A mystery... whodunit?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
D

Dark Rose

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 27, 2013
443
0
0
United States
Well a few weeks ago I posted about an aggression problem... It seems to have settled down somewhat, and now I think I know part of the cause...
Today when I was vaccuming/doing a water change, I found this little guy...
uploadfromtaptalk1383074140082.jpg

He's about 3/4" long, and I've never seen him before. So now I have to figure out which one is the female in my 'all male' tank... I've got two likely candidates off the top of my head, but a question first...

Do females EVER color up similar to males, even for a few hours? I've got two possible females based on coloration, but one has colored up for a short period of time when I first put it in the tank. If females never truly color, that pretty much narrows it down... I hope...

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
I suspect this may be the female, the only fish I haven't even been able to get a tentative ID on, and never shown a bit of color in 6 months, part of my original batch of fish.

uploadfromtaptalk1383074475314.jpg

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
Well, considering I never planned for fry... the eggs or tiny fry may have been eaten... I also didn't tear down the rockwork in the corner to search. That little guy was just hanging out on the edge of the rockwork, ducking back into cracks now and then... lucky to even get a pic of him... I just saw a glimpse of dark color at first and thought it was a snail until I moved one rock and he darted out and back in...

I've never bought any fish that small for that tank, so that's the only think I could think of was that he's a lone survivor...

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
flowerhornfishman said:
wow. it's a lucky fish. hahah wht type of fish is it?
Click to expand...

Just looking at him, some sort of peacock cichlid. It's supposed to be an all-male tank, 17 cichlids (peacocks and haps mainly, a couple mbuna) and a pleco and synodontis in that tank.

Gonna try to find him again before work tomorrow, maybe move some of the rockwork and see if there are any more hiding out... Don't know what to do with him if I can catch or find him... Could maybe move him to my community tank for a short while until he grows a bit... My new tank isn't going to be ready for a while... Still working on hardscaping, then going to try dry-start planting...
Have a lead on a free 75g from a co-worker, but nowhere to put it...

So I supposed he'll just have to keep on hiding out... Might as well name him Scrappy... lol.
 
Ok, he's no longer the lone survivor... Got out the trusty flashlight and started poking around... Found another 6 or 7 fry...

Problem is, they're in between my 3D background and back wall of the tank... VERY difficult to get a net back there and get them out, and they're too big now to swim back through the plastic mesh covering the holes...... Might actually use my small siphon tube and see if I can suck them into a bucket at some point...

Need to see what I can do about setting up a growout tank... Or just give them away to the LFS... maybe grow them out a bit and try to figure out what they are first....
 
hahah, how come u cant see them? many hiding places? wht size is ure tank anyway? and i think tht u should keep it man. put them in the 75, and if i was you, ill just put the tank on a suitable-size table if desperate of setting up a tank. hahah just some suggestions. :)
 
I couldn't see them because I have a solid 3D background. There's a gap of maybe 2" between it and the back of the tank, to hide my heater, intake tube for canister, pothos roots, etc. There are three holes cut in it for water flow, with plastic mesh siliconed over them. The fry swam back there and grew up safe, but now are just big enough they can't swim back through the mesh. My tank light sits on top of the tank, so no light gets back there, unless I use a flashlight. The one fry I've seen in the main tank is hiding in and around my rock pile. The tank is a 75 gallon.

As for a growout tank, I've got a small house, and literally no more space... my 75 takes all of the free wall space in my living room, there's a 29 on top of my sons dresser, and a 40 breeder on top of the dresser in my room. Putting another tank somewhere is a matter of space I don't have...

This was supposed to be an all-male tank to avoid this, lol. Out of the first batch of fish I got, from a cichlid specialty shop, two were misidentified so far... One by species, one by sex. Not going back there...

Think I'm just going to see if my LFS (Petco) has a decent breeder box tomorrow and see if I can net them and put them in the box, so I can at least see them (and get pics).

Sent from my DROID4 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
 
wow ! u sure have a complicated tank. hahah oh, so u didnt want to breed them? i would be hppy with the fries if i was you. :) or sell them to a lfs. would be great ! maybe u can swap them with another fish.
how about outside? porch, garage?
yup, u should get it. hahah, upload the pics here when u get it. would like to see them. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom