breeding Gymnos outdoors

[duanes]

I first picked up the "Ceibals" in 2010, and I flooded the midwest market with them for a few years, (they bred like rabbits) so I basically was just giving them away.
Whether anyone in the Chicago Milwaukee still has them is anyones guess.
Matt Quinn (the DC area) still has a number of the genus Australoheros, he went to Uruguay to collect.
And Ken Davis of Georgia may also have some, he took a number of trips to collect in Uruguay.
My Uruguayan Crenicichla came from him.

 

[jjohnwm]

I wish I could contact some of those guys and get some; but I'm not willing to try buying live fish across the border from Canuckistan. Considering how Customs guys can be with some shipments of inanimate objects, I wouldn't bet on a rapid approval for live fish. But I'm lucky to have an outstanding local importer/dealer, so they'll show up eventually.

 

[C. Breeze]

Ken hasn’t got them offered as of now. But he has two Scitulus available. Dogofwar (Matt Quinn) has several Scitulus types from different spots. I just nabbed Mecedo from him. I know kens import/export permit has lapsed. I do not know if Matt has one.

 

[jjohnwm]

Thought I'd update this thread to report some of the most stunning lack of success I have had in a long while.

I spent yesterday bringing fish indoors from their stock tanks to their winter digs. Water temps are down in the low 50's; i didn't feel comfortable leaving the fish outside for 3 more weeks of even cooler weather so decided to make the move. I removed the luxuriant growth of plants from the stock tanks, leaving only a few lengths of drainage pipe on the bottom. This normally makes catching the fish a simple matter of covering both ends of each pipe with a net.

The first two pipes produced two absolutely stunning adult rhabdotus. The third God-forsaken specimen eluded capture for the next several hours! By the time I got it the tank was a murky opaque mess, and I managed to collect 2 hornet stings in the process ((bald-faced hornets...the worst!). The entire time I was carefully and minutely examining each pail of water, handful of plants and net full of sludge for fry...and found a grand total of 3.

No predatory insects were found (I use screen covers to protect against most of them). Bad brood care or cannibalism by first-time breeders? Beats me. I had several Rubbermaid garbage cans outdoors full of Swordtails, Xenotoca, Heterandria and Jordanella and they were all successful breeders to varying degrees despite being pretty much ignored all summer. The cichlids whipped me.

I'll say this: the relatively few cichlid species I have bred over the years never really "grabbed" me; I never thought of myself as a cichlid guy. This slap in the face has kind of hooked me. Next year...(rubs hands together in an ominous manner)...