ALL MALE HAP & PEACOCK TANK

I've been working on making my 75 gallon Hap and Peacock tank all male. I have moved quite a few females out but I missed a few. Today I came down to find 2 more holding. I just moved two moms that were holding in that tank a couple days ago.

I have all four of my tumblers full of babies and eggs. I just wanted to move these females to my all female tank so they wouldn't be harassed but nope they decided they were going to spit their eggs out first.

I think making that last move, I have pretty much all the females out of that tank. My girls have their own tank where they can live happily without constant
harassment from the males. I know There is one little female I'm leaving in there. She is the female to my handsome Species #44 . I'm not sure if she's old enough yet but it won't be long. He's already shown interest in her so I'm hoping to have them give me a brood.

THE ALL FEMALE CICHLID COMMUNITY

Yesterday I was out with mom. I take mom shopping and  we do her running around once a week. It's my way of helping out and it's a good time for us to spend the day together.

When I got home, of course I checked on my fish tanks. In my Haps and Peacocks tank I noticed I have two more females holding. When I left there was only one. This is a good thing because as the females reveal themselves I will be moving them out of the tank they are in. My goal is to make that a male only community. I do intend to keep breeding cichlids but I want to be in control of that process. I want to choose who breeds with who.

The females will be going into a 40 gallon aquarium. I don't intend on keeping too many females so I think the 40 will work for this. It's not really recommended to keep cichlids in anything less than a 55 gallon as they do grow to a fair size and are considered an aggressive species that do better with more room.

I just set up my 40 gallon for the female community. I had everything I needed to get it set up but I
don't like the light I have to use. It will do until I get an LED. The old style lights just don't cute it when you are used to the LED light bars. I used substrate that I removed from this tank before. It hasn't been washed. I am also using the HOB filter that is also well used and hasn't been touched. I am sure I'll have a sufficient bacteria to accommodate the few females I plan on moving over. For decor I used a few of the rocks I picked up at the stone mason's place and I had a couple really ugly plants so I used them. They are super fake looking but they will brighten up the tank since the females are as colourful.

Tomorrow when I do my water changes I will be moving the first few females into their new home. I will begin with the three holding in my H/P tank. I have a few I know for sure that are females so I will probably get them moved as well. Eventually I plan on selling many of the females and bring in new species to breed.

I'm really excited to get started and probably won't sleep well because the hamster will be running a muck! Tomorrow can't come soon enough!!

AFRICAN BUMBLE BEE CICHLID

HAPPY DOING WATER CHANGES

After being gone for a weekend of family camping it's so good to be home. I got up early, greeted my cichlids with their breakfast and began doing water changes. After having my coffee and checking emails, messages and subscriptions I got to work.

I did a water changes Thursday morning preparing them for a good weekend without me. Because they didn't eat over the 3 days we were camping the tanks really did look great. I did my water tests and my nitrate was showing between 20-40 ppm. Not a crucial level but enough to bring on a water change.

I always look forward to working with my fish no matter in what capacity. Today it was changing their water. I began with my Mbuna tank. I was taking the water down by 50% and just refilling it. I cleaned one HOB on this tank as it was due. I
washed the glass on the inside and moved the scape only enough to allow me to vacuum the substrate. It was basically a light clean and took about 40 minutes total.  

Moving on to my Haps and Peacocks tank I did pretty much the same except I switched out the hard scape for the new group of rocks I collected last week at Alvin's junk stone pile. It's really wonderful to have access to awesome stones like this. These stones are not really suitable for Mbunas but they are stunning in my H&P tank.

I finished up just doing a quick water change on my 55 gallon juvenile tank. I removed about 40% of their water and refilled it while I vacuumed. That was pretty much all I did. I was still doing some laundry from the weekend so I had to share my water usage as well.

While working on my tanks I noticed I have three moms holding. Two are in my Mbuna tank and one is my Electric Blue mom... and the beat goes on!

BEAUTIFUL POND PLANTS

About a week ago I brought in some pond lettuce to put in each of my fry tanks. This plant floats but below the water is had a beautiful system of roots that resemble feathers. They look very pretty and my fry seemed to really love swimming through the fronds.

These lovely plants do need light or they won't survive. I had placed one floating lettuce plant in an empty tank. Because the tank was empty I kept the light off forgetting about the needs of this plant. After a couple days I notice the roots were breaking off and sinking. It was then that I realized my mistake and decided I better remove the plant and clean the tank.

After removing the plant I used a little net to scoop out all the little bits it left floating behind. I was satisfied and didn't do any more cleaning as I felt it was sufficient.

We were going away camping for the weekend so my neighbor agreed to take care of MLFR while we were away. I was not going to feed my show tanks as the larger cichlids are fine to go without food for a few days. In fact it's very healthy for them to fast even up to a couple weeks. This was only for 3 days but I didn't want to leave my fry without food for that long, as they are very young and need the nourishment. My neighbor came over so I could give her instructions for my fry care.

