What's that, lurking in the background?

[ryansmith83]

These fish are wimps! Just kidding, just kidding.

But in all seriousness, even my big male super red severum has been pushing them around today with his mouth open and they back down to him. I'm assuming this is because they're new to the tank? The only fish they push back at is my psittacus, and even then, they still tend to back away from him while their gills are flared.

I was really surprised to see the super red have a go considering he's my most mellow and easy-going fish.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Just keep an eye on them, that aggression can explode if they get pushed too far. I've lost fish several times because they pushed the limits of my lents.

They are looking gorgeous man! Pretty sure they are the same variant as mine, so drop that pH as much as possible, get it super soft, and watch that red pop! You've probably got it low already for the sevs though eh?

 

[ryansmith83]

They are looking gorgeous man! Pretty sure they are the same variant as mine, so drop that pH as much as possible, get it super soft, and watch that red pop! You've probably got it low already for the sevs though eh?

Believe it or not, I'm just using tap water. My pH is in the mid 7's and my hardness runs around 100 - 150ppm. A lot of my wild cichlids spawn in it, including the severums, a few different species of Mesonauta, Geos, etc. JD raised these guys out in hard water with no HITH or issues, and they look great so far, so I'm going to leave things the way they are for now.

Besides, I think I have two boys, so not much of a chance for breeding there. As long as they stay healthy and happy, I probably won't try altering it.

Awesome, did the sevs settle in OK? All the little geo's make it as well?

I didn't see this yesterday for some reason, but yes, everyone is fine. You weren't kidding about those Atabapo sevs being aggressive. My lone female (or what I thought was female) was always pushy and belligerent, but these two have been going at it with all my fish since yesterday. One of them is even giving my psittacus a hard time, which surprised me considering I thought that'd be the pikes' job.

Looking at them, though, I'm not so sure my original Atabapo was a female now. Mine didn't have much gill spotting and the red didn't go very far up the body, which made me think female, but I noticed two things about yours: 1) The male doesn't have spots on his gills either, and 2) both of your fish have way more red on their bodies. Which tells me that neither physical attribute is a very good indicator of sex. What do you think?

Whatever it is, it's been lip-locking and fighting with one of yours for two days. I just can't tell which is male or female because both the ones I got from you look identical to me.

The Red Bahia fry are great, too. Cute little guys. They rush right up to the glass every time I walk in. They sure can pack away food. I love fish at that size; always funny to watch.

 

[David K. Bradley]

ryansmith83: Your lents are truly spectacular. A very excellent fish to watch and observe around the other tank mates. Thank you for sharing them with us. Is there any chance of a future full tank shot, you might be willing to share with us, now that your lents are in?

Subscribed!

yeah pikes are wierd like that. they seem to either be a pair, or even are down for man on man love at times LOL

Hey Kevin:
I don't think it's a man on man love attraction. If they are both males, I would look at it as security in numbers.

 

[jgentry]

Believe it or not, I'm just using tap water. My pH is in the mid 7's and my hardness runs around 100 - 150ppm. A lot of my wild cichlids spawn in it, including the severums, a few different species of Mesonauta, Geos, etc. JD raised these guys out in hard water with no HITH or issues, and they look great so far, so I'm going to leave things the way they are for now.

Besides, I think I have two boys, so not much of a chance for breeding there. As long as they stay healthy and happy, I probably won't try altering it.



I didn't see this yesterday for some reason, but yes, everyone is fine. You weren't kidding about those Atabapo sevs being aggressive. My lone female (or what I thought was female) was always pushy and belligerent, but these two have been going at it with all my fish since yesterday. One of them is even giving my psittacus a hard time, which surprised me considering I thought that'd be the pikes' job.

Looking at them, though, I'm not so sure my original Atabapo was a female now. Mine didn't have much gill spotting and the red didn't go very far up the body, which made me think female, but I noticed two things about yours: 1) The male doesn't have spots on his gills either, and 2) both of your fish have way more red on their bodies. Which tells me that neither physical attribute is a very good indicator of sex. What do you think?

Whatever it is, it's been lip-locking and fighting with one of yours for two days. I just can't tell which is male or female because both the ones I got from you look identical to me.

The Red Bahia fry are great, too. Cute little guys. They rush right up to the glass every time I walk in. They sure can pack away food. I love fish at that size; always funny to watch.

As far as the lents go neither has the white dorsal that you would expect from a female, but they are always together and were always together since I got them. I bought 3 at the time and these 2 always defended a territory together. I have been told by a couple of people that sometimes the white stripe developes very late in some lents so I'm still not 100% sure. They look like males but act like a pair so I was always a little confused by them.

You atabapo looks male to me. You can see it's vent slighly showing in the pic you posted. I had trouble telling mine apart as well unless I really looked at them closely. They are almost identical. Wait till they spawn for you. They are amazing parents. They defend fry for 4 weeks in a tank with pbass and the lents before. Both parents will hold fry and often they would take turns doing it. One morning the female would be holding, the next day I'd get up to see that the male now had a mouth stuffed with 500 fry. They are just extremely cool fish.

 

[Peanut_Power]

Believe it or not, I'm just using tap water. My pH is in the mid 7's and my hardness runs around 100 - 150ppm. A lot of my wild cichlids spawn in it, including the severums, a few different species of Mesonauta, Geos, etc. JD raised these guys out in hard water with no HITH or issues, and they look great so far, so I'm going to leave things the way they are for now.

Besides, I think I have two boys, so not much of a chance for breeding there. As long as they stay healthy and happy, I probably won't try altering it.

Yep, they are most definitely males. I was just saying if you want that red to REALLY come out drop your pH and hardness as much as possible. I dropped mine in the 300gal to almost 6.4 and super soft, and the results were phenomenal.

Your choice though. They look great just the way they are as you said.

 

[ryansmith83]

Well, it's starting.

I did a large (75%) water change last night and now the pikes are attacking everything. They dug out a spot in the sand underneath the ugly fake plastic log I put in the tank and have taken up residence there, but they don't just chase fish away... they go after fish all over the tank.

I moved the severums that I wanted to keep to another tank (minus the Atabapo, which seem to be holding their own) and now it's just the pikes, the Atabapo, and the psittacus. They're even stressing him out now.

The question is -- should I try to find some bigger, rougher fish to hang out with the pikes in the 210g, or should I move the pikes to their own smaller tank, maybe a 125?

 

[David K. Bradley]

I would consider moving them to their own tank. If a 125 is all you have to put them in, absolutely. By all means make it a species tank.

 

[ryansmith83]

Well, I guess I'm open to suggestions on the tank size. It can be bigger or smaller than a 125, I just wasn't sure what would be best for two pikes this size. I don't really want to give them the 210g for themselves... It just seems like a lot of wasted space for 2 fish.

 

[Kanta]

Awesome lents! Those are incredible