Flameback

[GeeTee]

I recently bought this Flameback from the lfs and thought it would colour up once home in its new environment.It has settled in well as it has already had one of the females holding after 2-3 weeks.

It is still lacking colour though.

I was in the lfs today and saw some nice colourful males in there and they are what I expected of my fish.

My fish also has no ventral fins.The lfs called him a slider,keeping close to the bottom he said,wearing them down or stunting them???Sounded a bit suss to me,please correct me if I'm wrong.

He also gets that nice blue around his head

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1548

This is a link to what I expected.The fish at the lfs didn' quite have the colour of this one.I am considering exchanging him for a more colourful one.

[Zev]

Not exactly glowing red, is he? How long have you had him, and did the LFS tell you that he would colour up? If they did, I'd want to swap him for a better coloured one. You don't want your young ones to turn out this colour and with no ventral fins as well.

ps do they loose their colour as they get older?

[JoandWilly]

What is his size compared to the size they get to? he could still be a juvie, but if he's warn down his fins from slidding along the bottom that would worry me a bit.

[GeeTee]

He'd only be 2 inches long but the fish in the lfs are the same size and very nice colour.

As I said before he is old enough to have a female holding.

After posting last night I went to the tank to find him really going through the motions,dancing and flicking etc but the colour was the same.Just tends to get darker when he is performing

.

This is what he should be

[herefishiefishie]

For a start he is only a young fella. 2 inches, as in not even 5cm? e is still very young. I have had these breed at 3cm's when I was a lfs worker. Give him another 6 months at least.

2nd, unless you nuke him with colour inhancer, the flamebacks have been very well bred here in Australia & I have never seen one as good as the one in the pic supplied. They still grow to a nice looking fish, just take time, or you may have a bad blood line.

3rd, ask the shop what they are feeding theirs? They could be nukeing them.

4th, try a nice food like spectrum or anything with spirulina in it, or astaxathan will help bring out the red.....beware some fish foods though, too strong.

Hope you have a few females, they can harrass the girls to death, as in he can go all day every day lol.

I have seen a male rule a 10.5ft tank, as in no other male flameback stood a chance. Ah, Brad.

Frenchy

[GeeTee]

Just checking you know my fish is the one in the top pic not the bright one.

My main concern was the fact that the fish in the lfs 2 days ago had great colour at the same size or a bit smaller.

I am feeding them on a spirulina as well as other things.

He has 3 females to look after at the moment.

When you talk nukeing I imagine this is feeding something special???

Don't get me wrong about this fish he is a great looking fish I was just after an immediate centre piece and that didn't happen.

When buying a "GOOD QUALITY" feed for your fish how do we know what is good quality?At the moment I look for the protien %age and buy that.I can't get excited about buying one that says good quality because more often then not they are no better than anything else.

What are cood colour enhancers?

[herefishiefishie]

I meant that ones here dont get as nice as the one you linked.

Get a food product from spectrum, or something like tetra bits. Anything with a high % of krill, shrimps... seems to work to.

Protein values be careful, to much is no good too. "But" that all depends on what type of protein too. Spirulina is 60 odd % protein, but its a vegie protein. So that is still easily digested by fish.

I read a univeristy study I think anything over 45% is to hard for fish{general} to digest.

When I say nuke, some lfs use a product from White Crane. It is 60% protein & very high in Astaxathans. {IMO} be very careful with this food product, it is {IMO} hard on the fishies internals & can also colour up females, which isn't adviseable in your case either. Meant to be fed in small doses. {IMO} This is the one food product I suggest caution with.

Some shops use this as it is easier to sell a coloured cichlid at 3cm, than a dull one.

Ask the shop what they feed theirs?

I feed my cichlids,

Spectrum Cichlid Formula,

HBH Veggie Flake & Flake Fenzy.

Sometimes Krill Flakes, JB{bit dearer but nice food. A european reccomended I use/try it & he breeds what ever he touches :lol: b..tard}

Hikari Frozen Mysis Shrimp,

& Live brine shrimp as a treat.

In a book called Enjoying Cichlids. {Editor Ad Konnings} in the feeding section, Kjell Fohrman did a food trial with red zebras. He found best results, {colour} were with a home made food.

He concluded the best food is whole shrimps with Spirulina.

I used to make my own food when all my tanks were malawi's. But with Alto's & the like, not worth me making up. I see some shops{in Brisbane anyway} are now selling home made food. Could be an avenue to look at.

Glad to here about 3 females, plenty of rock work is good to. Good luck with them. If the shop only feeds standard foods, maybe do a swap & see how that goes.

