Central American Cichild Photos

[ari]

Originally Posted by Bocourti

Hi Ari,

I agreed that if you start with a good quality fish (as breeder), you do tend to get good quality fries.
Are those the blackbelts you bought from Joe? If they are, they pretty good looking...second only to the batch Joe brought in years ago from Jeff Rapps.
As for the green algae, try it.....especially if the CA colors faded. It works for me at least.
Breeding female turning black.....based on my experience so far(which is not alot), almost all turn white and black except Bocourti and Melarunus. But then maybe I am wrong. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that even after breeding, I don't find the breeders to have their color fade. in fact, I find their colors brighten up. Well, at least, my breeding pairs do.
Breeding CA is easy?! How about you passing me some hints and pointers, please...hints and pointers to breeding Argentea, Regani and Bocourti? Not having much luck with these chaps. Well I guess breeding CA is easy, once a pair is found.
Joe brought in some Pearsi a few months ago. I think about the same time as the Blackbelts. Not sure if his farm had started producing Pearsi.

BTW, which CA have you bred?
Cheers

aah tough question to answer...i cant recall all the type i had bred but i asure you its quite alot, starting off with the synspilus in 1984 ( synspilus had always remain the top of my fav cichlid) . but i do know what i havent bred, Firemouths is one of them, man, i havent had any luck in keeping what suppose to be an easy beginer's cichlid, im convince firemouths are determine to die on me.
yup...i got them from Joe, since he is the only one i know of who carries them in KL, and getting good CA in malaysia is quite a hassle. and for this reason i have totally cut down on cichlids, with only a lone blackbelt and a pair of Blue azul peacock bass in my tanks. but i do have several fenes, argentea,godmani,synspilus and zonatus in my uncle's pond. havent seen them since the day i dump them there...hopefully there are still alive.
dont really have any more time for fishes as my business is understaff...besides i found a new inspiration from breeding headstanders
i have no arguments that the blackbelts from joe are good , but not actually the best of the best, but then again they could be the foundation of a good fish in the future depending on how you groom them thru selective breeding. what i want to stress is fishes from jeff rapp doesnt guarantee quality. most people who are new to cichilds will presume whatever fish that comes from jeff rapp is the best...NOT always the case.

for the green algae water...well guess i have to skip that, my CA tank runs on a calsium reactor with 8dkh water hardness, algae will not have a prayer. as we are on this subject...what happens when you put your fish in green water? is it true the colour would be more briliant or was the tone of green that made the fish look better? and what happens if you do a water change, will the colour fade than? of course you dont expect a person to have a green water tank in their living room? question again ...what was the reason or cause that made your fish look better in green water? have you did any research on this?..the reason why?
water turns green easily if its an outdoor tank, and for indoor tanks due to heavy lighting and the outburst of phosphate and silicate, mainly from uneaten food and fish pooh and a dirty filter system. its very unhealty for a fish to live in such a condition ..beware ...HOLE IN THE HEAD usually arrives thru such a condition. i have seen many farms kept cichlids in green watered ponds..but they didnt do that on purpose, sort like they have no choice as outdoor ponds always turn green under sunlight, no matter what they did to remedy it.

its true water with a deeper tone always brings out the best colour from a cichlid, but it doesnt have to be green. tannis water will bring the same result. having plenty of bogwood in your tank will turn the colour tannis but it does also bring the ph down, no worries of course, cichilds are hardy fishes especially those bred locally, they take any kind of water, low or high ph , take both.

on regaining fomer glory for a breeding fish it doesnt mean only from the colour's point. in general, the colour, the body, the eating mood, and if the fish not actually at its full size, will it continue to grow after breeding? many dont, ended up as stunted. i know many people would let their cichlids breed at the first opportunity, usually happens in a community tank, a pair just form up and starts to show breeding patten....even if the fishes are actually a few months old. if you allow this to happen, that pair will have a slim chance to grow to their potential size. the colour might look the same , but give it a few months , then you will see the difference.
another thing is why do breeders always sell their breeding pair cheap after a couple of spawn even though many of those fishes havent grown to their expected size? do they know something we dont?....ask yourself this?

