55 GALLON UPDATE & NEW ADDTIONS

2ND 75 GALLON IS HERE

This morning we did a lot of running around. We hit the farmers market, went out for breakfast, picked up a few things and then we went to buy my new 75 gallon aquarium. I have big plans for it too!

A quick run down of my plans go as follows. One 75 will be for my Mbunas and the other will be home to my Haps and Peacocks. In my 55 gallon I have all my females right now. They will be rejoining their mates in their perspective tanks. I'm hoping the number will be close to even. I will have to see how that works out when I do the move. My 40 gallon juvenile community will be moved back into my 55 because the tank they are in is where the new 75 gallon is going to go.

I will dismantle my 40 gallon for now. I'm not sure if I will be putting it up immediately or closer to the fall. I may use it to keep my pond plants in for the winter. I have a second 40 gallon and a 60 gallon in the basement where my pond fish live during the winter months as my pond isn't deep enough for them to hibernate out there.

Yes I have many tanks.. too many tanks..no never! In my little fish room I have 5 10 gallon tanks, a 20 gallon and a 30 gallon. All tanks are in use except 2 but I have 2 females holding that will be moved up there this weekend.

Loving my hobby.. loving my tanks.. loving my fish!!

A LOOK AT MY 75 GALLON MALE COMMUNITY

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

First thing in the morning I go to my little fish room and check each tank. I turn the lights on and feed them watching the fish for any sign of trouble. I make sure they are all eating well, check the water temperature and generally look everything over making sure all systems are running as expected.

When I came down to check on my show tanks, I noticed I have a holding female in my juvenile tank. She's a young Red Empress and she's holding a good mouthful. When I do my water change on that tank tomorrow I will move her out. I'm not sure when I will strip her. I have had great success using my tumblers so I might just strip her tomorrow as well. She is young and doesn't need to go without food for three weeks. That would be hard on her little body.

Then checking my "all female" tank I notice I have a one holding in there as well. I knew I had missed a male and left him in that tank. Well now I reap the rewards. I have the room in my fishroom so I'll remove her tomorrow as well.

My 75 gallon all male community is doing fine. And no I didn't find a holding female in there!

LOOK AT THE ADORABLE WIGGLERS

MY NEW LITTLE FISH ROOM UPDATE

My little fish room is pretty much all set up and ready for action. Over the weekend I moved my last grow out tank in. Hubby worked hard all weekend building my last two cabinets. I am incredibly happy with my new fish room. It's just perfect for me. I have two grow out tanks. A 20 gallon and a 40 gallon both full of growing fry. I also have 4 x10 gallon tanks all in use as well.

Last week I stripped 3 moms of their free swimming fry and one mom of her eggs. The fry are doing awesome. One brood is from a Yellow Lab who bred to my OB Zebra, my RedxRed Albino Zebra also bred to that same OB. The third mom is an Electric Blue Fryeri. All the fry are together in one tank totally just under 50 fry. The mom I stripped gave me a dozen eggs. Four of the eggs weren't fertilized leaving me with 8 viable eggs. They are wigglers now having popped their tales and heads over the weekend. Today as I was having a closer look I realized all the babies are pure white albino. I'm very excited about these little ones. I hope they stay white but in another week they will be free swimming and then I'll have a better look at them.

Yesterday I went to town and came home with an adorable little 3.4 liter cube nano tank and a beautiful Betta fish. It's the cutest addition to my fish room. I'm still working on the final touches. I am looking for some cichlids posters or I may have some of my photos printed and frame them. I also bought a couple more plants. One is hanging in front of the window and another is hanging over the fish tanks.

I spend a lot of time in my little girl cave. With my computer up there I can watch YouTube and post to my channel. I also have access to any information I may need as to any questions I may have concerning the well fare of my fish. I think my fish like the fish room too!

PEAS PLEASE - AFRICAN CICHLID SNACK TIME

MY RESTRUCTURING PLAN

Today I set to work putting my restructuring plan into motion. I was at it for about 5 hours. Doing complete water changes on all three of my display tanks. I also vented each cichlid and separated the males from the females. It was a grueling task, but I loved every minute of it.

