PEAS PLEASE - AFRICAN CICHLID SNACK TIME

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.

OUT AND ABOUT - MORE CICHLIDS

Today I had to go out and pick up another test pack for my Nitrate as mine was empty. I went to three different stores and they were out at all of them. I ended up getting the Nitrate test by NutraFin. It's fine. There's a little more to it than the API test kit. The NutraFin has three bottles of solution. It's a light purple/pink colour but as long as it tells me what I need to know I guess I'm happy.

Of course being out at an aquarium store I had to check out the fish. I ended up bringing home four more fish. I picked up two (Placidochromis Milomo) VC-10's and two (Chromobotia Macracanthus) Clown Loaches. I've wanted to get a couple clown loaches for a while so I was happy they had some and the VC-10's were just a whim.

A little trivia on the VC-10's - They were given the name VC-10 by a pair of brothers from Florida who where one of the first exporters of Cichlids from Africa to America back in the early 70's. They were named after the airplanes that were mostly used in Africa at that time. The word Milomo translated from the Chewa language means lips because this species has very thick lips. They are from Lake Malawi although unlike most Cichlids they like being on their own.

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

I have had lots to observe this past week in My Little Fish Room. I have 3 moms holding, sick fry and fry I need to sell to make room for more moms.

I have lots of fry. I have Dragon bloods, Auratus, Yellow Labs, Albino Red Zebras, Red Top Zebras and a few dolphins. My youngest group are the Auratus and Dragon blood fry. They are only 2 weeks old and now have Ich! My week is not going so good.

I have 2 moms in MLFR holding and one recuperating after having her brood. One mom is another Yellow Lab and the other is a Elongatus Mpanga. The Yellow Lab lost or ate or spit her eggs/fry because this morning I'm looking at her and she isn't holding anymore. I caught her and checked.. she spit the last egg out at me! So much for her brood. I put her back into the community. My Elongatus is doing amazingly well considering it's her first brood. I hope that she continues. I will be letting her spit on her own. I only have one more holding female that is in the community so I have the room.

And so the world turns in the life of a Cichlid aquarist.....

WATER CHANGE DAY CHANGE

I have always done my water changes on Mondays. Today is Friday and I just finished with my three show tanks. Because of a poor water test I was doing testing and water changes every other day for a bit. My test are spot on now but somehow my water change day has changed. Not sure how that happened but I like it just as well.

I always did them all on Mondays. My three show tanks and my Little Fish Room tanks as well. I did my LFR on Monday so I think that's how it's going to work for a while. As long as my tests are good and I don't get thrown off my schedule that is.

When I did my Juvenile Cichlid community, I removed five fish. One is holding so she is now in a brooding tank and the other four I moved to my tank they go in between Juvenile and Adult communities. It's only a 40 gallon but it's a pefect lay-over for them. Before I can add any more to my adult community I'll either have to sell some or get a bigger tank. My 75 gallon adult community has 31 fish. The 40 gallon has 14 all under 3" and my Juvenile tank is a 55 and it's holding 32 and they are all under 2". I love seeing them grow and develop their colours as I move them through my progressive tank setup.

It's a good feeling for me as well as the Cichlids when they have a beautiful clean environment to call home.

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

While feeding my Cichlids this morning I was watching my fry in their grow-out tanks. I had 10 RedxRed Albino Zebra fry in with my largest fry. These fry are ready to go. The Albino fry are about the same age give-or-take at day. What I've been noticing is that the Albino fry are just not growing. This morning paying close attention I could see that they weren't getting their share of food. The RedTop Zebras in that tank are quite hoggish. I'm going to move them out over the weekend. I'd like to sell them but I have so many more that I may just drop them off at the local aquarium for a store credit.

In my next grow-out tank I also have Red Top Zebras. They are about 2 months old now. I moved the 10 Albino fry over there. There is an age difference but there is no size difference at all. Feeding I can see clearly that the Albinos will flourish here as they are right up top with the younger fry eating well.

Please forgive the photo - I know it's pretty blurry but you can see the Albinos by their colour. They never ate at the top like they are doing with the smaller fry. I'm happy I moved them. In the few days they have been over in that tank they have doubled in size. No kidding!

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

Preceding me into my Little Fish Room is my cat Finn. He knows my routine and he knows I always give him a couple squares of brine shrimp while I'm feeding my babies. It's pretty bad when you are so stuck in a routine that your cat knows it! Ha!

