Parachromis project (RTM)

[DMD123]

The RD and RTM’s battles were getting pretty bad. I had the RD in a net all night because it is the one who starts it. I let him out and within 5 minutes he is back at it. Its like he didn’t spend the night in a net! Well I had it and threw the RD in with the trimac. We will see how smart it is... the Sagittae lived with the trimac because it was very smart and figured how to stay out of its way.

Now the female RTM is hiding and acting shy without the RD in the tank chasing her. She better figure things out quickly because I am in a rehome mood...

 

[DMD123]

The large RTM female feels confident again. She is getting rough on the next one down but doesnt seem to care about the littlest one. I want to rehome the two smaller ones and keep the largest but want her to have a couple tankmates. This would be in a 65B. I am leaning toward a smaller clean up pleco like a green phantom and maybe an active cat like a hoplo. Any thoughts? Do you think she will allow it?

 

[lloyd378]

The large RTM female feels confident again. She is getting rough on the next one down but doesnt seem to care about the littlest one. I want to rehome the two smaller ones and keep the largest but want her to have a couple tankmates. This would be in a 65B. I am leaning toward a smaller clean up pleco like a green phantom and maybe an active cat like a hoplo. Any thoughts? Do you think she will allow it?

I can’t keep anything with my pair ( they are currently in a 125g.... they have murdered two different 6-7” sailfin plecos

 

[DMD123]

I can’t keep anything with my pair ( they are currently in a 125g.... they have murdered two different 6-7” sailfin plecos

But that is a pair... I am just doing a solo female. I would be concerned if she laid eggs even without a male around, then she might get bad. Right now she does okay with the plecos but then she has 2 other RTM’s to chase.

 

[DMD123]

The big girl is getting thick and twice as big as her sisters. She is also getting mean!

 

[lloyd378]

I think with some darker substrate you’d see a lot more orange in her.

I love that’s she’s getting big. She looks almost as big as her mom

 

[DMD123]

She is still small compared to mom. It is just so hard to capture her pattern and color on camera. Funny you mentioned substrate, I was thinking the trimac would have looked better on a light and the rtm better on dark.

I need to get her moved into her 65B but its just so tannin filled it just wouldn’t be fun. Well fun for me, she is pretty outgoing and it would be hard to see her much.

 

[lloyd378]

She is still small compared to mom. It is just so hard to capture her pattern and color on camera. Funny you mentioned substrate, I was thinking the trimac would have looked better on a light and the rtm better on dark.

I need to get her moved into her 65B but its just so tannin filled it just wouldn’t be fun. Well fun for me, she is pretty outgoing and it would be hard to see her much.

Tanin stained water always looks good. Haha

 

[DMD123]

Yesterday I did a huge drain and fill on the 65B plus I am running a charcoal bag in the filter. Today the tank still was looking pretty clear. This tank will continue to be a “tea” tank for a bit. Just realized I am at a good milestone. These fish can now all eat Omega One small floating cichlid pellets. This is usually a point where growth seems to go faster. They ate like pigs before, but the little foods just didn’t seem to get them growing. Now I am thinking I might be seeing at least 1/2” + of growth per month.

 

[DMD123]

The big girl

 

[DMD123]

Haven’t updated in a bit. The smaller two were taken into Aquarium Paradise because I needed space to move other growouts around. She still has the 90 to herself, well sharing with the big Rhino pleco but thats it. She is not out and about all the time since its just her, so sometimes she hides behind decor a little, but still super responsive to me and comes up front to see if Im going to feed her, lol. She is a great eater and needs a diet!

 

[DMD123]

Well I close this one off for now. I rehomed the large female and am using the tank for a bit to finish raising out some trimac. I always wanted to have a male RTM and while the female checked off all the box's in term of personality and color, in the end she was a little fish and would always remain so. I may try my hand at it again one day in the hopes of getting that male RTM but for now the project is closed.