Marbled fenestratus

[Sinister-Kisses]

Anyone else keeping these? I got Rogue here last January. I had previously ordered a group of 6 online and had them shipped, but the guy running the place sent me a group of 6 all white "marbled" fens. Barely a single marbled mark on any of them, I was irritated. So I cleared them out and when I was physically in the store next time (4-5 hour drive from me, each way), I found Rogue in the group he had at that time and grabbed him. Definitely need to be able to pick my marbled type species out in person to make sure I get what I want. He was about 2" at the time and I put him in with the heterospila in the 8ft tank. Well he outgrew them QUICKLY and moved into his current 5ft, 120gal about 6 months later. He also seems to hate non cichlids - tends to kill what I've tried with him, but is super chill with other cichlids. Was by himself for a few months but recently added Dozer, my 3" male convict, in with him when I was shuffling tanks and he accepted the con tankmate without issue. Has grown like a weed - he's about 10" now, whereas the hets he was with and I've had for at least 6 months longer, in the bigger tank, are only about 4-5" in size.

I love him. He's REALLY starting to colour up with his burgundy head and some flecks in his tail, and the pretty iridescent green on his back half. Gorgeous fish.

https://flic.kr/p/2pn8EiB

 

[Matth05]

Beautiful fish!

 

[Dolemedes]

Rogue is a gorgeous fish! Prettier markings than mine, I think, but don’t tell Moo that. They sure do grow fast, mine went from less than two inches to over six inches in about five months. Very mild mannered with all the regular tank inhabitants but devours guppies that I occasionally put in for the EBJD. Moo is a bottomless pit and did not get the memo that they are supposed to be a herbivore.Sharing a couple of pics of Moo, looking forward to see more of Rogue and others’ marbled ones.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Quite similar on the one side oddly enough! Nice looking little guy. Agreed, Rogue eats like a damn horse, and makes a hell of a mess of his tank as a result. I assume that's where the name of Moo came from?

 

[Dolemedes]

Actually the name is because the white markings were larger and more vivid when Moo was little and it reminded me of a Holstein cow.

I do 25-30% water changes every 5-6 days but the tank is heavily scaped and planted with a lot of botanical debris so it’s hard to tell how much mess the fish make. I have three and a half* cichlids in a 185 gallon with a school of Buenos Aires tetras and a few bristlenoses. I have two FX6s running and the prefilter sponges that I change when I do water changes do pick up a lot of muck. I think the burrowing snails churn the rest under.

*Lurch the firemouth is kind of deformed and stunted and I’m only counting as half a cichlid since I’m not sure they will ever reach normal size. He/she is happy though, even more so since I removed the other pair of firemouths that bullied Moo and terrorized Lurch.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

My tanks all get 50-60% weekly. Rogue's got a lot of open floor space as you can see, ensuring he's got lots of open space for his bulk to move around, and over black substrate the crap factory that is this fish is pretty obvious pretty quick lol. I've never had a fish poop as much as this guy. You always hear about how messy oscars are, or goldfish...never owned an oscar but I can't imagine they could be worse than this fenestratus lol.

 

[Dolemedes]

lol now I’m kind of afraid…

I’m sure when mine gets full size I’ll be doing much bigger water changes but right now the bigger water volume, smaller fish, and the crapton of plants inside and out of the tank keep the water parameters pretty under control with the 30% changes. I guess I’d better enjoy that while it lasts.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Oh 50% minimum every Saturday on every tank has been my standard routine for like 20 years now. I'm of the more is better fan club, my tanks are all pretty lightly stocked I just prefer the 50% personally. But this is the only fish I have that makes such a clearly visual mess of the tank lol.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Eek! Two days ago I popped into a chain store the next town over for freaking dog food, natually had to peek at the fish as it had been a while since I'd been there. Zero intention of buying a single live anything. Stopped dead in my tracks just 6 tanks down the line, nearly died of delighted shock to see a tank full of tiny 1" baby marbled fens!!! So. These three are now in QT and I am STOKED. Again individually selected for their markings, they (like Rogue was) will move into the 8ft with the hets once they're out of QT where I anticipate them growing at damn near lightening speed like Rogue did. And once large enough I'll move them in with Rogue and see if I can't get a pair to form (or if I happen to have a pair in the 8ft skip the Rogue step entirely). They're so cute!

https://flic.kr/p/2pnKRbS

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

The store also had three 2.5" argentea in a different tank, another uber rare fish around here. Brought home two of them as well. No idea what my long term plan for them is, but that's a future problem. Just couldn't walk away from them either.