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Definitely celestial pearl danios! Just got some in at my local pets at home, they're only 6 for £15. Definitely getting a few for my 10 gallon when i rescape it.
What's the next fish you're getting?
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This is such a fun thread! I’m thinking of setting up a new tank for hillstream loaches and some shrimp.
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Well i couldn't resist and did another order:
i'm getting
5 b. wavarni - these will go into a 100 gallon blackwater aquarium. The only catch is there is a group of a. bitatina that have been in there since late Sept so it remains to be seen how they are welcomed. The sad thing about this aquarium is it is so dark the only thing i can see in it are the silver hatchet fishes. Everything else just sort of black out. It took me an hour to find 4 of the a. bitatina last week (in theory there are 8); but they dart under leaves and stuff it is really hard to spot them. At least the hatchet fishes (and emerald eye rasbora) stay out in the open where you can see their shadows.
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4 hypselecara temporalis (~1.5 inch); these will go in the 600 with the clown loaches and festivium. Long term i will trim it down to 2 and in 4 or so years i expect the festivium to slowly age out; at which time the clown loaches will be a few inches larger and be the primary tank mates. Right now the clown loaches are in the 4 to 6 inch range.
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3 ivanacara bimaculata. I will be getting two more from another source. These will go into a 65 gallon with some red pencil fishes. Long term it depends - if they behave like my Krobia then i should be able to keep two pairs in there and even the odd unmated fish. The Krobia are fierce parents but as long as you stay a foot away they are happy to have you around.
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1 L239 to keep the discus company. Really happy how the discus are working out - they are wc so not the usual ones people post pictures of but they have really settled down the past month or two.
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I really wish the stores around here sold live worms; i should probably setup a culture for blackworms one of these years. Maybe when the c. hastatus get large enough to move into the aquarium with the b. cupido i can turn it into a culture. That is the one with the green neon tetra i mentioned above. Not sure where i could put them - oh well at least 2 years out so i have time to think of a plan.
i'm getting
5 b. wavarni - these will go into a 100 gallon blackwater aquarium. The only catch is there is a group of a. bitatina that have been in there since late Sept so it remains to be seen how they are welcomed. The sad thing about this aquarium is it is so dark the only thing i can see in it are the silver hatchet fishes. Everything else just sort of black out. It took me an hour to find 4 of the a. bitatina last week (in theory there are 8); but they dart under leaves and stuff it is really hard to spot them. At least the hatchet fishes (and emerald eye rasbora) stay out in the open where you can see their shadows.
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4 hypselecara temporalis (~1.5 inch); these will go in the 600 with the clown loaches and festivium. Long term i will trim it down to 2 and in 4 or so years i expect the festivium to slowly age out; at which time the clown loaches will be a few inches larger and be the primary tank mates. Right now the clown loaches are in the 4 to 6 inch range.
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3 ivanacara bimaculata. I will be getting two more from another source. These will go into a 65 gallon with some red pencil fishes. Long term it depends - if they behave like my Krobia then i should be able to keep two pairs in there and even the odd unmated fish. The Krobia are fierce parents but as long as you stay a foot away they are happy to have you around.
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1 L239 to keep the discus company. Really happy how the discus are working out - they are wc so not the usual ones people post pictures of but they have really settled down the past month or two.
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I really wish the stores around here sold live worms; i should probably setup a culture for blackworms one of these years. Maybe when the c. hastatus get large enough to move into the aquarium with the b. cupido i can turn it into a culture. That is the one with the green neon tetra i mentioned above. Not sure where i could put them - oh well at least 2 years out so i have time to think of a plan.
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I've found the cupido pretty easy so far; i have them in neutral softish water ec around 120. They pretty much hang together (8 of them); and only rarely one or two will go their own way. Not sure what will happen as they get older but they should be pretty close to that point. The aquarium i have them in is 4ft x 4ft. My understanding is b. Wavrini are true blackwater and I will treat them that way.
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I've not observed b. cupido eating or digging plants; but i would not be shocked if they nibble on plant matter or if you had something specific they found tasty... they do shift the sand so it is possible for them to disturb plants but again none of my crypts or smaller Echinodorus like parvilflorus have come unrooted. My substrate is 2ish inch deep. It is not super fine as it should be but rather slightly coarser but not coarse. The website list the stones as 0.5mm to 1.5 mm; but i would say pool filter sand is 1/4 to 1/2 that size and play sand even smaller. If i were to redo the tank i would try to find something finer as it concerns me but so far i've not observed ill health. The other geo i have on pool filter sand.
