Just picked up my first Sal.

1484 Views 5 Replies 3 Participants Last post by oscarlover43055, Jun 29, 2008

AU Chief

Discussion Starter · Jun 28, 2008

So, last week I was in Wal Mart in a City about 30 minutes from my own. The two wal-marts where I live no longer carry fish, but this one in Columbus, GA does. I usually don't look at fish at all in Wal-Marts, but this time I was stopping in for a second to buy some quick cure since I this wal-mart was near my destination that day.

I glanced in to see what sort of fish they have, and to my suprise I see two of the best looking Salvini's I've ever seen. I held off on buying them that day, but today I returned and they were still there.

I've been wanting to purchase one since I've been back into the hobby for a little over a year now. So I picked the best looking female they had and brought her home for the modest price of 4.53 + tax.

I am currently in a tansition of moving and Am going to move fish around and into new tanks. Right now I'm trying to decide which tank to house her in while in transition. I have two 10 gallon Q' tanks that are full right now, and I have a 29 gallon with a breeding pair of cons in it that I wouldn't be terrible upset about if some disease outbreak happens.

Do you guys think she would be ok in there for a few days till I get something more permanent set up. (I know, I know I should have had this sorted out before I got her, and I did, but now I'm not as sure as I was).

Ok well, thanks, and I'll post pics as soon as I can.

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AU Chief

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jun 28, 2008

I decided to go ahead and put her in one of my Q tanks, as the occupants are all only slightly smaller than her.

She has settled in nicely and hear are some pics:

Here she is in the bag.

You can see the blue spangling here, even though its not a great pic.

Here she is in her temporary home till the 75 is ready to go:

Another really bad pic, but you can tell how intense the red is.

I wish I was good at taking fish pictures so I could display just how beautiful she is. I was amazed to find her at wal-mart, since my LFS have never carried any with very good coloration.

She's about 1.5", so hopefully she'll keep getting along with her smaller tankmates long enough to get her new home resealed and fixed up.

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oscarlover43055

· #3 · Jun 28, 2008

My friend, it's called testosterone. They put it in the water before the fish get to Walmart and make the fish look like that. Did you notice how pretty the O's were? Wait about a good week and see what happens. Usually by then the fish lose there good colors. Cichlids are not supposed to look good early in there life, rater gaining colors as they age. actually a lot of them are kind of ugly if you have no respect for fish. IF the colors go away they will come back when the fish is an adult. Good luck with your Sal. Some good tank mates include Dempseys (big tank) and Firemouths. Give him or her hikari cichlid gold bio +. The spirulina really brings out there colors. Frozen brine shrimp 3 times a week. I had one one time that topped 7'' before a major power outage that made the electric go out for 13 days in mid winter. Water froze in the tank. Tank broke.

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AU Chief

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jun 29, 2008

There were others in the same tank nearly as nicely colored, so while you could be right, I didn't notice any of their other fish being any more brightly colored than at my LFS.

She's going to be growing up with my 6 Hartwegi fry, and some FM's in a 75. That is till the funds for the 180 arrive (hopefully August) and then who knows. I already fed her some Brine shrimp today and she'll be on flake food till she moved out of the quarintine tank. She's fitting right in for now and seems to think she's just one of the other fry.

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chrispyweld

· #5 · Jun 29, 2008

Salvini are just good looking fish even at a young age.

Where did you hear they put testosterone in their water? Sounds like it would cost more thasn the fish to me.

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oscarlover43055

· #6 · Jun 29, 2008

I read on many, many sites. Also have heard it through word of mouth. Wal-Mart doesn't do it. But the fish companies from over sees do. Sals will always look good when they get older even if they do lose there colors. I also saw some silver dollars at petland the other day that had hearts on there side. Someone had died them. Some had hearts, some had smilies. That was cruel.

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