The Trials and Tribulations of a Cichla Keeper
Message boards are suppose to be fun, interactive places for different people to share experiences and learn from other people's successes and failures. All too often, only the successes are reported, and sometimes this gives people the wrong impression that certain hobbyists are "perfect" or can "do no wrong" or are some type of "Cichla God." Nonsense!!
Recently, I have jumped head first back into the Cichla game after a six-month hiatus...the first-ever rest from Cichla since I started keeping them in 1995, and when C. temensis were unheard of and C. ocellaris were rare. Is that old school enough for you?
I have been fortunate, and a little eccentric for buying so many Cichla these past few months. And you all have seen my various threads, some of which show some pretty damn nice Cichla if I do say so myself
However, it would be unfair for me to sit behind a keyboard and hide my failures. So, this thread is dedicated to just a few of my many, but most recent "DOHS!" (in a Homer Simpson voice).
Female Cichla orinocensis
About a month ago, or maybe a little more now, I purchased a big female orino from a well-knowm, and now rather infamous, member here. The fish was beat up badly and the trip home did her no good. She suffered a long and painful recovery, but a few weeks later she was back in action and seemingly doing well.
All of her dead skin, scales, and fins had fallen off and were starting to regrow. She was eating like a champ, too!! "I am in the clear," I thought--but I was wrong. Today she took a major turn for the worse. She is bloated so badly that her eyes are popping out of her head and her gills are constantly flared. From past experience this form of "bloat" is incurable and the fish is essentially rotting from the inside out now. Very sad, but I did know better from previous experiences with this same issue. I only treated her severe bacterial wounds from the outside, and not the inside. I was lazy and her seemingly inevitable death was avoidable. I am to fault for this...DOH!!!
Wild Peruvian C. monoculus
A few weeks ago I bought a dozen baby wild Peruvian C. monoculus...I just couldn't resist! Well, all but six are dead now. Why you may be asking? Because I decided to pick up five C. temensis that were just slightly larger. I put the tems with the monocs...and the rest is history! The tems out compete the monocs at every turn and are just too aggressive to be housed with them at such a small size. I have raised hundreds, literally, of each species. I did know better, but I decided to take the lazy route...DOH!!!
Proven Pair of C. monoculus
Ok, this one's a real kick in the butt. Just a few days ago I met up with a awesome member here and bought a pair of proven breeder monocs and a big tem from him. All was going ok until we finally met up. Upon transfering the garbage bag with the monocs from his container to my cooler part of the bottom seam blew and the fish, along with about two or three gallons of water exploded down the front of me. "Holy Shibby!!" was of course my first response. I now have a proven pair of monocs flopping around a Home Depot parking lot. Lovely
I picked up the female inside of three seconds and tossed her into the tote, which had some water in it....the water than ran down the front of me that is!! The male continued to evade me, flopping around on the ground violently. We get them settled and all seems good. The drive home is happily uneventful and when I acclimate them to their new home I can see some minor fin damage, some scrapes and scratches, and the eyes appear a little cloudy.
Today they are as good as dead. Why? Because the asphalt and/or sand/gravel/etc... has abraded one eye on each the male and the female. I did not treat them as a precaution to such trauma, rather I figured they were good to go. They are not eating and are looking absolutely awful, and will most likely be dead in a few days...DOH!!!
Well, I hope that my rant has shed a little bit of light on my life as a dedicated Cichla keeper. Enjoy.
--Brian Scott
NOTE---Let it be known, and let me tell you first hand, that I have been keeping Cichla for 14 years. Recently I have seen some people tell others that they were "originals" and "keeping Cichla when others were still keeping goldfish" and blah, blah, blah (talk is cheap)....well I can assure those people that I was keeping Cichla before they even knew what a Cichla was
Message boards are suppose to be fun, interactive places for different people to share experiences and learn from other people's successes and failures. All too often, only the successes are reported, and sometimes this gives people the wrong impression that certain hobbyists are "perfect" or can "do no wrong" or are some type of "Cichla God." Nonsense!!
