Super Red Texas grow out thread

[Sinister-Kisses]

Thought I would start a separate thread to keep updated with the progress of these guys as they mature. For those who don't know the backstory - I purchased 6 super red texas babies from a breeder/seller in Thailand and had them imported to me here on the West Coast of Canada. They arrived the evening of Jan. 28 - two and a half days ago. They did really well on their international trip and were active and in good shape in the bags and minutes after being placed in my grow out tank for them. Right now they are in a standard 55gal tank, at least for a few weeks so I can QT and medicate if necessary - much easier/cheaper to medicate a smaller tank of course lol. I have a 5 foot, 120gal on standby for them when they out grow the 55gal. No real "intentions" for them - I've wanted an SRT for many, many years but couldn't justify the price. I found these for a good price, so picked up 6 to grow out and see how they mature.

Right now they're about 2-2.5" in size. All have started to fade in varying degrees. Looking back at the photos I took a few minutes after they first arrived, compared to these pictures taken last night, they've darkened up quite a bit in the tank...not sure if that's because of the black gravel, or was just stress out of the bag from shipping. They aren't as faded looking as they were originally. They are active and eating well, but EXTREMELY skittish - any small movement sends them skittering spastically into hiding. I'm trying to ease them into confidence by regularly going into the fish room they're in (which is a fish room only, so doesn't get "regular" traffic) and moving slowly to avoid sending them in a bolt that bashes into rocks or whatever...as well as standing/sitting with them for a bit when I feed them so they start to figure out I mean food. They've been pre-emptively dosed with Stress Guard and PraziPro as a standard practice for any fish that I import from overseas...contemplating whether I should also pre-emptively dose for hexamita simply because of where they came from, haven't done so yet.


https://flic.kr/p/2n1dQXG

 

[RD.]

For what it's worth, IMO RT's do well in black backgrounds, but a lighter substrate. I believe the black colored gravel caused the color shift, from when they first arrived. I understand that this tank is only temporary.

They've been pre-emptively dosed with Stress Guard and PraziPro as a standard practice for any fish that I import from overseas...contemplating whether I should also pre-emptively dose for hexamita simply because of where they came from, haven't done so yet.

For sure, IMO a de-wormer such as PraziPro should always be followed up with a treatment for hex, for any fish imported from SE Asia.
The following worked well for me, and I never had to follow up with anything stronger on any of the FH/RT that I owned over the years that came from Thailand.

Treating Hexamita aka Spironucleus | MonsterFishKeepers.com


Good luck with them!

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Oh sure, now you tell me, lol. I specifically went and purchased black gravel for the 120gal as well thinking it would help "darken" the red once they matured. That's a problem for future me

Hmm okay so you treat with epsom salt, NOT metro, as a pre-emptive measure on imports? And, you dose by soaking the food with the epsom salt water only, none is added to the tank? Naturally, I have metro on hand, but not epsom salt - at least, I'm pretty sure the SRTs aren't going to want the coconut-scented epsom salt I have on hand for my baths ? I'll have to go pick up some regular ol' epsom salt then.

 

[RD.]

Yes, just regular epsom salt, pre-soak the food as per instructions in that thread. You can use metro as well, up to you.


Black background, light substrate. 11-12" when pic was taken.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

K, I'll try the food-soaked epsom route. They look pretty good right now, no signs that I should be worried about it, just know it's a good idea given they came from Thailand. No sense dosing with metro if I don't need to.

 

[FahakaPapa]

Nice looking fish! And hello from a fellow Canadian ??

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

So, few more days have passed. They are still hella skittish, but they do seem to be getting a little less so. Contemplating trying out some dithers, but I wouldn't want to risk throwing an "unknown" fish (health) in there with them - and buying dithers and then QT'ing for a few weeks seems like a waste, as the SRT will probably have settled and be more comfortable by then. The only suitable thing I could maybe throw in there with them from my own current tanks that I know is healthy, are my baby midas...but they're on the small side and may just get picked off. Given my entire reason for even growing out the spawn is to let the midas mature enough to see if there is one that gets my "perfect" markings, I don't really want to risk the baby midas. So I guess I'll wait them out on the spastic behaviour.

They seem completely offended by the epsom-soaked food, however. I tried for the first time last night with their dinner, which I used Northfin cichlid pellets for as they seemed less compacted and would absorb the epsom water better. That being said, they haven't actually HAD the Northfin food before. They totally refused to eat it - came out eagerly to investigate, and spent some time picking up pellets and then spitting them out. Left it overnight just in case, and had to vacuum it all up this morning when it was untouched. I thought, okay maybe they just don't love the Northfin food...or maybe it's larger than they want to contend with (not big, 2mm pellets, but a size they have to chew at their size). So tonight I tried the 1-1.5mm sized NLS Ultra Red pellets - which they definitely DID eat before, but same thing. Came out eagerly, picked up the pellets eagerly - spat 'em back out. I had some leftover frozen bloodworms after feeding my bettas, so I dumped those in with the SRT after the pellet rejection - they gobbled up the little bit of bloodworms with no hesitation. So, I know it's not ideal, but I dosed them with MetroPlex since they refuse to eat the epsom soaked food and I don't want to risk that they're carrying hexamita without treatment any longer. I'd hate for them to start showing serious symptoms because I couldn't get them to eat treated food. Tomorrow I'll give them the NLS Ultra Red again, without presoaking in epsom water, and see if they take it again or if I've broken them now lol.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

