Just picked up 7 juvies. Common name Centurion (?) 
Anyone ever keep these guys before?
Fishkeeping is my cocaine.
Anyone ever keep these guys before?Fishkeeping is my cocaine.
Australoheros sp. Red Ceibal
- Thread starter SpinalFan
- Start date
I've been keeping them a few years, have them in my pond in spring, summer, and fall where they breed like crazy. They will spawn a very small size, 2" for females, 3" males.
Keep them in an unheated kiddy pool in the winter in my unheated basement with other Uruguayan cichlids, where water temps drop into low 50s, maybe even in the 40s in Feb.
normal color male
female
spawning colors
pulled these from the pond in Oct when water was in he high 40s'F
Keep them in an unheated kiddy pool in the winter in my unheated basement with other Uruguayan cichlids, where water temps drop into low 50s, maybe even in the 40s in Feb.
normal color male
female
spawning colors
pulled these from the pond in Oct when water was in he high 40s'F
Being in Canada, I've never seen them before. I'm also not sure how to go about the cool down period. Without a heater, I can get the tank down to approx 63 indoors but doubt below 60. And outside obviously they'd freeze in the -20f.
Fishkeeping is my cocaine.
Fishkeeping is my cocaine.
The cool down period I use is not as cold as Duanes. I'm more in the mid to low 60s for winter temps as well. That seems to work, although based on the look of Duanes' fish, you can't argue with his methods!
I'm in Canada as well, and my 'ceibals' spend the winter in an unheated tank inside. I keep it near the floor. The temperature over the time they're inside ranges from 68 to 75 F (20-24 C). They actually get their more extreme cool down from me while they're in the pond. When I put them out (middle to late May), the water temperature is 50 to 60 F, and then when I bring them in in mid- October, the temperatures are once again into the 50s. I have left them out as late as the beginning of November, when the air temperatures were around freezing and the water temperature in the high 30s. They never looked so good when I pulled them out. Having said that, there are years when I don't really give them much of a cool down at all, and they seem to be fine. I think the gymnos are more in need of the cool period to prevent them from deteriorating. I've kept many different cichlids out there such as exCichlasoma beani, Andinoacara rivulatus, Cichlasoma dimerus, Gymnogeophagus gymnogenys 'Arroyo Yerbalito', along with sunfish. Here are some pics as I was pulling them from the pond.