I now have my 75 gallon cichlid community an all male set up. I'm very happy with it. I moved the females out and moved my juvenile males in. I'm hoping I didn't miss a female but I will weed them out as I realize they are female. I'm pretty sure they are all male.

My 55 gallon tank is now the home to my females. They are much more relaxed and I can see they have brightened up considerably. I removed sixteen females from my 75 gallon tank. That was almost half of my fish.

In my 40 gallon I now have my juveniles, I think they will do well in that tank. It's a little smaller but there are also fewer cichlids. The fish that were in  the 40 that I planned on selling are now in my LFR.

I had a busy day but I feel great. I'll have to keep an eye out for abuse or aggression toward my juvenile males but so far it's looking pretty good. It's an entire different feeling when there aren't any females in the tank. I can see that already. Now I just hope I don't find a cichlid holding in my male community. Time will tell... 

AFRICAN CICHLIDS - LIGHTS ON!

WANT SOME FRY WITH THAT?

My little fish room is the hub of my home at the moment. I have a surplus of fry. I have one large brood in my 30 gallon grow out that I should have taken to my LFS weeks ago. In my 20 gallon grow out I have a brood of Auratus, Dragon Bloodx, and my Dolphins. Of these I will only keep the dolphins for sure. I haven't decided yet on the others.

Then in my 5 x 10 gallon tanks I have three moms recuperating. I stripped them today. They were bred within a couple days of each other. Two of the moms were bred to my OB Zebra. One is a RedxRed Albino Zebra and the other a Electric Yellow Lab. I'm excited to see what they will colour up like. Both broods were small 16 in one and 17 in the other. The third female I stripped is an Electric Blue Fryeri. She had about 30 fry. In the other last two tanks I have fry.

I've already noticed two more moms holding in my show tanks. I have to curb this breeding or I will be needing more tanks which I have no intention of getting. My plan is to create an all male tank in my 75 gallon. I have at least 6 females in there that I intend to remove and replace with juveniles that I know are male. I may not be able to vent them yet so I may end up with females in the tank until I can tell for sure what they are.

This I think will enable me to be more in control of their breeding, when and with who. I love them breeding and I enjoy all aspects of that entire process but I need to be in control not the cichlids,

I am posting a video on YouTube asking advice on this. I know there are many who have all male tanks. I would like to know how they go about it or do they only purchase male cichlids.

PONDGURU - CHECK OUT HIS CHANNEL

MOMMA MIA

This morning after completing my water changes on my 55 gallon juvenile community and my 40 gallon "for sale" tank I noticed a female holding. Of course I noticed her holding after I had everything back in place and cleaned up. I would normally have left her until the next water change but I'm planning on getting rid of these fish this week as I'm running out of room.

I was lucky and caught her without too much fuss. I didn't remove anything from the tank, but when I had her in the net she spit 4 eggs out. I stripped her of the rest and placed them in my 20 gallon grow out in a tumbler. I took a photo so I could accurately count the eggs. There are 31 but I can already see that one is not fertilized. My success rate with my tumbler has been really good. After removing any that aren't fertilized I have continually succeeded in raising 100% of the fry.

There are 3 holding moms in my brooding tanks. All are very close to spitting. One mom actually let 4 fry escape her mouth. I think she is having trouble containing her brood. I'm sure she will be spitting in a day or two. The other two moms will be also spitting this week so I should have a ton of new fry. I keep saying I will have to let them spit in their community tank but I just haven't been able to let that happen yet. I feel so bad for the babies trying to survive like that.

One of these days I'm going have to or get more tanks!

THE JUVENILE AFRICAN CICHLID BEAT

WATER CHANGE MONDAY

Today I do my water change on my juvenile tank and my 40 gallon "for sale" tank. Last week I added a dozen fish to my juvenile tank but I have been watching them for over a week and have decided to put a few of them in their own separate grow out tank.

I moved 6 Dragon Blood pre-juveniles and my 4 Dolphins. What I have realized is when they are small I like to feed them a little extra but these smaller ones are missing out on that because they are in the tank that I don't feed as often as they need.

So it's time to get to work. I first need to do a little juggling in my LFR making some changes so they will have room. Coffee is done and it's time to get started!

