Redbreast Dwarf Acara Cichlid (Laetacara dorsigera)

[Desert Bus]

Two of the three are hanging out with the school of Scissortail Rasboras the other one is ??? but there are fish in this tank I don't see for weeks or sometimes months (yeah i'm talking about you Mr. Brachyrhamdia sp. Bolivia). Gonna give it a day before I call it all good but I think acclimation went well. It's been a long time since I've lost a fish post-acclimation or really at all.

 

[Desert Bus]

At least 2 made it though the night. I've got a good feeling about #3.

 

[Desert Bus]

All three alive but they have a worrying tendency to only eat cheap flake. Luckily I have like 3 diff types of quality flake I can feed until they start taking pellets and whatever else. What sort of jerk raises baby fish on McDonald's quality flake?

Whatever they made it the first 24h+ i'm pretty confident they'll be around for years.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

All three alive but they have a worrying tendency to only eat cheap flake. Luckily I have like 3 diff types of quality flake I can feed until they start taking pellets and whatever else. What sort of jerk raises baby fish on McDonald's quality flake?

Whatever they made it the first 24h+ i'm pretty confident they'll be around for years.

Hey now, I work for McDonald's and we make the "BEST" flake food for your children, I mean fish lol.

 

[Desert Bus]

48ish hours in all 3 still going strong, nice full bellies, but my tank looks like Christmas with all the flake particles. Def time to clean my prefilter sponges. Downside I found a "cull" Neocardinia shrimp that's beautiful and i'm never ever going to be able to find it again or catch it to move it back to the shrimp tank.

 

[Magnus_Bane]

48ish hours in all 3 still going strong, nice full bellies, but my tank looks like Christmas with all the flake particles. Def time to clean my prefilter sponges. Downside I found a "cull" Neocardinia shrimp that's beautiful and i'm never ever going to be able to find it again or catch it to move it back to the shrimp tank.

Yeah and having all that decor and plants in there would make it near impossible to remove most anything let alone a tiny lil neocardinia shrimp. Atleast ya may get to see it from time to time if the acara's don't bother it/eat it.

 

[Desert Bus]

I broke the whole tank down about 2 years ago to move to a new 29 because I didn't trust a 15 year old tank that had been moved 3 times. Even when you take out all the plants and rocks and wood and 90% of the water it's near impossible to catch any fish. Catching a full grown Neo I didn't even know existed til today with this aquascape? LOL no not gonna happen. It simply existing and having grown to full size is a great indicator of tank health though.

 

[Desert Bus]

I found one dead a week ago, but I just saw the other two hanging out together and they look bigger and healthy. They are excellent hiders which is what I expected from them. I can usually spot one if I really try. What good is a giant mass of plants if you don't actually have fish that will use it?

 

[Desert Bus]

They didn't really want to cooperate with picture time, but both are still going strong. They just started taking the .5mm New Life Spectrum Pellets instead of just flake and crushed up crisps, so growth should speed up considerably from here on out. Plus a bad full tank pic. The Red Crypt on the left is about 15-16" tall, and I just pulled a LARGE amount of Hygrophilia so I can actually see my fish again and they have room to swim.

 

[Desert Bus]

Not a great pic but they're both still alive and slowly getting bigger and developing more color. They're also getting a lot less shy and acting like tiny little cichlids should. They don't always disappear when I get near the tank and they're starting to beg for food like the rest of the fish.