New Addition To The Family!! :)

Gem · #1

For a few months now we have been allowed to have fishtanks again, mum finally gave in to our nagging

Dad kept fish years ago varying from Pirrahnas to Neon Tetra's (not all in the same tank!)

When mum gave the go ahead for fishtanks, we went and brought some fish- dad dealed with and understood the keeping part (PH levels, communites etc), and we chose the compatable pretty fish!

1 tank turnt into 2. The recent one became Catfish and another species. were not completely sure what they are as aquatics/internet all conflicted with eachtother, so we call them Blue fish. :) they all climatised ok and no problems occourd, just the odd 'get out my hidey hole' the blue fish are very dominant!

This evening we spotted some new additions to the catfish/blue fish tank! Atleast 5 of them, the blueys have had babys! Because were not 100% sure on the speices of fish, we couldnt properly tell if they were all males etc.

Dad noticed few day ago, 1 of thems mouth was bulgeing alot more than the other 2 blues- its now clear, they are mouth brooders and 1 was carrying them in the mouth. They dont come out often becuase they dont like light- but they are getting better and they now eat with the light on :)

Love watching the fishtanks, took these few pics of the tank.... so hard trying to take a decent ish picture! Many got deleted lol.

Tank....

The Catfish and Blues having a disagreement (blue ones are so fast its unbelieveable!)

Best pic i could get of the Blue ones!

Spot the baby!

And another hideing in the shell

How many fish can you spot?!

So i thought id share this news with fellow anglers and waste half hour!

#2

Congrats.

Them blue fish are well fast so you did well to get a picture of them at all

wagglerwoman · #3

are they pseudotropheous zebra from lake Malawi, i have kept mouth brooders for years they are lovely fish

Drynet · #4

I used to have some red tailed shark once but they died

me · #5

So the faired better than the guppy babies when they were flying into the filter while i was talking to your dad on the phone

Can you ask malc if that silicon work that i got him or was it no good ? as if it was ok i will get him some more for the future or for him to sell on

Gem · #6

Thanks SS- fast as lightening! ;)

waggler woman... Were not sure on the name of them, they were labeled up wrong in the aquatics, and since not been able to trace the exact name. Some kind of Cichlid :) annoying not knowing- but they all seem happy

Si.... the guppys are still going! Weve got 2 tanks set-up. The babys that survived from the filter situation are now alot bigger (altho alot did get eaten). They are colouring up nicely and some are already pregnant :o the silicon is what is holding the rocks in place in the pics

worked a treat thanks. We did manouver some of the rocks cuz the fish had too many places to hide! Hence the few laid down rocks, it was originally both ends upright right to the top of tank. Think theres still some silicon left thanks

me · #7

if that stuff was ok does you dad want some boxes to flog on ebay

Gem · #8

Wont say no if its going to be thrown away

thanks

me · #9

no probs gem, as and when i spot a box lyeing about i will give it a home

wagglerwoman · #10

waggler woman... Were not sure on the name of them, they were labeled up wrong in the aquatics, and since not been able to trace the exact name. Some kind of Cichlid :) annoying not knowing- but they all seem happy

Hi Gem well as i said i have been keeping cichlids of all types for about 15 years now, they probably come from lake Malawi in Africa which is a rift valley lake, there is a few other lakes like lake Tanganyika and lake Victoria but the fish in each have evolved slightly differently and so have slightly different breeding patterns some are hidden brooders and like to lay there eggs in caves, some are open brooders and will lay there eggs on a flat stone, this involves the male shaking away like mad and then both swimming around in circles continuously and every now and again an egg is layed which the female picks up in her mouth instantly and the process repeats until all eggs have been layed, depending on the size of the fish they have anything from 10 to 30, once all the eggs have been layed female carries them around without eating anything until they are big enough to be deposited in little cracks in stones and stuff where they are safe. the reason they go around in a circle when mating is the male should have one or more egg spots on its anal fin and the female believes they are eggs. if you had a better picture i would be able to tell you what they are. but it is impossible to take pictures of them. if you want to pick my brain any time feel free

frank · #11

Gem had the same in my fish tank today.Only three adult fish,two zebra chichlids and horse head loach,got up this morning and its crawling with little uns, its black with em

Gem · #12

Arghhhhh, annoyed, typed loads out in reply and the forum threw a wobbly! Lost the lot

*note to self, always copy before posting!*

Anyhow.... sat for hours trying to get a good pic of the blue fish with my camera since we had them. My camera has got a bit of a delay on it so always misses the fast buggers! Dad used his camera tonight, within 20mins near perfect shot of 1! TYPICAL! :D

Since the babies appeared Dad done more searching, found that the blues are Melanochromis Cyaneorhabdos what a word to say sober let alone after a few! :D

Better pic of 1 of the blues...

Thanks Si give us a shout when you got any :)

Frank- lovely! Have you got any pictures of them by any chance? We have got 4 or 5 Kuhli Loaches in the Guppy tank (or as 5yr old bro calls them 'curly loach!'). No chance of me photographing them- they are faster and crazier than the blue fish! Heres one i just found on good ol google :) http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_kuhli.php

#13

Ive got some Kuhli loach. I bought 3 a while ago and very rarely see them.
I decided last week to get some more so asked in my local shop. He said we only have one left so you can have it for nothing--- IF I can catch it.

He spent 10 minutes chaising it around the tank and it kept moving to the next tank through a tiny gap in the dividing glass. He destroyed the layput of 3 tanks before catching it. "Now you know why we wont be selling any more"

me · #14

Dad used his camera tonight, within 20mins near perfect shot of 1!

bloody hell Malc did something right

Gem · #15

1st for everything isnt there Si!

Dave, our Khuli's come out quite abit, usually feeding time and late at night. the 4 or 5 (cant remember how many now, hardly see them all together) play chase zoomin from 1 side of tank to other, funny watching them!