K... so I impulse bought a crenicichla

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thatonegirl

thatonegirl

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 24, 2006
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One more block to the South of Dick's Automotive
He's the smallest fish in my 125 (but how COOL is it to see him take down large pieces of krill!)

As far as I know, he's crenicichla xingu 1... Don't really know much about him. He's only 3-3.5", orange with blue markings, and from what I've read, expected to get anywhere from 7-12 inches (depending on what source).

He lives in a 125 gallon with 6 distochous affinis (4-6 inches), a polypterus ornatipinnis (10 inches), jack dempsy x texas hybrid (4 inches), friedrichstahlii (5 inches), two severums about 5 inches, a firemouth (3.5 inches), and a pink convict, roughly 3 inches.

I feed them all a mixture of romaine lettuce, bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis, frozen krill, blanched zucchini and summer squash, with the main part of their diet being hikari pellets (mostly cichlid gold with a splash of bio-gold and excel samples I grabbed from my LFS)

I don't doubt this crenicichla can hold it's own in this odd mix I have, but is there anything else I should know, other than being aware of their extremely predatory nature?
 
PIMP!! Nice to see you Back :D
 
Nice!! Watch out for the ornamental polypterus, since the pike is torpedo shaped it makes them quite a bit easier to eat than 'deeper' bodied cichlids. It should put on girth and grow pretty quick for you, power feed it and you will def. get a large cichlid quickly.

Its very important to have a period of fasting for them, at least once a week so they have a chance to clean their digestive system out. Bloodworms and mysis shrimp are GREAT food source's that are normally readily accepted with gusto. Feed the bloodworms in moderation though, as they can be hard to digest for some fish, which can lead to bloat if your not careful.

If you really do have Crenicichla sp. 'xingu I' you are in for a treat. They get large, have tons of personality, and have their own unique beauty. Females totally blow males away though, so if you managed to get a female all the better. You won't be able to sex it ACCURATELY until its about 8 to 10" though, as Lugubris species of pikes go through at least one, some two or more, color changes. Females will have the white stripe in the dorsal as well as a cherry belly and dark head and tail regions. Very nice contrasting. Only down side to xingu I is their aggression. They have a reputation for being one of the more aggressive pike species. As they mature, they quickly loose their 'passive' juv. personality and start to rule the tank. You may have to either move the pike or some of the tankmates later on as these tendencies come about. Hope you have a blast with them!! I absolutely love them, hopefully you will get the fire as well! ;)
 
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