Fishies

[Scott Jackson]

This page/blog is briefly stalled by...life! Daddy-duties, the dreaded j.o.b. (such as it is) and a complete lack of photography skills. Also been refining the brine shrimp hatchery system and improving the inventory of foods fed daily. There is never a perfect place to start, but beginning with one of my favorites (and most prolific species at present), Cichlasoma (new taxonomy expected soon) Synspillum. These are the "regular" Red Head Quetzal that Don Conkel produced for years. Have 2 6-9" pairs spawning on cycle and producing an average of 3-400 free-swimming fry each time. One pair in a 4x2x2 120G, the other luxuriating in a 180G with a quad of Oreochromis Tanganikae. A third pair is not yet producing, but are in a bad neighborhood, a community 150G, currently terrorized by a producing pair of Amphilophus Amarillo. Currently have 5 overpopulated tanks of the Synspillum young-uns and will need to locate a HIGH VOLUME market soon. Also have a colony of the blue spotted variant from Belize in a roomy 8' 220 and there is a pair forming now, guarding a large pot and coloring up. Hoping for a first clutch of eggs in the next few weeks from them. The third variation is a juvenile group from Conkel, the "Rio Sarstoon" origin, only 2-3" in length. These are clearly older than their size indicates, they are coloring up, sparring and beginning to defend territories. There is a pic on this glorious site of these that shows a gorgeous amount of gold in the body, I hope mine are like this.
Second most prolific is a tie between a stunning pair of Creamsickle Red Devils that provide a spawn every month, currently 3 spawns overfilling their respective tanks and an pair of Pt. Grandidieri that spawn on an odd schedule: They "re-spawn", or said another way, they are capable of spawning more than monthly. In example, on 7-28-10 I siphoned off their wriggler fry to private quarters and the parents re-spawned that evening and another batch of fry were siphoned off on 8-2-10! Some fish spawn bi-weekly, but this is not something I've experienced with larger fish, the parent pair are 6". There are other Grandis present and I suspected the male was trading out females (there are 2 nearly identical females in the tank) but closer observation shows the spawning female is consistent, the third wheel remains without a beau. These are a fantastically prolific species, if my pair is any indication, these are second only to the Pollenii amongst Madagascar cichlids, but the Grandis don't show the same spouse-killing, tank clearing tendencies.
Other good producers on site are Amphilophus Amarillos, Amphilophus Saggitaes and Cichlasoma Managuensis. The Amphilophus produce fry that are quite content to await the planned diet of BBS, frozen brine shrimp, powdered krill and flakes, but the Jaguars dine early and often on their hapless siblings. Their next spawn will be raised in algae-laden green water to limit visibility, hopefully limiting the amazing predation experienced on the current batch.
There are several other pairs producing, Brichardi's, Fullebornii's, Salvini's, Turquoise and Christatus jewels, various Victorians, Tilapias, Nicaraguensis and many more, but none that have the high-volume marketing potential of the aforementioned ones.
A quick statement of Breeder Award Program involvement. I was recently ummm...encouraged (the nice word) to participate in a local club's BAP and questioned as to why none of these are being submitted. There are two main reasons I'll cite, the first is more positive than the second. My Grand Master Breeder plaque is dated 1992 and was attained in just 4 years of participation. The other reason is that this unnamed society is rife with an affliction that has been the demise of many organizations (fish clubs in my limited experience): CLIQUE-ITUS. Said as nicely as possible, some members-the ones in clique-can do no wrong, everything they do is exhaulted to the highly level. The other members-non clique-are subject to the closest scrutinization of every detail of the rules, challenged intensely and these until-now eager members are often (purely by chance, right?) overlooked, delayed and ignored. I have seen this ailment many times and in many places. Having been everything from a "lurker" to a founder of aquarium societies and having volunteered thousands of hours, I can attest to the mortality of this disease of CLIQUE-ITUS. Our national cichlid organization is not immunized from this either. When a precious few do nearly all the work, it is a normal situation for volunteer endeavors. When these these over-worked members disregard oft-repeated offers of fresh volunteers, the affliction swells. Martyrdom rears it's ugly head and egos begin to reign. Exclusivity sprouts and it's lethal flowers blossom. To each his own, but I abhor this affliction and am fighting it with unrelenting offers to assist and become involved in our international club. The local club, well, I'll just close by saying my previous attempts have been met with such multi-decade derision that I'll lurk and contribute only my dues. This is not a self-pity exercise, just a knowledge that efforts are best spent where appreciated.

