Searching for the perfect Trimac

[DMD123]

Woke up at 5am to be able to get fish at Southwest cargo this morning when they opened.

Did a box check when I got them

Checked for any D.O.A, all came in looking good

Got them home and floating in tank to get temps up

This one caught my eye immediately, nice large spots and the teardrop under the eye, this may be the future keeper, lol. But they all look pretty nice

Was not disappointed in the size of these fish. They were sold as 3”-4” and they are solid in size. No complaints at all. Three were in bigger bags because they were slightly bigger and the other three were just slightly smaller. But again true to size.

I am acclimating for temp fish then will do a bucket drip to get them used to water.

 

[DMD123]

Noticed I somehow missed a pic of one... But gives you an idea






Two pics of the one with the teardrop

 

[Madness]

@DMD123 Definitely pic #5 right now

 

[DMD123]

@DMD123 Definitely pic #5 right now

Yep, it is quite the fish showing awesome patterns even while stressed from shipping. It is in the smallest group of three but if agression starts to get bad toward it, I think I would try to grow it out solo in the other 90. I cant tell for sure yet but I think three of the six may have the teardrop markings.

Wanted to add that I got a follow up call this morning asking if I got my package and how the fish were from Ricki, who I believe is Max’s wife. I am so Impressed with these guys. The communication has been outstanding, the fish quality is great, fish were well packed and he made sure to watch where fish were being routed and mentioned the need to go through a warm state on the way here. It was a great experience, makes me think my next project fish may be coming from them too.

 

[lloyd378]

Yep, it is quite the fish showing awesome patterns even while stressed from shipping. It is in the smallest group of three but if agression starts to get bad toward it, I think I would try to grow it out solo in the other 90. I cant tell for sure yet but I think three of the six may have the teardrop markings.

Wanted to add that I got a follow up call this morning asking if I got my package and how the fish were from Ricki, who I believe is Max’s wife. I am so Impressed with these guys. The communication has been outstanding, the fish quality is great, fish were well packed and he made sure to watch where fish were being routed and mentioned the need to go through a warm state on the way here. It was a great experience, makes me think my next project fish may be coming from them too.

I love to hear this.... I will be watching their website from time to time.... he he gets the green umbee to breed, I’d love to get an f1 or f2.... the wild caughts I’ve had in the past tend to be far more aggressive toward other fish but also more skittish toward me

 

[DMD123]

The fish seem to be settling in. They are with the Petsmart devil who is just a little bigger so he has been letting them know it, lol. Some fin damage on the new fish that needs to heal up. Im sure clean water should be all it needs. They are currently schooling as a group but Im sure that will change as they get comfortable. I see 3 potential keepers based on patterning but overall I think I have it narrowed down to 2. Will give it some time still.

 

[DMD123]

 

[DMD123]

The best looking one

 

[DMD123]

Feeding the new fish today. Started with Hikari Vibra bites, which are little food sticks about the size and color of a bloodworm. Most fish seem to find them palatable and a couple trimac ate a few. Then I did mysis shrimp which got better response, then brine shrimp which was even better and then finished with some bloodworms which of course had the best response. It was just some experimental feeding. The fish all seemed a bit thin so the treats were kind of an important thing just to get something into their system. Once I get them eating well and fins healed, then I will get them on to a high quality pellet.

 

[DMD123]

Water change on their tank and decided to try something different. Added Boyds Vitachem to the water. Not full dose at a drop per gallon but only treated half. Online reviews claim improvement in healing by adding to water. Decided to try a little and gradually increase until the fish heal up. They are supposed to get benefits from it being in the tank because it is said to be “tissue soluble”. I figure it cant hurt.

 

[lloyd378]

I would guess your water change schedule to be enough to heal them... even with mine.... the trimacs fins have healed ( it took just about 1.5-2 weeks), and that’s with water changes once a week....

never tried vitachem in the water, but have soaked pellets in it or something similar to it back when I had the ATF

 

[DMD123]

I know my water change routine will help them heal faster but the vitachem product is supposed to help with that so I decided to try it. I keep it on hand to dose the food for the polys. Raw tilipia filets in themselves dont offer much nutrition so thus the added vitamins.

 

[Madness]

TUIC just posted this

 

[DMD123]

TUIC Pricingfor week of March 29, 2021

Amphilophus trimaculatus 'Rio Niltepec' F1	2 – 2.5"	Juvenile grow outs of highly requested pure F1 'trimac' bred from wild collected Rio Niltepec, MX incredibly colorful breeders	$18.50 ea.
"	6 – 7"	Stunning adolescent F1 sexed males in great chunky size available in limited quantity	$100 ea. (males)

 

[DMD123]

Another day of feeding treats. The fish all ate well and I was seeing some plump tummies. There was no hesitation from any of them for frozen brine shrimp. Did a light gravel vac and redosed some vitamins once again.

 

[DMD123]

Got home today and noticed all the trimacs were looking rougher. Tails just looked worse than from shipping. Turns out the 5 1/2” Petsmart devil sharing the tank was thinking he needed to go at all of the new trimacs. I pulled him out to let the trimac settle in and heal.

 

[DMD123]

Bit of an update.

As I mentioned, I made the mistake of leaving a Petsmart devil in with the trimacs. At 5 1/2" he knew he was top dog and all the 4" trimac were nipped at and tails were looking rough. I pulled him out, and did a nice big water change to let the trimac heal up. Been feeding "treat" items like Mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and bloodworms to get the guys to fill out. Was a bit concerned because they are a bit lean looking. I will continue to feed this for the first week or so and then work in a high quality pellet food. I keep frozen krill on hand for my other larger fishes and may see if I can get some smaller ones out for the trimac when I thaw out another batch to feed.

Tried something else that Ive never really done with my fish before and that was to add Boyd's Vitachem directly to the fishes water. It is said to help in the healing process. Not sure if this is really the case but I have it on hand so I did it, figured it cant hurt.

Have not seen any major aggression showing among the trimac (yet, lol), there is still that schooling, group mentality to their behavior. Hoping this will go on for a bit till I can decide on who the keepers are. Im tempted to do a tank divider soon especially if aggression starts to become prevalent. For sure there are 3 that I like. The largest has a very outgoing attitude, very nice long fin trailer, nice bright coloration, the second seems to have a decent pattern and seems a bit mellow and chill, the third of course is the one that caught my eye right away with the patterns and teardrop. Interestingly the third one is one of the smallest, he also seems smarter because he manage to be the only one to avoid getting his tail torn by that bigger red devil.

No updated pics... its only been a couple days, so nothing to really show at this point.

 

[DMD123]

I definitely have one dominant trimac. The largest has taken control and has attitude! Lots of chasing and a lot of the group looking rough. While the dominant one is not my favorite, he still looks good. He tends to be lighter colored and has amazing trailers that are still healing up. Just the bold little attitude makes this one a keeper.

Did a large water change and cleaned one of the Aquaclear filters. Hope this helps with the fins looking rough. I am thinking of getting a couple clay pots to add to the tank for hiding spots. Might also be time to put a divider in both 90’s. This would mean selecting 4 to keep to grow some more and rehome 2 right away. There are 3 for sure that I want to see how they progress so that would not be too difficult a cut at this point.

 

[DMD123]

The dominant male of the tank

 

[DMD123]

Forgot how rough the young could be with each other, decided to add more decor. I went to Lowes and got a couple 6" clay pots, cut out the bottom, sanded rough edges and added one to each end of the tank. Hope it helps give a few breaks to the chasing.