View Full Version : Questions about my Texas....
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 2:36 AM
I have been looking at Tex pics on the net and the color pattern doesn't seem to really match those of what I have seen. He has the same body shape, but his colors are not nearly as defined as some others I have seen. He is about 5" now and has a faded black spot about mid body, near the dorsal fin. Has lots of shiny dots all over and such. Face is kind of free from the "freckles". Anywho, my real question is, besides feeding him the same ol' HBH Spirulina pellets, what else could I feed to bring out his colors better. I have a large can of TetraMin Pro flakes that I tried just a little bit ago and he seemed to like it a lot. Anything else I could do??? Thanks. I am gonna try to have some better pics up soon.
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 3:35 AM
:D
Edit: How do I get the image bigger? It kept telling me no bigger than 550x500. I have seen others bigger than this.
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 3:44 AM
http://groups.msn.com/MyFreshwaterFish/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=5
What are your water parameters? Isd it in with any other fish?
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 6:33 AM
I checked then about a day ago and everything was in normal parameters. He/she is housed with a common pleco.
Edit: I do need to do a water change for sure. HE/she has gone about 2 weeks w/o one. I can't do one during the week days because of 3rd shift and it is a big hassel getting water to go upstairs (from basement). I can't use any of the sinks or anything to drain the water, so I have to pull from outside faucet. Refilling tank, I can use an inside faucet. If I knew of a way to drain the tank and be able to catch all the junk that comes out into the sink, then I could use a sink. But for now, outside to drain, inside to fill. Any ideas would be great. I have thought about useing 5 gal water jugs to carry the water with. Thanks.
Frequent water changes will bring out the best color in fish. As will temperature and proper pH. Do you know the pH of the water? Should be neutral 7.0. The temperature ahouls be around 75 degrees. Sometimes other tank mates (Cichlids) will bring out the coloration as well. With the tank you have, you are maxed out already. Beyond that Dried krill will provide the proper enzymes necessary to bring out the coloration. Texas Cichlids are really not the most colorful of the CA Cichlids. At besy you can expect a slight deepening of the background blue/green. It it should go into breeding colors you will see a dramatic shift toward a monochromatic Black and White. Good luck. You should really figure a way to give a tank that sizea water change once a week...at a MINIMUM. ry doing it twice a week for a month and watch the difference.
DarthV
10-20-2003, 10:34 AM
How much lighting and what color substrate do you have in your tank? My smaller carpinte did not like the brighter sand I had in the tank....they looked very washed out. I've since changed over to a darker mix of gravel and all 4 of the little swimmers have deepened in coloration dramatically. I also do 25% waterchanges 2-3 times a week as well. I'll have to try out some krill and see if that will bring out even more color. I already have a pretty varied diet going... kensfish.com pellets, hikari cichlid gold, spirulina sticks, zuchinni, bloodworms and fresh shrimp.
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 3:58 PM
Thanks for the advice. The pH in my neck of the woods hangs between 7.5 and 8.0+. The sand buffers the water very well and keeps the pH about 7.4 or below. Well, if I can get the jugs to drain my water into, that would be great. I could then keep the python in the basement with me and be able to drain and fill whenver psossible. I know I need to do more, but stupid 3rd shift really bites. I have even thought about taking him back and getting some smaller cichlids. But my LFS aren't very big on dwarf cichlids and they won't order any either. Not w/o paying $50+ per fish.
As far as the food is concerned, I'll try to get some more variety for the little guy. Right now, he/she is eating the HBH Spirulina pellets, TetraMIn Pro flakes, and frozen blood worms. I don't feed the blood worms very often because of the mess. I have also taken into consideration using one of those electronic gravel vacs or the hand pump type to prolong the water changes. I have already been using one of those cooking things (don't know what they are called :rolleyes: ) They have the rubber ball on one end and a long plastic tube for sucking up juices or what not. This works ok, but I have nowhere to drain the water except into a small bottle.
I am gonna get a 5 gal jug from either work or the grocery store and use that. Well, gotta change the water. Thanks!
jdheff1982
10-20-2003, 6:58 PM
I just finished my water tests and here they are:
pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 10ppm
KH: 2 degrees dKH
GH: 9 degrees dGH
My pH seems to have dropped a lot since my last test. Maybe I did it wrong last time. But this is the closest to 7.0 I have ever seen. I just hope it stays.
DarthV
10-20-2003, 7:45 PM
You water seems fine... Texas are pretty rugged fish and should handle different water conditions without too much stress.
feed them feeder every now and then but treat them first or give him some beef heart.
if you keep your water clean and do changes at least once a week
he will have better coloring:D
Using feeder fish under any circuncircumstance...even occasionally is one of the dumbest things you could ever do. Why would you want to take a chance on potentially infecting your fish?
