Male Hericthys Carpintis Escondido
10/07/2012: This is a great looking male that I am currently borrowing from a local hobbyist/friend. He has great form, pearls and colors. Strong potential show quality male here. The male is from Jeff Rapps.
11/27/2012: My friend decided to allow me to keep this male. Thanks Gregg!
11/27/2012: My friend decided to allow me to keep this male. Thanks Gregg!
Female Hericthys Carpintis Escondido
10/07/2012: This female is from the pair in the first photo above of this page. This female has nice big pearls, great coloration and has the genetics for a strong tall-bodied profile fish. This female has been breeding with a male Green Texas from Thailand for a while. None of the fry were ever kept. She has a slight crooked face and her anal area sticks out a bit. Not sure why.
11/26/2012: R.I.P. Male beat her to death.
11/26/2012: R.I.P. Male beat her to death.
Hericthys Carpintis Escondido Pair
10/07/2012: This pair was conditioned for three weeks in separate tanks with some grow out cichlids. These tanks of mine are given more food daily and more water changes weekly. They were finally placed together in a divided 75 gallon for 1 week. My first attempt prior, the male directly went and started to attack the female. I plan to attempt the cold 50% water change approaches to entice this pair to breed. I used 5 runt/slow growing hericthys bocourti as dithers.
Hericthys Carpintis Escondido Pair with Eggs
10/08/2012: That was quick! After taking the photos on 10/7/2012, I decided to add some cold water. There was a 3inch gap from the water level to the top of the tank. I filled up the tank with cold water and turned up the temp on the heater to reach 80 degrees. Next day, the pair laid eggs. The tank temp was about 75 degrees before I filled it up and turned up the heater.
Hericthys Carpintis Escondido Pair with Wrigglers
10/10/2012: The eggs hatched and the pair is placing the wrigglers in the pot near them. Notice, the male did not change colors to breeding mode until the eggs hatched. I noticed this with this male and previous males as well. Females tend to change color first. I thought about pulling the eggs when they were on the flat rock, but I was not sure if the male fertilized the eggs considering this is his first breeding.
10/11/2012: This morning before going into work, the fry are all still in the pot. Parents are doing a wonderful job of guarding them. Parents even placed a few pebbles in the pot. Male Escondido is constantly chasing the dithers in the tank. His colors are almost complete with the breeding coloration.
10/11/2012: This morning before going into work, the fry are all still in the pot. Parents are doing a wonderful job of guarding them. Parents even placed a few pebbles in the pot. Male Escondido is constantly chasing the dithers in the tank. His colors are almost complete with the breeding coloration.
Hericthys Carpintis Escondido Pair with Free Swimming Fry
10/14/2012: Free swimming fry today! Half the batch is out of the pot and swimming around. The other half is still in the pot.
10/16/2012: The hericthys bocourti dithers work quite well, but they are trying to eat the fry. Parents are not stressed, but doing what they do naturally when in defense mode. All fry are actively swimming around. I am feeding them crushed flakes and Ocean Nutrion's Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. I will separate the fry from the pair once the fry are accepting flake food more vigorously.
10/16/2012: The hericthys bocourti dithers work quite well, but they are trying to eat the fry. Parents are not stressed, but doing what they do naturally when in defense mode. All fry are actively swimming around. I am feeding them crushed flakes and Ocean Nutrion's Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. I will separate the fry from the pair once the fry are accepting flake food more vigorously.
10/20/2012: Pair with free swimming fry. I decided to keep the fry wtih the pair.
Male Escondido
10/30/2012: This male is just absolutely amazing! No photoshop or edits. Beautiful pearls and colors.
12/24/2012: Male is gaining some color and mass now since he killed his mate. He has just been eating and watching his fry in the 75 gallon. I decided to leave the male to tend the fry because I noticed that the fry would grow faster. Goal is to just grow him out for another year or two and then breed him with one of his daughters.
03/14/2013: The male escondido is now placed in a 125 gallon community tank. His colors are still amazing. He lost some weight, but growing more in length.
The picture below was taken without flash. This picture was taken with flash.