What Crenicichla do I have??

[Getmuddy350]

Can anyone Id my pike and tell me how big he gets?? I've had it for almost a year, and it hasn't grown too much at all.

This is my first time posting pics...sooooo we'll see how they work. Ohh, And sorry for the quality, they were taken with a cell phone.

 

[SiestaSkyy]

those actully aren't too bad at all for a cell phone. penut will be able to nail that one out prob. youll just have to wait for him to get on. its a nice lookin fish

 

[Getmuddy350]

Thanks, its a bit funky.. Typically it's a bit darker in color, but i'd say mabe one week out of every month it lightens up, its eyes turn red (never red otherwise), it gets a red belly, the sopt near its head shows up more, and the spot on its dorsal fin nearly dissapears. Also it get a nice red line down the base of its dorsal...Its pretty neat.

I haven't found the trigger yet, its definatly not water quality though, I do twice weekly waterchanges like clockwork, so the quality doesn't change much.

 

[Peanut_Power]

You, my friend, have a Crenicichla sp. 'bellyhopper', a really kewl pike. They are from the Reticulatus family, which are characterized by their atrophied swimbladder, thus the awkward swimmin and what not. If it does have a spot in the dorsal, i can't see from the pictures but i'll take your word on it, then its a FEMALE, not a male. The females will get a black spot in their dorsal and get red bellies/abdomens, especially when they are ripe and full of eggs. SOOOOO its possible you just may need to get a male...which can be tricky cuz pikes don't really like other pikes. So you would have to get a group of at least 3 and let her pick her own mate. But you gotta make sure they are all males......and about the same size or larger, and since belly crawlers are normally sold small...could be a task.

 

[Getmuddy350]

Yeahhhh lol, I'm not planning on mating them.. It does have the spot on her fin, sometimes its very prominent, sometimes it is barely visable. It is a very fun fish, but i'm curious, how big will she get?



Thanks for the info!!

 

[Peanut_Power]

She'll max out at about 8 to 10"...give or take. My male got 9.5"...lol...took him a while to get that large though. Generally males get larger than females, so she will most likely not get past 8"..

 

[fishnthings]

thats a neat lookin pike, are they hard to find?

 

[Peanut_Power]

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, but that just made me laugh. Crenicichla sp. 'bellycrawler' is probably the most common pike available for sale....they are EVERYWHERE....with Crenicichla sp. 'venezuela' and Crenicichla johanna in close second....Crenicichla sp. 'xingu I' is up there as well. But no, they aren't hard to find...

 

[fishnthings]

hey i dont know pikes, and i know ive never seen them at my lfs's, thanks for letting me know tho p_p

 

[Peanut_Power]

Check PetCo's, and PetSmarts, they are pretty common there.... Almost always find them there. Sometimes if your lucky you can find them at Walmart. Or just ask your LFS, they can get them easy like. Personally, i would just order them from Rapps....but he has other pikes...sooooo yeah.... www.tangledupincichlids.com k?