Lima shovelnose coloration?

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ColeFishing

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Jan 5, 2012
1,820
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Ohio
My 5"-7" Lima shovel nose is had almost a greenish to grayish top side. I see a lot of pics where that same area is a gold or bronze color with black specs. Will they get that color with age? What size till they start to develop it?
This is mine


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It does look uncommon. It's been 6 months. Nothing changed? Color is often variable, as you undoubtedly know. Your substrate is light, which is a bit less common. That alone may be the reason. Elongatus vs lima may be too. Diet. Sorry, I am shooting in the dark.

You are delightfully reserved :) Some bump after 2 hours :)
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
It does look uncommon. It's been 6 months. Nothing changed? Color is often variable, as you undoubtedly know. Your substrate is light, which is a bit less common. That alone may be the reason. Elongatus vs lima may be too. Diet. Sorry, I am shooting in the dark.

You are delightfully reserved :) Some bump after 2 hours :)
Click to expand...

It seems like its still the same size and it hasn't changed much color wise. As far as gravel I didn't think that the color affected catfish like it would a cichlid. He eats bloodworms and cuts of fish if they are small enough. Doesn't like pellets to much. I will try to change him over once to pellets once I switch to a sand substrate. He is a neat fish but I just hope he gets to around the 16" mark and he gets that golden w/ dark black color.


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ColeFishing said:
It seems like its still the same size and it hasn't changed much color wise. As far as gravel I didn't think that the color affected catfish like it would a cichlid. He eats bloodworms and cuts of fish if they are small enough. Doesn't like pellets to much. I will try to change him over once to pellets once I switch to a sand substrate. He is a neat fish but I just hope he gets to around the 16" mark and he gets that golden w/ dark black color.
Click to expand...

Mine grew very slowly too but I thought they have not eaten enough - too much competition in my community tanks. Always despised pellets too but many report theirs take pellets just fine.

I think all fish are affected by the substrate color, it's just that some more some less.

You give him bloodworms to provide vitamins and minerals? A 7" fish would eat a few bucks worth of bloodworms a sitting. It's tough, I know. A vitamin soak may be more economical for you or wholesome foods.

Sorry, no more thoughts on the unusual coloration.
 
thebiggerthebetter said:
Mine grew very slowly too but I thought they have not eaten enough - too much competition in my community tanks. Always despised pellets too but many report theirs take pellets just fine.

I think all fish are affected by the substrate color, it's just that some more some less.

You give him bloodworms to provide vitamins and minerals? A 7" fish would eat a few bucks worth of bloodworms a sitting. It's tough, I know. A vitamin soak may be more economical for you or wholesome foods.

Sorry, no more thoughts on the unusual coloration.
Click to expand...

Yeah he does enjoy bloodworms. The main problem is though with the bloodworms is that my parrot cichlid (which my mom bought for me without letting me know) has a bad mouth problem and can't eat pellets. What would you recommend for the Lima at 6"-7" to feed it.


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Try raw shrimp. Medium sized. You can buy a bag for about $10 should last all month. You can stuff t&e shrimp with pellets for added benefits. If medium are too big try small. I find shrimp to be very good for growth and development! Well along with plenty of water changes!


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Dominuslive said:
Try raw shrimp. Medium sized. You can buy a bag for about $10 should last all month. You can stuff t&e shrimp with pellets for added benefits. If medium are too big try small. I find shrimp to be very good for growth and development! Well along with plenty of water changes!


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Click to expand...

i tried that but his mouth is still small and he can't fit the shrimp where it curves so i often have of cut it in half to fee it to him.
 
ill try that. also how good would silver sides be? they look small enough for my Lima and i know they eat fish in the wild plus silver sides seem like they would be good in bulking up and way better than goldfish. i could try cutting in my NLS megafish formula into them. just a though because shrimp has been difficult in the past and i don't know if my grocery store carries mini shrimp.
 
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