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Hi Farid!!

really looking nice and great!!!
Glad you managed to get a good number of these!!
Cheers
Yann

hi yann,
i am also happy i found more than the first 4 i saw..

farid

PS: you should pick up the 397

Hi Farid,
We have low pressure at the moment, being winter. I am guessing that you have high pressure? since it is summer.

Geoff

...

hi geoff,
i mean more to check the weather pressure rain/sun ....so when the pressure sinks ...might happen together with a storm, heavy rain/snow and so on...this can happen once a week or only a few times a month...measured with a barometer. this is what i checked specially with some species...but finely i did not check any of these parameters... (for the L200&204 )

so sometimes i wait until the weather get's bad and only then i make my softwaterchange..otherwise i leave it hard...(tapwater in summer is KH6!! )

the soft would be KH 3-4 conducticity of 130-210...depending on the fish and my thouths

farid

Interesting,
I had read somewhere that barometric pressure was thought to be a factor with some species. I have a barometer somewhere.....

Thank you for the information.
Geoff

hi geoff,
i just think that the moon phase and the barometric preasure is one of the few things that fish can still feel even when they're in a "self made " surrounding...like for some fish morning sun means everything to lay eggs...

this is just my point of view...i know a guy he's breeding L46 according to the moon phase...he's got eggs almost every two weeks if things go right....(i never tried yet)

4x L204 & Endler Guppies 100x60x40cm


here is my tank for the ones who wanna see a breeding tank of the 204 ...it's one of my tanks who i should not really show ...cause it is quite a mess
the most important thing is not to make it perfect...not nice not too clean and sometimes it's good to forget a bit the thought of breeding something...but to check is important from time to time...

oh i almost forgot...i use to make some wooden caves too...i got them cut while still green and after the drill-work i put them in straight...so far (over 4 months) i had no problems...the L204 use them just to hide sometimes but as breeding cave i can forget it...this was one of my ideas to see what else they maybe like to use as breeding cave that a shot backwards

before


after


diameter is 51mm for the big ones


farid

Congratulations Farid!

I hope to breed this species one day as well, but that ain't gonna happen since I only have a male L204

loving your self made caves!

cheers and good luck with raising the beautiful fry!

hi tim,
as i kept only one male in the beginning, chaseing my 2 females around...i thought maybe some concurence is needed...wo i added second younger male...
soon as the second male was in territory fights began...not rough but there was something in the air(water )
as the younger male found it's cave ...one of the females found him and there it began to get interesting (i started making notes) but after 3 days in the cave the magic was over... this is 1.5 years ago...the tank had a differend deco...and sand ground...


farid

Farid,
Thanks for all the great information. It is really helpfull.

Currently I am expanding my fish room, adding 4 100x60x45cm tanks and 1 200x60x45 tank, plus room for additional tanks as well.
The are getting a little big (18cm+) for the 122x45x45 that they are in.

Thanks again.

Geoff

hi geoff,
i also keep LDA33...
the tank theiy're in is 100x60x40cm...later on i willl but them one by one in a new tank ...the ideais to get maybe 150x60x40... that should be enough...
but they're too small yet...i think in 3-4 years they will be ready...so the project is on ...
this is the tank at the moment...no caves yet!



i also keep them with the LDA33


farid

Hi Farid,
I have my LDA33 with my L002, while they are growing up. When the LDA33 get their new tank then the L002 will stay in the one they are in now (122 x 46 x 45).
I am unsure whether to put the extra 3 male L204 in with them, or whether there will be too much fighting?
Or perhaps to put 2 Male and 2 Female L204 in each of the 100x60x45 tanks

Also I have much more rocks than wood for the LDA33, and they do seem to preferr the rocks.

I think I need to spend more time on the internal design of my tanks.

Your new fly rod looks VERY nice
Geoff

hi geoff,
maybe i should try the stone thing with the LDA33
i use stones out of my tropheus tank...fuul of algae to but it in the suckerloaches tanks...maybe i'll try how the LDA33 like the algae stones...

thanks for die idea...
farid

Its getting a bit off topic.... but,
I feed mine lots of greens, and a mix of mashed peas (90%), some blood worms (5%), and daphnia (5%) (2 portions, 2x per week), (500g of peas makes 18 portions, and I freeze it like big ice cubes) I place 2 cubes in the bottom of the tank to thaw out, it covers a section of the bottom of the tank about 20 cm x 10 cm. They just line up for it, and there is nothing left in the morning. I use this technique, because as they move through it, it spreads all over the tank, so I know the smaller ones will get some too. Also I saw a video once and the river bottom was like a green carpet, and it was described as "Aufwuchs", so this is my attempt at this. The L239 get a similar mixture.
Also they will consume an 8" zuchinni overnight. Nova Fect is the primary food. And they do seem to eat a lot.