This is my favorite way to start my day - by saying good morning and feeding my Cichlids. My sick little Kenyi doesn't look any different today. I did soak 3 pellets in salt water and dropped them in one at a time. He ate two so now we'll see if that helps him with his swim bladder problem. I feel so bad for him and I'm sure he's lonely but this seems to take time and I'm willing to give him what he needs. I just hope this is treatable. So far he really hasn't improved much. At least not as much as I had hoped by this time.

On to my fry. The babies I stripped yesterday from my Dragon Blood are doing really great. They are eating and spreading out in the playpen. They no longer huddle in a cluster as they are used to doing in Mamma's mouth. I can't count them all. I took a photo and can clearly count over 40.

Next my Auratus fry and in another playpen in with my 1 month old fry. They are growing like crazy. I am sure they have doubled in size. You don't realize how much they've grown in 4 days until you see them next to the newest fry. It's really shocking. They are fantastic eaters and doing very well.

I continued feeding the rest of my fry. I have to vacuum the substrate pretty much every morning cause there are always left over algae chips melted on the sand. I have one Pleco who lives for those things. The others are too interested in them but they are smaller if that makes a difference.

Coming down stairs I feed my poor starving cats who haven't eaten since yesterday and are sure they are near deaths door by the sound they make! Once they and my pooch are looked after I take care of my show tanks. I begin with my 75gl greeting my Cichlids with as much joy as they greet me with. I alternate feeding them pellets and chips. I have been dropping a few in at a time watching who is eating and then directing food to the ones that are smaller and wait for the bigs guys to get out of the way.

Moving on, I next feed my newbies. The tank looks great. I'm so happy with it. The fellow I got them from told me he never sees is Cichlids. They are always hiding on him. I've noticed any time I approach the tank they shoot for cover and *poof* the tank looks empty. I've never seen this behavior before. My Cichlids are very bold and almost rub noses with me when I sit in front of the tank watching them. Each day they seem to be less and less afraid not ducking out of site like they did the first couple days. I found that odd.

Finally I do the same with my juveniles. I feed them a mix of pellets and chips alternating days. I also feed slowly watching that all the smaller ones get their share. It helps too in avoiding over feeding them. All tank daylights are on and everyone's had breakfast. It's the beginning of a great day!

I think I'll go rock hunting this afternoon. See what I can find since the last of my stash in now in this new setup. As silly as it sounds I love hunting for rocks. I'm quite choosy as well. They have to be a good size, colour, shape... just any old rock won't do!

KENYI STILL NOT GOOD

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

The last couple days I've been watching my male Kenyi in my African Community tank. He was just fine the other day. In fact I have him on video swimming around happy as a clam. Yesterday he was acting as if he's paralyzed. He only swims using his pectoral fins and not his tail at all.

Asking for advice as I often do online at forums, on Youtube or other sites it was suggested to me that he may have a bladder issue. It was told to move him into an isolation tank, treat the water with Epsom salts, turn up the heat to 84 degrees and not feed him for a couple days.

I did as suggested and now I'll just wait and hope he improves. When I do feed him he will have shelled peas for a day or two. This is how kind and caring the Cichlid community is. People willing to help each other out all in the name of these wonderfully fascinating fish.

I really appreciate all the help I get and certainly try to help where I can as well.

DAILY OBSERVATIONS

Watching my 3 fry tanks full of lovely young Cichlids I begin to wonder what I'm going to do with them all. I plan on introducing them to my community as they get big enough. Once they are I'll begin choosing some of my larger females and sell them. Eventually my display tank will hold males only - that's the plan.

Checking in on my American Cichlids I noticed one of my Black Convicts isn't looking too good. He's a little frayed and sticks to hiding spots. Someone is beating on him. My mom that just spit a few days ago is still recuperating but I needed her tank to isolate this Convict so I moved her back into her community. She's in great health and was so happy to be back , she was flying around the tank with Bubba in tow. Between them there's a really love for each other.

I moved the Convict into the isolation tank and added API Melafix. It's only been about 16 hours and he's all ready looking better. He's not eating but he's moving around and I can see him watching me when I sit by his tank. Convicts have great expression in their eyes. I think he's going to be okay.

WATER TEST RESULTS

I use the Fresh Water Master Test Kit for my water tests. It's a super handy kit, with clear concise directions and comes with everything you need to preform the proper tests. I'm not sure why but there are 5 test and it only comes with 4 test tubes. I also added a syringe to fill the test tubes with. It's neat, clean and accurate.