Dragon_Lord_Tia
10-21-2003, 2:18 AM
arrrrr that annoys me so much what are the chances of your fish being infected by paracites if they have been properly quarrentined or bred your self close to 0 ive been feeding my jags,oscars,livingstoniis,polysitgmas feeder fish for years and never had a death because of them its happened a few times as far as ive read on here but its never happend to me the the 20 years that ive been fish keeping
Quarantined properly...meaning medicated to remove parasites and seperated for several weeks...shouldn't pose a problem. But most read "feeder fish" and hear OK to grab them out of the local LFS fish bucket and drop them into the tank. If you can honestly say you have never done it then fine. The minute you take a chance...well, you are taking a chance. The way these feeder fish are housed and shipped are, in a word...disgusting. Like Calcutta for fish.
So Tia, I have a couple questions: How long do you keep them in Q-Tank? What meds do you treat them with? And since we ar ultimately talking about feeding the fish...what are the nutritional benefits that can't be received from other safe food sources?
Dragon_Lord_Tia
10-21-2003, 5:35 AM
im not here to start and argument
but if my breeders(mollys,platys,guppys,convicts) have been slow in their breeding and i need a sourse of feeders i get goldfish etc althought rare i do buy them i then quarrentine them for 2 weeks at least i also keep an other tank if i want to get extras so i have a constant supply of feeder goldfish if i need them and if i dont they stay in the Q tank for an extra week or so i know that people who dont quarrentine them but they usually feed feeders for their freinds to watch not thinking of the health of their fish
mojo i know you keep awsome large americans so i assume you feed your jags etc feeders ??? correct me if im wrong
but ive also noticed that most people buy oscars just to watch them eat goldfish i know cause when i was little i did it my self.
and i bet that most people on this site along dont quarrentine their feeders
i also have a less riskly solution to feeders but more expensive
buy non feeders to use as feeders such as neons,white clouds,mollys, danios, even convicts etc
No argument...just the "feeder fish" discussion. If you are quaranting them without medicating them...you are still risking a potential problem. At a minimum you should treat them with a med that clears them of parasites. The people you know that just toss them in the tanks are, simply put...uneducated morons. Feeding them for the sake of watching the bigh fish eat the little fish is just a juvenile thrill that I "understand"...but really think is dumb.
Many years ago I used to quarantine feeders for the larger fish. It just got to be a pain. They didn't need it...I didn't need the extra headache. End of story. I haven't fed them in years. The problem with people Q-Tanking them is that they still treat them like feeders...overstocking thier Q-Tank...not providing proper filtration, water changes, etc...and no meds. They don't spontaneously heal themselves and especially NOT in that container.
You are much better off saving your money, buying good frozen food and using that. Personally I don't care if people feed their fish eraser tips and cigarette butts. They aren't my fish and I'm not PITA. I'm offering my opinion based on many years experience...and if you asked some of the other more knolwedgable aquarists they would say the same.
20 years, huh. For some reason I thought you told me something different a while back. Good luck with your fish.
DarthV
10-21-2003, 7:54 AM
Guess you could breed your own feeders...then again it will take a while before a batch would be large enough to constitue a meal :)
Just get some meal worms, superworms or earthworms if you want some "live" foods. My fish flip out for worms...and fresh shrimp.
dave76
10-21-2003, 8:31 AM
the first time I saw my texas color come out is when she was hunting live food. I put in about 80 convict fry and as soon as I did my texas got dark grey stripes like a convict, while still keeping the blue freckles on its face. the pattern matched a con to a T.
jdheff1982
10-21-2003, 8:43 AM
Couldn't find any beef heart at my grocer, so I bought some diced beef instead. Is this ok???? Also, is their anything I need to do to the meat before adding to tank?? Thanks!!
dave76
10-21-2003, 8:50 AM
most times you will find frozen beef heart at pet stores not the grocery. I would not use ground beef for the same reason you would not eat it raw, echoli....sp?
DarthV
10-21-2003, 9:36 AM
I wouldn't use red meat... go with some fresh shrimp instead... dice it up into small pieces and freeze it in a freezer bag... then you can just break off little pieces and thaw them as needed.
There are many kinds of live food for fish...no need to use feeders. Earthworm, meal worm, and etc will be find.
And I have seen some people feed their cichlids crawfish as treat.
I fed mine just fozen fish food, pellets, flakes, cichlid sticks, and home made fish food from Juan Miguel Artigas Azas' recipe. And they are still the happy campers.
IMO, cichlids will have their best color if they are fed healthy food.