Looks like a pretty cool stock in that tank with the trimac! I see what looks like mota, convicts, chancho?
My new trimac (Rio Naranjo)
- Thread starter RampageRR
- Start date
Looks like a pretty cool stock in that tank with the trimac! I see what looks like mota, convicts, chancho?
Yeah, a bunch but now a male Amphilophus dominated tank with a bunch of others - had all the parachromis but Dovii - now just a single female Freddy in this tank - 300 gallon. The female RTM was moved to a 135 - attempting to breed her. There is a Chancho but you are seeing a male barred Midas that now runs the tank. He and the Trimac were scrapping too much, so I pulled the Trimac and have him in a separate tank with a female I'm trying to get him to breed with. The "convicts" you see are chetumalensis, HRP and Sajica - all sold now with just the HRP left. I need more tanks!!
My guy is growing like a weed, probably about 5" now. He's now darker than he was originally - very dark olive with a slight reddish underbelly. My first thought is it's due to the black sand and dark background.
Anyone have any ideas on how to lighten up the tank decor a bit without having to change the black sand out? I want to make sure it'll change his colors before spending money on light colored sand. Maybe some large flat white/tan rocks on top of the sand?
Anyone have any ideas on how to lighten up the tank decor a bit without having to change the black sand out? I want to make sure it'll change his colors before spending money on light colored sand. Maybe some large flat white/tan rocks on top of the sand?
His attitude is great - he comes out front and center immediately when I come in the room, and he'll even jump out of the water an inch or two if I don't drop food in quickly enough.
Just want to try changing up the color in the tank and see if that's what's causing the overly dark coloring. He still looks really good with the blue and olive, but I wouldn't mind some more yellow showing. I'm going to try putting in some of the flat plastic slate looking rock you can get for reptile tanks and covering the sand with it. We'll see if that changes his coloring at all. If it does, then I'll spend the money on light sand.
Just put in some ceramic tile from Lowe's to see if the brighter color in the tank will bring out a lighter coloration in the trimac. It seems to have helped a bit already, even with him still being stressed about me being in the tank dropping the tiles in. Tiles are temporary - if it does help his coloration, I'll be swapping out the black sand for white/tan pool filter sand.
This is about an hour after the tiles went in:
This is about an hour after the tiles went in:
So I'm going to say the tile experiment was a success! This is just one day after putting 3 12"x12" tiles on top of the black sand (still leaving some black sand areas visible - I'd think all white sand would work even better).
Sorry for the poor photo quality - I have to stand fairly far away with a cell phone for him not to stay at the top of the tank begging for food. I'll keep you all updated with pics in a few more days to see if there are any further changes. At least you can see the cool turquoise sheen he has in some of these shots. It's actually even more prominent in person.
Sorry for the poor photo quality - I have to stand fairly far away with a cell phone for him not to stay at the top of the tank begging for food. I'll keep you all updated with pics in a few more days to see if there are any further changes. At least you can see the cool turquoise sheen he has in some of these shots. It's actually even more prominent in person.
Amazing change, looking forward to the sand swap. I had black sand in a few tanks and ended up hating it.
