Uber Rare -- Crenicichla multispinosa !!!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
MTN PIKE;3954042; said:
Only known source is Suriname & Fr. Guyana!
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Both are HIGHLY RESTRICTED areas for collecting - and it will get worse. Many Countries will be limiting collecting/exporting of their indigenous fish in the next two years. It'll be much more difficult (& expensive!) to get rare wild-caught fish......

(All you Pike Fanatics - let's use the term "CRENIHOLIC" instead of crenicichlaholic, whadda ya think?)
 
French Guiana actually has had laws in place for years making collecting aquarium fish illegal in that country, as well as exporting illegal. Not to say it hasn't been done, but it makes it quite rare.

Suriname has no commerical collectors in it, but it isn't illegal to collect there so it does happen occasionally. In fact, Vinny Kutty went there a few years ago and visited the two rivers that are supposed to hold Cr. multispinosa, but he had no lucky finding any so it seems not only do they have a small range, but are rare in that range as well. Here is a link to his collecting trip in Suriname: http://pikecichlid.com/sur2005/sur2005.html
 
Creniholic just doesn't sound as cool though, granted its easier to say!

Darth ~ Thanks for the read! They are more elusive than one would think hmm? GORGEOUS pikes! Why is it all the awesome, desirable ones are difficult/harder to get?
 
Darth - Vin Kutty clearly stated in his article that they saw juvie and adult multispinosa but were unable to collect any that trip.

I'm really glad Brian took the plunge on them with BelowWater, it'll be interesting to see if the multi's develop any more color as they mature into 12" fish. They are incredible at the current 7-8" size.
 
Thanks for the info on their limited availability. Beautiful pike.
 
darth pike;3955223; said:
French Guiana actually has had laws in place for years making collecting aquarium fish illegal in that country, as well as exporting illegal. Not to say it hasn't been done, but it makes it quite rare.

Suriname has no commerical collectors in it, but it isn't illegal to collect there so it does happen occasionally. In fact, Vinny Kutty went there a few years ago and visited the two rivers that are supposed to hold Cr. multispinosa, but he had no lucky finding any so it seems not only do they have a small range, but are rare in that range as well. Here is a link to his collecting trip in Suriname: http://pikecichlid.com/sur2005/sur2005.html
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wow, i should go to suriname
 
Hey all,
Just a quick update on the pike. They seem to be doing very well in my quarantine tank so far. They are hiding quite a lot, but each one has their own spot. Aggression is down tremendously since they figured out which one will sit where. They are feeding voraciously on live minnows, which are always (so far) swallowed head first--in typical predatory fashion of course.
These are truly wild fish, so they look and act the part. A couple of them have pretty beat up caudal fins. All eyes are there and clear (very important). I did have two minnows get regurgitated, though, which worries me a little. Maybe a tad bit overfeeding??? I am going to keep them hungry and not stuff them the way I do my cobras and Atabapo IIs. Apparently acoutirostris-group pikes do not handle large amounts of food very well. Any one have any suggestions??
Also, for the record, I am really glad that Fugupuff got his three as well. It's always nice to have the "only" ones around, but in all seriousness it's even nicer (for me anyway) to have access to people that have/had the same fish so as to bounce ideas and thoughts off of. If anyone else has these fish, or is getting them (Oliver has plenty more of different sizes [mine are 7-8 inches]) we should stay in touch and note our experiences with the awesome multispinosa!

Cheers for now,
--Brian Scott
 
If I could figure out how to get stuff from Oliver I would totally order from him!!! Alas, noone will ever do a group order with me! :( Next time you order from him let me know please, I'd love to access some of his fish resources!

Acutirostris group pikes are definitely more slender, so smaller foods are appreciated. I had my acutirostris feeding on cut up catfish nuggets, mysis shrimp (Piscine Energetics brand), and krill. Stay away from black worms. For some reason they have a tendency to really cause bloat in Crenicichla. Maybe its just me. Earthworms and anchor worms are amazing foods though, and can be gut loaded. Haven't had much success with live feeders though since most of mine die within minutes of being in the tanks. Really annoying.

One option would be to offer them different foods several times a day. Like mornings throw in just a few minnows, then around supper feed them frozen/prepared foods.

I generally feed my pikes every other day, with one of those being able to really stuff their faces.
 
Jer,
Thanks for the helpful reply. I have live grass shrimp available to me as well, and I think I will offer them to the pike along with earthworms when the time is right. For now, I just want to keep them alive and make sure I don't do anything outrageously stupid. I am putting lessons learned from my peacock bass experiences to work here and so far find pike cichlids far easier to acclimate and keep. My small Atabapo IIs, for example, are growing like weeds (nearly 5 inches now). Was told by many they grow slow. Anyway, I will be offering updates regularly on this group. Next Oliver order, no problem ;)
Thanks,
--Brian
 
Yay!!! Let order from him in two weeks then!!!!! Hahaha

Dude, you totally have to feed them grass shrimp! It is the coolest thing EVER!!! I loved feeding mine grass shrimp! You could hear them popping cuz the pikes hit them so hard! Its crazy cool!

Pikes are so incredibly hardy, it takes a lot to bring them down. Their resilience is amazing!!! After forking out so much money for them though, I can understand your desire to keep them with as few hiccups as possible. I always say if something is working out well for you, why change it?

There are two things though. Feed the minnows with spirulina flakes to gut load them, and some NLS AntiParasite flakes to make sure they(the pikes) have no internal parasites. And if possible pick out the smaller minnows to feed them until they start getting more size on them.

Best of luck mate, no pressure on ya, but we are all watching! LoL
 
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