CICHLIDS BURPING

Always looking for that perfect shot. 

ODE TO OB CICHLIDS

CICHLIDS VS CANON 60D

FEELING THE LOVE

MY LATEST PHOTOS

CICHLID PHOTO SHOOT

I am a photography buff with a CANON 60D but as I said a buff. It's another hobby I love. I am by no means professional as you can see by my photos. My favorite things so shoot are nature, the great outdoors, changing seasons and of course my animals.

Shooting my Cichlids is the most fun. They do not hear me when I say sit still, or smile. They are challenging as they are constantly moving and making facial expression that I patienly wait for just to miss the shot. It takes time and patients to get the perfect shot. I'm getting closer but I'm sure it will forever elude me as I am always striving to improve on anything I do. I'm sure this won't be any different. It's a joy, amusing, time consuming and teaches you patients all wrapped in one package.

AFRICAN CICHLIDS BREEDING WELL

MY NEWEST CICHLID PHOTOS

CICHLID CRAZY PHOTOGRAPHER

Having a camera at the ready produces a ton of photos.. here are the shots I took yesterday!

0-60 in 24 ...HOURS

I was beat by the end of the day yesterday. I got everything done.

- Cleaned the old dirty tank 

- Painted the back of it a nice flat black 

- Set my decor

- Added my substrate

- Tossed in some rocks I picked up along the road 

- Stuck few plants in for colour 

- Set up my filter and got it going

- Installed the heater and fired it up

- Ran my bubbler across the back of the tank

- Stuck my scrubbie brush to the glass 

- Dropped my floating thermometer in

And presto! All ready for fish... Just have to wait for the temperature to rise. That was what I got done yesterday from about 8am until 8pm. It was time to get into jammies, sit and relax and watch TWD!

Here's a video of my progress..

I let the tank to acclimate over night. This morning I ran all my water tests and was very happy with everything. I moved the fish in by noon and now I'm working on moving my American Cichlids into my now empty 55 gallon tank.

GROWING MY FRY

Watching my fry eating and darting about brings a smile to my face. These fry are about 5 weeks old now. There are a variety of sizes among them. The biggest are noticeably darker in colour (not sure why) most are about a 1/2" but there are a few twice that size. I can already see aggression in these bitty guys. They are getting more bold each day. Now they are going up to the top to get their food instead of waiting for it to sink down to them. The funny thing is, it's the smaller ones that seem to be going up for food.

In this video you will also see my floating nursery for my latest brood of 17 M.Auratus - Golden Cichlids. They are growing quickly as well. So far they are all doing well and seem to be consistent in size.

RAISING FRY

I have a grow-out tank of 67 - month old fry. It's amazing how fast they are growing. I feed them 3-4 times a day. Sometimes more and sometimes less depending on my where-a-bouts. From the day I separated them from mom I have been feeding them brine shrimp, blood worms and crushed flakes. Even at such a young age they are fun to watch. They dart around more than swim in my mind. I tap the glass and they dart back but within seconds come back to explore what startled them. There are quite a few sizes within this brood. I would say there's at least a dozen that are much darker and much larger, then there are the majority that are lighter in colour and midsize - finally there are a dozen or so that are pretty tiny can almost translucent. No matter the size they are all doing amazingly well. From her initial spit of 69 I have only lost 2 fry.

While I did my Monday morning water change this week I stripped two holding female M.Auratus - Golden Cichlids. I had intended on letting them spit naturally but, in the tank I had another female holding that I wanted to separate so I decided I'd strip the two and then remove the other female. n doing that I had to remove all the rocks and decor in order to catch them. The reason I changed my mind about stripping the younger females is because I have ordered new substrate that I intend on changing in the next week or so and I wouldn't be able to do that with the fry in the tank. 

That brings me to the subject of this post. I stripped both young females of fry amounting to 17. They are healthy, free swimming and doing well. I placed them in a floating fry cage in my grow-out tank. The size between them and my month old fry is crazy and it would be suicide to put them together. 

Stella bred again on February 22nd and should spit around March 16. I'm hoping I can put her fry with the newly stripped fry as I figure they will be closer in size. I will make that decision when the time comes. By then I'll be moving my older fry to my 30 gallon grow-out tank and the new fry can go into the 20 they occupy now. 

After I change my substrate I will be allowing my brooding females to naturally spit and raise their fry in the community tank. I just to have room to keep them all.

So as of right now. I have my 55 gallon African Malawi Cichlid tank, a 40 gallon South American Cichlid tank, 2-10 gallon brooding tanks and a 20 gallon grow-out tank. I also have a 30 gallon grow-out tank not set up until my fry are bigger and another 55 gallon tank that will be home to my South American Cichlids because they will be outgrowing their 40 in a few months.