Australoheros sp. Red Ceibal

[climacoolair]

Awesome colouration on both fish . Haven't seen these guys around before, What are some of the traits of this fish apart from the obvious fin nipping and fighting with spouse.

Dave

 

[fishfarm]

Astroloheros are a small Cichlasoma species that fill the same nitch as Cryptoheros. They are fairly easy to bred, tend to be slightly aggressive, work well in community tanks of cichlids from the same habitat like Gymnogynes species. I tried them as single pairs by themselves and it did not work. They need that interaction with the other fish to strengthen the pair bond. Ken

 

[jonclark96]

Do they require a cooling down period to thrive?

 

[jgentry]

There's a lot of debate about the cool down period. The fish have no problem living in warm water and really shouldn't have much issues doing it all year long. They do naturally have a cool season though, so if you want to replicate there native habitats then you will want to give them a cool down period. I've seen tons of Uruguay fish kept without a cool down period that have thrived though.

My thinking is that the warm up after the cool down should be the triger to start breeding. There's a lot more experienced people then me with this but my gymno's bred right after the warm up. So I kind of believe with at least some of them the cool down with help with trying to breed them.

 

[Anubisscott]

Now thats a gourgous pair. I think I may have to do some of these someday.

 

[straitjacketstar]

Thanks for all the great feedback folks. Good to see some conversation going about these guys.

Sweet pair! Amazing colors.

Thank you!

WOW! What a kickass fish, never seen it before. If you don't mind me asking, how much were they cost?

I purchased 4 at $14 each and I think that was after the shop owner knocked a buck or two off the initial price for buying whatever she had left.
I have seen them for as little as $8 locally though. The ones I have are the only ones I've purchased. I've seen them elsewhere but they're either too unhealthy from shop conditions or not in decent number or sex ratios. I lucked out, out of the 4 I bought one turned out to be female. One of the males was killed right off and I had to split the remaining two males between tanks, as even in an 80 gallon tank full of other fish, they are highly aggressive with one another and the dominant male was merciless on the subdom.

I'm on my second pair, First pair were brutal to each other, These get along better and I have them in with a bunch of Gymnos. Took the new pair 4 tries to get it right, They don't guard the fry very well so I took them ths time. Ken

That's really good to know.
My female hated my male. The first few times she laid eggs she did it by herself. This is the first time she lets the male court and fertilize her eggs. Even still she doesn't let him too close to her so he just hangs out nearby somewhere she can't see him. She has some kind of "personal space" issue it seems lol.
I have mine in with the Gymno sp. Yi I got from you too. I have a ton of other things in there as well. The business definitely helps I think.

I have an angelfish that used to have a split in its caudal fin. Then I put a female gymnogeophagus in the tank (thanks Ken) which chewed half the angel's tail fin off before I noticed. It grew back without the split though . The gymno is no longer in the tank

Very nice color on those fish, how do yours do with the gymnos Ken?

I've been able to fix minor fin imperfections by cutting the fin and then letting it regrow properly. I usually reserve this to angels since I can't stand when angels have ugly fins but the splits in the ceibals doesn't bother me enough to do it to them. And since they're the nastiest little things in the tank I don't think they'll get nibbled on any time soon. Mine are in with Gymnogeos from Ken too. The Gymnogeos steer clear lol.

Tails are split from fighting, he said that in first post.
Here's some wild ones right out of the Arryo Ceibalito Ken

Correct and beautiful fish Ken!

Do they require a cooling down period to thrive?

I don't think a cool down period is required. I never gave my fish a trigger to spawn they just seem to want to as soon as they're mature enough.
Gymnogeos may need the cool down period to trigger spawning but I don't know how necessary it is in order for them to thrive but I've got about the same feedback as jgentry.
Aside from the fact that I've wanted them for a long time I'm keeping the ceibals with the Gymnogeos specifically because they're compatible in the cool-down period. I can have a somewhat biotopic tank with more than one or two species of cichlid. For the time being I have a lot of tropicals mixed in with them that will be moved to other tank once the weather starts to cool down to give the Gymnogeos a cool-down period.

Now thats a gourgous pair. I think I may have to do some of these someday.

Thank you sir! I think you will have to give them a try. I kinda see them as a little South American salvini sometimes, with the similar colors and aggression.

 

[kevbc03]

Haha they look great, nice colors

 

[thorzep]

awesome fish!!!

 

[gomezladdams]

Great looking fish thanks for sharing the photos.

 

[bl00]

They're really cool!