Frenchy

[GeeTee]

Thanks Frenchie,very informative

[herefishiefishie]

I edited the above post, put more bits & bobs in.

Frenchy

[GeeTee]

I couldn't help myself and took the male and swapped him for a more colourful one on the weekend.

When I introduced him to the tank the "female" that was holding previously started to chase him around the tank as if it was a male as well.So he now keeps well away from this one fish.

I have read before that some cichlids pretend to be the opposite sex to be left alone(males in particular I guess).

So is it possible that this fish "female" went through the motions of holding etc (also did not eat for a week) to be left alone, or it maybe just a cranky woman thing???

[Zev]

How about a picture of the new boy?

[GeeTee]

Not very clear but shows the colour ok.

The stripes are a bit darker until you get close with the camera and then most of the colour goes.

Had to take this one from a distance.

[Zev]

Wow, totally different animal, isn't he? And he appears to have all his fins!

What do the other two girls think of him?

[GeeTee]

Sometimes they chase him, sometimes he chases them.Not sure what to make of it all yet.

But I am vary happy with the colour of this one.

[herefishiefishie]

That is a nicer male.

Funny you bring up what is known as plastic sexing. It is very common with marine fishes. Clown fish, cleaner wrasse... are examples.

Some time ago I put up a post on QCF year or 2 ago. I had Xmas Fulus, very similar to Flamebacks.

Trying to remember story, I had a trio 1m 2f. Lovely very dominant male. One day I spotted 2m{coloured nicely}& 1f in a LFS. Good price, 6 foot tank at home, they should be fine no worries.

Well, The dominant male chased the 2 other males all over the tank. A few days later one male had died. But in the middle of the next week I noticed 4 Fulus all holding?!?! :-? Happy little colony for 6 months, then I moved, changed setup....

With the post up on forum, only had one response that had any idea, what I posted. That was a lfs owner 20 plus years experience, he mentioned sexually plastic. So I looked into it, a very good book, fully referenced & easy to read is, in this is a chapter in Plastic Sex.

The Cichlid Fishes {Natures Grand Experiment in Evolution}

By George W. Barlow.

In your case I think that the number one female is unhappy a new male is in her territory & while she is holding eggs of another male, she will chase him away, as would the old male if still there. A suggestion would be to take female out, re arrange the whole tank & add the female back into the tank when she is finished with the current brood.

But, :roll: Be careful, I have had a female Burtoni{once again similarbehaviours to flamebacks} beat up & kill a male, when I did a similar thing to you.{as in found a nicer looking male, he just didn't charm the ladies}

Frenchy

[MRSkz]

Hey frenchy, you mentioned you made your own food for malawi's right? I'd love to know what you put in it, having an all malawi tank myself. Also was wondering if you ever turned your hand at dwarfs, apistos, kirbs...the like? If you have, and done the home made food for them, what you'd stick in there. I can't stay away from the malawi's or the agassizi's :lol:

Thanks

MRS kz

[GeeTee]

The female is no longer holding,it was her first time in this tank(maybe first time)held for 1 week then I reckon I saw her spit what looked like "egg shells", and not long after that was no longer holding.This happened a week ago.

I think I'll do a google on the plastic sex and see what I find.

[GeeTee]

Came home to find him dominant and chasing 3 females.Big difference in colour and attitude.

Top photo a couple of days ago.

Bottom pic today.

[herefishiefishie]

Sweet, you will notice the black & red get stronger even more as he grows. Glad to see he is showing off to the girls and struting his stuff.

The food recipe,

1kg whole prawns

1kg green peas, frozen

10ml of Spirulina Powder

100grams of gelatin

10 drops of concentrated multivitamins

you can vary on this, add fish food,(no mammalian fat), some add a lttle garlic....

Blender needed too.

Blend prawns & peas, Grind to a finemass.

Then add spirulina, multi vits, mix in.

Dissolve gelatin are per instructions on packet.

It must be an easy flowing, sticky mass with no lumps.

Mix in gelatin to the shrimp mix, mix thoroughly. Best way is to add shrimp mix to the gelatin one scoop or 2 at a time, prevents gelatin mix cooling to quickly.

Poor mixture into a flat tray refrigerate for some hours.

Then cut pieces into convienient sizes, place into plastic bags, cling wrap...in the freezer.

Once frozen very hard to cut.

Remember this food is very high in nutritional value, so will pollute water quickier than dry food, so only use once a day.

Lovely Jubbly

Frenchy