[Rhinox]

Hey everyone, I was just looking for opinions for what you guys would look for in determining a best looking male rusty out of a group of males?

I've got 4 males in my tanks. 1 in my display, and 3 chilling out alone in a 33XL until I figure out what I want to do with them.

I know what matters most is personal preference, but lets say for a moment I don't have a preference. Is a lot of purple desireable, or is there a certain ratio of purple:rusty coloring that is desireble?

I know pics would help, but these guys are just too hard to get pics of.

On another interesting note, its been a month or 2 since the 3 male rusties have been sharing the 33XL. I'm surprised they're all still tolerating each other, and none of them have ended up dead yet. :roll: :fish:

 

[Glaneon]

I heard Rusties are about as mellow as Acei & Yellow Labs.

I wasn't surprised to hear they're getting along.

 

[GTZ]

Found some discussion and pics...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... highlight=

 

[benny71]

I heard Rusties are about as mellow as Acei & Yellow Labs.

I'd say they are even more mellow.

To answer TS' question, I like a bold(yet light) purple with light orange fins and head.

I'll take a picture of my 2 favorite males later if I remember.

 

[Rhinox]

Thanks for the comments. I think my best bet will be to take a quick video of my different males if I can and post them here for comparison.

The male in my display is nice. If you go to the video in my sig and fast forward to the last 30 seconds or so, you'll get a good glimpse of him. He's... feisty. He's always going after the females. I'm going to add a few more females because of him to keep him satisfied.

In the 33XL, 1 of the males shows a higher % of purple on his body, but is overall kinda pale, which I attributed to being in a smaller tank with only 2 other male rusties and no females. I've been wondering if he were in the display as the only male with the 4 females, if he might color up even more and end up looking better than the one that is currently in there.

Another of the other males shows some barring still, but was able to turn his entire body a deep, dark purple, with almost no orange. Not something I consider a desireable trait for a rusty, but pretty neat looking. I wouldn't keep him though.

The last male has his color almost completely turned off, because he's the least dominant. I can tell his % of purple is pretty close to the one currently in my display. I bet in a proper setup, he'd color up nicely and be a fine specimen just like the one currently in my display, but unfortunately I can't keep them all.

Regarding rusty temperment, my experience says they're not more mellow than labs and aceis. I have them all in the same tank. As I said, the male rusty in my display is very feisty. He's not satisfied by his 4 females. At one point, all 4 were holding concurrently. He hasn't harmed them, but the females often retreat to the upper corners of the tank for a few minutes to escape the persuit. Lately, I've even been noticing the females lashing out at each other. I will also note that currently, the rusties are the only species in the tank successfully spawning. Usually, the most dominant species in the tank will spawn most often.

The labs and aceis are much more mellow in my tank. I haven't even tried to get them in a proper ratio yet, and they have also been around 3-4 months longer than the rusties. The rusties haven't made it a year yet, while the labs and aceis just passed 14 months.

I know individual fish are different though, and my one experience isn't enough to prove or disprove a generalization, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[CichMomma]

My dominant male Rusty is a total, complete jerk. He is currently in a tank by himself because he is such a bully. Overall, I think it's safe to say that the species in general may be more mellow, but you do get the individual fish that prove that wrong.

 

[Aura]

I would never describe my rusties as mellow. I have three nasty tempered males there are two that are always challenging each other for the role of the dominant one. They've been together for a few years now and neither has given in. :?

Coloring looks like this most of the time, but they do show bars or lighter color when they are fighting. Rhinox, the one in your video looks like it's colored a lot like mine.

A little video of two of the males going at it.

 

[larry.beck]

My rusties aren't mellow either. In fact, I had them in a 55g dem/lab tank and decided to move them to my 125g with my more aggressive fish.

 

[malawimix]

+1 on the rusties NOT being mellow.

 

[master chi]

yup my rusties also are not as mellow as often described

although my males aggression seems to be toward rusties only they dont bother the labs or zebras at all.

I think because the males don't dig they spend more time trying to breed.