the last pair of CA i had bred was a hartwegi and that was 3 years ago. i have stop breeding any since coming back to malaysia. when i was living in bangkok, i did alot of breeding since cichlids are cheap and readily avaiable..and it becomes easy if you buy more and let them pair off naturally. throwing a pair into a tank on their own doesnt always work, a badly beaten female is the usual result, even after spending weeks behind a seperator glass
Bocourti...i havent had the pleasure of keeping them before so no answers for you on how to breed them.
Regani....this is one CA cichlid that i refuse to keep , simply cos i hate them, they reminds me of a flowerhorn.
Argentea.... as long you have a matured male. young males are abit aggresive to the females and they make a poor parent ,its best to have 2 to 3 females to a matured male to form a pair. when you see one of the females helping the male in beating up the other females, then a pair is about to form. do not comitted the mistake of taking out the beaten female
or else the male will turn on and beat the remaining female, just let them sort thing out themselves, the beaten female must remain in the tank at all times even after spawning to keep the male interested in proctecting the eggs. Argenteas are very very aggresive.
Btw i saw a matured male in one of the FS in cheras, quite good and i dont think it will be expensive. well compared to the 6 inch one i got few years ago at Tbt4,200(rm400) when they are quite rare, argenteas are cheap now. aaah just hope the price of azuls would drop so i could get more ...and say "ah, azuls are cheap nowdays" in same manner of an argentea , at rm700 each, it will take years to drop to the desired rm50 unless someone breeds azuls non stop...CA cichlid style

[Bocourti]

Godmani! Been trying to get my hands on these fish. I bought 6 six from Joe years ago, but none survived. They were all about 6" before they decided to enter heaven together. Maybe the Godmani's managed to breed in your uncle's pond.

Thanks for the Argentea tip. How are old would you consider a male Argentea mature? 1 year?

Pearsi: I will probably try my luck breeding them in a few months time. They should be a year old by then.

Agreed..not all Jeff Rapps' CAs are good looking, but that batch of Blackbelts were great looking. I haven't seen any better looking Blackbelts since then.

Green water: No sure if i can answer your questions. Maybe it is because the lack of light which promote the increase production of Guanine. Or maybe because the fish feel more 'at home'and less stress; therefore, revert back to their normal color. The fish do look healthier and grow much faster; however, the intensity of the color remain transient. If you remove the fish from the green water, and put it in a clear water tank; its color starts to fade after a week or so.

Cheers

[ari]

Originally Posted by Bocourti

Godmani! Been trying to get my hands on these fish. I bought 6 six from Joe years ago, but none survived. They were all about 6" before they decided to enter heaven together. Maybe the Godmani's managed to breed in your uncle's pond.

Thanks for the Argentea tip. How are old would you consider a male Argentea mature? 1 year?

Pearsi: I will probably try my luck breeding them in a few months time. They should be a year old by then.

Agreed..not all Jeff Rapps' CAs are good looking, but that batch of Blackbelts were great looking. I haven't seen any better looking Blackbelts since then.

Green water: No sure if i can answer your questions. Maybe it is because the lack of light which promote the increase production of Guanine. Or maybe because the fish feel more 'at home'and less stress; therefore, revert back to their normal color. The fish do look healthier and grow much faster; however, the intensity of the color remain transient. If you remove the fish from the green water, and put it in a clear water tank; its color starts to fade after a week or so.

Cheers

ha, i have only 1 godmani..so how to breed.
for the argenteas..1.5 to 2 years old should be ok, but then dont expect too much from the 1st try...probably better results after the 2nd.

yes thats the point...why trouble yourself with green water when you knew the colour would fade after a water change. isnt it better to setup a suitable water condition where its clear, clean and the colour doesnt fade. doing your homework on water chemistry and invest on filteration and equipments that will provide the ideal condition is much better than relying on green algae water, beside such equipments would give your setup a professional look and the impression that you know your stuff on CA cichlids.

i use a marine calsium reactor, which i had converted for fresh water use, the alternative is to use aragonite...both are pretty expensive but the result would of course speak for themselves.
if really want to show off your favourite Fish ,then pay attention to the water chemisrty...but then again a show fish is best kept on their own.
after years and years of cichlid keeping...i find that quality beats quantity.. you will be well known for that 1 beautifull cichild in your possesion not the total number that you have.

