I had yesterday off from work, so I decided to drive to Aquarium Adventure in Columbus, Ohio. It's a little over an hour each way, I haven't been there for a couple of years.
I didn't want to come home empty handed, but I would have if I didn't see anything I really liked. Going slightly off topic, here are some of the more rare cichlids I took notice of;
from Madagascar:
P.lamena - a few little ones, 2 inches and below, tempting, but at 79.99 apiece, out of my price range for now
West African:
Nannachromis nudiceps -seem common in old fish books, but I rarely see them for sale
Central America:
they had a large showy pair of H. Pearsi, the price was 249.00, don't know if that was apiece or together
Nics- pretty common, but they had wild color patterns that I've never seen before, looks like some sort of varient
The only pike cichlids they have are orange pikes, around 3-4 inches. I got one of the larger ones, now after doing some research I understand the females are more colorful as adults. But oh well, I still think the males look cool as adults, so if it turns out to be a male that's fine. I already knew they get fairly large and can get nasty.
He looked a bit too small to put with some of my other fish, so I put him in a 90 with some Caquetaia spectabilis for now. There are also a couple of little Festaes in there I've been trying to catch and move to another aquarium, but the little bastids keep diving into caves, and I don't feel like tearing apart everything just to catch them. I did get some, but the two smallest ones are still in there.
So yesterday when I got home from Aquarium Adventure, I floated the Xingu. Just minutes after releasing him, I was shocked when I returned to the aquarium and saw the Xingu swimming around with the smallest Festae in his mouth! He had the Festae sideways bythe belly, the poor little Festae was flopping around in his mouth. The Festae managed to escape and found a hiding spot. The Xingu then almost caught the other Festae, but he might have been too big for him. So the Xingu started launching attacks on the spectabiles. The Specs are a little larger than the Xingu, they looked suprised or stunned more than anything by being attacked by the feisty little newcomer.
At this point, I had to leave the house to go see a movie (Bee Movie) and go out for dinner with some people. The whole time, I kept wondering what mayhem the Xingu was creating. When dinner was over, I only had time to stop home and let the dog out, because I play trivia with my friends at the local bar every week, and last night was trivia night. I did watch the fish for a few minutes, and managed to take a few pictures that are mostly blurry. The Festaes were still alive and hiding. The Specs were retaliating against the Xingu. The Xingu was swimming less out in the open, and was hiding more in the Amazon Swords. That was the last time I saw the Xingu.
When I got home from playing trivia at the bar (my team won lots of free beer), the Xingu was nowhere to be seen. I searched all around the floor with a flashlight in case he jumped out. Didn't see any bodies. I watched the aquarium for over an hour last night, he never made an appearance. I've been watching for him today, still no trace.
I planned to do a water change on the 90 today, so when I do, I'll try to catch the Festaes again and move the caves around, hopefully I'll find the Xingu alive and well.
I didn't want to come home empty handed, but I would have if I didn't see anything I really liked. Going slightly off topic, here are some of the more rare cichlids I took notice of;
from Madagascar:
P.lamena - a few little ones, 2 inches and below, tempting, but at 79.99 apiece, out of my price range for now
West African:
Nannachromis nudiceps -seem common in old fish books, but I rarely see them for sale
Central America:
they had a large showy pair of H. Pearsi, the price was 249.00, don't know if that was apiece or together
Nics- pretty common, but they had wild color patterns that I've never seen before, looks like some sort of varient
The only pike cichlids they have are orange pikes, around 3-4 inches. I got one of the larger ones, now after doing some research I understand the females are more colorful as adults. But oh well, I still think the males look cool as adults, so if it turns out to be a male that's fine. I already knew they get fairly large and can get nasty.
He looked a bit too small to put with some of my other fish, so I put him in a 90 with some Caquetaia spectabilis for now. There are also a couple of little Festaes in there I've been trying to catch and move to another aquarium, but the little bastids keep diving into caves, and I don't feel like tearing apart everything just to catch them. I did get some, but the two smallest ones are still in there.
So yesterday when I got home from Aquarium Adventure, I floated the Xingu. Just minutes after releasing him, I was shocked when I returned to the aquarium and saw the Xingu swimming around with the smallest Festae in his mouth! He had the Festae sideways bythe belly, the poor little Festae was flopping around in his mouth. The Festae managed to escape and found a hiding spot. The Xingu then almost caught the other Festae, but he might have been too big for him. So the Xingu started launching attacks on the spectabiles. The Specs are a little larger than the Xingu, they looked suprised or stunned more than anything by being attacked by the feisty little newcomer.
At this point, I had to leave the house to go see a movie (Bee Movie) and go out for dinner with some people. The whole time, I kept wondering what mayhem the Xingu was creating. When dinner was over, I only had time to stop home and let the dog out, because I play trivia with my friends at the local bar every week, and last night was trivia night. I did watch the fish for a few minutes, and managed to take a few pictures that are mostly blurry. The Festaes were still alive and hiding. The Specs were retaliating against the Xingu. The Xingu was swimming less out in the open, and was hiding more in the Amazon Swords. That was the last time I saw the Xingu.
When I got home from playing trivia at the bar (my team won lots of free beer), the Xingu was nowhere to be seen. I searched all around the floor with a flashlight in case he jumped out. Didn't see any bodies. I watched the aquarium for over an hour last night, he never made an appearance. I've been watching for him today, still no trace.
I planned to do a water change on the 90 today, so when I do, I'll try to catch the Festaes again and move the caves around, hopefully I'll find the Xingu alive and well.
