Super Red Salvini - The Quest for the Holy Grail
- Thread starter auratum
- Start date
two and a bit weeks on in - the sexes in all of them are much more clear - pretty sure my group of six is 4 females and 2 males.
The biggest females are looking fantastic, and this past week the males finally started showing more. There will be a ton of red even in the males from the looks of it. (rio chacamax huzzah)
in terms of behaviour is it normal that the two largest females have "paired" off and have dug a nest? They vigorously excavated underneath the big piece of driftwood in the tank (not pictured) and swim together a lot of the day. They are both definitely female.
The biggest females are looking fantastic, and this past week the males finally started showing more. There will be a ton of red even in the males from the looks of it. (rio chacamax huzzah)
in terms of behaviour is it normal that the two largest females have "paired" off and have dug a nest? They vigorously excavated underneath the big piece of driftwood in the tank (not pictured) and swim together a lot of the day. They are both definitely female.
updated pictures
the two biggest females look like this - they have also been "paired" since the beginning as BFFs, have dug a giant cave behind the log and only come out to chase away the other fish. Am I going to need to separate them to get them to pair with a male later on? Extremely hard to photograph now as they're always hidden together in the cave area.
also if anybody has tips for combating the BBA infestation let me know, it showed up over Christmas when I was busy with family so it's gotten out of control.
this is a shot of the biggest male - VERY dark so far. He also has some scale damage (the least damage of the non-dominant two) as the big females have started beating up all the others.
finally a shot of one of the smaller ones - do I need to be worried about the light coloration going on? (bacterial growth or anything? or just color)
more pics to come - actually using a very good camera, the weak link is me (inexperienced, not the fancy camera owner) and their unwillingness to pose
the two biggest females look like this - they have also been "paired" since the beginning as BFFs, have dug a giant cave behind the log and only come out to chase away the other fish. Am I going to need to separate them to get them to pair with a male later on? Extremely hard to photograph now as they're always hidden together in the cave area.
also if anybody has tips for combating the BBA infestation let me know, it showed up over Christmas when I was busy with family so it's gotten out of control.
this is a shot of the biggest male - VERY dark so far. He also has some scale damage (the least damage of the non-dominant two) as the big females have started beating up all the others.
finally a shot of one of the smaller ones - do I need to be worried about the light coloration going on? (bacterial growth or anything? or just color)
more pics to come - actually using a very good camera, the weak link is me (inexperienced, not the fancy camera owner) and their unwillingness to pose
updated pictures
the two biggest females look like this - they have also been "paired" since the beginning as BFFs, have dug a giant cave behind the log and only come out to chase away the other fish. Am I going to need to separate them to get them to pair with a male later on? Extremely hard to photograph now as they're always hidden together in the cave area.
also if anybody has tips for combating the BBA infestation let me know, it showed up over Christmas when I was busy with family so it's gotten out of control.
this is a shot of the biggest male - VERY dark so far. He also has some scale damage (the least damage of the non-dominant two) as the big females have started beating up all the others.
finally a shot of one of the smaller ones - do I need to be worried about the light coloration going on? (bacterial growth or anything? or just color)
more pics to come - actually using a very good camera, the weak link is me (inexperienced, not the fancy camera owner) and their unwillingness to pose
Those females look perfect. You can really see how they get their name tricolor cichlid.
My males are smaller than my female and are definitely still at the bottom of the hierarchy which I assume may be the same situation in your tank? What size are your males in comparison to your females?
yes, they are quite lovely specimens lol
the males are definitely the bottom of the heirarchy. They all started off smaller than the females, the male posted above has just recently gotten a bit bigger than the females. (finally) He's still a chicken tho hehe, if he pokes his nose out of his hiding spots in the plants the females zoom right over and send him back in.
I'm hoping as he continues to widen the size gap he'll take over. The other male(s) are all smaller still than the females by a fair bit.
You should separate the bigger male and powerfeed him so he gets bigger and that way his colors really come in, maybe looking a bit dull bc they are making him stressed. Let him regain some ego lol and then put him back so he handles some tail
