ryanjury

Pricing depends on supply and demand not necassarily on how easy fish are to breed.. Yes if everyone bred firemouths then the price would go down but noone really does seem to. They are very easy to breed and are generally good parents, when I was younger I bred them in a 2ft tank would recommend a descent sized 3ft for an adult pair (can get away with smaller when young). When you want to breed them and mix them with other fish there can be problems with aggression, lionheads would probably be ok in your larger tank if there were hidey holes as they tend to hide alot anyway but they would pick off babies. Rams are harder, I struggle to keep them alive I have had 10+ pairs of them over the years and always had them die on me. I haven't been slack either for the last 6-7 pairs I wormed them did lots of good water changes kept everything perfect and they just died. I even had no luck with the nzbred ones that I had, they seem very fragile (what your local petshop tells you should confirm this) and if your wife doesn't like you wasting your $$'s I wouldn't recommend them. A nice pair of dwarf flags or other dwarfs or something like that would be good or you could try some livebearers in the smaller tank?

lol yes I was being diplomatic there caserole but yeah the odds of it working were slim, I had hoped that when Cam saw his fish smashing each other then he would remove and save them, sounds like he has a good plan now though. Phoenix you seem to have fish that do things that go against everything else I have seen and read around the net, you have blue rams that raise babies to adulthood and not eat their fry when they want to spawn again like all the south american pair forming cichlids I have kept or researched. Usually they drive off their babies and if the babies cant hide they are eaten. Phonenix you bring up some interesting random information I know you mention studies have you found any to back up your theories? I thought that the fishes way of ensuring their genes survive is to select the strongest biggest most colourful mates, and then breed guard their eggs and let their babies survive? Nature would decide which ones are the strongest, smartest and fastest and live to adulthood? I didn't think that subsequent batches would be any stronger or weaker genetically than previous ones (assuming same conditions and parents) nor that the parents would be able to tell esp if they are eating wrigglers, can understand if the eggs are infertile and they eat them. Personally I think it is genetic and I think that the rams are getting so inbred, mass produced and so far away from nature they are loosing instincts (like raising their babies) which they need as a species to survive in nature. I have kept many pairs and not seen any that are descent parents was amazed to see Bilbo's looking after their babies it was a shame they didn't again

It is quite often suggested to stick something tough in the tank with them so they concentrate on beating that fish up rather than eating the eggs, another way is to put them in a tank with a divider so they can see the other fish and still be all protective but the other fish can't eat the eggs.. Personally I would say 60L is too small for both pairs to establish territories and be happy it will be interesting to see if they get along.

The female doesn't need the male as long as she is pregnant.. Female fighter may eat the babies if you stick her in there, you might be able to put the fighter in a guppy trap or something like that so she cant get them. Without knowing any of the symptoms or further details (tank size, tank mates, water tests, maintenance etc) then its hard to even guess why your fish died.

The way I understand it gold is a recessive colour bred out of the blues. So if you crossed a gold and a blue and the blue didn't carry gold genes the you would still get a normal blue but carrying gold genes you wouldn't get a funny in between fish.. That is what I think happens but I haven't seen any proof of the origin of the gold rams or have much knowledge of the genetics involved...

Yep it does suck sometimes.. There were some flashers in NZ but think they all died off might still be some people hording them but they aren't advertising the fact.. these guys http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en ... a=N&tab=wi

I think this is very unlikely, more than likely they are just poor quality blues or stressed/sick.. Seems there have been some better quality ones coming through lately but it is probably hit and miss..

Yellows can breed at 4cm TL so don't be surprised if she is quite small and holding.. She wont have many fry though maybe only 8-10. Generally they hold for 3-4weeks before they spit some of them hold on longer though. You can strip her anytime from now on if they aren't fully free swimming you just need to stick them in a guppy trap or small tank with an airstone to keep them moving around, if the egg sack is quite small then they can just go into a small tank with sponge filter or guppy trap for a few weeks (I usually do this if I can to feed them up while they're small). There are a few advantages to stripping one is the fish doesn't as run down because they are only holding for around 2 weeks as opposed to 4 weeks. Another advantage is you don't have to remove her from the tank as you do when you let them spit, this means she wont loose her place in the colony so it will be less stress on herself. When you stick her back after letting her spit she will have to fight her way back into the tank and may be bullied, some fish are ok some aren't so it can be a problem. Or you can stick the mother in her own tank to spit when she is ready to, the java moss and a few rocks will be ok, some people say they do eat their own babies some say they don't I usually strip my fish so don't know. Yellows are pretty good survivors you usually see a few in most peoples tanks if they let them spit but you won't have good numbers survive or you might have none at all.

I am pretty sure they are the same as the normal blue rams we get? Maybe they are bred in Germany and don't kark it as easily as the asian ones or something but doing a quick google search doesn't bring up any differences.

