Chocolate cichlid

[SinisterKisses]

I have one or two 'forum friends' who keep these guys, and I've seen pics, but I've never actually laid eyes on one myself, until a few days ago. Went into my LFS to sell some baby africans, and noticed that they had a 5" Chocolate. Apparently, he (or she, not sure yet), was kept in a tank smaller than the LFS tank (which was probably about 20gal) by his previous owner, and the fish he was housed with (not sure what) constantly picked at the poor guy, so he looked fairly rough. But his personality seemed fabulous, and he was otherwise healthy looking, so the guy offered him to me at a great price, as long as I left him there for a few days so he could treat him with whatever and try to fix him up a bit first. So I went in today and picked him up. He looks much better than when I first saw him 5 days ago, so he's getting there. Here he is:

As you can see, he's still got some healing to do - but I figure melafix and salt should do the trick (though if you have other suggestions, feel free!).
Anyway, is there anyone else here who keeps Chocolates?

 

[rottbo]

thats awesome that the owner wouldnt let you take it untill full treatment was done sounds like you have a very good lfs where you are

 

[danepatrick]

i'm glad you adopted him and got him out of there. i hope he heals up nicely for you and yes, they DO have a great personality. just wait and see. i believe the males are a bit larger than the females and have a larger hump. not sure that that stage though. nice find though.


edit

now that i look at it more, i believe SHE is a female.

 

[Princley]

such a NICE fish would love to see him bigger with full color

 

[SinisterKisses]

Don't worry, I'll keep you all updated with lots of pictures of him/her. I haven't really sat down to have a good look to determine sex yet, don't want to spook 'him'. I'm sure in a few weeks I can have him back to full health and appearance. He actually looks MUCH better than when I first saw him a few days ago. I agree that it was good of the owner to hold on to him for a few days, I was actually really surprised - he came from my least favorite LFS in town, and I don't normally have a very high opinion of them. Anyway, thanks for the comments, I'll post some more pics up soon

 

[Opiate]

looking good dude, heading for a full recovery...cant wait to see him at full strength!

 

[Darthsniper]

Man, I luv fish keepers like you. Way to go! Salt and water changes frequently are what I usually do. I feed em' live food too to get their spirits up.

Blackworms or b-shrimp.

Best of luck with her (I think females have slightly rounded fins like yours).

 

[Jason_S]

that is an awesome lfs to hold 'him' for treatment before letting you take him.

he/she does look to be healing up nicely and in a few weeks should be looking great. I'd pump 'him' up with some krill to bring out even more color.

 

[SinisterKisses]

Lol yeah, I'm sure he (for sake of arguement), will be living the high life for a while, getting spoiled I'm still not sure if its a male or female...the fins aren't any help, because they're still healing. They were torn to crap before, so they're rounded right now because they're growing back.

 

[scott g]

I've heard that they are really neat fish, I hope you figure out it's sex so you can go out and find a mate for it.