at anything new and interesting. They tend to the fry up to the point where they want to prepare for the next brood (4-6 weeks) or when the pair starts to squabble - then the remaining fry in the tank disappear real fast. If I want to keep the brood, I usually remove at the one week mark post free swimming.

Yeah the Red Ceibals are spawning about every other month but I only have the space to keep the first brood. They are maybe half inch now? Will let you know once I get them to good size for inspection (no deformities etc etc)

 

I noticed the oblongum fry seem to be somewhat slow-growing as well. The largest are about the size of my thumbnail, maybe 7/8" length. Even the 1/2" fry show the stripes quite distinctly, and look remarkably like severum fry. The BN pleco fry grow much faster than they do. They'll be moved to the 75 for growout in a few more days. I want it up and running for 2 weeks to become well-enough established before moving fry in. It's been 1.5 weeks now, with a couple dozen rosy reds from the backyard pond to help the seeded tank along.

 

Be sure to look out for the 2 yellow spots at the base of the tail fin when they are about 1cm long and will disappear when they grow larger towards an inch. These spots are reported by literature to be specific to the genus (Australoheros). Both my red ceibal and oblongum fry have them 8)

 

I looked, but can't see any yellow spots. It might be the lighting in the tank. The floating Najas has grown so thick that very little light gets through to the front or bottom. All I noticed was the typical black spot on the side and another at the base of the tail. The largest fry is starting to show some dark pigment on the rays of his (assuming largest is likely a male?) tail fin. He did show for a few moments with the pattern subdued, and I saw some blue color shining along his side. Then he moved a little deeper into the tank and the dark pattern became prominent again. It's the same pattern as the adults in breeding dress, but w/out the colorful background or blue spangles. The 6 larger fry were kept together in a net breeder for aout 6-7 weeks, then recently released back into the tank. They aren't a bit shy about coming to the front glass, and seem to prefer to keep within sight of one another. The funny thing is, when they were crowded together the larger one/s would occaisonally chase the smaller fish. It was packed with Najas, so they had plenty of cover/escape opportunity. The younger fry from the last brood tend to act more like the pleco fry. They don't associate me with feeding time, and sort of meander around doing their own thing. I'll get some pics after I thin out the Najas a bit.

 

The spots fade when they grow larger than half an inch. I once posted this picture of the fry. :wink:

 

Is it a Aggressive fish?
I can't check it on profile! Thx

 

TFH magazine has an article on them in the new (July) issue. IME the oblongum aren't aggressive aside from being territorial when spawning.

 

Is it a Aggressive fish?
I can't check it on profile! Thx

From my experience (but only from 2 species), they are not aggressive. I have kept them with Kribs and black skirt tetras before and it was fine.

 

Did the kribs breed? How did they hold up against them? Due to space restraints I've had to mix westies and SA before.

 

Well..... in a tank full of cichlids, breeding is going to be a challenge. I was raising my batch of krib fry. When I ran out of tanks, I unloaded them all to the LFS. There is never enough tank space

 

Sometimes yeah, but then sometimes cichlids just find a way. Not a lot of SA dwarves can handle a breeding set of kribs, so was curious how assertive your oblongum were.