What to do now?

[MacZ]

Called my go-to store. They have 2 tanks with juvenile D. filamentosus and one single adult D. maculatus male. I'm really tempted to take the D. maculatus, because the specimen is there for at least 4 months now. But D. maculatus neither fit into the Rio Negro setting I'm aiming at, nor is it a real blackwater species, but rather a clearwater fish. The readings in my tank are already below clearwater levels.

 

[MacZ]

Here are the new additions. 2-3cm each.

 

[MacZ]

Quick update.
The cichlids grow and grow. The first is scratching 4.5 cm. Everything else is doing allright. No surprises. Just a very relaxing tank.

Overview

Plääänts.

More plants.

These fish can look so different, just depending on the light.

Immersive.

 

[rasmusW]

It’s looking great Sir.

-r

 

[MacZ]

Thank you very much!

 

[MacZ]

Update on the Dicrossus: I have 3 confirmed males and 1 confirmed female. One runt is still half a centimeter behind the others. This is going to be... "interesting". I'm preparing for eventual rehoming. Already got the LFS as a lifeline, they take any surplus males. But I also got positive first hand reports on this probably still working. I guess I have 1-2 months until I know for sure.

Few days ago I was idle and took another video. That was before I was able to sex them.

 

[MacZ]

Some impressions. I'm weaning the cichlids off the heavy feeding (3x/day), going down to one feeding a day and a fast day a week. Still mainly feeding freshly hatched artemia nauplii. I'm a bit light on the money recently, but I have enough of the eggs to have live nauplii for months.

Also I'm keeping these goblins for the time being. Last week I was debating with myself to give them away except one, but actually... it works quite well right now. Displaying and chasing are all I see at the moment, no real fights.





P.S.: The water is actually much darker, but the camera always takes out a lot of the tint.

 

[Mazan]

Definitely keep them, unless you run into any problems, I am sure they are more interesting as a group.

P.S.: The water is actually much darker, but the camera always takes out a lot of the tint.

Yes, why does this happen? I am finding the same...

 

[MacZ]

Yes, why does this happen? I am finding the same...

I know in my case it's the fact I have a phone from 2016 with a rubbish auto-adjusting camera. Plus I forgot to set a preset today.

 

[Ben Rhau]

I know in my case it's the fact I have a phone from 2016 with a rubbish auto-adjusting camera. Plus I forgot to set a preset today.

You (or the phone's camera app) are metering to get proper exposure on the fish. Even with a phone from 2016, you can likely find an app that will allow you to manually set the exposure. However, if you meter on the brights to make the water darker, it will be very hard to see your fish in these photos.

 

[MacZ]

You (or the phone's camera app) are metering to get proper exposure on the fish. Even with a phone from 2016, you can likely find an app that will allow you to manually set the exposure. However, if you meter on the brights to make the water darker, it will be very hard to see your fish in these photos.

I have very much maxed out the abilities of the preinstalled app. Maybe time to find an alternative. In any case, I'm quite happy with the tank.

Another observation, the pencils are mostly using the back part of the tank among the roots, away from the current zone on the left of the tank. I have been lucky kinda replicating the current zones quite well.
Salvinia is not doing well by now, I'm astonished how well the frogbit does, it wouldn't survive in the old tank. Nymphea does well as expected. And the Pothos had to be cut down already.

 

[Mazan]

Hmm I think my phone is from 2014 (iphone 6)!

 

[Ben Rhau]

I don't know about android, but if you're on iPhone, I recommend the ProCamera app. It allows you to set and lock exposure and focus independently. I have used it on iPhone 6 also!

 

[Mazan]

2

I don't know about android, but if you're on iPhone, I recommend the ProCamera app. It allows you to set and lock exposure and focus independently. I have used it on iPhone 6 also!

Interesting, thanks I’ll look into that…

 

[MacZ]

I don't know about android, but if you're on iPhone, I recommend the ProCamera app. It allows you to set and lock exposure and focus independently. I have used it on iPhone 6 also!

I never owned any apple products and don't intend to.

 

[MacZ]

Some 3 minutes, filmed with an alternative camera app. Hence the zooming in and out at some point. Been trying to get used to it.

 

[MacZ]

I just managed to grab some footage before lights go out.

 

[MacZ]

 

[MacZ]

They display a lot lately, but still no ruffled fins or anything.

 

[Mazan]

Beautiful! They have plenty of hiding places and spots where they can't see each other so they should be OK for a while longer...