African Cichlid Fishes - Mixed Juvies & Sub-Adult Fishes In Grow-Out Tank #1
Like 1 Dislike 0 Published on 3 Jan 2016
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SIZE RANGE: 2 Inches To 3.25 Inches In Length, As Of Date Of This Video.
Many Other Details / “Specs" Below = Please Click on "SHOW MORE" ! :-)
FOOD, WATER & CHEMICALS: I feed exclusively North Fin pellets (an equal mix of Premium Cichlid Formula & Premium Veggie Formula) for all fish past the Fry stage; and a combo of ground up North Fin pellets (same equal mix of veggie & cichlid) + ground up New Life Spectrum Optimum All Purpose Flakes, mixed together in equal ratios, as food for the Fry. Water Changes in fry / grow-out tanks are schedule for 30% min, up to 50% of volume, 2 times per week. I never use medications / drugs in my tanks. I always use Melafix, Pimafix, Aquarium Salt (all by API), and Prime (by Seachem), as my only water additives, at each water change. These fish are tank raised on Barrie city water, at all stages (and NO buffers added, ONLY the 4 products previously listed).
MORTALITY / DURABILITY / BREEDING: This mixed group of fish are offspring from up to 15 different breeding pairs of adult F2, F3, & F4, parent fishes (mixed meaning, depending on how I mixed the offspring into the variety of grow-out tanks after the different momma fishes decide to no longer "hold” them). I mix them in a "variety pak” like this specifically to: 1). Be accepting of other varieties / species, by forced socialization, (which I find that when done young, makes for easy & success adult “community tanks” of mixed African Cichlids); and 2.) Due to the simple fact that I’m already running 9 tanks and don’t have the inclination or need, to keep separate tanks by individual species). I do not strip my fish - instead I do it the long way, and keep watch on the breeding pairs, removing the holding mothers from the main tank after they have been holding for approximately 2.5 weeks (they get their own private tank, where they decide when they release their fry, and I leave them with the fry until the mother also decides to no longer hold them in her mouth at all (usually an additional 1 to 3 weeks after initial release of fry, depending on which of my mother fishes it is)). I keep the breeding pairs of parent fish in my 6ft long, 125 gallon main tank (soon to be a 220 gallon). In my last batch of approx. 300 offspring, plus this current batch of fishes in this video, I have only lost 2, of this size of fish - eaten by tank mates overnight, on the weekly fasting day. Average growth rate in my tanks, to get this size of fish is approximately 4 to 6 months.
INSPECTION / DISEASE SEPARATION / & TRACKING HEALTH + SIZES: I use a 12 inch net, and net in small groups of 5 to 10, and re-count + inspect all of my fishes at each stage of growth (I track size by 5 different measured stages of growth) when transferring to each new grow-out tank. I make tracking notes on each batch, to keep my stats + sort them by size into appropriate tanks. So by the time they get to be at category (b) which I label as 0.75 inches to 1.5 inches = they have been netted, inspected, checked for disease and any deformities and general health = at least 3 separate times, and usually 4 to 5 times - as is my progression through the different sizes of fry-holding to grow-out tanks.
I have just over 130 adults of various species, ranging in size from 5 inches to 11 inches - from which I currently have at least 15 breeding pairs.
FOR SALE: These fish, or other batches / groups similar to them (species variety / mix subject to change of course, depending on the who’s been spawning most recently) are available for trade / swap / sale. Please enquire, and include specific details, if these are of interest to you. I ship throughout Canada & the United States, and can also arrange a meeting for local delivery or pickup / drop-off, with you too.
Link To Video Of Main Tank: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUVBsHEe4sE
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