New Ornate eats everyone....

[ocellatus]

Well I finally picked up an ornate after waiting almost a year for my LFS to get one in. Too small to sex yet (~5") with wonderful markings and finnage. Eventually she'll (?) be going into an 80 g with 2 senegals, and then onto a planned 180g. The sene's are 10" and 8", and have been laying eggs

I put her into my daughters 30 gallon in order to grow her out a bit and get her onto fish chunks and pellets that the sene's eat. I wanted her to catch up a bit before putting her in with the sene's, especially after the wait and double price tag.

That tank had a bunch of ghost shrimp, mollies, and their babies. HAD being the operative word. We knew the ornate would likely munch a few babies and the ghost shrimp, however in the last 4 days has taken out 3 of the big breeder mollies, many babies, and all but one of the ghost shrimp. She doesn't look twice at the other food offered, but who can blame her? My daughter of course is less amused.

The 2 senegals are pretty tame, but have been known to eat what they can catch, and would likely outcompete or eat the shy ornate. I'd like to move her in with the senegals but don't want to risk her either.

How long will it take for the ornate to catch up? The senegals took a year to get that size.......

O

 

[Razman]

i dont know but i think the ornate might already be big enough not to get eaten. congrats on the sens laying eggs btw

 

[ocellatus]

Thanks. It was one of those....are they?...no they couldn't be.....yep, those are eggs!! moments. The male had been chasing her, and kind of cupping his anal fin around hers, but it hadn't gone on for more than a few minutes at a time.

This last time she stopped swimming away, swum over a java moss clump a few times before stopping just past it. The cupping started over again,but she stayed put, then swished the eggs backwards into a java moss clump. Some stuck, others went into the gravel. I only actually saw perhaps 10 -15. All fungused over , but truth be known I wasn't ready to raise fry right now. No brine shrimp eggs on hand, no egg tank set up......

The ornate moving in with them may disrupt their mojo. Of course the dozen giant danios circling about didn't dampen their spirits, so maybe the ornate won't either. One more thing to consider.....

My daughter and I are negotiating who gets moved....

O

 

[ethnics]

ur ornate should be fine, i threw my 5" ornate in with my 12" endli and my endli didn't even look at it. he will compete on his own for food when he's hungry enough. i can't get mine to stop eating now. good luck with yours.

 

[rasdbo]

go for it, u will find that ornates grow pretty fast and with proper feeding will not only catch the sene's put run pass them in size pretty quickly.

 

[ocellatus]

Last night she munched 3 large raw fish chunks , and is still picking off babies every day.

I think you're right, she should be able to fend for herself with the senegals, especially now that she's started to eat fish chunks. I'm going to fatten her up for a few more days then in she goes!

O