MissMTS

For those of you who don't remember, I ended up trading in my Africans at my LFS, and buying a couple of Nicaraguense Cichlids and Madagascar rainbows with the credit. I also added a Firemouth into the tank. All of the cichlids are 3-4 inches and are still babies.

I have 4 juvie Nics and I am hoping to get a pair. I have a for sure male, who is king of the tank, but I am unsure of the others. Their coloring is bland right now, but they should be pretty amazing once they grow up a bit.

I am trying to keep the tank with a CA theme, but the Rainbows are obviously not from there. I tried platies, but a couple of them ended up as midnight snacks, so I decided livebearers aren't a good idea. I chose the rainbows because they swim fast enough where the cichlids can't catch them.

Here are some pics. I am sorry for the diatoms on the glass, they have been attacking this tank, so I just have to let them run their course.

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Tony G.

congrats kate! the cichlids are looking great! cant wait to get mine going

CHoffman

Looks awesome Kate!!. Very good job.

Shawnie

amazing job kate...love the fish coloring up as they grow!

MissMTS

Thanks everyone

Lucy

The tank and fish look great! Are they bolivians?

MissMTS

Thanks Lucy Nope, they're Nicaraguense cichlids.

http://www.cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=68

I'm hoping they color up nicely as they get older

bolivianbaby

Kate,

They're beautiful and I love your aquascaping! In the 4th picture, the guy on the left, what is he? I love the spots on his fins. All the fish are gorgeous!

Lucy

Thanks for the link. Wow, they're pretty fish....and they get big!
It'll be nice to see them when they show their colors.

matt6765

looks great

Amanda

The tank & fish look great!!

MissMTS

Thanks I pretty much removed some rocks from my African tank as far as the aquascaping is concerned. I would like to add a large piece of driftwood when I get a chance.

Thanks Matt

Thanks Amanda

navyscuba

Nice fish you got there Kate.

rileyrk190

great job!

MissMTS

Thanks guys When I get a chance I'll have to get some pics without the water spots, lol.

gmen4life

looking good!!!

Tony G.

lol
we all have them!
we just wipe it before we take pics, so that it looks like we're neat freaks or something

AmongthePuffers

great job Kate! What kind/brand of sand did you use for the bottom?

btate617

Something that may help you is I noticed when my pair got a bit bigger about 5-6" they became easier to tell male from female. The male developed some verticle stripes, when not breeding they were there although faint, and I never really noticed the verticle stripes on the female. I found a pic from a few years back, they are the only ones I can find right now, I got these pics one day while moving the fish to a different tank.

Good luck with them, they are a great fish. I had success keeping them with both Herotilapia Multispinosa and Cryptoheros Sajica.


Female


Male



Brian

MissMTS

Thanks

Lol, I know. I am a neat freak though, so I felt the need to apologize for them

Thanks The substrate is just Quickrete playsand ($4 at home depot).

btate617

Whan they first spawned I think the male was about 5.5" or so and they were in a 90 with a pair of Herotilapia Multispinosa which were only about 3". Those two actually turned out to do very well together for me.
I had them in a 100 with the Sajica.
I have also put Hypselecara Temporalis with them while they were growing out, these too worked out well, I removed them when they hit 5" as I was trying to spawn them as well.

Brian

MissMTS

Thanks so much for the info I am still learning a lot about these fish, and am hoping to spawn mine once I get a pair. If having other cichlids in the tank will interfere with the spawning behavior, I may just want to have the Nics be the only cichlids in the tank.

MissMTS

Well I haven't updated this blog in a while, so I thought I would take the time to do so I am happy to report that I ended up with two pairs of Nics. One has been removed, and my current pair (who are showing beautiful coloring) have already spawned twice over the course of a month. I am currently raising a batch of 2 week old fry and a batch of month old fry. The parents did an excellent job taking care of both batches of babies for the first few days, but I eventually removed them because the parents just seemed under such high stress levels trying to keep the others away from their babies. It was interesting... with the first batch the mom took care of them and wouldn't let the dad near them at all. The second time around, the dad cared for them and kept the mom away. I am not sure if it is common for them to trade off like that. I'll try to get a video of the babies up soon

I also added a Green Flier Cichlid and a Rainbow Cichlid to the tank and everything is doing great. I am currently wanting to upgrade the filtration as the fish are getting bigger, so hopefully I'll be able to do that over the next month or so.

Lucy

It's good to see you!
Thanks for the update. I was wondering how your tank was doing.

MissMTS

Thanks Lucy Its good to see you too.

Tony G.

Yeah! Congrats! any new pics!?

btate617

Yes some new pics would be nice.......

Brian

MissMTS

Here's a video that I took last night. Sorry for the dirty glass. The lighting is bad and the fish look so dull compared to how they look in person, but hopefully you'll get the idea

MissMTS

And here's a video of my little babies in their grow out tank. They don't look like much yet, but its been fun taking care of them and I can't wait to watch them grow up

btate617