After I do my water changes I then do my water tests. Today was the first time one of my tests wasn't good. I test 5 different parameters which are PH levels, high and low, ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates. My 60 gallon aquarium failed 2 of those tests - Nitrite and Ammonia levels are way too high.

These two tests are related. Nitrites slowly build up for a few different reasons. You may have too many fish, your filtration system isn't handling the load put on it, simply over feeding or you may have destroyed beneficial bacteria through too aggressive a water change or too much cleaning. An increase in nitrite happens when waste from fish, plants and foods break down and release ammonia. This ammonia is deadly to fish and must be converted into nitrite by healthy bacteria.
Nitrite is also harmful to fish so it must be converted into Nitrate which isn't quite as harmful and can help algae and even plants grow. Too much isn't good if it isn't getting used up quick enough.

I did everything I could to rectify this issue. I even put the dirty filters back in, added salt, Safe and StressZyme to increase good bacteria. Now I'll be doing 20% water changes daily for the next week or more depending on how my test turn out.

Right now my Cichlids look great, active and healthy but I'm still worried.

55G SOUTH AMERICAN CICHLID TANK

I moved my African Cichlid community to my 60 gallon aquarium leaving my 55 gallon tank empty. Time to move my South American group to a larger tank. They have been in a 40 gallon tank for quite sometime without any problems but with my 55 sitting empty it was time to give them more.

I emptied the tank, substrate and all. I used pool filter silica sand. It's really pretty, a little coarser than Cichlid sand - so my filters don't suck it up and start grinding. After having it filled and ready I let it acclimate for a few hours, did my water tests and waited for the temp to reach the appropriate level.

I began siphoning water from the 40 they were in. I had already removed all the decor, stones and plants setting them in the 55 they are moving into. These fish are much easier to catch than their African counterparts. I kept them in a pail, double checking the temperature and then set them free. They took to the new tank like a fish to water Ha! I watched them for a little as they explored their new home.  Later I went up to finish cleaning out the 40 and found a little yellow loach still in there that I had missed. I scooped him up and added him to the new tank as well then went back and finished with the tank. It won't be empty for long. My fry are growing and will soon need more room as well. It's like musical tanks around here.

After all that work I poured myself a coffee and sat down in front of the 55 to watch them as I relaxed. I have 3 parrot fish that I really want to trade or sell, 2 convicts, 2 fire mouth, 2 angels and a tiger Oscar. I also have 2 plecos and a bristle nosed catfish, plus the little yellow loach in this tank. I'm watching them and can't find the oscar. Looking for him I found him hiding behind some driftwood. Looking closer I could see a tail fin sticking out of his mouth. EEK! He ate the loach. Poor little guy. Guess I'm not overfeeding them eh? I really wish I would have gotten a picture of his face.. it was actually pretty funny.

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.

FEEDING YOUR CICHLIDS

First let me remind you I am a beginner and am only sharing what I've learned through trial and error, have read or gleaned through the many amazing forums full of people with vast knowledge and years of experience. YouTube is also a fantastic medium to get information from.

SeaWeed and Clip

What I've learned about feeding my African and American Cichlids is that they are forever hungry! I feed them morning and night even though they look like they are ready jump out of the tank every time I walk by. I feed them mostly a diet of Cichlid flakes and pellets. These foods are professionally designed to meet a Cichlids dietary needs. Besides their regular diet I do give them treats. Not everyday mind you - but at least 3 times a week. Brine shrimp and blood worms I purchase. I also feed them fresh veggies like zucchini and cucumber. I found seaweed clips work well to anchor them. I buy seaweed on occasion for them as well. They rip it apart within seconds. It's a favourite of theirs. I also fast all my tanks 1 day a week. It's good to give them a day off and let them purge their digestive systems. Be mindful of this as being hungry increases aggression. We don't want to starve them.

Cichlids have a tendency to over-eat not unlike we do. Of course over-eating leads to health problems that can be avoided by a monitored diet. Bloating is one side effect. Over feeding can also cause your tank nitrates to rise creating an unsafe environment for your fish. If your filter system can't support the demand placed on it, you can either lower your fish count or feed them less. Feeding too much can also cause your water to get cloudy. If my tanks are cloudy, time it ends up being my over-feeding.

SeaWeed Clip holding a chunk of cucumber.