my 125 mixed african

[signde]

here is my latest addition from jon, f0 aulunocara maylandi




got him yesterday and today he is already spawning. here he is claiming a spot and keeping others away:


here he is spawning with another one of my females, the rest of the fish go crazy trying to get at the eggs i suppose:


my camera was dead when he colored up big time for the first round of spawning. i was upset i didn't get any pictures... these don't do him any justice.

[jon carman]

Awesome videos, hope he sticks to his female and not the sunshines

[signde]

Aug 7, 2010 21:41:44 GMT -6 jon carman said:

Awesome videos, hope he sticks to his female and not the sunshines

i know right.

it seems that he is driving his female but she isn't really interested. when she tires of getting chased the other female aulunacara in the tank seem to step in and lend a hand to the baby making.

the only way i am going to get some true f1 babies is to segregate him and the female but i don't think i can do that, they both seem so happy in the current setup.

[signde]

Jul 27, 2010 20:52:38 GMT -6 signde said:

here is a nice shot of the male iceberg haplochromine i got from you Georgene:



this guy really is stunning, i can't wait to see him once he gets older. even at such a small size he truly is much better than the average electric blue ahli you see at petsmart.

i have a sad loss to report. this guy went missing a couple of days ago. today i gave up hope he would re-appear. i started dismantling my lace rock pile and i found him... it looks like some of my rock shifted and crushed him

very sad.

thats the bad news. the good news is that apparently with the loss of that dominant male one of the two supposed females appears to be color-ing up rapidly and i am about 90% it is actually another male. it wasn't showing any color until now. it is pretty amazing how that dominance factor works with color and sexing.

i am still bummed. i feel like this was my fault. i am rethinking having this large lace rock pile in my tank... i can't have this happen again.

[davidtcb1]

It happens to all of us. Part of the deal. Still a great looking tank! Don't beat yourself up too bad, but at least you have a place where people understand!

[jon carman]

I have never had a fish die that way. When they get stressed and find a place to die, they usually wedge themselves in rocks. But it could have happened, if you get real worried about that, you can let the lace rock dry out and silicone it together however you want. That would limit your future aquascaping, but the rocks won't fall.

[signde]

i have seen them hide between rocks to die but he was in them so tight i could not pull him out without taking the rocks apart. i don't think that is possible even after the bloat after he died.

i have a pretty big pleco and a very large synodontis that could have easily shifted the rocks. both are over 8 inches. the reality is i will probably never know for sure but my water is near perfect so i don't know how else to justify the loss.

i thought about the silicone idea, i think i will do that. i'll probably make 3-4 stackable groups with each group siliconed together.

[vladsbtch]

I am so sorry about the male. . He was a beauty. But hopefully the one "female" turns out to be a male. I have once lost a fish to falling rocks. So I know it happens and I did beat myself up for it. But I have since changed the occupants of the tank and they do not try to hide in the rocks.
I still love your tank and have tank envy. ;D Some day I will be able to have a large tank.
Oh and your new fish is a beauty too.

[signde]

i swapped out my ugly black and white substrate over the weekend for pool filter sand. i'm very happy with the result.





this tank is all aulonocara, hap, and tang now. i moved the mbuna over to the 55.

think i am ready for more fish

[jon carman]

Your tank looks great! I hope the lace rock doesn't take a tumble

[signde]

Sept 22, 2010 22:29:18 GMT -6 jon carman said:

Your tank looks great! I hope the lace rock doesn't take a tumble

since i was able to stack it while adding water i am pretty sure it is in there good this time, but yeah that is always a fear in the back of my mind as well.

[signde]

i know some of you don't like hybrids but i do. here is one of my favorites, my o.b. peacock.

i love the color in these fish. they are like a piece of jewelry.

[jon carman]

I think it looks great. The only hybrids I can't stand are the deformed ones.

[fishme]

That's one of the prettiest ob peacocks I've seen.

[tnnsman7]

Nice tank. I forgot how nice fryeri can be. I need to get some!