(Obviously you already know what you are doing , I have never tried mine specifically with algae, but I'll guess that they will have it cleaned up in a couple of days)

Cheers
Geoff

beautiful tank farid!! I love the tea coloured water. Are those fish below the buck tooth fish?

hi andy,
toothfish? i have no clue... they never smile when i take pictures so i never saw them ..like

they are (Brycinus longipinnis) http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... hp?id=5234

first i was a bit unsure about the temperatures of 31-32°C but they are fine. the tank has a nanostream 2500L/h plus two airfiltered

self made of course but today i use blue foam...the black one is the biggest crap i ever had!!! started falling appart after 1 year!! a mess in the tank...

farid

L204






farid

Hi Farid,
Welcome back, from your fishing trip. I hope it went well.

Glad to see the "little ones" didn't miss you too much

hi geoff,
the fishing trip went so...so... i ended um in 2500m over sea level as most of the landscape was in 4ft snow!!! in july!

so i came back earlier then planned...lucky for the babies...as every two days feedeng is far not enough...i found some dead ones...but now i still have 2 weeks off and i can feed them 3-4 times a day...growing good!

they love the self made spinach, sushi algae, spirulina,shrimp,decapsuled artemia mixed food

i blend it raw, but is on ALU foil in the oven for 4-6 hours and crush it ...chips are made! they sink imediatly

farid

UPDATE:
they measure about 2cm

my Kindergarden


some with a interesting Pattern


also here you see some unusual patterns



and of course the wunderful coloured ones


farid

Oooohhh Wow!!!! They are beautifull Farid
I find L204 to be very handsome looking fish!

I'm afraid I have only 3 males........they all have some amount of odontodes growth on the tailpart
Hoping to find a few females this winter.....

But well done you

hi jac,
females are actually quite easy to find if you can choose out of a group of bigger L204...

farid

Farid wrote:hi jac,
females are actually quite easy to find if you can choose out of a group of bigger L204...

farid

Yes maybe, but over here they are not as easy to find....

But saying that, the ones I got didn't show any odontodes growht either in the beginning. Some of you even suggested to see both male and female in my small group of 3. Now they have grown a bit they show to be males. At least thats what I think.

Are there other things to look for with finding a female?

hi jac,
a german guy from a forum asked me a few days if females have some kind of golden reflection on the head (depending on the lightdirection)...and i told him that i almost wrote that in the forum to give another hint to maybe find a female...

but i also told him that i never wrote it cause some people maybe think...that this is not a sure thing to look after...

but i have to say is surprized me about his question as these golden reflection on the head/towards the mouth part...is exactly what he wrote about!
also my females usually come out first to feed as my males always sit in their caves...but finely i have to say for me soon as the animals measures 12cm you should very clear see the odontodes...of not today maybe a year later...while females just dont have any longer odontodes on their back...
this is my thinking...

i will once try to get the golden shining of the females on foto...

farid

Farid,

are you talking about that coloration, shining blaze of gold on the head ?


definitely nothing to do with a light or flash reflection, and only visible on females... I always wondered if it was something worth for sexing ?

hi,
this is the reflectioni am talking about...but a backlight would be better to see as this could also be a male...but according to the back shape i guess this one a female...but of course the tale would be nice to see aswell

i'll try to get pics soon

farid

this one was surely a female, as I saw her with a dominant (and full odontody) male... no doubt about it...

I say "was" because I sold the fishes to someone who will care for them... I needed their tank for something else.

hi eitofi,
what is somehting else?

farid

that's a beautiful picture!

I feel ashamed to say... but...

The 720 liters turned out to a Tanganyika lake population... I had to find an easier population (regarding the water parameters I have : hard and basic) for the living room tank...

the south american catfishes have their own home in the fishroom... But I couldn't leave the catfish world so easily, so I set a Tanga population with Synodontis grandiops too...

nothing to do with L204, anyway...