A few updates... severums, psittacus, and new grow-outs

[ryansmith83]

I was trying to get some pictures of my newest additions to the fish room: Herotilapia multispinosa. These little rainbow cichlids caught my attention in a few posts here and I found a guy selling them on Aquabid. Even washed-out with the camera flash you can tell that they're a pretty orange color with some blue showing in the fins.

Then I looked over at my 210 gallon and saw that I had an audience while I was taking pictures...

So I took some pictures and video of my 210 which includes the following:

1 super red severum
1 gold severum
1 turquoise severum
1 "rotkeil" severum (this was a wildcaught fish from Rapps that he calls a Rio Tapajos, supposedly different than rotkeils)
1 Atabapo severum
6 notatus severums
1 chocolate cichlid
1 parrot cichlid

The parrot cichlids came to be as tiny 1" babies in January. I moved the biggest one into my 210g a few months ago and now he's as long as most of my young adult severums. He's going to be a large fish.

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The pictures aren't very good quality but the video does a decent job of showcasing everything in the tank. You can see there's a lot of torn fins and missing scales on the severums... this is because the notatus are breeding again. I need to move the females out of the tank because they are the root of all my aggression problems.

 

[hamfist]

Lovely! I'm a fan of all the fish in your 210.

 

[fishluvr12]

They are all looking good!

 

[HiImSean]

very nice i love it, a heroine tank but you need a pike in there

 

[honda237]

very nice tank. i love the stocking.
by the way my notatus are doing great, fat and happy, and spotted.

 

[shinigami]

all your fish are full of colors, what kind of food do you feed them?

 

[jag123]

All looking really good! Only suggestion I would have is to throw in some eartheaters to enjoy your sand! Maybe getting ahead of myself...

 

[flowerpower]

You've got a great looking group of fish in your 210! I've passed on psitticus so many times in the past but yours has got me rethinking. Very Nice!

 

[ryansmith83]

Lovely! I'm a fan of all the fish in your 210.

They are all looking good!

Thanks!

very nice i love it, a heroine tank but you need a pike in there

I've actually looked at pikes a few times. If I could find a more mellow, medium-growing pike, I'd gladly get one. The problem is that I know nothing about them, and I'm confused by the different groups and what it all means. I have ADD when it comes to fish research, apparently. I had thought of finding some small ones, like C. compressiceps, but I haven't seen them on any lists. Any suggestions?

very nice tank. i love the stocking.
by the way my notatus are doing great, fat and happy, and spotted.

I'm glad to hear it. They've been fast growers -- much faster than my turquoise and rotkeil fry. I hope they turn out really nice for you. I'm planning to keep a few myself.

all your fish are full of colors, what kind of food do you feed them?

I primarily feed Hikari Cichlid Gold, but I also include shrimp pellets, Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 pellets, and occasionally Hikari frozen bloodworms, Hikari algae wafers, and fresh veggies (they love Romaine lettuce and fresh spinach).

All looking really good! Only suggestion I would have is to throw in some eartheaters to enjoy your sand! Maybe getting ahead of myself...

Actually, I'm one step ahead of you. I've got some smaller orange heads and a trio of Geophagus parnaibe growing out in my 150g. As they grow, I will probably move the larger orange head males to this tank. The parnaibe stayed very small, only 3" or so, so they'll probably stay in the smaller tank.

You've got a great looking group of fish in your 210! I've passed on psitticus so many times in the past but yours has got me rethinking. Very Nice!

The psittacus is a really boisterous fish. He quickly let everyone know that he wasn't to be messed with, and occasionally I see him go after my severums and my chocolate cichlid. Hopefully he won't get worse as he gets older, otherwise I may have to re-home him. But his colors are beautiful. I didn't realize they were going to be such a bright blue color, and the bright orange chest really makes him stand out compared to everyone else in the tank.

 

[JK47]

Beautiful Ryan.......... That psittacus is the truth. I agree with Sean though. You my friend, need some good ole crenicichla. A nice saxatilis type would look stunning next to the notatus.