A few updates

[fish speaker]

It's been a while since I posted pics of my pikes, and I managed to remember to snap a few photos over the last few days, so here they are:

Here's my pair of what were sold as lenticulata a few years ago. The other side of the tank is held by a couple of compatible females.

A couple shots of the best-looking of my celidos.

Finally, a couple shots that will get me lots of criticism. I have two very compatible Crenicichla sp. "atabapo II" that I got from TUIC a couple of years ago. They had some pitting when they arrived, and I've done just about everything I can think of to try to get rid of it. Unfortunately, although the fish seem to be healthy as horses and have put on lots of size, the pits have never gone away...worst cases of HITH that I've had. Still, here they are:

 

[fishfarm]

Now breed them! Male celido looks good, do the atabapo eat pellets? I had a cobra traded in to me, nice female, looked almost that bad, I feed her the Xtreme pellets and earthworms and she completely healed up in two months, it was amazing. Ken

 

[fish speaker]

The atabapos eat just about everything: flake, pellets (including veggie pellets)...mostly pellets. They're in a 525 with lots of large fish, so they have learned to eat that, since I don't/can't feed krill and frozen in such quantity. It may be imagination, but the pits seem a little less extensive than they were when they went into the 525. Still looks bad, though.

 

[MTN PIKE]

Nice photos ~ Thx. for the update. We have a similar pair of lenticulatas (atabapo?)
with a few lower face spots, they both have some HITH - the female is worse....
As Ken said, your celido looks GREAT - particularly like the red dorsal! We also had some of that Atabapo 'fire' batch from Rapps, they didn't survive. Yours are chunky but that amount of HITH hurts my eyes....

 

[Scatocephalus]

Your lents are indeed lents. They are currently what's being marketed as Atabapo or Venezuelan lents. They are the same race that I had.

 

[eggie]

are they the same as these wild atabapo lenticulatas?

 

[Scatocephalus]

are they the same as these wild atabapo lenticulatas?

Yes, the same fish but perhaps a slight geographical variance.

The problem with lents is that they are highly variable, even within the same geographical area. Keep in mind that the Atabapo river system is huge and every tributary out of hundreds may have it's own unique population of lenticulata. Go just 200 meters upstream and they will look slightly, if not vastly, different. The amount of spotting & red coloration on lents is highly fluid even within the same populations.

When you buy young lents you won't know what you have until they mature. If you want lents similar to what's pictured you'd better buy those exact fish!

 

[eggie]

Yes, the same fish but perhaps a slight geographical variance.

The problem with lents is that they are highly variable, even within the same geographical area. Keep in mind that the Atabapo river system is huge and every tributary out of hundreds may have it's own unique population of lenticulata. Go just 200 meters upstream and they will look slightly, if not vastly, different. The amount of spotting & red coloration on lents is highly fluid even within the same populations.

When you buy young lents you won't know what you have until they mature. If you want lents similar to what's pictured you'd better buy those exact fish!

i belive all fishman 76092 was collected from the same spot, i have not seen a bad looking lent yet.

 

[its_an_obsession]

very nice pikes... its a shame about all the HITH on the atapabo II's but i hear its very common and tough to keep them from getting it. got any full tank shots of your 525??

 

[eggie]

i belive all fishman 76092 was collected from the same spot, i have not seen a bad looking lent yet.

did not mean to hijack thought his was the thread i started in the crenicichla forum.