Switching Gears... Opinions needed

[MonteSS]

Lookin good. The fish look so small in that setip LOL.

Curious as to which fish ruled/were most aggressive in the old setup? The Midas/RD I would imagine?

....Bill

 

[TheFishGuy]

Close, the hogoboomorum or however you spell it was the ruler of the tank, then I'd say the midas, then the large synspilum then all of the bifas or bifas hybrids...

Yeah, funny thing is the oscars laid eggs last nite.... they fell hook line and sinker for the spot I put together for them!

 

[TheFishGuy]

I have not uploaded any of the vids yet... I'll explain why... Friday was The Ohio Cichlid Associations monthly social meeting which was our annual pot luck Christmas dinner and board elections meeting. I'm the videographer for the club so I was uploading vids from the Extravaganza and editing all day Friday. I did bring home 10 psittacum that were to be culled. Four have died due to their water getting too cold. 4 were added to the big tank and I have yet to see them again since discovering the leak.
Saturday I woke up to one of the bulkheads leaking on the 1200... It was a very small drip so I thought I'd just tighten the nut... And that when water REALLY started leaking. I ended up removing the bulkhead entirely and siliconing a piece of glass over the hole. Unfortunately I had to drain the tank down to 4" which spooked the oscars and all of their eggs are now gone.
Here's a pic of the repair:

The difficult part was refilling the tank and keeping the water warm. It took all day.
The reason for the leak was probably all the messing around getting in and out of the tank. I know I had put stress on the pipes numerous times, and it finnaly gave way...

 

[TheFishGuy]

Well, never got around to finishing the decor, and now who knows when it wil be... Ten days later it seems the oscars were feeling a bit randy again and are spawning as I type! Hopefully this time nothing catostrophic happens and we might be able to see some close to natural behavior of parents herding young around the tank! Here's some pics:

The male wasn't too keen on the Elvis (soft shell turtle) crowding in on their territoy LOL

 

[TheFishGuy]

It's been a while since I've updated so here's what's going on. I've got six uaru roughly 2" growing out in a 185 gallon!
Here's how they came in, I was a bit nervous as I couldn't see in the bag and if fish arrive dead a photo is required in an unopened bag...

I slowly acclimated them with water from the 185 using a valve behind the tank:

I added some methlyne blue during acclimation just in case:

They arrived on January 4th, they are wild caught from the Rio Negra. I'm not too excited about having wild caught specimines, I would have much rather have had tank raised but it was getting to the point where I wasn't going to be able to find them it seems... And since these are rarely imported due to the fact they are an important food fish I decided to get them anyhow...

Tomorrow I wil be picking up a breeding pair of rotkiel severums that in fact used to be mine. They will go in the big tank... The only other things I might add besides the growing out uaru and geophagus altifrons are some green terrors... But we'll see...
I did finish the decor in the tank and also added 5 2" oscars that came from one of the spawns in the tank... We'll see if they are smart enough to stay alive in the "reef"

I'll get some pics of the severums saturday morning!

 

[TheFishGuy]

Wife took some pics of they new pair and some of the other guys:
The male:

Female:

Together:

One of the 9 psittacum:

One of the 7 port cichlids:

And Elvis, the camera hog:

We also added "Little Bert" He's a giant goramy, one of my last rescued fish. My daughter loves him... Also will be getting a handful (5) Laetacara dorsigera and will pick them up next month. I'm going to give them their own tank first to get some fry, then put the group of adults in the big tank. I think they will do good. The only fish that's an A-hole in this tank is the 8" tiger oscar. I'm considering taking him out before adding the dorsigera.

 

[TheFishGuy]

A lot of people when they come here ask how I keep the glass clean... I tell them that's what kids are for!

 

[Sapper]

Ever hear of child labor laws?? Lol great thread man, keep up the awesome work. I dream of a house filled with tanks and my kids inside them keeping them clean!

 

[TheFishGuy]

I'm recovering from knee surgery so it was the perfect opportunity to train my oldest daughter how to clean glass! LOL She was very excited and she did a great job too!