While she was here she asked what was in the empty tank. I told her there's nothing in there and that it's a hospital tank just in case I need it for isolating a sick fish. She pointed at the tank and said well then what is that? We both looked closely and found three very tiny fish in the tank. Not having a clue where they came from I began to think what they could be. It then dawned on me that I had pond lettuce plant in this tank for a good week before I removed it. The pond lettuce is straight from my pond that is home to my goldfish. I soon realized they must be baby goldfish. They are incredibly small and could easily be mistaken for bits of dirt that swim.

I instructed my neighbor on feeding and added that she should feed these interesting little guys as well. Just in case they needed the lettuce as protection or even a food source I went back out and picked more and added it back into the tank at least for the time we would be gone. I kept the light on this time.

When we returned I was very excited to see these little guys. I still can't believe how tiny they are. I
removed the lettuce and rinsed it off carefully making sure no babies were stuck in it. I ended up finding a whole bunch of them. Now in the tank there are 8-10 goldfish babies. To that tank I also added my youngest from their tumbler. I knew they would need to be moved when we got back. I put them in the same aquarium. The Dragon Blood fry are at least 5xs bigger. I hope they do okay together. I have watched them as I feed them and everyone seems to be eating. My DB fry stay on the bottom but the new little ones dart all over the tank.. up and down and everywhere.

I will be keeping a close eye on this tank. I'm excited to see if these new little ones will grown as quickly as my cichlid fry do. They have to grow fast as I empty the pond in October and bring the fish in for the winter.

WATER CHANGE DAY IN MLFR

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

After doing my rounds in MLFR. Feeding everyone and checking each tank as I did so. Everyone looks terrific. I have currently 4 month old fry in my 30 gallon grow out. I have 2-3 month old fry in my 20 gallon, 1 month and 2-3 weeks old in two of my 10 gallon and wigglers in my tumbler. That sounds like quite a little breeding room.

Next I came down to check my three show tanks. My juvenile tank is great although for some reason they do not want the NorthFin Pellets. I have been feeding this group the tetra Cichlid Crisps and they really love them. I have been mixing the two trying to get the switched over. I have also been introducing Spirulina to all my cichlids. The large one seem to love the it. So I give them a pinch once a day around 4pm.

Looking at my tanks this morning. I have 2 more mom's holding. There's a Yellow Lab in my Mbuna tank and my Electric Blue has one of his females holding as of today. I got some footage of the action but I'm not sure if I will upload it or not. The view was slightly obstructed due to my lovely new rocks!

I have more dancing and shaking going on so I'm expecting a couple more females to be holding by weeks end. I can see they are very close to
dropping their eggs.

It's always fun greeting my Cichlids in the morning.. they are uber excited to see me as they know what I bring. I love seeing them as well because they always seem to have a surprise for me as well. I love my Cichlids.

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!!

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

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.

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!

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

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

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!

THE LATEST ON MY LITTLE CICHLID ROOM

WATER CHANGE FRIDAY

I did a water change on my 40 gallon tank that holds the cichlids I plan on selling. Before I got started I noticed a cichlid was holding. She is a Red Albino Zebra. I just assumed that she bred with another Albino because I have four in that tank. The males and females look identical so unless you vent them you can't tell one from the other.

A little while later I noticed a Yellow Lab in the same tank holding. I watched for a few minutes and along came her partner. There are five Yellow Labs in this tank but she chose to breed with an OB Zebra! I decided I would let them finish and do my water change in the morning.

I went ahead and did the water change on my 75 gallon. I thought I would change the hardscape up a bit and only placed rocks here and there. None of them touching so the fish could swim between them. Within an hour my tank was a mess. Stones were tilted and big holes were dug. GAH! My cichlids just want their caves and swim throughs back. I removed the rocks and rescaped the tank again just to their liking. It's amazing how happy they seem when they have it set like they want. I spoil my cichlids.

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

This is Daddy EBF

I checked on MLFR this morning and decided I would go ahead and strip my Electric Blue Fryeri. She had been holding long enough that her fry should be free swimming and I really hate seeing the moms not eating for that long.

I stripped her of about 20 fry. I didn't get a clear count but that's close enough. They look healthy and wiggle like crazy but they still have slight egg sacks on them yet. I decided to put them in a tumbler for a few days until their egg sacks are completely absorbed. I will let their mom recuperate in the 10 gallon tank until the weekend.

When I do my water changes on Friday I will remove the two females that are holding and put them into the last mom's brooding tank using a divider to give them each their own space. The same time the new moms come up she will have to return to her community. The new mom's are a Red Empress juvenile and the other is another Electric Blue Fryeri.

 

This is one of my Red Empress juveniles

Checking on my display tanks it really hit me today how much my juveniles have grown. They are still only an 1.5" but they are already showing colours. It's so exciting seeing them develop into young adults. They are beginning to breed as well. Sometimes they don't find that mothering instinct before they spit or swallow their fry but I think first timers are often like that. In my experience it seems to go that way.