[BabyPups]

ari, u still have ur argentea tank?
post some pics ler, really nice fish

[ari]

no more argentea tank brader, but i did have some old photos lar, i think i have posted them here before.
i onli have 3 cichild tanks...1 for blackbelt, 1 for azuls and 1 empty tank, maybe i use it for the pair of adult fenes joe is selling me, no yet see the pair, but know the female is a rare pink...never mind it looks like a talapia...its rare.

this one old photo

[Bocourti]

Ari,

If you want a pink fene....ask Joe. I passed a pink female fene to him.

[ari]

Originally Posted by Bocourti

Ari,

If you want a pink fene....ask Joe. I passed a pink female fene to him.

that means he is selling me your fish lar, and that also means Cancel.
Rule number 1, never buy a fish thats been resold to a FS by a customer. no disrespect to anyone, but a good fish will never be sold by its owner, especially to a FS, unless they are sold as juveniles, adults...then can forget it.
on face value..i will not be happy with 'hand me downs' no matter how good that fish is..it would limit my bragging rights. haha..im chinese, so one gotta be a chinese to understand the value of face.

[Bocourti]

Well ari, it is your prerogative.

I had an extra pair of fenes which I was hoping Joe would sent down to the farm to create pink fenes.

[Cichlid Connections]

I am more than Chinese, I wan do business onli.... kong siao kong pi.. Lu erm mai, wah boh pek lu! Hoseh boh... wa ai tann lui nia (its a blardy fact).. wah pun si cinaman ai jor seng lee nia. If you think this fish is considered hand me downs.. ahahaha.. so be it. I never force ppl to buy wan.

I only tukaulan ppl msg me, call me, ask so blardy many question, ask me send pic, ask me can mix ar? I want one lar.. but I got no tank lar.. (like that's my fcuking problem), can send me the pic ar, can this ar can that ar....

Some people call me lankausi... say I never reply SMS, reply PM all that shit, I'd tell something.. sometimes the money I earn go cover my blardy phone bill.... jor har mee lanciao seng lee. U tell me.

[ari]

Originally Posted by Cichlid Connections

I am more than Chinese, I wan do business onli.... kong siao kong pi.. Lu erm mai, wah boh pek lu! Hoseh boh... wa ai tann lui nia (its a blardy fact).. wah pun si cinaman ai jor seng lee nia. If you think this fish is considered hand me downs.. ahahaha.. so be it. I never force ppl to buy wan.

I only tukaulan ppl msg me, call me, ask so blardy many question, ask me send pic, ask me can mix ar? I want one lar.. but I got no tank lar.. (like that's my fcuking problem), can send me the pic ar, can this ar can that ar....

Some people call me lankausi... say I never reply SMS, reply PM all that shit, I'd tell something.. sometimes the money I earn go cover my blardy phone bill.... jor har mee lanciao seng lee. U tell me.

haha..told you oledi wat...DONT OPEN fishshop, ask you to join venture with me ,you dun wan...now you see lar,
and you noe why people keep asking you for pic, can mix ar, i wan but no tank, can tis can tat ar?,,cos you NOT ENOUGH lankausi la.hahaha
must be like me mah.....give hp number onli to people with money

yup taikor....i kenot take hand me downs.....thats my rule. come to think of it, when i buy from you even though not too often, i pay what you ask for...never bargain, never ask pic , never ask questions. you bring extra i also same same take . hope brader you dun angry if i kenot take hand me downs...thats the rule i have to stick with. this time tara jadi, maybe next time jadi lor...okay.