Some of my WC South Americans
- Thread starter Aquanero
- Start date
Thanks
Haha no sorry, just fish.
Great pics and stock Tom!I've always liked the heckel's
Thanks, I always wanted to try Heckels. They aren't as diffacult as I thought they would be. I filter through peat and that's about it nothing really special. Subdued lighting is about the only other thing. Breeding them is a whole other ball game.
Thank you.
A guy in our club (CCA) bred heckels a couple of years ago. German guy who's since moved back out of the country...
If I remember, it was triggered by a big water change after a longer-than-usual time without and a storm (i.e. changing barometric pressure).
It's a really rare happening, though!
Matt
If I remember, it was triggered by a big water change after a longer-than-usual time without and a storm (i.e. changing barometric pressure).
It's a really rare happening, though!
Matt
A guy named Attila Lukács from Budapest bred Rio Negro Heckel eairlier this year.
Below is a quote from a post about the water perameters.
"Here are the 'happy water parameters' as of yesterday evening:
pH: 4.7, EC: 60mS, NO3: somewhere between 0 and 10.
The pure RO-water used for the w/c's has an EC of about 10mS, the extra 50 comes from the life in the tank (food, etc.). The tap water I mentioned earlier is no longer present (or detectable) in the tank, it was only added before the long vacation to provide a bit of pH buffer while a not-so-very-competent person looked after the fish.
Otherwise there is nothing added to bring the pH down, time and the filtration takes care of this. Attila used to filter the prepp'ed water through peat, but he gave up on it as the fish didn't like it nearly as much as the pure RO. (I had the same observation re Xingús and peat.)
The parent fish arrived in early March 2009 as semi-adult fish, since then they have been in the same tank that's located in a corner of the kitchen, right next to a door, so there has always been relatively heavy traffic around the tank, which they seem to have gotten used to. They are fed primarily on a variety of frozen foods, discus granules and occasionally on fruits. What they accept and enjoy of the latter is very much mood (or season, flavour, etc.?) dependant. (Again, the same as with my Xingús.)
Approx. 36 hours after spawning, more than 90% percent of the eggs look nice and viable, the odd fungussed ones the parents pick out. There are about 100 eggs as we speak. More pics to follow tomorrow. Temp was 29C."
Below is a quote from a post about the water perameters.
"Here are the 'happy water parameters' as of yesterday evening:
pH: 4.7, EC: 60mS, NO3: somewhere between 0 and 10.
The pure RO-water used for the w/c's has an EC of about 10mS, the extra 50 comes from the life in the tank (food, etc.). The tap water I mentioned earlier is no longer present (or detectable) in the tank, it was only added before the long vacation to provide a bit of pH buffer while a not-so-very-competent person looked after the fish.
Otherwise there is nothing added to bring the pH down, time and the filtration takes care of this. Attila used to filter the prepp'ed water through peat, but he gave up on it as the fish didn't like it nearly as much as the pure RO. (I had the same observation re Xingús and peat.)
The parent fish arrived in early March 2009 as semi-adult fish, since then they have been in the same tank that's located in a corner of the kitchen, right next to a door, so there has always been relatively heavy traffic around the tank, which they seem to have gotten used to. They are fed primarily on a variety of frozen foods, discus granules and occasionally on fruits. What they accept and enjoy of the latter is very much mood (or season, flavour, etc.?) dependant. (Again, the same as with my Xingús.)
Approx. 36 hours after spawning, more than 90% percent of the eggs look nice and viable, the odd fungussed ones the parents pick out. There are about 100 eggs as we speak. More pics to follow tomorrow. Temp was 29C."
Nice looking fish, Tom. P. leopoldi have always been on my list but I've never gotten any. I love that their shape is like a cross between Pterophyllum and Mesonauta.
The last time I checked, Al was still spawning my F0 Mesonauta acora. He may have moved on to F1s now. If anyone has gotten F1/F2 Mesonauta from Al that's probably what they are. I sent him my pairs a few years ago when I moved into my new house and had to get rid of some fish. The females were small, around 4", but the males were easily twice that size.
People never believe me when I tell them that Mesonauta are a bit snippy with other fish. Males can be really nasty if they want to be. Wild angels are that way too, for that matter. They're nothing like the domestics you find at the LFS.
The last time I checked, Al was still spawning my F0 Mesonauta acora. He may have moved on to F1s now. If anyone has gotten F1/F2 Mesonauta from Al that's probably what they are. I sent him my pairs a few years ago when I moved into my new house and had to get rid of some fish. The females were small, around 4", but the males were easily twice that size.
People never believe me when I tell them that Mesonauta are a bit snippy with other fish. Males can be really nasty if they want to be. Wild angels are that way too, for that matter. They're nothing like the domestics you find at the LFS.
Yes Ryan you are correct Al has M. Acora I got my species confused. I'm surprized they got that big.
The thing with Mesonauta is keeping them in a group of 5 or more. If kept in a group they only pay attention to themselves and once the pecking order is established they are relativly mellow but do joust among themselves. One thing I found fasinating was the way the angels (Peruvian Scalare) and festavum mixed together and would just hang out as if they were the same species. Any jousting that occured however was only conspecific and rarly ever occured between the two it was a very interesting dynamic. I have since seperated them. If you ever tried to keep a single festavum they can be very nasty towards tank mates and are not the mellow little guys people think they are.
The Leopoldi are and interesting species to keep too. They are very much like festavum in their actions but yet like angels too at the same time. Like I said before I think they are the most aggressive angelfish species, not bad no damage just less tolerant of others. Once you own them you can definatly see how they bridge the evolutionary gap between the species.
I'm also starting to see signs of growth in the Altums. I put four small Rams in the tank with them and they seem much more secure and the compatition for food has caused them to feed more agressivly. If this works out I'm thinking of getting a few more. So far the "Big Year" is looking good.
The thing with Mesonauta is keeping them in a group of 5 or more. If kept in a group they only pay attention to themselves and once the pecking order is established they are relativly mellow but do joust among themselves. One thing I found fasinating was the way the angels (Peruvian Scalare) and festavum mixed together and would just hang out as if they were the same species. Any jousting that occured however was only conspecific and rarly ever occured between the two it was a very interesting dynamic. I have since seperated them. If you ever tried to keep a single festavum they can be very nasty towards tank mates and are not the mellow little guys people think they are.
The Leopoldi are and interesting species to keep too. They are very much like festavum in their actions but yet like angels too at the same time. Like I said before I think they are the most aggressive angelfish species, not bad no damage just less tolerant of others. Once you own them you can definatly see how they bridge the evolutionary gap between the species.
I'm also starting to see signs of growth in the Altums. I put four small Rams in the tank with them and they seem much more secure and the compatition for food has caused them to feed more agressivly. If this works out I'm thinking of getting a few more. So far the "Big Year" is looking good.
