Orange Chromides - A Bloodworm Feeding Frenzy

[notho2000]

These young Etroplus maculatus (F1) love their bloodworms, as you can see in this short video. They are about 7 months old and just starting to get their adult coloration. A beautiful little gem of an Indian cichlid, full grown at ~3". I keep them in brackish water.
[video=youtube_share;_qGnWOiyYhY]http://youtu.be/_qGnWOiyYhY[/video]

 

[darth pike]

Did you breed them in brackish water? I could never get the wild form to do so, though that fugly man made red form bred easily in it. It wasn't until the Dr. Paul Loiselle article saying they were primarily freshwater cichlids that I was able to breed the wild form. Just curious.

They are one of my favorite cichlids, I'd love to have them again. Too bad you are up north, or I'd steal some fry from you.

 

[notho2000]

Did you breed them in brackish water? I could never get the wild form to do so, though that fugly man made red form bred easily in it. It wasn't until the Dr. Paul Loiselle article saying they were primarily freshwater cichlids that I was able to breed the wild form. Just curious.
They are one of my favorite cichlids, I'd love to have them again. Too bad you are up north, or I'd steal some fry from you.

Yes they have been breeding in brackish water. I did try to take them more over to fresh water gradually, but they seemed "uncomfortable" (clamped up, shimmied, white specks on the sides and fins - not ich). I understand that in nature they are found in both fresh and brackish, and often co-exist with 'suratensis' which is truly a brackish water fish (although some people even keep those in fresh). They are pretty particular about water quality and my young are (unfortunately) somewhat overcrowded. So I've been monitoring them pretty closely.
If I could, I'd be more than happy to send some your way... but being in Canada.

 

[darth pike]

See, mine were the opposite. They never settled down in brackish water. I got them as adults, they were at trade in at the LFS I worked at at the time. I assume whomever had them previously had kept them in freshwater their whole life, hence the unease with the brackish water conditions. I was happier with them in fresh, since I could add plants and rasboras, until the little buggers ate the harlequins I had in with them. I switched to scissortails after that. They were surprisingly good at catching the smaller fish.

Yeah, I read about your fry distribution issues up there in your other thread. When I was in Victoria, one of the LFS ordered from Spencer. Did you check with bringing him some fry to ship all over poutine land?

 

[notho2000]

Actually Spencer is the main distributor of fish in Winnipeg and throughout Canada (poutineland... I like that but it applies mostly to Quebec) and without his AFISHionados, it would be very difficult to move my fish. Your right about the inconvenience of brackish water. There aren't many plants that do well or even survive a salty environment (Well, there's always plastic, which is what I use). I haven't kept the chromides in with any other fish so I wasn't aware of them being 'piscivores'.

 

[darth pike]

I don't know, poutine seems pretty popular out in BC. I don't much see the appeal ... though I thought of trying to 'southernfy' it on occasion.

Never had that issue with the greens, but was shocked at the little oranges hunting down the little rasboras. But then, their conspecific aggression for their small size is kind of a shock too at first. But they are completely worth it. I'd own them again in a heartbeat ... and I want to try their canary cousins as well.

 

[LS2012]

That certainly is a frenzy! They look fantastic Jim. Kudos, Laurie

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[notho2000]

That certainly is a frenzy! They look fantastic Jim. Kudos, Laurie
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Thanks Laurie. They are a fun little fish. I quite enjoy their antics.

 

[brackishdude]

Great video! I have bred a pair consisting of a wild-morphology and a red in my BW tank. The fry were consumed by tankmates before reaching size sufficient to make out their morphology. Anyone know the genetics there?