[Scott Jackson]

Ahh, now this is a contentious topic amongst us aqua-holics!
I know, I know, "All I feed is blah blah brand" and "Blank brand massive-monster-Moby Dick Chow is the best, Dude". I've been [i]all over[i] this spectrum from 7 lb tubes of Tetra Doro-Min sticks to earthworm flake to minced market shrimp to blanched veggies to boxes of grass shrimp. I manufactured frozen foods years ago and sold it in my retail store and had great results compared to commercial varieties. Did extensive research and experimentation into vitamins, both common and extremely uncommon and even used a large centrifuge to reduce moisture content prior to adding the gelatin binder etc etc etc. I used to buy 25 lbs boxes of flake and break it into 1/2 and 1 LB bags for sale as well, so I am well versed in what works to merely sustain aquatic life to what makes the fish love-crazy, brillantly colored or even hyper-aggressive.
Today, I feed 55% crumbles, 5 varieties of flake, commercial trout chow, spirulina discs, shrimp pellets, live blackworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen and freeze-dried whole krill, krill powder, mysis shrimp and huge sinking pellets.
For baby brine shrimp, I built a hatch factory that totals 12 gallons. This volume of baby brine shrimp allows feeding a 4 gallon per day, 72 hour-old population (that is fed yeast to boost nutrition) and while it seems like a gross overproduction amount, the fry eat this much EVERY DAY. It's also shared with Apistos, Angels and rainbow species 2 or 3X weekly, so nothing goes to waste.
Maybe this winter I'll make a few batches of home-brew frozen foods with newer generation knowledge, research and suppliers, but that is on the back burner for now.

[Scott Jackson]

Alpha and Beta male Frontosas in community tank

Konia Eisentrautii breeding group unhappily in a 80 tall (headed into a 56 cube for privacy)

[Scott Jackson]

This list was posted on another forum, and of course there is some alteration over time, some bought, sold, traded (and yes, killed) and some new arrivals. This list is a few months old and will be updated around year end but for now, it will suffice.
All cichlid quantities are appropriate for their breeding type (pair, trio, group etc) or a grow out group. Many are WC or F1.
NEW WORLD
Fenestratum: Red/Blue
-All Pink
-OB: Pink & white
-pink & white & black
Synspillum: "regular" Quetzal Red heads
-Blue spotted from Belize
-Rio Sastoon
Red Tiger Motaguense
Guttulatum
Citrinellum: Normal yellow color
-Creamsicle-absolutely awesome, have MANY fry up and coming from this great pair
Bifasciatum: Normal color
-All Red, one lone female that sure needs a fellow, PLEASE LMK if you have one!
Octofasciatum Jack Dempsey Gold strain
Carpentis
Severums green
Red Isletta
Uropthalmos
Parachromis La Cieba
Salvini
Dovii
Maculicauda
Fredrichstahli
Apistogramma Caucatoides: Triple Red
Guanacara Sp
Albino Oscar
Australoheros sp Red Ciebal
Neetroplus
Melanurum
Honduran Red Point Convicts
Bocourti
Managuensis
Cutteri
Septemfasciatus
A Rivulatus
Zonatum
Nandopsis Bartoni
C Myrnae
Nanoluteus
Islantum
Rhytisma
Tahuatinsuyoa Macantzatza
Nicaraguensis

OLD WORLD
Ruby Green Haps
Pelmatochromis Buttekofferi
P Pollenii large spot
Brichardi-Daffodil
-Albino
Fullebornii: Blue males, OB females
-Both genders OB
-Albino OB-quite rare
Hemichromis: sp Turquoise
-Guttulatus
-sp Moanda
C Frontosa Burundi
-Mpimbwe
-Bismark
Pseudotropheus OB Blueberry
P Oliganthicus, Northern Red Fin
P Grandidieri East Coast Golds
Konia Eisentrauti
Exachromis Anogenys
Cytocara Moori
Tilapia unidentified, maybe hybrid
P Maculatus
P Menarambo
P Keineri Calico Damba
L Trewavasse: Red males with OB females
-Blue males with OB females
-Both genders OB
Electric Blue Hap
Astatotilapia Aneocolor
Tilapia Buttekofferi
Tilapia Snyderae
Hap Obliquidens
Pundamilla Nyerii
Oreochromis Esculentis
Telmatochromis Dhonti
Placidochromis Phenochilus
Hap sp "Kenya Gold"
Hap Aneocolor

Catfish
Rhino Plecos
Abino LF and regular Ancistrus
Snyodontis: Acanthamias
Decorus
Angelicus
Eupterus (need some?)
Multipunctatus
Ocellifer
Petricola

Invertebrates:
Crayfish: Red
White
Blue
Marble
And various tasty North American species in ponds
and guppies, shhhhhhh!

