These arrived at my door the other day. At 1.5" they are great little fish. I hear they become rather aggressive once they mature. Well, anybody have any helpful hints for this malagasy keeper?
paretroplus maculatus
- Thread starter softturtle
- Start date
Congrats on these critically endangered fish!!!!
The fish itself is hardy if you maintain temp >80. It is highly susceptible to Ich, a new infection will kill all your fish in 24 hrs. Con-specific aggression is high but manageable when kept in groups of 4 or more.
best of luck
jose
The fish itself is hardy if you maintain temp >80. It is highly susceptible to Ich, a new infection will kill all your fish in 24 hrs. Con-specific aggression is high but manageable when kept in groups of 4 or more.
best of luck
jose
I have been keeping the tank between 83-84 and have a small amount of salt in the water. The salt seems to help with my Ptychochromis sp. so I figured I'd try it with the macs. I have already seen a small amount of aggression, but I imagine these will go in my 150 pretty soon for a few months.
A little updated pic for ya. They are all about 4" now. The flash really washes out the red in their fins.
I have not had any issues with them. They are growing at a good rate. I do a 50-70% water change once or twice a week and feed them every time I see them.
Greetings:
very nice pics--I was reading some of the previous posts, you may want to keep the fish between 78-80 degrees. Fry on the other hand survive better if the water is kept between 82-84 degrees. If the water is too warm, the fish simply won't breed. Salt is good for most Malagasy cichlids but there are limits, the most salt tolerant are Pty. oligacanthus, Paretroplus polyactis, and damii. All others do ok at lower salt concentrations. I always use extended quarentine for fish and plants (3-4 weeks) before introducing anything with my Malagasy fish- just to keep them from dying of ich.
regards
Jose
very nice pics--I was reading some of the previous posts, you may want to keep the fish between 78-80 degrees. Fry on the other hand survive better if the water is kept between 82-84 degrees. If the water is too warm, the fish simply won't breed. Salt is good for most Malagasy cichlids but there are limits, the most salt tolerant are Pty. oligacanthus, Paretroplus polyactis, and damii. All others do ok at lower salt concentrations. I always use extended quarentine for fish and plants (3-4 weeks) before introducing anything with my Malagasy fish- just to keep them from dying of ich.
regards
Jose
To be truthful, I haven't really given them the time of day as of late. I do my water changes(I heven't been adding salt, not even to my ptycho's tank) and feed them. The temp has been at a steady 82 F for the past month or two (turned of most of the heaters here, its getting hot in the fish room). But yes, I have had others tell me the same thing, no more salt and lower the temp. I don't think they should be spawning anytime soon, should they? They are only 4", maybe a little more.
I have heard all kind of ages and sizes at which Paretroplus start breeding- all in all, it depends greatly on quality of water (ie 30-40% weekly water changes), temperature (76 with an increase to 80 during 24 hrs), and lastly but most importantly: just leave them alone- Paretroplus are fairly shy, if you mess with the tank often or if it is placed in a heavily visited area the fish won't breed. I keep mine in a dark corner in the garage 
.
Paretroplus maculatus may be able to breed at 4 inches (definitely by 18 months of age). What I can tell you for sure is that the younger fish have more fertile spawns and breed more often than adults. Often people wait to see if the fish can take care of the young and sacrifice many spawns only to realize that once the fish get too large they don't breed but once or twice/year and with low fertility rates 10-15% of the eggs hatch. So I don't leave things to chance because quite frankly- most tanks are too small to allow an adult Paretroplus pair to raie their babies unless you have a 1000 gallon or larger pond/tank.
saludos
Jose
.Paretroplus maculatus may be able to breed at 4 inches (definitely by 18 months of age). What I can tell you for sure is that the younger fish have more fertile spawns and breed more often than adults. Often people wait to see if the fish can take care of the young and sacrifice many spawns only to realize that once the fish get too large they don't breed but once or twice/year and with low fertility rates 10-15% of the eggs hatch. So I don't leave things to chance because quite frankly- most tanks are too small to allow an adult Paretroplus pair to raie their babies unless you have a 1000 gallon or larger pond/tank.
saludos
Jose