Amphilophus Group
- Thread starter Madness
- Start date
A new proud parent pair. (San Fransisco Libre barred Midas ) The behavior in the make male has been quite interesting. He has been shaking up with most females in this tank, the Hoga, orange midas, barred devil and chancho. With each one of those spawns he acted like that "dead beat dad". He didn't care much about protecting the batch or newly hatched fry. Not keeping the others away much at all. Then i stick in there a barred female midas, same location, and he hooks up with her as well. But he is a beast right now keeping the other fish away as well as me. Very interesting behavior. 
It has been a month since an update on the amphs. All has been well, a new addition has arrived as well as a unique occurrence. To start let's check out the new setup
There are 2 barred male midas as well as 2 females (1 of those is the unique story for later) a pair of barred Labiatus and a pair of multi color Labs (red devil's). 7 orange midas, looking to move 3, and 1 piebold male midas (thanks to @DMD123 ). And lastly a pair of chancho. Yes it is a bit crowded but most are still mid sized. The tank has 2 pumps pushing close to 2000 gph of water through a refugium sump.
Here are some shots of the group
The unique story will be a bit later, as well as the rest of the Amph family.
There are 2 barred male midas as well as 2 females (1 of those is the unique story for later) a pair of barred Labiatus and a pair of multi color Labs (red devil's). 7 orange midas, looking to move 3, and 1 piebold male midas (thanks to @DMD123 ). And lastly a pair of chancho. Yes it is a bit crowded but most are still mid sized. The tank has 2 pumps pushing close to 2000 gph of water through a refugium sump.
Here are some shots of the group
The unique story will be a bit later, as well as the rest of the Amph family.
So the unique story that I mentioned in the thread above back in June is this:
I have always been fascinated with the way the amphilophus species interact with you. Their personalities and everything about them just fascinates me which is why I keep quite a few of them. With that said I have done a lot of research Regarding why some of them are orange and others are barred. I have read multiple write-ups that state that the orange species can be found in lakes that are much deeper, why is this, it is because the orange species are easy to spot by prey so they stay deep. The exact same species can also be found in Shallow streams or Rivers but to keep them from being preyed upon they kind of camouflage themselves by being barred and more of a yellow brown black color. Over the years as these orange and barred species breed the dominant gene becomes orange or barred. When you purchase little ones from an orange pair they will start out barred but eventually peel and become orange because that gene is dominant, whereas the Bard ones stay barred. So, I currently have a barred pair of Red Devils as well as a group of barred Midas both from different locations both born from Wild Barred parents. Well The Barred Midas female was in a tank where she began to get picked on, she was one of the few barred fish in that tank. I happened to notice that she was starting to lose that barring and within a month or so she is now fully Orange. The same thing has happened to a pair of my Red Devils, they are f1 barred Devils and they are currently changing colors because in that tank there are mainly barred hoga and I believe they are doing so so that they don't look like the hoga and continue to get picked on. I'm going to try and research a little more on this but I'm assuming all of these fish have the genetic background of both barred and orange colors and it all depends basically on their surroundings in the wild as to what color they flaunt. With that said here they are:
this is my barred Devils a year ago
Here they are today
These are the f1 parents to the barred female
Here she is just starting to mature
This is her starting to change
Here she is today
I have always been fascinated with the way the amphilophus species interact with you. Their personalities and everything about them just fascinates me which is why I keep quite a few of them. With that said I have done a lot of research Regarding why some of them are orange and others are barred. I have read multiple write-ups that state that the orange species can be found in lakes that are much deeper, why is this, it is because the orange species are easy to spot by prey so they stay deep. The exact same species can also be found in Shallow streams or Rivers but to keep them from being preyed upon they kind of camouflage themselves by being barred and more of a yellow brown black color. Over the years as these orange and barred species breed the dominant gene becomes orange or barred. When you purchase little ones from an orange pair they will start out barred but eventually peel and become orange because that gene is dominant, whereas the Bard ones stay barred. So, I currently have a barred pair of Red Devils as well as a group of barred Midas both from different locations both born from Wild Barred parents. Well The Barred Midas female was in a tank where she began to get picked on, she was one of the few barred fish in that tank. I happened to notice that she was starting to lose that barring and within a month or so she is now fully Orange. The same thing has happened to a pair of my Red Devils, they are f1 barred Devils and they are currently changing colors because in that tank there are mainly barred hoga and I believe they are doing so so that they don't look like the hoga and continue to get picked on. I'm going to try and research a little more on this but I'm assuming all of these fish have the genetic background of both barred and orange colors and it all depends basically on their surroundings in the wild as to what color they flaunt. With that said here they are:
this is my barred Devils a year ago
Here they are today
These are the f1 parents to the barred female
Here she is just starting to mature
This is her starting to change
Here she is today
It has been 4 months since these have been updated so let's get started. First up is Gil. Gil is easily 14+" his little bride is still putting up with his attitude haha. They are both doing great and currently have eggs again. 
Next up is my big male Creamsicle Midas i got from @DMD123 , he is currently 12"+ . He seems to be the perfect chill, peacekeeping tank mate. He has a female in the 300 that he acts like he spawns with but nothing ever comes of it. Plus she's one i want to move, not happy with her look
Next is my main red devil male. Yes i still have his female but he is always out wanting his picture taken. He is probably 9", not growing very much, i have a beautifully shaped female devil that is as big as he is now. Top is the male bottom the female i spoke of
Next is my other male chancho. He is definitely putting on size. He is about 10-11", almost as big as the midas. He definitely has a different shape and look than Gil, but still a good looking fish.
Next is my favorite orange Midas. I just love the color and shape. The perfect combo. He is currently sitting at about 10". He also has not decided to spawn with any of the females, which i understand, they are not up to standards lol
And lastly for now, my barred SF Libre male Midas. Still acts like the tank boss yet several have passed him in size (length). He currently sits about 10" maybe more. He and his female are no longer spawning every 5th week. Which is keeping things a bit more peaceful.
Next up is my big male Creamsicle Midas i got from @DMD123 , he is currently 12"+ . He seems to be the perfect chill, peacekeeping tank mate. He has a female in the 300 that he acts like he spawns with but nothing ever comes of it. Plus she's one i want to move, not happy with her look
Next is my main red devil male. Yes i still have his female but he is always out wanting his picture taken. He is probably 9", not growing very much, i have a beautifully shaped female devil that is as big as he is now. Top is the male bottom the female i spoke of
Next is my other male chancho. He is definitely putting on size. He is about 10-11", almost as big as the midas. He definitely has a different shape and look than Gil, but still a good looking fish.
Next is my favorite orange Midas. I just love the color and shape. The perfect combo. He is currently sitting at about 10". He also has not decided to spawn with any of the females, which i understand, they are not up to standards lol
And lastly for now, my barred SF Libre male Midas. Still acts like the tank boss yet several have passed him in size (length). He currently sits about 10" maybe more. He and his female are no longer spawning every 5th week. Which is keeping things a bit more peaceful.
Thanks D
