Hey guys i've got a chance to pick up an ornate this week, I was wondering what i should be looing for when picking one of the group available. Pretty sure they must be captive bred, is there any way to tell?
They are smaller about 5 inches and i don't really know much about ornates and the differce between wild caught and captive bred in terms of quality and pricing. They are 40 bucks at 4.5-5 inches.
Just look for one without any visible defects. They tend to be pretty active when they're small, so I would look for one that is swimming around the tank. Also look at it's breathing...make sure it's not breathing heavily.
I would go for the darkest and nicest pattern that catches your eye. The pattern slightly changes from when their younger but if they're still dark at that size, 4.5-5" thats good. Because I seen a lot of people grow big ones and they fade and their color looks kinda washed out.
I would go for the darkest and nicest pattern that catches your eye. The pattern slightly changes from when their younger but if they're still dark at that size, 4.5-5" thats good. Because I seen a lot of people grow big ones and they fade and their color looks kinda washed out.
Agreed^ I pick out 3 darkest and most active 2" Ornates couple of months ago. They are still Dark and semi active. Love ornates but If i had a choice I would keep the Dark ones only
All good advise, as long as it looks healthy, watch for rapid breathing, and it should be active but not darting around or thrashing around at the surface , also it should try and avoid being netted.
I would go for the darkest and nicest pattern that catches your eye. The pattern slightly changes from when their younger but if they're still dark at that size, 4.5-5" thats good. Because I seen a lot of people grow big ones and they fade and their color looks kinda washed out.
This is a little off topic but i'm curious does any have a large ornate with light color's ? or even a pic ?
I agree many if not most wash out and become much lighter colored as they grow and as the pattern changes from the juvie spots over to a more adult pattern, I was under the impression that once the pattern change is over they start to darken up again as they grow and mature but admittedly i did just sorta assume this based on the colors of my large ones compared to the one i'm growing out.
I've owned 4 of them, 3 of them came in already 14" and very dark, i have only one that was purchased small and growing out , the one i have growing out was very pale at 8", she's pushing a foot now and still pale in comparison to the bigger 16" female, but seems to be getting darker and a lot of the yellow hues have been replaced with grey.
My own is pretty light, but its spent most of its life on a mix of white and blue sand so that may have played a part. I have my tank split so on one side its black sand and on the other its regular gold sand, when hes been chilling on the right side he looks darker but if he parks on the left he looks lighter. 8 inches currently
For selection as everyone had said, pick for the best health then pick for the pattern and youll be alright. CB ornates tend to have less defects then other CBs so you should be good. I guess the CB endli are the ones that people sometimes refer to as "time bombs". Hopefully theyre hobbyist bred, mine is an F1 a friend had bred out so it shouldnt have any defects as farm raised would
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I'm not sure if darker is better. I've always thought the same, but decided to see what a lighter one would hold if I raised it. I've had a total of 3 Ornates. I raised my dark Ornate to 8" (before it died from a bloat) and the patterns started to fade. Same with a prior one I had before I sold it. The last one I got (and still have) was a lighter pattern Ornate and as he grew, his patterns became bolder.
I would choose the darkest and active one . I always check the stomachs to make sure they fat and the fins, eyes, and nostrils are right (no nips on fins and that no eyes are missing). When I got mine a year ago it was dark and very active and stayed active but lighten up a little with time. I sold it a while back Ill check once I get home from work to see if I have any pictures to share.