ROCKIN' DA BABY! - ELECTRIC BLUE FRYERI

DINNER TIME FOR MY AFRICAN CICHLIDS

WATER CHANGE MAGIC

I have plans tomorrow so I figured I get the big tank done tonight. It's amazing to she them so frisky after a simple water change. I replaced 50% of the water. While my python did it's thing I washed the glass, removed my hard scape and vacuumed. Finishing up at about the same time, I started the refill process while I rescaped the tank. I love doing that. Today I used more rocks than I normally do. I just felt like they needed a change.

Now here I sit watching them enjoy their new scape. I am seeing 4 couples shaking it up. I really don't want that many fry so I'm hoping it's just a fresh water party and nothing more. I already have 4 females holding as it is. I do have one empty tank that I could use but I don't like being without an emergency tank just in case. If anyone else is holding in the next couple weeks I'll leave them until they are free swimming fry and then probably strip them. Not sure on that yet. I do love using my tumblers. I have 100% success rate with them.

I'm going to be anxious until I get up tomorrow and check on them. Today I found another little female red empress holding. I'm just keeping an eye on her for now. I love my babies glad I don't have to pay for diapers!

MIXED AFRICAN CICHLIDS GROUP

There are so many get places to get information online about this hobby. I belong to a couple forums. The YouTube cichlid community is vast and varied with so many knowledgeable people. Today I would like to invite you to join me in our community on Google+.

We are a relatively small group just making a stand in this community. Our members are growing and we would love you to be a part of it. Please come check us out. You will find great people, willing to share experiences, help with advice when needed and welcome you to our community.

Just follow the link and I'll see you there!

MIXED AFRICAN CICHLIDS

AFRICAN CICHLID PHOTO SHOOT

55 GALLON UPDATE

MY NEW LITTLE FISH ROOM

Yup you read it right. I am re-organizing and moving my fish room down the hall to my office. I just don't have enough room in my sewing room to combine the two and have my tanks easily accessible. Hubby and I talked about it a few weeks back just as a possibility. I ran the idea by him. The office is for both of us but I'm in there blogging and YouTubing while he's mostly on his laptop in the living room.

This morning he told me he was going to build my shelving units for my "new" little fish room. I headed off to do groceries because I know he doesn't like me pestering him while he's working. My two cents aren't even worth that I guess.

When I got home hubby had one shelving unit almost built. It's awesome. The strength is crazy for my little brooding tanks but he said if someday I want another 75 in my office then I have the unit that will be strong enough if that time ever comes.

I helped carry them up stairs and put them where I want them. Hubby cut me
plywood tops that I covered with material. This week he will get the pine boards that are tongue and groove to close the units in. They are a nice height that if I decide I can add more tanks below as well. I don't have any expansion plans yet but the way my cichlids are breeding I may have to consider it.

That's my updated and as you can imagine I am over the moon excited! Hopefully I will be able to start moving a couple tanks over tomorrow.

PERFORMING AFRICAN CICHLIDS

Yesterday was CANADA DAY.  Everywhere you could see red red and more red. Patriotic Canadians celebrating CANADA'S birthday. 149 years!

Our neighbour girls brought us some cookies they made as a treat. While they were here they wanted a tour of my cichlids. I began at my 55 gallon juvenile tank. They loved it and thought it was so huge! From there we moved to the 40 gallon "fish for sale" tank. Moving on to my 75 gallon community show tank they were very impressed.

Showing them how the cichlids greet me they laughed. I held my hand in the aquarium making an O with my thumb and middle fingers. My two chubby OB's love to swim through the circle of my fingers actually stopping for a rub. The girls were so surprised they never imagined fish could be this amazing. They really enjoyed the tour so far.

When I finally took them up to MLFR to show them the full stages of cichlid breeding they were most excited about the babies in the tumbler. They couldn't believe fish could be so tiny. My young fish - as young as a couple weeks already come to the front of the aquarium looking for food knowing it's coming upon seeing me.

The girls really enjoyed the tour and
asked if they can come back when the yellow moms have their babies. I told them I will call the over when they spit.

Making up treat bags for the girls they left very happy. Telling me they were looking forward to a fireworks show they were going to have as soon as dad said it's dark enough.

It was a very nice CANADA DAY!