some new pics

Here's some new pics I took recently. I'm converting one of my 55's into a cichlid tank. So far I have the bolivian ram, an OB peacock, and a festivus. The Bolivian has gotten quite a bit more color in the past couple days. The Bolivian and the Festivus were both taken without a flash so I could get a better shot of their coloration (which also ended up with them a little out of focus). This weekend I plan on getting a couple more cichlids. I'll update with pics with whatever I end up getting. The last pic is a new pic of my Celestial Danios.

 

Some pics of the new guys and two that I got a few days ago

 

I saw little ones today at another lfs I went to. When I first read about them, then saw them at ned's, I had to get one. Such a different looking cichlid. They are very peaceful and kind of like to just sit still for a while, then move a little bit, then sit still again....until I feed them, then he goes crazy for the food. I was talking to the guy I talk to at Uncle Ned's today (Sam) and he told me I lucked out because some festivus cichlids will stay shy their whole lives, and will always hide. This guy only seems to become shy when I had new fish to the tank, but then gets over it and comes right back out.

 

I was messin around with my camera today and took a couple new pics of the cichlids. I also am posting a pic of my new female GBR. She was very shy when I first put her in the tank (my community 55 with the other gbr) but now she swims around the whole tank and comes up to the top like the rest of the fish when I feed them.

 

The cichlids I have are on the young side. He will eventually get the bright coloration when he's an adult. The Red Fin Blue Neon will eventually take on a much darker blue but will keep the red fins. If my imperial tigress is a male it will end up with a blue face and a yellow body, if it's female it will stay the same silver with black stripes. I can't wait to see what they all look like as they get older and get their coloration.

 

I really love the victorians. Pretty much any cichlid from that lake has the most amazing coloration. Check out the first pic. It's from uncle ned's photo gallery. It's called a Paralabidochromis chromogynos. They had a couple at the store the last time I went, but they were females The 2nd pic is of an adult fulu I found on the net. I really can't wait to see him in full coloration. I have a male and female, so I'm hoping they will eventually pair up. The only problem that might arise is that the blue neon might try to mate with the female fulu, or the male fulu might try to mate with the female blue neon which ends in a hybrid which isn't worth anything even as a trade back to ned's. As for the female GBR, that's nothing...the third pic is a new one of my male gbr lol

 

yea, I'm definitely glad I converted over to cichlid. Not only are they beautiful, but they have the funniest personality and are very intelligent. Any time I go near their tank they come right up to the front and follow me around. Sam (at ned's) told me that some cichlids eye sight is so good they can actually somewhat distinguish one persons face from another.
Also something I did forget to mention, I bought a geophagus Jurupari the other day. Found him for a really good price and I really wanted to test out a Geo with the africans. I'll post a pic of him when I get a descent one.

 

The only real aggression issue I've seen yet is that I just added a new Ruby Red Peacock, and my original OB peacock isn't to fond of him. The OB will chase him around once in a while. It'll be interesting to see what happens when they all get older. I know of only one fish in my tank that is going to get way to large for a 55 cichlid community, a venestus. He will eventually get up around 10", and was definitely an impulse buy at another store due to the nice looking coloration. Sam at Ned's told me that once he outgrows my tank, if I don't have a larger tank by then, I can definitely trade him in. I changed around one side of the tank because I bought a new cave looking lace rock and arranged the rocks around it so that that cave is at the bottom. I'm thinking of re-arranging the rest of the tank as well to break up some territories to see if that helps. I swear the fulu colors up more each day. He's showing a more dull red on his face and top of his body now. Anyway, the first pic is the new Ruby red, the 2nd is the best pic I could get of my geo. jurupari, and the 3rd is my venestus.

 

New pic I took tonight of the fulu. He's becoming an absolutely beautiful fish! I swear he gets a little more color every day.

 

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