Mind you in usa wc of these species have been very inexpensive - $10 to $15 a fish; if they are more expensive where you live then you might consider more information on them. I've had the cupido for 4 months so not that long; they were not tiny - i'd say a bit over 2 inches when i received them. They ahve grown approx 1 inch; so i suspect the males will grow another inch.
One thing that set them apart from other cichild i have - well two things - they definitely stay in a group when moving to the front though at night they seem to have sep sleeping areas; they have remained very timid. Not sure if having a more bold fish in their aquarium would help here as the other fishes i have in there are also on the timid size (group of c. hastatus and a. pucallpaensis - both species which are typically timid). However if they recognize me and realize i am going to feed them they definitely come forward unlike the a. pucallpaensis which wait for the food to come to them. They will eat from my hand but if a stranger enters the room or i wear something that makes me look different they will not come forward under any circumstance. The other geo i ahve are not timid under any circumstance and i do wish they were more timid (gold dust, abalios and dicrozoster); even my wc discus show almost no timidness as long as i do not make any sudden movements or noise. If the cupido are like the pucallpaensis they will remian timid their entire lives while f1 would likely be a bit less timid as my f1 and f2 have definitely shown more willingness to tolerate me.
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Thanks for this information. I do actually have room in my biggest tank at the moment, but as I have a smaller tank (about 85 gallons) with 7 Guianacaras and 4 Burjuquinas, as well as 4 marbled headstanders, none of which are yet full grown, some of them will probably have to end up in the big tank eventually. I have a planted tank (about 152 gallons) with angelfish and no other cichlids at the moment, but I'd hate all the plants to be dug up, and there is not much substrate free of plants, just a few patches. As for the price, they are about the same, $14 each, might get a slight discount if I and the friend who told me about them both order some. They also don't have many available so if I dither too much it might be too late...
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I really like Horseface loaches and gobies! I think i’ll wait a while before getting a new fish though. 
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I think putting them with the angles would be good; only real issue would be lack of open area for them to shift sand. They are a little more interesting than angelfishes but of course not as pretty. I'm mostly amazed by how close they stick together though i would not be surprise if that behavior changes in another year. My festivum stick together when scared (stranger walks into the room) but of course during hte course of a normal day they spread out and take full advantage of the aquarium size (10ftx4ft); spending most of the day pointed up in hope some insect will land on the water.
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Maybe not as colorful but I think they are very attractive, I was looking out for them unsuccessfully for ages, then the chance to get the Guianacaras came up, and someone gave me the baby bujurquinas at the same time...... I am sure they would be compatible with angels, but not sure they would have enough space to sift sand and might uproot stem plants. By the way I have now seen a video of them and I am pretty sure they are B.cupido.
And this is a recent shot of the tank I am talking about, it measures 160 x 60 x 60 cm (shot taken just after a water change and plant trim so a bit cloudy).
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I think they will do fine in that aquarium; mine shift sand but not to the degree of a true geo. As for species my understanding is the primary difference between b. warvani and b. cupido is the height of the spot; and otherwise they look near identical. Of course b. cupido appears to be a clear water fish while b. warvani are strict blackwater.
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looking at pictures of warvani and your picture they do appear to be b. cupido
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Well tomorrow i have the following arriving (and i swear with my fingers cross behind my back this is it; well that is not exactly true there is one other order that is 2 months late; that i hope ship eventually):
5 b. warvani (going into my 100 gallon blackwater aquarium)
4 Hypselecara temporalis; the plan is for these to slowly replace my festivium when they age out - they are small and i hope they take a couple of years to get large. My festivium are 3 or 4 now.
1 L239 (to keep the discus company).
3 ivancara bimaculata (also known as nanacara bimaculata).
The first 10 fishes are wild caught the i. b. are tank raised. I might add a pair of a. ladislao with them but the seller wasn't clear if he was going to send them - different seller.
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13 fishes - 4 species.
5 b. warvani (going into my 100 gallon blackwater aquarium)
4 Hypselecara temporalis; the plan is for these to slowly replace my festivium when they age out - they are small and i hope they take a couple of years to get large. My festivium are 3 or 4 now.
1 L239 (to keep the discus company).
3 ivancara bimaculata (also known as nanacara bimaculata).
The first 10 fishes are wild caught the i. b. are tank raised. I might add a pair of a. ladislao with them but the seller wasn't clear if he was going to send them - different seller.
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13 fishes - 4 species.