Shouldn't be too hard to ship him down you need a big bag heatpad etc just pack him up well double bagged with thick bags so he cant pierce them and you should be sweet.. I shipped a bigger front than that upto Auckland sent him friday afternoon for a weekend delivery and he got lost and delivered on Monday and he was still fine.

lol I wish I haven't seen any but if you find some get some for me too http://images.google.co.nz/images?hl=en ... 4&ct=title Have you checked the list to see if they're allowed?

As Caryl said.. Fish are funny things and changing their tanks around or tank mates can all of a sudden cause them to start packing a sad and hiding and then freaking out whenever you walk past.. I have found that the position of the tank has something to do with it have found tanks near doorways or doors freak out when doors are opened or people walk through or tanks in direct sunlight sometimes they just spaz out.. With the africans adding more confident fish would help (lol however I add my grow out dolphins to tanks this happens to as they are usually always out in the open and happy). Or you can just wait it out, maybe add some more hiding holes (or take some away if there are too many). Probably before you do too much just wait and see if they settle because sticking your hands in there and changing too much stuff will just freak them out more.

lol I am confused you said you had been sending fish (in a dwarf cichlid thread) upto Auckland for the last 3 years and then you haven't found any? lol Generally nice africans that people don't know what they are esp peacocks are not worth bothering with. There might be some gems out there but most of them are snapped up by the people in the know at the wholesale level.

Sounds like normal holding behaviour to me, except for maybe the rest at a strange angle most of my fish go and hide but some chill out in the back corners of the tanks.. Other signs she is holding: Mouth not opening as much as other fish in tank.. Gill plates opening more than other fish (helpful if you can only see her from behind etc).

Ditto

Wow thats an awesome thing to do Phoenix. Do you know someone locally who imports fish Phoenix? What species have you been sending upto Auckland? How are you getting access to them when your friend in Auckland cannot up there? Would love to get in touch with him and see what he has.. Apisto's aren't that hard to breed really so if he is having no luck maybe you sending them to the wrong places? If you do find anything interesting there are at least 3 of us locally that have a few tanks and are keen on dwarf cichlids and are looking for descent fish to breed and spread around, so feel free to PM myself or Bilbo. Our belief is that fish keepers should always be able to source healthy quality dwarf cichlids and it is frustrating as anything that we just cannot find the fish. These fish need to get into the right hands and be bred in numbers so they get spread the length and breath of NZ so that there are soo many of them we are not just relying on 1 or 2 people to breed them and they are likely to be around for everyone to enjoy.

Yes those germans to produce some very nice fish its a shame we don't get more from there.. Personally I wouldn't be asking why we don't get albino "Apistos,Rams, Nannacara" I would be asking why we hardly even get ANY descent apisto's/nanncara in NZ..

lol Exactly what I was thinking.. What can you do to a filter apart from turning it on and off and you ideally want it running 24/7? Maybe they're going to market it as a power saver running it for half an hour every hour or something. Sounds like marketing to me can just see people in the shops "this is the top of the line filter you can even program it with your computer".

I have seen companies that import a car for you, can't remember any names but should be easy to find just google around.. Think the story was, you find the pay on the online auction sites buy it and pay a fee for them to bring it into the country. I haven't tried it so don't know how it works but apparently works out cheaper. I think you can still do it all yourself and maybe save money but think it is probably one of those things that will be a nightmare to coordinate without the proper knowledge and contacts.

I did this to mine.. I had just stuck a whole heap of new media in it and some of the chunks were small enough to go through the buckets and get jammed in the impeller, found it sweet as but dropped the impeller and broke it had to get a new one not cheap luckily I had fish the shop wanted.. lol so don't do that

Just like discus oscars and some other cichlids 2 females will pair up and breed.. Both will usually guard the fuzzballs that result.. It is very easy to figure out just watch them lay if you can, females bits are big and broad and stick out, males bits are more like little pimples, also if they're both laying eggs its a bad sign. You can usually tell some difference in their bits in the days leading upto spawning too.

Occasional flicking off stuff is relatively normal.. Sometimes its a sign of something nasty in the water, parasites (you should see some other signs of this ie white spot or actual things stuck to the fish). As long as the fish is happy healthy and eating and not smashing around the tank rubbing on stuff all the time I probably wouldn't stress too much..

lol he said 2mm Caserole The mystery fry game is fun though..

I don't see why you couldn't use it. If it contains shells it would raise the ph, salt should be easily washed out probably no need to boil it if its from the sea any freshwater nasties will be dead, just rinse out the salt. I guess some sands are also iron based so they might not be ideal.. You would need to grade it somehow to make sure you got rid of the really fine stuff or your tank will always be murky and filters filled with it.

Aggression or breeding type thing.. It is generally a show of who is stronger, when breeding it is to see if ones mate is strong enough to breed with (natural selection only the best will breed), with dominance it is deciding who is stronger so they become the boss of the tank. It is usually harmless but watch out for any damage getting infected.