Craigslist lucky haul... ex Chichlasoma Atromaculatus and more!

[GamerChick5567]

Welp. I dun did it. Picked these up after getting angry at the ad.
PREPARE FOR A MASSIVE POST.

I put it in chunks with the asterisks. I'm real tired and have been editing this post half awake with my brain being fried so I hope this turns out good lol. I will probably update this thread often and will record my findings since there's nada on these guys.

Prior thread for extra context: https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/saw-this-just-now-on-craigslist.680030/
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Turns out guy was actually nice and he gave me a pair of “ex”Cichlasoma Atromaculatus (or whatever the proper name is haha) for 10 bucks! I only paid 25 total since it was 15 for the tank with the others. He told me he used to live in the same hood as me and got them at aquatic warehouse for 30 each as fry! I think he must have torn down a huge tank at one point and then just put the fish into that 10, the apartment was on the third floor of a very new apartment building, perhaps he just moved there? He did say that he had the pair in a 40 breeder. Unfortunately the bucket water on the ride home was in the low 60’s, guessing he turned the heater off for the goldfish or it cooled off while I was driving up. Thankfully the tropical guys seemed fine after floating in bags for half an hour in 74 degree water that I have been slowly raising from that. Now several hours later it’s up to a much better 78 on both 10 gallons…. Currently I have them all separated. The goldfish are just in the transport bucket with an airstone, the pleco and corries are in my old quarantine 10, and the atromaculatus are in the new 10, divided. They will be getting daily massive water changes and meds soon.

Anyway here is the breeding pair! Unfortunately, the guy said one got beat up by the other from being trapped in such a small space, hence the tank divider. A few fins are frayed and scales are missing. I will be watching that guy closely. Hopefully they will reform a bond and I will be able to breed them successfully though after making sure they are healthy (so far with the temp slowly climbing in the tank they seem way less stressed), and get some more of this unique species out there in the hobby. Does anyone know which is male and female? I'm guessing the first pic is the male. Colors seem muted though, idk.

Anyone wanna chime in on what the best direction to go with these would be? I am confident that I can keep them alive successfully even without a whole lot of cichlid experience. Does anyone know about the exact care requirements for these though? I have read on a few other forums that they are not extremely difficult care wise except for being wild caught, possible hith, fast enough powerhead flow since they are river fish, that type of stuff. I am already upping my water changes on the 90 because I have no reason not to so water cleanliness isn't a problem for me. One page said they are nocturnal livebearer hunters but there is very limited info otherwise. There was one page in Spanish but my Spanish is so bad after not practicing that I couldn’t understand much of it and google translate sucked. Thoughts?

I would like to get them on some live foods. I have a tank full of guppies and a ton of baby convicts ready to go if that is the case with them mostly being fish eaters. If they eat bugs, my fiance’s dad has a ton of mealworms that he feeds his chickens that I can steal and grind into frozen food or whatnot. If it rains again I can get regular earthworms from the apartment garden too or just buy some, I have a critter keeper for them. My fridge is full of fresh veggies since I cook almost every meal. The guy had some old pellets mixed in with the flakes. I tried throwing a few of my own shrimp pellets in but no bites.
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The other fish that came with them were 2 bronze corries (one has no eyeballs, uhm…. looks like a defect/old wound maybe but he swims fine), a pleco of some sort, 5 feeder goldfish and 2 rosy reds. 2 of the feeder goldfish croaked(one should have been a cull, really deformed anyway, other one seemed hurt, I did have to brake suddenly since some ahole cut me off on the drive home) and the rosy reds died while I was acclimating them also, maybe I goofed and scared them to death somehow since they really needed to be out of the nasty ass nast water that was in the transport bucket and I kinda rushed it. To be fair it was bad enough that I had to get them out and into baggies in a few minutes. I was a bit disappointed at the rosy reds dying. Was going to keep them with the guppies in hopes of breeding them as food. Thankfully if I ever decide to get some again they are only a few cents.

Hmmm… what else… the 10 gallon looks fairly new. I will be repurposing it most likely as a small planted betta or dwarf gourami setup for the fiancé since now he is all into my fish. Gunna get rid of that bright red gravel though, stuff really burns my retinas. Probably gunna reuse it for glass jar flowerpots or some other diy housewifey project. I think the tank is just a petsmart kit. The guy also gave me a bunch of goodies including flake food, a nice mini driftwood which will be boiled promptly for the new pleco or at least my choco pleco if the new guy needs a rehome, airline tubing/airline equipment, some pipe ornaments, some extra filter floss media, and an unopened chemipure media bag.

Here is the 90 in my most recent photo, the breeding pair and possibly the pleco if it won’t be a monster will be going in here asap whenever I determine it's safe to avoid a disease outbreak:

The 20 long feeder guppy tank is where the corries will go as friends for my existing ones. I have no good pics.

I will get better pics of the other fish tomorrow and I need an ID on the pleco. Plus I had to unplug a few lights to fit all my equipment. It’s gotten real loud in here from the old craptastic air pumps I had to dig out…. Probably gunna wake up at 5am to change water too since I’m sure the cycles got lost even on the new 10. Gunna be a learning experience for sure!
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I will be thinning out some stock by the end of next week to make more room in the 90. My filtration can handle it but I don’t want any fighting. Yes I know the stocklist if you can tell by the pic is whacky and I should have done this sooner, it was because of yet another craigslist fiasco but it has worked with no major problems for the last 3 months. I have just been putting it off due to holidays and laziness and a whole lot of other chores that piled up.

