Jump to content

My first African tank - Yellow labs and Demasonis (pics!)


Ktttk

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 83
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

An update on the peacocks in the tank - the male is developing more colour now...

PP0039_1.jpg

... so much so that he's managed to score with one of the 4 ladies.. 8)

PP0040_1.jpg

This will be the first time they have spawned so am I right to not expect too much from this?

Hi Kenneth

I know cameras can do odd things to the true color of Fish but is you peacock Yellow? as he looks a bit orange :-? I had the same situation with with My Jacob lighting in the tank made the photos of him look very orange!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know cameras can do odd things to the true color of Fish but is you peacock Yellow? as he looks a bit orange I had the same situation with with My Jacob lighting in the tank made the photos of him look very orange!

Even tank lighting, he looks to have a darkish orange-yellow - so I think the photo is a good representation of his colour - albeit the flash in the pic makes his colouring a little brigher. He is definitely not the bright yellow that you see with many mature male baenschi but I'm hoping this will develop as he matures further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even tank lighting, he looks to have a darkish orange-yellow - so I think the photo is a good representation of his colour - albeit the flash in the pic makes his colouring a little brigher. He is definitely not the bright yellow that you see with many mature male baenschi but I'm hoping this will develop as he matures further.

Right his is still gook looking ! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the setup you have it looks great with the sand and you've got my 2 favourite cichlids in there (Yellow labs and Demasonis) which make me like it even more :lol: 8) . Nice setup :hail::hail: .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the comments.

The only small downside at the moment is that the fish are quite shy and skittish. They'll only start coming out of the hidey holes and swimming around when its near feeding time in the evening.. I'd like to see them out and about a bit more.

I was wondering if I should add more fish :D .. maybe another open water species like electra.. I thought the cherry barbs would act as dither fish, but they don't seem to have that effect.. and the WMCCs have all but disappeared.. I'm pretty sure the peacocks are the culprits :evil: Thats probably why they are in good breeding condition.. oh and there's another peacock holding too :bounce:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats weird that they're not out and about you have alot of fish in there, is the tank in a weird position like in sunlight or anything?

Electra's would outgrow your tank they get big, I would have thought the cherry barbs would have done the trick are they out and about and happy?

Sorry to hear about the WCMM's also, glad to hear the baenshi have breed breeding, are you going to strip or leave them be? Has the male coloured up at all yet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's no direct sunlight on the tank.

Maybe I should remove some bricks and see what happens. I think there are a couple of yellows in there who are very skittish. It only takes one of them to suddenly dart off for no apparent reason for the rest to follow suit.

I posted a pic of the baenschi male a few posts back.. his colour is building nicely. I don't plan to strip the females - instead I have made a little mobile rock pile that allows me to remove the baby fish - it'll be cool if it works - I'll most of pics of it later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good luck with getting your fish out and about it is frustrating thats for sure, and like you said it only takes one skittish fish and they all disappear, I have found that the position of tanks does this to fish I have one tank in my fishroom no matter how confident the fish is or how many fish I add the fish all hide, its right next to the door so maybe that has something to do with it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the tank is facing the door so they will dart about when you enter the room - but there is no way of moving the tank at this stage. I find that its the yellows to tend who initiate the panic - the peacocks are the most confident and the demasonis aren't too bad at all. Maybe I should take out a few yellows.. I was planning to anyway cos I have too many of them..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well the tank is facing the door so they will dart about when you enter the room - but there is no way of moving the tank at this stage. I find that its the yellows to tend who initiate the panic - the peacocks are the most confident and the demasonis aren't too bad at all. Maybe I should take out a few yellows.. I was planning to anyway cos I have too many of them..

We have the same sort of issue with the tank in the kitchen :-? As we are always in there and the house is if the ground, seems to make it quake a bit :D But we have found the fish settle in after they get use to it !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moving the tank will be a last resort.. :-?

I'm gna play with the idea of rearranging some of the brick around first.. and maybe have something thats automated to move back and forth in front of the tank so they can get use to the movement.. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have added more fish to the African tank!

I picked up 5 young electras from Johannes yesterday. My reason for adding these fish is that they will hopefully give the yellows and dems more confidence to swim about. And I'm happy to say that it seems to be working! The electras like to swim out in the open just above the sand and don't hide in the brick work at all - i guess thats because they are an open water fish. I know they can get quite big but I'll deal with that when the time comes.. 8)

PP0045_1.jpg

PP0046_1.jpg

PP0047_1.jpg

PP0044_1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have added more fish to the African tank!

I picked up 5 young electras from Johannes yesterday. My reason for adding these fish is that they will hopefully give the yellows and dems more confidence to swim about. And I'm happy to say that it seems to be working! The electras like to swim out in the open just above the sand and don't hide in the brick work at all - i guess thats because they are an open water fish. I know they can get quite big but I'll deal with that when the time comes.. 8)

Happy it's working!

:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

An update on the tank...

Remember the female peacock that was holding (post on page 4)... well its been a little over two weeks since I spotted her holding. I had a closer look at her tonight and saw that her throat (buccal cavity) is very distended and every now and then when she turns to face me, I can make out little eyes staring out from the small gap in her mouth. So I decided to have my first ever attempt at stripping fry from a cichlid!!

The first part, which proved to be the hardest part, was to catch the fish!! :-? She eluded me for the best part of half an hour by swimming under the bricks, over the bricks, through the bricks and continually past my net... :evil: So I stood back, had a think and came up with an idea. I waited till she swam into one of the holes in the bricks and then quickly plugged both ends of the hole using some filter sponge. This ended up working a treat!! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Once she was trapped, I removed the entire brick, took out one of the filter sponges and emptied her into a bucket where I then proceeded to strip her following the video posted on cichlid-forum.

I counted 30+ fry.

They are now swimming happily inside a floating container in the tank.

And here are some pics of the fry...

PP0061_1.jpg

PP0057_1.jpg

PP0059_1.jpg

PP0065_1.jpg

PP0066_1.jpg

The floating container is about the size of a 2L ice cream tub.

How long can I keep them in there for? I am not too keen on setting up another tank at the moment.. I wonder if I can keep them in the container till they are big enough to be released into the tank with the others.. But there are already 40+ fish in the tank.. :-?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow looking good my baenshi had a massive brood first off too :) Has the male coloured up yet?

If there is water flow through the ice cream container and they're getting nice clean fresh water you can leave them in there until they're 2-3cm's as this is one of the major limiting factors to leaving fish in smaller containers..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...

×
×
  • Create New...