Midas

That red devil seems to square off against most of the other fish in that tank at some stage or another. Makes sure they keep their distance I think. When you were there did you see the half size Jag cichlid in one of the bottom 6ft display tanks that had several oscars in it? They are now selling it for $50.

nope I didn't get it from that tank but one of the ones in the middle. Not sure what sex it is but it was the biggest one there. Do you know how to sex them??

Aquired a gold saum/green terror today. Another aggressive American cichlid to the collection (Midas, Jag, J.D., Texas, Convicts)

Has anyone ever tried setting up aquaterrariums? I'm thinking about setting one up in my 50L hex tank as I thought it would have enough height (~60cm) for a resonable level of water (wouldn't have much water volume though, 20-30L probably) and plants growing out over the top. Any advice/tips/comments on whether this would be suitable and good plants, fish etc?

yup

Haven't seen any juveniles. But about a year ago they had some half sized ones for sale that they apparently got off the Massey vet display tank. They may have been from the orginal batch they got in several years ago that Andrew mentioned and just hadn't been fed as much out at Massey as the ones at wet pets.

In the tank one below and one to the left of where the others used to be. They are in there with some snake skin gouramis and some other fish.

I think that they were sold as I was talking to the staff member that sold them today. Also, there is still one left when I was there today, but in a different tank to where the other three were.

] Cool, I made a correct ID then That would make their most up to date scientific name Vieja synspila and they normally would go by the more commonly used (more common overseas at least) names of Quetzal cichlid or Red headed cichlid.

these aren't dyed. Just their natural colours. Partly blue, partly reddy pink, a bit of grey too.

you can always comprimise and stick it on an angle.

should have let me know, could have met you out there.

Thats interesting, they had still them on Friday when I was there. Must have sold them over the weekend. Someone must have finally liked the look of them as they have been for sale for a long time. Were you intending to buy them?

I'm not sure what they are actually. Have wondered this myself before too. Some species of Vieja would be my best guess. Look kind of like Vieja synspila (Quetzal cichlid). Should ask Eric next time I see him there.

I have used the selleys glass silicone to glue rocks and it seems ok. Sticks a lot better to some rocks than others. I find it works quite well with smooth river stones as long as they are really clean. About the drill method, you really need an electrical 240V drill, preferably with a hammer setting and a using masonary bit. I know when I was doing drilling the rocks I had, I was using a hammer drill etc and it was still pretty tough going. I didn't even bother trying with my 12V hand held drill as it probably would have only made a dent, like you have probably found with your 9.6V.

yeah I have heard of them. They mention them a bit on another forum that I go to (cichlid forums). Apparently they are the result of a recessive trait that JD's can carry and they have just been selectivly bred.

Isn't Cichlasoma the older genus. It has been changed to Vieja, not the other way round as far as I can tell. Most central americans that were once in Cichlasoma seem to have been renamed with new genus names.

Has anyone ever heard of or come across this fish (vieja argentea)? It was in the latest issue of practical aquarium and my wife likes the look of it and wants one.

I had a G. balzani once. Had it till about 5" then I think it succumbed to the cammalanus worms I had.

They still have the 4 of them there and they are still in the same tanks as before. Except for the one with no tail the others are looking ok. Not sure if they put any salt in there or not. They are $14 each.

I used this method to stick some rocks together once. Except as well as putting the plastic dowel to hold them I used some silcone as well. I had problems in that the rock seemed very hard. They were grey river stones, not sure what they were made up of exactly. Using a hammer drill and masonary bits of various sizes the fastest I could drill through them was about 1cm an hour. I gave up after only a few rocks. But never the less the ones that I did persist with and stick together worked very well. Hope your rocks are softer if you try this.

Further reason for the pH to drop from fish waste is that the nitrification process that converts ammonia to nitrate has an acidifiying effect. A good reference to this is the link below. http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/filtration/nitrification.htm Basically, as the bacteria convert ammonia to nitrate bicarbonate is consumed and carbonic acid is produced, lowering the alkalinity of the water and decreasing pH.