 

[Jmanolinsky]

My Rusties are the most aggressive fish in my tank. My Saulosi and Red Zebra are quite mild by comparison. I hope mine get as pretty as the ones pictured above! Nice fish.

 

[Rhinox]

Alright, since I suck at taking pictures of my fish (and I don't have the camera to do it properly anyways), here's a couple short videos that best represent my rusties.

First up is the male rusty currently in my display, in all/most of his glory. He's got 4 females to chase around, and no other males. None of the females are ready to spawn yet, so he does get a little brighter when its time to get busy:

Second is a vid showing all 3 males in the 33XL. Should see all you need to see within the first 30 seconds. I sat there filming them for a while before the nice male finally came out of the center rock pile for me and actually posed! Even with no females, and only the 3 male rusties in the tank, he's looking better and better every day. Even the second in line in the 33XL doesn't look half bad either. The 3rd one hasn't ever shown any color yet.

So enjoy and let me know what you think. If need be, I'll try to capture a couple stills from the video for those who don't want to spend a couple minutes watching the videos, but I'm feeling a little lazy right now so I'd rather not

So what do you guys think? Which male would you keep?

P.S. I think the first related video for each of these is a video of some nice looking rusties fighting. After the first 2 thoughts of "awww poor rusties" and "wow I hop my male looks that good when he's all fully grown" was, "this is why I won't have more than 1 male rusty in my tank", but also "wow, those were 3 nicely colored full grown male rusties in the same tank without any torn fins, liplocking be ******".

 

[cantrell00]

How long (or old) is the male in the video?

Mine are about 1" long & look entirely brown with light orange at the edge of their dorsal fin.... Other than in photos/videos, I have never seen them as adults..

Here is a pic of one

Thanks..

 

[Rhinox]

How long (or old) is the male in the video?

All the males in both videos are ~3". I purchased them sometime in the middle of march last year at ~1"-1.5". I had 4 males and 4 females. Within a month or 2, the dominant male was already showing hints of purple coloring. The females never show purple, but get lighter and darker, slightly, and the males clearly outgrow them.

 

[cantrell00]

Thanks...

As for which one you would like to keep, it is hard for me to say. Honestly, you could flip a coin & not go wrong. They are all very nice looking fish! :thumb:

 

[Aura]

P.S. I think the first related video for each of these is a video of some nice looking rusties fighting. After the first 2 thoughts of "awww poor rusties" and "wow I hop my male looks that good when he's all fully grown" was, "this is why I won't have more than 1 male rusty in my tank", but also "wow, those were 3 nicely colored full grown male rusties in the same tank without any torn fins, liplocking be forsaken".

I saw two different first choices on the related vids. One was mine fighting.

I agree that all of yours look nice. I'd have a tough time choosing one.

 

[Rhinox]

Hey, I have a question.

You know how demasoni are ketp in larger groups, but they still only count as one species 'slot' in stocking recommendations because they're dwarf, right? Well, do you guys think I could do something similiar with rusties? You think I could keep, say, 3 males and 9-12 females, and not take up more than 1 species slot? Rusties are just as dwarf as demasoni in size, and couldn't possibly exhibit more conspecific aggression as dems, so I guess its a matter of territorial requirements and aggression towards other species. Think it could work though?

Then I can keep all 3 colored up males

 

[cantrell00]

Are they going in the 125?

My philosophy is to allow it to work for as long as it will...

Basically, try it & see what happens..

 

[DJRansome]

From the posts I have read about rusties, they are not nearly as laid back as their reputation. Like for demasoni, acei and labs you hear m:f does not matter. But for rusties the reco seems always to be one male.

So I'm thinking maybe not. But I HAVE heard that said about Saulosi...some occasional mentions that other groups recommend stocking them like demasoni.

 

[GTZ]

You know how demasoni are ketp in larger groups, but they still only count as one species 'slot' in stocking recommendations because they're dwarf, right?

I've always thought of Demasoni as a 2 slot species. No?