I'm very directed towards the threatened, endangered, extinct species as specified by the ACA CARES program. We have an opportunity to preserve and reproduce these dwindling creatures for future generations-something that is just not legally permitted in most animal husbandry operations. Actions like Don Conkel's attempts to reintroduce species now extinct in the wild to their native habitats (efforts have failed due to latent DDT etc, I've heard) are noble actions we should all support IMHO. It's just too late for many, perhaps hundreds of Lake Victoria species.
I was very emotionally charged in trying to garner interest in several endangered Victorian species in the early 1990's as a hobbyist and a retailer. These meager efforts almost universally failed and now some of those same species are GONE FOR GOOD! Please don't let the remaining opportunities to assist rare cichlids from Madagascar, the Americas, Victoria and Africa's rivers and satellite lakes suffer the same fate! A "tree hugger" I am not. These rare fish need more than our hugs. They need our tank space, our expertise (such as it is) and our time. The future hobbyists that enjoy them may be your offspring, my offspring or those of complete strangers. But share the love of fish! Hone your skills on common stuff, then uncommon stuff then shift some of your resources to the CARES and IUCN listed fish-our kids will remember.

[Scott Jackson]

Before you deride my photography skills, know that I am aware of the complete lack thereof. Yes, my housekeeping skills are a close second, but every piece of debris you see is from a recent or ongoing project. Debris changes constantly but is never absent.
The pics were taken when there were very few fish in the tanks and now most are at capacity or beyond.
There are fry in sumps everywhere! They will stay there until they are identifiable and the "clean the sumps" party. RSVP now to hold your place.
Feedback is welcomed but be gentle, please.

[Scott Jackson]

For no apparent reason, thought it worthwhile to post a current list of ACA CARES species maintained. This list changes a bit, I'm prone to pass on species that are not producing for me in the knowledge that changing fish keepers, water sources, diet, maintenance schedule, light and tanks can cause fish to begin spawning. Sometimes change does everyone for the better, us included. Always looking for additional species not listed here, especially Minkleyii, Spinosissimus and Septemfaciatus.
It's odd to me that the CARES program receives anything less than wholehearted support amongst aquarists. I feel as though we have a chance to make a difference-right here, right now and FWIW, I'll strive to keep them going. If you are on here in any capacity, you must be tired of the "convict and firemouth" experiences. "The rarer, the better" for some of my tanks. And yes, the "same old, same old" (IE personal favorites) in some tanks too. To each his or her own.
Victorians are the "big deal" currently and have been for quite a while. I carried that torch long enough in the late 80's and 90's and have some of them but I worry that the Amazon River Basin and other CA/SA water closer to home will suffer the same extinctions in our lifetimes. The simple point that new species are being identified in the New World as we speak is evidence to me that we've dropped the ball on conservation efforts in the Americas. How many Nandopsis Wesselis and Theraps Sp Coatazalcos types have passed while we accumulated BAP points on Malawians and livebearers? My guess is more than a few and I don't know Apistos etc so let's go collecting and supporting those who do! Enough soapbox time on that issue, on with my list!
Ruby Green Haps
P Pollenii large spot
P Oliganthicus, Northern Red Fin
P Grandidieri East Coast Golds
Konia Eisentrauti
P Maculatus
P Menarambo
P Keineri Calico Damba
P Dambabe
Astatotilapia Aneocolor
Tilapia Snyderae
Hap sp "Kenya Gold"
Haplochromis Obliquidens
Stomatepia mariae
Benitochromis Nigrodorsalis “Moliwe"
Lithochromis Xanthopteryx
Paralabidochromis Sauvegi
Harpagochromis “Golden Duck”
Amphilophus Lyonsii
Parachromis Fredrichsthalli La Ciaba “yellow heads”
Archocentris Myrnae
Archocentris Nanoluteus

[tinker477]

Im agree wholeheartedly about housing threatened and endangered species I currently have 3 holding p nyererei mwanza bay and am in the process of trying to obtain more species off the
CARES list. In the interest of producing more of these fish I am more than willing to swap fry I have for other species (focusing on vics for now ) my kids are very involved in my fishkeeping and
think its a great experience to be able to be a part of the process to try and preserve these wonderful fish that otherwise would surely go extinct. If anyone is interested in swapping fry with me I should be overloaded with nyererei in a few weeks pm me and we can iron out the details