It's been a little over a week since these guys arrived here, and they're settling in little by little. Still very timid and prone to flight at movement in the room, but they "recover" much more quickly and have started to come out to beg for food a bit when they see me in front of their tank. They did actually start to eat the epsom-soaked NLS after I posted that they had refused it, so tonight was day 5/last day of that preventative measure. Tomorrow we can start testing out other foods lol.

They're aggressive little mofos. I know, I know, they're SRT. But they're babies. I was expecting to have essentially the same experience as with the other large aggressive cichlids I've raised over the years, and figured they'd be okay together and live relatively issue-free for at least a couple months. Hell, the group of 6 baby midas just grew out lived together without real issue at all until they started to hit 5-6" in size and paired off to breed. These guys though - it's clear there is a dominant fish who spends most of his free time chasing the others and making life miserable. So my plans have changed - I was using the 55gal they're in as a temporary QT tank for them for treatment purposes, and after a two week period the plan was to move the whole group of 6 into the 5ft, 120gal I have set up and waiting for them...let them grow out together for a couple months until they needing breaking up, but seems they need breaking up now lol. Next weekend, once their 2 weeks of QT is up, I'm instead going to split them ALL up into individual spaces. Given it wasn't the plan, I have to work with what I have, so I'll split the 55gal in half, the 120gal in half, move one into the 8ft tank, and move the last one into my 40 long. Hopefully that will give them time to really settle in and grow out enough for me to pick a favourite one or two and decide on a more permanent living arrangement for the ones I want to keep.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Realized I posted on the wrong thread earlier...this was the thread I intended to update

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

Update! So, as mentioned previously, I was NOT anticipating them being as aggressive to each other as they are at such a small size. I purchased the 6 with the plan of keeping them together in a grow out tank for I figured a few months at least before they would need to be split up, at which point I thought I'd know which I wanted to keep and which I didn't. But it became very clear after just a few days of arriving that there was one very dominant fish who was constantly chasing/harassing the others and making life miserable. I wanted to let them get through 2 weeks of QT in the 55gal they were in, which has now wrapped up. They all seem happy and healthy other than being picked on all the time, so yesterday afternoon I spent hours doing some reshuffling of my tanks to get the SRT separated from each other using the tanks I have available (really uninteresting in buying any more at this point).

So, as of last night, they are housed as follows:

- 55gal they have been QT'd in - now split in half, with the two middle-sized fish. These two happen to be the middle ground as far as fading goes as well within my group of 6.
- 120gal has been split in half, with the two largest fish sharing it. These are also the LEAST faded in the group, and includes the dominant fish who was doing all the harassing (the darkest, barely faded one). Yeah, that's him with a baby midas tail poking out of his mouth this morning ?
- 40 long that WAS housing the baby midas swarm now has the smallest of the 6 SRT, who also is the most faded of them all. He/she has got 5 baby midas left in the tank to act as dithers.
- 135gal, 8ft long community tank which was housing my 2 subadult marbled fenestratus and 2 subadult cutteri (waiting on my intended other species to become available) is now also temporary home to the large swarm of baby midas who were evicted from their 40gal - which they were outgrowing anyway - and the second smallest of the SRT, who is also mostly faded as well.

Videos of the tanks are shown in the order I've noted them above.

In less than 24 hours, all 6 SRT seem to be much happier in their new living arrangements. All are still a bit shy but are FAR more outgoing and less skittish than they were together as a group in the 55gal. The smallest little guy in the 40gal is still a bit more timid than the others who are now living solo, I think probably because it was the smallest and lowest in the pecking order before and thus too used to being picked on and having to be ready to run all the time. The one in the 8ft tank is also not quite as settled in and still timid, which I'm attributing to a combination of the fact that it, too, was one of the smaller ones in the group situation AND the fact that it's the only one who moved into a tank with other tank mates - who, as you can see, are much, much larger than it is. They are paying the new additions absolutely no mind at all though, so I'm sure the SRT will settle in quickly. The baby midas were right at home with giant tank mates within a couple hours of their move lol.

So, now I let them grow out and see how they turn out. And also test whether I think they look better over dark/black substrate or over light/white substrate, since one is now in a tank with silica sand.

The 55gal:
https://flic.kr/p/2n36xfx
The 120gal (and the douche with a baby midas in his face):
https://flic.kr/p/2n36WAc
The 40 long:
https://flic.kr/p/2n36wPh
The 8ft:
https://flic.kr/p/2n36WNr