Recently, I have jumped head first back into the Cichla game after a six-month hiatus...the first-ever rest from Cichla since I started keeping them in 1995, and when C. temensis were unheard of and C. ocellaris were rare. Is that old school enough for you?
I have been fortunate, and a little eccentric for buying so many Cichla these past few months. And you all have seen my various threads, some of which show some pretty damn nice Cichla if I do say so myself
However, it would be unfair for me to sit behind a keyboard and hide my failures. So, this thread is dedicated to just a few of my many, but most recent "DOHS!" (in a Homer Simpson voice).
Female Cichla orinocensis
About a month ago, or maybe a little more now, I purchased a big female orino from a well-knowm, and now rather infamous, member here. The fish was beat up badly and the trip home did her no good. She suffered a long and painful recovery, but a few weeks later she was back in action and seemingly doing well.
All of her dead skin, scales, and fins had fallen off and were starting to regrow. She was eating like a champ, too!! "I am in the clear," I thought--but I was wrong. Today she took a major turn for the worse. She is bloated so badly that her eyes are popping out of her head and her gills are constantly flared. From past experience this form of "bloat" is incurable and the fish is essentially rotting from the inside out now. Very sad, but I did know better from previous experiences with this same issue. I only treated her severe bacterial wounds from the outside, and not the inside. I was lazy and her seemingly inevitable death was avoidable. I am to fault for this...DOH!!!
Wild Peruvian C. monoculus
A few weeks ago I bought a dozen baby wild Peruvian C. monoculus...I just couldn't resist! Well, all but six are dead now. Why you may be asking? Because I decided to pick up five C. temensis that were just slightly larger. I put the tems with the monocs...and the rest is history! The tems out compete the monocs at every turn and are just too aggressive to be housed with them at such a small size. I have raised hundreds, literally, of each species. I did know better, but I decided to take the lazy route...DOH!!!
Proven Pair of C. monoculus
Ok, this one's a real kick in the butt. Just a few days ago I met up with a awesome member here and bought a pair of proven breeder monocs and a big tem from him. All was going ok until we finally met up. Upon transfering the garbage bag with the monocs from his container to my cooler part of the bottom seam blew and the fish, along with about two or three gallons of water exploded down the front of me. "Holy Shibby!!" was of course my first response. I now have a proven pair of monocs flopping around a Home Depot parking lot. Lovely
I picked up the female inside of three seconds and tossed her into the tote, which had some water in it....the water than ran down the front of me that is!! The male continued to evade me, flopping around on the ground violently. We get them settled and all seems good. The drive home is happily uneventful and when I acclimate them to their new home I can see some minor fin damage, some scrapes and scratches, and the eyes appear a little cloudy.
Today they are as good as dead. Why? Because the asphalt and/or sand/gravel/etc... has abraded one eye on each the male and the female. I did not treat them as a precaution to such trauma, rather I figured they were good to go. They are not eating and are looking absolutely awful, and will most likely be dead in a few days...DOH!!!
Well, I hope that my rant has shed a little bit of light on my life as a dedicated Cichla keeper. Enjoy.
--Brian Scott
NOTE---Let it be known, and let me tell you first hand, that I have been keeping Cichla for 14 years. Recently I have seen some people tell others that they were "originals" and "keeping Cichla when others were still keeping goldfish" and blah, blah, blah (talk is cheap)....well I can assure those people that I was keeping Cichla before they even knew what a Cichla was
... the more i observed, i was able to diagnosed it to be an internal parasite... so i was debating on quarantining or dosing my whole tank... thoughts that were going through my head were.. should i risk harming my biological by dosing the tank or play it safe and pull him out... while i was debating he started to dart really fast and banged himself so hard it knocked him uncontious for a good 3 seconds, thats when i had made up my mind to quarantine...
... now i cant blame the meds for this fatality... i blame the styro container and myself for not thinking correctly because it is used as an insulator for alot of things even home aquaria
