Nandopsis Haitiensis (Black Nasty) Progress Thread

[SharptoothBass]

Not sure why you are in such a rush, give it a few more months keep the water clean and feed them well and you will know. You tank is very large so you have plenty of room to grow them out. The internet horror stories scare a lot of people away from this species. Alot are under fed because of a fear of bloat which has been highly exaggerated IMO. I removed all my growouts from one of my tanks yesterday hand picked the ones I wanted, changed almost all the old water about 55-60 gallons from a 75 gallon and put the 10 fish I'm keeping back in, the tank has no heater not one stress or bloat related death and the fish were eating minutes after being back in the tank. The other 20 were placed in a unheated 40 breeder that had housed a bass, no deaths or stress in this group either.

 

[duanes]

(Hey Duanes, not to throw any confusion in there but just to clarify the dark dorsal thing. females dorsals will only get black

This does not surprise me, with many cichlids, sexual difference can be quite plastic, what looks one gender one day, can reverse the next.
I had a Paratilapia that I thought was female for about two years, once the dominant male died, she changed appearance to a male over night.
So there are no absolutes in cichlids.
I actually had a female Alcolapia that laid eggs, change to a male, once all other males died, and spawn as a male.
Here she is changed to a male on the right.

 

[BOREEK]

Yes at that size all you can go on is behavior, because I had 13 and just took the 3 smaller ones out last nite, I know for sure I have 3 pairs but the last 4 I have no clue an I just like theses other guys been dealing with hatiensis since the late 80's

Pair 1

Pair 2

Pair 3

Random Picture
As you can see so hard to tell with out them pairing up.

 

[Matthew1626]

Thank you all so much for your input. It's good advice to keep waiting, another friend of mine said to do the same. I suppose I am just paranoid about them stressing each other out too much, but all of your posts have been encouraging so I appreciate it. I will continue to keep this thread updated and we will see how they turn out. If no males end up surfacing then perhaps I will just bring one in from a different source. Thank you all again

 

[Matthew1626]

A December full tank shot and what I can only assume (at this point anyhow) is a catfight :-/

 

[Matthew1626]

This one seems developing a little hump...maybe a good sign:

 

[Rass]

Looking great!