Up for sale or trade will be the burundi frontosa as seen in the pic, hopefully to someone local or at least in socal with a bigger tank or a frontosa colony. He/she deserves better than what I got, can’t exactly afford an adult frontosa setup! I also want to rehome a smaller breeding pair of convicts which failed to produce enough fry, a male pink convict who gets chased too much since the dominant male hates him, and probably my jewels too. I want to keep the milomo because he doesn’t get picked on or try to murder anyone and the same with poor ol’ stumpy (mbuna). Got some big aquascaping rocks on my patio that gotta go too. In a month or so I will post an ad for the goldfish. Just wanna make sure they have no major health problems before I give them away to someone on here for free. I need sleep so I will end my rambling. Probably gunna catch that stomach bug the fiance had too from being stressed about this... I feel meh.
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TLDR; Got some rare exChichlasoma Atromaculatus cichlids and a complete 10 gallon tank (which I do need) for dirt cheap plus some extra rescues. Whoo what a haul.

 

[mattison187]

Nice buy man. Keep up updated on what setups you end up with

 

[duanes]

Mesoheros atromacultum is a very close cousin to festae, and ornatum/gephyrum from the western slopes of the Andes, Columbia, Ecuador, and possibly north into Panama. They will require the same type condition you might offer festae, and are "not" like the Amazonian species that need soft water but instead, neutral to slightly alkaline water in the mid to upper 70s''F. They will also need space. Some guys I knew from the gcca (Greater Chicago Cichlid Assn) had crazy aggression in 200 gal tanks.

 

[robham777]

Nice, what size do the atromacultum get?

 

[GamerChick5567]

When I was researching most info I could find was all in metric. They consistently said usually about 25cm/250L. Or around 9 or 10 inches/66 gallons, apparently the smallest of that type of cichlid family and arent super mean/a bit shy. The 90 is the standard 18" wide by 2' deep and 4' long. They are probably 6" now so still have growing to do once I get them on a better diet than flakes. Not worried too much about space after I sell the other fish and my tall plants can be rearranged, but if need be I can break my budget and upgrade to a 6' or longer tank. Not sure how that's gunna make the landlord feel if she sees us try to move that or if that will even fit through the door. Moving that heavy vintage glass 90 in here was terrifying with only 2 people lol. Been debating on getting a 75 and having my dad build a stand since petcos dollar a gallon sale is still on I think.

Also just checked on all of them and they are ok so I will probably sleep for 1 more hour and then get back to work. The cycles have started on all of them. Looks like the pleco had white poop though, maybe he just didnt get any access to algae before. I'll start soaking pellets with epsom salts or metroplex for all the fish as a precaution.

Also, should I pick up a 20 gallon tub for the pair? I can spare the extra whisper filter on the guppy tank too since I have a good sponge filter. I'll have to silicone a divider together though.

 

[robham777]

Cool, sneak new tanks in by the light of the moon, and enjoy the expression on your landlords face when you finally move out and it looks like you are breaking down a lfs. That is a great find. I am no fish snob and appreciate pretty much anything that swims, but having something rare that not everyone else does is exciting.

 

[duanes]

To me any 10" adult cichlid needs at minimum100 gallons.
Research (sorry can't remember where I saw it) from nature has shown a pair will stake out and defend a territory of about 6ft x 4". So buying anything wimpy like a 20 gal tub, will be a waste.
I doubt depth matters much, but a 6 foot 100 gal could provide enough space to put line of sight breaks using rocks or wood. At this point keeping the pair divided sounds like a good plan until they (if they) decide they are compatible, and a larger space can be found.
If I were to try and keep a pair in a 6ft tank, I would add some kind of sacrificial cichlids to help cement the bond of the pair, in other words target cichlids for the male to beat on (maybe kill), yet nothing aggressive enough to beat back.
Some people might suggest convicts, because they are cheap, and readily available, I wouldn't.
I'd use some type of benign Tilapia (also not buttikoferi).
Something like niloticus or zillii or the generic pink or gold type sold live in Asian grocery stores.
They are fast, don't put up much of a fight, tend to shoal, and you could add 6 or so and replace them as the pair bump them off. I have used Tilapines as targets for many Central and South American, and Malagasy cichlids with pretty good results.

 

[GamerChick5567]

Hmm.... better start to convince the fiance that I need a bigger tank. I can rearrange stuff as long as that thing will fit through the door... and the local 99 ranch market did have a ton of tilapias, but fried tilapias taste too good.....

Anyway I just did my water changes. Here are some pics.


The beat up Atromaculatus looks much happier this morning and the color seems back. They both seem a lot better! They still haven't eaten though and are extremely scared when I walk by... hmmm... I threw 2 guppies in there. One just lunged at them, hope they will be gone soon. They seem more interested in staring each other down though when I'm not looking.

Oh, here are the pics of the other guys.

Bronze cory and his blind buddy:


Pleco, he decided he would go sulk in the corner, I'll try to coax him out in a bit. His color is muted:

The remaining goldfishies. I have been feeding them bits of algae pellet which I bet they haven't seen before and they really like them:


Yay.

 

[duanes]

A way to make fish feel more secure is to cover back and sides of the tank with black paper or???, it also hides all those wires and equipment a bit.
I usually use styrofoam insulation which I paint black on the side facing the tank, to cover the back, sides and bottom.
It helps hold in warmth during power outages, and may even save on the electric bill in general, heaters being energy hogs.

I also think it brings out the colors of the fish, and especially helps for photographing them.
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[GamerChick5567]

Hmm... I will try that and see if it makes a difference. I've got lots of scrap fabric and cardboard around.

Mostly I just want to get them to eat pellets so I can start medicating them now. I really don't want to see the same thing that happened with hex and my baby green terror happen to these guys. The white poop from the pleco and finding more in the red substrate has me worried. I hope the stress from being trapped in that tank with the others won't kill them or bring diseases on. :C