Special Haitiensis diet questions/requirements?

[duanes]

From an article called "Oh Island in the Sun. Dominican Republic" by Alf Stalsberg, about collecting 1994
A site they refer to as a pig stream
Temp 32.5'C,pH 8.2-8.3, dH 17, kH 17, Nitrate 12.5
another collection site Temp 29'C, pH 9, dH 11, kH 9,
In another article by Paul Loiselle called
Some Observations on the Natural History of the Odo in Haiti BB 1989
Temps 78'F - 86'F
pH 7.3-7.7
conductivity 48-68
hardness 250
fish found with haitiensus were from the genus Gambusia smd Limia and introduced Tilapia
Both are interesting reads for anyone with haitiensus

The young haitiensus in my pic above, lived well for 6 months with smaller fish it could dominate, within 2 days of adding it to a community cichlid tank with similar sized fish, it bloated and died.

 

[darthodo]

You know, I know some folks that keep going to Haiti and I sent pictures of haits with them (juvies and adults, males and females). They eat a bunch of local fish and they have shown me pictures of them walking through rivers. They say they haven't seen any of the fish I've given them pictures of. I hope the haits are still in good numbers there. Everything you hear from there is so sketchy.

 

[capefeartarheel]

I have my 2 Haitiensis (3 to 4 inchers) in a 125 with the following:

1 barred midas 8 inches
1 Carpintis 'lahillas' 6 inches
1 Festae 6 inches
1 Dovii 2 inches
1 Red Tiger mota 3 inches
1 Trimac 3 inches
2 Fredrichstalli 4 inches


Yes, I am aware that these fish cannot live together at full grown size and I will be slowly getting rid of the ones that will not have a permanent home in the tank, starting with the midas, after Christmas. I am basically growing them out for a friend that owns a LFS and will be keeping the RTM, Festae, A Fredrichstalli & a Haitiensis for a future 180/210/240 (not sure which yet).

Anyways, they are extremely aggressive eaters in the tank and until I added the 2nd haitiensis, the single one would fight EVERY single fish in the tank, as if they were smaller than him. It would lock lips with the midas or carpintis and refused to back down from anything. Since adding the 2nd one, the only thing it tries to attack is the other haitiensis.

 

[duanes]

I agree Darth, everything I hear about Haiti is that it is an ecological dissaster due to the the unbelievable poverty and unstability, although the Dominican Republic may offer some hope.
On a side note, a DNA study from "Molecular Phylogenics and Evolution" by Perez, Rican, Orti, Bermingham, Doadrio and Zardoya called Phylogony and biogeography of 91 heroine cichlids based on sequenses of the cytochromeb gene,
this article places Nandopsis in a basal group far from many other Centrral American cichlids.
Colonization of the Antilles by Nandopsis may have occurred 26 to 28 million years ago, while other clades in Central America were thought to be much later, 14-18 million years ago. They suggest (if I read this right), the grammodes group is more closely related to Herichthys than to Nandopsis.

 

[Gomer]

Great discussion!

(Knock on wood) I've never really had problems with bloat with Haits or other CAs...

As duane stated, Haits are primitive and unspecialized. Probably omnivores in nature. That means that they should have a varied diet in the aquarium.

So how does bloat arise, even in situations where people are doing lots of water changes on big tanks?

My best guess would be intra-species aggression / stress. One possible way of alleviating this would be to mix small Haits with a bunch of other CA's (ports, Vieja, Nicaraguense, etc. come to mind) that aren't too aggressive and will spread aggression. Anyone tried this approach?

Yes, I keep my two haitiensis males with Nicaraguense and convicts(females only) . They seems to be working great as ditters for these fish. I did this since they were 1 inchers. Haitiensis need to be the dominant fish in a community setting.

 

[nolapete]

Unfortunately, while it may work for males (I suspect unique to your two and not my experience), females are a different beast altogether. They become obsessed with destroying each other.

I'm curious as to what "veggie" foods all of you have tried with your haits?

 

[Spaz]

How does it? Not having a go at you, genuine question.

Like i said i don't know, fish are obviously different, but vegetable matter keeps my intestines clean.

 

[shamrock]

My buddy Doug feeds his Spirulina based food.

 

[shamrock]

HerCrenvie-just out of curiousity how many Odos do you have or have raised?

 

[nolapete]

Going to see if mine will do anything with the spirulina wafers I have when I get home today.