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The Choclate Cichlids grow pretty fast. I keep two of them & both did well together for the first year.
Thought I had a potential mated pair, but ended up with two males.
They were babies when I bought them about 18 months ago. The dominant male is currently 10.5 inches, the subordinate is 9 inches.
Initially kept them both in a 120 gal tank, but transferred the larger one to a 65 gal. wet pet tank.
The Choclate's aggression was only conspecific. They don't bother the other tankmates, which include Barbs, Loaches & Tetras.
Thought I had a potential mated pair, but ended up with two males.
They were babies when I bought them about 18 months ago. The dominant male is currently 10.5 inches, the subordinate is 9 inches.
Initially kept them both in a 120 gal tank, but transferred the larger one to a 65 gal. wet pet tank.
The Choclate's aggression was only conspecific. They don't bother the other tankmates, which include Barbs, Loaches & Tetras.
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My current tanks are fully stocked, but I think the next project will be a south east asian community tank... I miss having tiger barbs so maybe a large school with yo yo loaches a few gourami of various species and a rainbow shark in a 55 or 75 gallon.
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any thought on them eating serpae tetra and headstandards (Anostomus ternetzi); the aquarium is 600 gallons so there is room. I don't plan on keeping all 4 - my target was two. The serpae mostly hide in the vals but they come out during feeding time. They don't care for the festiviums. The headstanders are quite bold.
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Just a reminder. Plecos are known to eat the slime coat off of discus. Only ones not known for eating it are bushy nose. I’ve even had ottos eating it. Ottos aren’t that much of a threat the discus just shake them off. But they can’t shake off plecos and it’s very stressful for the discus. Many times it’s done at night while the discus is sleeping.
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I know; actually i had a BN go after angelfishes; that is why i went for a Panaque for the discus tank; i believe they are safe with flat fishes; at least that has been my experience over the years.
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I'll probably qt it in a 20 long with some green neon for a few weeks to study the behavior; doing some additional reading on the species it seems that it was mis-classified as a panaque; hum... have to think on this one.
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As a precaution i put the pleco with the i. b.; the warvani arrived doa but seller will resend. The chocolate cichild are closer to 1.5 inch so hopefully they will take 2 years to grow out. The i. b. looked fantastic but were also in the inch range. Hum. Pictures well here is a doa b. wavarni:
Oh well.
Oh well.
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The i.b. have a dedicated 65 (48inch x 15 inch); with the L239 and some n. mortenthaleri. To be honest it is one of my nicer scaped aquarium. One of the i.b. was really shy and kept darting back under a leaf when it saw me but the other two were a bit more bold and came right up to be fed. Not very picky at eating either - most of my apisto and for sure the discus throw a tantrum if they don't get the food they want but the i.b. are like we don't care just keep tossing it in.
I'm not sure long term if i will leave the L239 in there but it was the only blackwater aquarium i had over 80 degree other than the discus aquarium. The information on L239 is very conflicting as to diet and behavior. I might move it to the discus aquarium after i learn more about it.
I will be getting a few more i.b. either 2 or 4 more. My crude understanding is behavior wise they are closer to krobia than adoketa so i'm presuming i can keep a small colony but if i am mistaken then i guess my plans will have ot change or i'll need to setup another aquarium (for which i have no space - well technically i have a stand for a 29 that has no 29 on it... hum... well we will see what happens).
My krobia even when spawning are very well behaved it is shocking after dealing with more vicious species. Don't get me wrong they are excellent parent and get their frys free swimming but the tank is relatively tranquil despite having 5 krobia and 12 angelfishes.
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That’s very interesting, somehow I would have expected the Krobia to be more Acara like, ie pretty aggressive when breeding. I wonder if they breed naturally in colonial situations? Are you not raising any fry?
I remember now you said you will keep the Ivanacara with N. mortenthaleri - very nice! Hopefully you are correct and they will be more like Krobia than adoketa! Certainly they are very attractive dwarf cichlids, it will be interesting to know how this works out.
I decided not to get the Biotodoma, I think the angelfish tank is probably more suited to other dwarf cichlids, I’ll be patient and see what else turns up. And at the moment I am broke and I have enough on the go with the Guianacaras starting to breed, I have 4 Bujurquinas that I am not sure what to do with and I would love to try to breed the dwarf pike cichlids, which would mean moving them to their own tank. Which would mean moving my tiny fish (ruby tetras and Pygmy cories) to a small tank and goodness knows how I would catch them…so not thinking about new fish at the moment, rather how to best organise the ones I have!
