AAA Meeting One and Follow-Up

[ancientaquarist]

Dear Cichlidians-
We had our first meeting of the Aquarists' Association of Arizona and I spoke on "The World of Dwarf Cichlids:An Introduction." We had a nice turnout and I met most of the owners of the various LFS. One runs a business centered on pond and aquarium maintenance-largely marine. I hired him to help me test my new R/O which is wonderful. I bought 9 Corydoras pygmaeus from him and he brought me a list of dwarf cichlids
available to me right now at wholesale + 10%. I don't know all these fishes and would love your collective help in knowing what to buy. Here is
the availability list:
A. agassizi (dbl red)
A. agassizi (wild caught)
A. njessini (wild)
Biotecus opercularis
Crenicara filamentosa
C. maculata
Mikrogeophagus atlispinosus (wild)
Taenicara candidi (wild)

Are there "must haves on this list?" Can a newbie like me handle these
wild collected dwarfs?..I finally have the big community tank soft, acidic
5.8, and refreshed with 50 gallons of R/O.

I am getting large shipments of dwarfs from apistodave and Neil this week. All are aquarium bred spp. including Crenicara punctulata.

This is going to be a crowded tank but has four filters-Eheim Pro 2,
a Fluval inside canister filter, an outside filter and a powerhead water polisher. There is also a gentle air stone.

I've been feeding dry food in the AM-Omega, Nutrafin, freeze dried blood
worms, Tetramin, cichlid sticks, sinking wafers, usw. In the evening they get alternated frozen live foods-brine shrimp; mysis shrimp; white & black mosquito larvae; daphnea; and krill. Then every other night they get a generous feeding of black worms. Will my new dwarfs thrive on this diet? Should I add or subtract anything? The onlly foods they are not interested in are freeze dried tubifex and Wattley's frozen Discus Diet.

I am enjoying all of them immensely with certain special favorites: Botia
sidthimunki; Panda Corys; Bleher's Rummy Noses; Odessa Barbs and now the school of Cory pygmaeus. The best schoolers are the Rummy noses and pygmy cats. The least successful schoolers are Blue Tetras.

Algae is under control with 5 Pandas; 1 Loricaria sp "Whiptail".; 1 albino Ancistrus; 3 Flying Foxes and an Indian Algae eater. Also my barbs-Odessas and checkered eat algae and fine leaved plants like Myriophyllum and surprisingly, Hornwort. No molluscs and a mixture of artificial light and am sunshine. Temp is 78F. No more recent deaths-I think the terrible hardness was my problem.

Regards to all and a happy holiday!

 

[Apistt_ed]

...

Hello,
It seems you may have hit the mother load in savings on some really really interesting fish. Many of my wish list is on your list of "could-gets".
Mainly I wouldn't mind working with Biotecus Opercularis and both of the dicrossus' or crenicara (maculata&filamentosis), but it's mainly because those fish aren't anywhere near my area and not that many people are "into" dwarfs as I am and I haven't seen these fish around in years. T.Candidi are beautiful little fishes that are great starter dwarfs because they aren't really too demanding, when it comes to water and it's parameters and are definitely one of my favorites! Some are a little more aggressive than others too, such as the nijsenni and the maybe the aggies also.
ok now... well, to answer your question, with the R/O unit you have and the excellent water you have, you shouldn't have any problems with keeping any of these fish at all. There are some, so called more "difficult to keep" fish but that can easily be taken care with a little research and first hand experience. The only thing that I can really say about keeping them is that some of them are more demanding when it comes to accommodating them because some are specialized to different biotopes such as biotecus who should be kept in a fine sand substrate tank. Wild fish aren't really as bad as one would think as long as the proper precautions are taken such as a much longer quarantine period away from the community tanks as they are more likely to introduce "foreign" parasites and diseases that can destroy a tank! I still say take em all on, all great fish!! Wow, I'm jealous now! good luck & have fun.

john

 

[Mike Wise]

If you are ready to spend that kind of money on dwarf cichlids, then you should spend some money on a good book on the subject, like Römer's Cichlid Atlas. After reading it you will realize that water quality isn't the major factor in keeping these territorial fish.

 

[Richgrenfell]

sure wish I could get some biotoechus opercularis!!

Rich