Parachromis Fredrichsthali or Parachromis Motaguensis?

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L

lulurida

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jan 21, 2009
118
1
16
macon ga
I recently feel in love with anything Parachromis and for years have wanted a breeding pair of cichlids. I am limited to 75 gallon at the moment and I am trying to figure out if I should get a pair of fredrichsthali or motaguensis. I like the grammodes but don't like the "slow growing" aspect.

I really like both species and would love some feedback!

Where are some reliable places to get these guys?
 
In my experience, the reason grammodes grow slowly is because they don't feed as boldly as many other fish that may be in the same tank. They are definitely a "one bite and run" type of feeder (probably due to their predatory nature; catch a fish and split!). When they are kept with big aggressive pigs they may not get their share of food. That can be managed by target feeding large bits of food (krill or large pellets) with feeding tongs. After a couple of weeks the fish know the tongs mean food! Otherwise, you can just make sure they are only housed with smaller dither type fish that can't handle large pellets.

Regarding your freddy or mot question, in my opinion the Red Tiger Mot race now being marketed by some vendors here on MFK is perhaps the best looking parachromis out there (since grammies aren't technically a Parachromis). Search some of Aquamojo's threads for some great shots!
 
For the 2nd time Ive had them, Im not having a slow growing experience with Grammodes at all. My current male has gone from 3 inches to approx. 4-4.5 in 6 weeks. Like other grammodes Ive had, the pair I have now are not scared to come out and are about the most social fish in the tank. They take more food than any of their 20+ tankmates and still want more. The male CHOWS down on fresh shrimp but mealworms are his favorite. He will usually eat 4 or 5.

As far as freddis or RTMs, Id get grammodes:ROFL:

My freddi pair and RTM pair were skittish, hid a lot and werent too interactive. I am going to get my RTM pair back tomorrow from the local university they have been at for almost a year, so that might be different, but I doubt it.
 
no, Ive gotten them from 2 different sources and they were possibly 2 different variants. The first ones got killed by my festae pair and now I have a pair from Ira.

One pair was grey/blue and the other is yellow/green.

male from Rapps

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female from Rapps

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male from Ira:

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female from Ira

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anyones thoughts on Grammodes variants? I cant find much info on it anywhere.

Oh..lulurida...sorry for the hijack.
 
I have seen the same thing you have. There is a slight difference between the TUIC and DCT fish. From what I've seen, it seems the heads may be bigger on the TUIC fish, and the DCT fish are darker in color (or maybe just different in some other way). I can't really put my finger on it.....
 
yea, its something for sure. I like both "strains" I guess youd call it. Neither pair were hiders or slow growers like I always heard. I do 50% weekly changes and feed something different everyday, with shrimp, mealworms and earthworms a large part of their diet, so maybe that has something to do with it. Shrimp have always packed on the weight with every fish Ive had, especially dovii and trimacs.
 
VRWC;3827478; said:
yea, its something for sure. I like both "strains" I guess youd call it. Neither pair were hiders or slow growers like I always heard. I do 50% weekly changes and feed something different everyday, with shrimp, mealworms and earthworms a large part of their diet, so maybe that has something to do with it. Shrimp have always packed on the weight with every fish Ive had, especially dovii and trimacs.
Click to expand...

What were you keeping your grammies with?
 
the pair from rapps I was keeping them in a 265 with a large festae pair (male around 10" f 7"), 10+ convicts, jag pair (m 6" f 4") a syno & a pictus. The festae spawned, I went to bed, woke up to a dead grammodes pair, dead pictus and the jags and syno on their last leg.

I moved the festae & fry and Im keeping the current grammodes in the 265 with a bunch of other growouts - 3 HRPs, 3 cyanoguttatus, trimac, 2 red istlanum, 2 neets,a female con, pictus, JD, 4 midas & 2 carpintis...all under 4 inches.
 
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