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The problem is where to raise the frys. In theory i could catch a few and put them in a 5 to raise for a little while but long term i have no place for them. The thing is that the krobia are in my yucky 120 basement tank where i was raising angelfishes. When i discovered they would eat anything that fit in their mouth (including cardinals and rummy) i could no longer move them to a display aquarium where i had intended to put them so they are in limbo. Don't get me wrong i do weekly 40% water changes on the 120 like all my aquariums but it is just a basement tank. I suppose long term if the krobia live long enough i could remove the angels and raise the frys in there; though i find the other 3 krobia will eat them if they sep from the parents. I noticed one day a krobia sneaking in and gobbling down as many frys as it could find till the parents returned.
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So it is an issue. I am raising my a. lineta frys for now but they have a dedicated 20 to themselves. If my wc discus breed i'll probably have to raise some of their frys.
Anyway the short story is the krobia are interesting i guess but I don't find them special enough to figure out a way to raise the frys and i don't really recommend them in that there are more interesting fishes to focus on. There are fishes with more interesting behavior, fishes that look nicer, fishes more suitable for community, fishes better for solo aquarium. They just don't quite fit any of the niches.
Now one fish i really wish would breed and i would bend over backwards are my a. sp winkelfleck. They are not too common and they are very pretty and very friendly - but a little spoiled - well very spoiled. Not bratty spoiled but still spoiled. Oh well they have me well trained.
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Right yes, I understand you, cichlids are interesting to breed but you do need space for the fry. And maybe the Krobia would not be so easy to sell, like the Cichlasomas I had, nice fish but no one wanted them. I was able to rear about 20 Laetacara fry that I took out in just a 10 gallon tank until they were big enough to go to the shop. The next time I raised 40 but I did later move them to a larger (about 47 gallon) tank as the small one was getting crowded. I didn’t bother raising any more as by then the local market was flooded. And I much prefer that the young stay with the parents if possible, more interesting.
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Well my replacement b. wavarani arrived - they guy sent me a couple of extra which was good since two were doa. I now have a heard of wvarani. For my personal interest i'd like to compare them with b. cupido i ahve in another aquarium in a year or so. Of course it is never quite that simple since i have the b. cupido in your typical clear water aquarium while the b. wvarani are in an aquarium so dark you can't see your hand in front of you which will distort colours.
From another seller i also received a group of Mesonauta egregius to keep the b. cupido company. My presumption from a video i saw is that these are clear water mini Festivum. I've i made a mistake and they are just like my Mesonauta mirificus I'm going to be very very sad.
From another seller i also received a group of Mesonauta egregius to keep the b. cupido company. My presumption from a video i saw is that these are clear water mini Festivum. I've i made a mistake and they are just like my Mesonauta mirificus I'm going to be very very sad.
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size; my concern is size. The various sources do not have good size figure for these fishes. My mirificus are quite large and bulky fishes. i saw a video with the egregius where they were by catch of one of another fish i ahve - maybe it was a. lineata. A few website list them as 3.2 to 3.5 inches but i think these documentation is not correct. TIme will tell !! In the worse case i can trade them - they were not expensive fishes. My mirficus while moody are not vicious fishes - heck even the new chocolate cichild approx 1 inch in size do not fear them and feel comfortable swimming around but i don't want tanks in the aquarium where i put them - i want mopeds.
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Next fish purchase will definitely be more rummynose tetra. The 11 I have now show awesome schooling behavior. I can only imagine what 20 to 25 would be like.
The new 40B may very well be a single species tank!
The new 40B may very well be a single species tank!
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8 CPDs and a Honey Gourami
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I have big plans. Sterbai Cory’s 8, harlequin rosbora 12, bosmani rainbows 6, butterfly angel 1. I am going ina lost a month to my local place, and at least getting the angel and harlequins. Maybe the Cory’s and maybe the bosmani’s. We’ll see how it goes!
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About a dozen coral red pencil fish for the 29 gallon apisto tank. Have (2) pencil fish and a m/f pair of MacMasteri apisto in there now and there's simply not enough going on.
May also add in a group of Ottos as my wife is looking to try her hand at possibly breeding apistos.
Rest of the tanks have a "NO VACANCY" sign up
May also add in a group of Ottos as my wife is looking to try her hand at possibly breeding apistos.
Rest of the tanks have a "NO VACANCY" sign up
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Here are a few pics of that tank. I'm actually going to start working on the aquascape again as it needs a bit of work.
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