The big switch

I saw that my young ones had no place to really get away from the alpha male, so I wanted to add more. After I got the rocks in I noticed my other juvy male started to color up right away. Since he can now claim a territory...lol. He looks cool, all yellow with black trim. Plus my large pleco in their needed a cave for daytime too.
I was also trying to build the back up nice and high and use the powerhead to create a current along the front. Sorta mimicking their natural environment.

Lots of great hiding places in there now.

I know right, tank looks empty in the morning. lol..

looks great. I know what you mean about the tank looking empty in the morning. In the 180 all of my Frontosa have hiding spots. I turn on the light in the morning and all I see are my Nerite snailzorz.

sneaky fish! lol..

No more POTS!! lol
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I also got me a pictus catfish for this tank, I have been trying to get a pic, but he is a fast one.

Looks fantastic! They're gettin bigger too!

Oh yeah! Right now I have 3 for sure females at 2+" same as the alpha male
1, I thought was female but is starting to lose its yellow (where the black comes in) at the same size.
I have one 1 3/4" looks male and gets picked on like one, runs in the pack.
And I still have all 6 of the F1 babies from Kevin, They are at about 1 1/2" from 3/4" when I got them.
Of the babies only one practices territory / mating dance so far and it is the largest of the group.

I may have 1 to many males here in 6 months or so... lol.


I sit mezmerized for hours on my bed with these fish. friggen awesome!

Yeah now that's what I'm talkin' about! Looking great!

I had some good shots from before I got the pots out I thought I would share.

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Coloring up real nice

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One of the F1 fry from APFP

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My new Synodontis, this territorial catfish has claimed a cave in the lave rock.

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Full tank with all the new rock. The yellow / orange soulosi stand out so well.

Love the tank now and the fish as well.

The fish you have labeled as a pictus looks to me like a Synodontis, possibly an eupterus?

Oh it is a Synodontis, I was looking at more that one at the lfs and forgot what I brought home.

The male is coloring up real nice, and growing. 2.75"
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Largest female, she is about the same size as the male, he is always courting her.
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Sorry it's blurry but this is the best shot of the F1 babies from APFP, looking good at 1.5" about twice the size from when I got them.
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One day I will have a real camera. lol...

Female holding, We will see if she spits some fry!!!

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God shot of those bright colors.
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Three females are holding eggs/ fry right now. Anyone know how long about before I see some fry? Any suggestions to help the females out? They are losing weight... and still getting pestered by the male.

censeoflife wrote:Three females are holding eggs/ fry right now. Anyone know how long about before I see some fry? Any suggestions to help the females out? They are losing weight... and still getting pestered by the male.

It's their first time, so I'd suggest just letting them spit, or they might just eat the eggs. They'll get the hang of it. I'd suggest getting a dark colored (purple works) plastic tub with a lid, and make a medium size hole at the top so that they females or the male cannot enter. Place rocks around, and on top of the tub, but not over the hole. The females will hopefully spit in that, and when you see some little fry in there, just pull it out and put them in a nursery. 10-20 gallons should do it! Good luck!!!! If the male is really pestering the females, you can always put him in a separate tank for a few days.

Yeah thanks. He is trying to get the last one of the four. she is the largest female and is not yet impressed. I have added more blinds but the guy patrols the whole tank and no one gets rest till hes down for the night. Active awesomeness

Awesome fish and a cool tank!

Censeoflife and Mikey you have the wife and I sold On these fish! So now it's time for us to shop for a bigger tank!

That's awesome! I love these fish and spend lots of time watching them. I got about 12 or so a few months back and already have a few fry swimming around, and some more female about ready to spit.

censeoflife wrote:That's awesome! I love these fish and spend lots of time watching them. I got about 12 or so a few months back and already have a few fry swimming around, and some more female about ready to spit.

Nice!

I'm going to pick up my new tank tonight...I hope you don't mind me using some of your ideas!

No worries. Enjoy!

Hey Cense do you have to boil those pots before they can go in the tank...or just a good scrubbing??

i just tossed them in after rinsing mine... never had problems.

Sweet thanks Joe!

Totally I just scrub the crap outta em' under hot friggen water. I also tested them with vinegar. I found every rock in my tank randomly out in the world. lol.

Right on!

censeoflife wrote:cool I will add some more pots.

FYI... I bought the pots at home depot, looked through the stock and grabbed all the cracked and broken ones, asked for a discount for the damaged goods and got 50% my purchase.

Spent less than 20$ so far for this switch.


About how many fish well I be able to keep? I want to start with fry.....

duh why didn't I think of that!!!great tip!!

If there aren't any cracked ones, make your own cracked ones..lol

Oh, you are very sneaky sir!

Wolf-Keeper1 wrote:

censeoflife wrote:cool I will add some more pots.

FYI... I bought the pots at home depot, looked through the stock and grabbed all the cracked and broken ones, asked for a discount for the damaged goods and got 50% my purchase.

Spent less than 20$ so far for this switch.


About how many fish well I be able to keep? I want to start with fry.....

duh why didn't I think of that!!!great tip!!

I still have these pots and recycle them into new tanks as we go. They are starting to turn the prettiest green.

stierwalt3 wrote:Hey Cense do you have to boil those pots before they can go in the tank...or just a good scrubbing??

My answer before was about rocks. lol.. I just noticed you said pots. I did just rinse like nuka said and I also used a rock (broken piece of lava rock that easily fit in my hand) to smooth all the broken edges a lil bit, I had a Female juvi Ps. Salousi die cause they wiggled through a sharp hole. : ( Lesson learned.

oh yeah, the whole at the bottom of the pots! forgot about that... I use a sponge, and cram it in the whole... so no one can go thru it.

censeoflife wrote:

stierwalt3 wrote:Hey Cense do you have to boil those pots before they can go in the tank...or just a good scrubbing??

My answer before was about rocks. lol.. I just noticed you said pots. I did just rinse like nuka said and I also used a rock (broken piece of lava rock that easily fit in my hand) to smooth all the broken edges a lil bit, I had a Female juvi Ps. Salousi die cause they wiggled through a sharp hole. : ( Lesson learned.

No prob....Yeah I got some pots and took them to work. I was thinking I could cut them in half on the band saw and grind some openings in them with all my different grinders.....NOT! These pots are tough...wore out the blade and grinding wheel! So I just took a hammer and flat head screw driver to them.

Ive seen perfect cut halfs of pots.... I really dont know how they do it.... Ive tried soakin them for along time, then took a saw to it, still no way... I ended up doin the same thing... hammer and screwdriver, then sanding sharp edges down... now I pretty much just toss in the whole pot though. lol

you can cut them perfectly with a tie saw.