Oh, and I saw you asked what we keep our pH at. I keep all mbunas and the pH is 7.9 (I hide petrified coral peices behind my rockwork to raise the pH to this level).
Thanks Miami. I like the thumbnail too. I'm ridiculously attached to my gars. I want to get some good pics of them waiting for and snaping at food at the opening of the tank, but for some reason it's hard to get a good pic at this distance and with the light behind them. I wish I had a video camera I could make some YOUTUBE entrees with.
There are some cool smaller species of gar I've seen in aquariums like the Hujeta (Hydro) gar, the Needle nosed gar, and the South American Spotted gar, but they're a bit skittish and can easily injure and break their snouts when they freak. The South American Spotted had markings like a Rainbow trout, but it was so spooked that I felt bad about keeping it.
The Hujetas I have now I've had for 4 years and they've tamed down quite a bit. They're about 8 inches long. The Needle nosed grows to at least a foot in aquariums so I suggest a 100 gallon tank for them.
As for the best gars IMO, the Florida Spotted gar, they get huge, like a minimum of 18-24 inches in aquariums and they'll need a 300-500 gallon tank as adults. These are the tamest fish I've ever had and they have the most authentic gar look of all the gars IMO. It's just that they get much bigger than most people are prepared to handle. Check them out on YOUTUBE. I don't like the tanks most people keep them in, but you can see people feeding them. I want a square or cilyndrical 500 gallon pillar/island tank with a huge stump in the middle and anubias bartari growing like trees at the top. I'd have java moss and fern growing on the lower slopes of the stump, and areas of dwarf hair grass and microsword along with bare areas of Eco-Complete gravel, and I'll also have my pleco or two to keep the moss trimmed.
The biggest is a foot long. I just went back to school and graduated as a registered respiratory therapist and I'm going through a hassle trying to get hired at a local hospital. I'll be able to put the money into this next 3 foot wide tank within a few months or so.
As I'm still going to be in my apartment for probably a year I'm planning to make the biggest possible tank that will still fit through a door. I think 3 feet wide will work. That will probably have the front and sides being glass and the rest thick plywood sealed with a special non-toxic epoxy.
Eventually I hope to make a square tank with each side being about 8 feet wide, but it's just a fantasy now. I'm thinking of what would be the nicest environment for these fish I hope to have for at least 10 years. I don't know how long they live, but I imagine at least ten years, and I want it nice and wide so they have no restriction as they swim around.
The 300 plus gallon tank will be a project for the fall.
It's so fun feeding these guys, though I should limit the food to a reasonable amount so I have time to build these tanks. I'm 42 now, and I hope to own a home at some point in my life so my son can have a good place to grow up. It's either going to be some place near the coast in northern CA, Oregon, or Washington, or I may move back to Ithaca NY to be close to my parents as they get into their retirement years.
It's when I have my own home that I plan to build the huge square tank. That and a room sized N-scale railroad too.
pk lots of hospitals in ny and buffalo has a resp therapy wing, so does highland hosp in rochester. you may want to look into those as it's hard to find qualified workers in this area. most move out west.... lol
tank sounds awesome, eventually i want to have a walk under tank setup, one whole all with a doorway arched to go from one room to the next, will have a second story stepdown so i can actually clean the tank, although if i set something that big up i will probably hire someone to come do it for me, am thinking discus lightly planted with rock shoals for the tetra. figured it to be somewhere around 1000 gallons or so. have it designed on paper just have to have a house so i can incorporate the design.
Brandon
oh and back to the food part, miami you are absolutely correct about the vegi diet, i totally forgot to look at the types of fish he/she is keeping. if the larger varieties, or even south americans for the most part are omnivore, the smaller varieties love love love romaine. don't buy iceberg lettuce as it's not even nutritious for humans. all water.. romaine lettuces and other leafy greens are great for smaller cichlids, also great for bigger cichlids as most will dine well and get the nutrients they wont from all pure protein based foods.
sorry about not noticing the breeds of fish.
Brandon
well wen i bought thoes tow they just said ther africans asoorted but i know the yellow one is a yellow lab elertric yellow lab the ornage or red one im not to sure
the orange one is probably a red zebra, these two in that case are more vegitarian. you will want to feed them flake food with a higher concentrate of spirulina, more so than crude protein. also veggies, cucumber, lettuces, and other leafy greens.
Yep, just like Brandon said. The orange guy is probably a red zebra if you got him out of an assorted tank. If you post pic we could tell you for sure. Also as a side note, you may want to be a little careful about buying things out of the assorted tank. These fish are often hybrids and you have no idea what they have been mixed with. It can really change their behavior and make it hard to predict (which is very important with cichlids). I would recommend in the future finding a store that separates the actual species and lists them by name. I know it doesn;t help you now and you are probably fine, but it is something to think about in the future.
well its still good to know couse with africans cichilids it self im new with ive been doing it for 2 1/2 yers but still lerning all ther names , ill post a pic . I have an other question u guys know i have a 10 gallon and a baby oscare in ther and i know hes gonna out grow it hes only in ther bc otherwise hes gonna die in my other tank so wen he out groes it ill take him ou, anywho my question is what sould i put in the tank? or what sould i us it for im not gonna get more fish for the 125 if so big ones , i was thingking of puting real plants in with bog wood and neones or just a betta fish or small comunitifish what u guys think ,.:)
i think if you want an outstanding tank, set up a nano planted aquarium with a piece of odd looking bog wood, i think it would be awesome. with the tank being short you can get some of the tougher to grow lower growing plants for ground cover and then have some moss and anubias on the bog wood, then put about ten neons in there with a snail and maybe a corydora or two, that would put you at max but it would be an awesome site to see. all green and lush with the neons contrasting the green in the tank...
just a thought.
Brandon
