The goods from the last Group Buy

POST PICS HERE..


I would take some, but who wants to see floating blue bags?

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F1 Lyonsi, 1m & 3f.

Badass!

I'm bout to unleash mine in the next 10 minutes or so

Ooops! Flash was on by default on my iphone.. One of the first times I've seen this pleco out of his man cave! Oh also a female Regani
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Male Argentia and Zonatus
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Female Argentia
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I put the 75 to bed so even I didn't get a peek at my chuco godmani's Tomorrow!

very nice. my pics will have to wait till tomorrow. Mine are still floating.

1 am and you guys are posting...

I had the fish in the tank and went to bed

So everyone is now moved into the 210g, you can see the new pearsei in the lower right of the back part of the tank
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The Argentea in everyone's business including the new pearsei
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The little guy is trying to get used to the new house - he is a shy one
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So was he 6-7"? Looks good.

I dont have pics yet. My fish were all too small. Plus I lost 2 of the Trimacs. Thought they would be OK in with my Zonatus babies. The Tmacs were even larger than the Zo's. Didn't matter, lost 2 anyway.

That sucks madness, sorry to hear it. I'm in the same boat as you, my guys are too small to get good pics of. Last night after floating them and acclimating them I ended up having to put them in those livebearer breeder boxes in the tank there going to grow out in. There so small I had to put them in there so my bocourti wouldent eat them this mourning while I was at work. I'm going to be pulling my bocourti from this tank and putting it with a few other fish in a 55 gallon as a temp home until I'm ready to set up my 75 gallon that the istlanum will go into adventually. But that's gonna be a few months down the road. Give these little guys a chance to grow. Anyway here is a picture of them in the boxes. There full of energy and I'm sure they can't wait to be released into the main part of the tank.

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Since this is the "Show and Tell" section of the forum, I thought a little "tell" part of the story could come into play.

This was my 1st group buy and I was happy to see I wasnt the only one that is into fish. In fact I was with certified fish geeks, that use the Latin names for the fish. I knew I would fit in.

I had already met madness and fish_n_vw in person. Both very nice guys who take a lot of pride in their tanks and take good care of their fish. I always find it awesome to look at my 210g and think 'hey this is a pretty cool tank'. Now imagine if you had multiple large tanks. madness has definitely been bit by the cichlid bug and has so many different things going on I almost feel like I should pay admission to see his fish, Yep they are awesome! Now fish_n_vw also has a few big tanks, he has a more down to earth, I could see having these tanks in my house approach. Then again he and I have a wife to answer to!

So I also got to meet Adonijah and Spyral, very nice guys who are also fish geeks to the core. And for those who look at the member profiles Spyral is NOT 90 years old!

So if your idea of fun includes hanging out at Applebee's waiting for happy hour to start, hanging out in parking lots late at night talking fish and passing around bags filled with blue water, staying up late when you have to be at work the next day, then next time YOU need to get in on a group buy. It was fun, I got to meet some really nice people and I am looking forward to the next one!

I know "Shut up" we want to see more pictures!

madness wrote:So was he 6-7"? Looks good.

I dont have pics yet. My fish were all too small. Plus I lost 2 of the Trimacs. Thought they would be OK in with my Zonatus babies. The Tmacs were even larger than the Zo's. Didn't matter, lost 2 anyway.

Here is a picture of the Argentea when I moved her last night, The pearsei is bigger than her so I got exactly what I ordered a 6-7" fish. And he had his winky out this morning and looked to be male like I ordered, so I'm happy.
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Sorry to hear you lost 2 trimacs. I was disappointed that nothing "extra" was included. Some of fish were smaller than advertised and I kind of felt an extra one or two should have been included to compensate for the size discrepancy. Esp. the festae and istlanum, they were small!

Yes they were. But thats OK. The Festae look good even at the small size, and the Trimacs have some nice color already. Im happy.

It was fun, and I enjoyed the company. Well said DMD.

Nice meeting you guys last night as well! I am too 90! Dammit.

I am very pleased with the Lyonsi I got. Mr. Male is absolutely beautiful. He took to parading around the tank and staking out an area to sleep in. The females did pretty much the same. They ate last night, some frozen blood worms and some NLS Cichlid. I may feed them some raw shrimp today or some tilapia as a little treat.

As for the size, they were advertised as 5"+ and for the most part, I got what I paid for.

Spyral wrote:Nice meeting you guys last night as well! I am too 90! Dammit.

Spyral stop telling everybody your 90, when your clearly only 85ish. You old people always looking for attention!

Spyral wrote:I am very pleased with the Lyonsi I got. Mr. Male is absolutely beautiful. He took to parading around the tank and staking out an area to sleep in. The females did pretty much the same. They ate last night, some frozen blood worms and some NLS Cichlid. I may feed them some raw shrimp today or some tilapia as a little treat.

I wish I would have ordered a few of the Lyonsi, they were stunning. Well there is always the next group buy...

Spyral wrote:As for the size, they were advertised as 5"+ and for the most part, I got what I paid for.

Thats what she said... Sorry couldn't resist!

And another fun thing about the group buys... you can put a face to the warped mind

Haha, you called me down to earth. Thank you for all the kind words, and that does sound like a good time wish I could have takin the trip with you guys, but I tried to sleep a little (unsuccessfully). I had to get up for work only 4 hours after we met up. I dident get to be til 1:00 and I was up and getting ready for work at 4. I really do love being around people who share my passion for cichlids. This was also my first official group buy. I have orderd fish from kevin at apfp and gone with him to the airport to pick them up and get them all in there tanks at the shop. That is also pretty fun. I plan to go for another group buy in the spring of next year and will probably be getting a few bigger guys and some fry as well. I imagine I will be spending ballpark of around 2 to 300 dollars. I want some wild breeders I have never owned a wild caught fish before. I will be going through gage or rapps depending on stock at the time. You def get more for your buck through gage, but with enough people rapps wouldent be bad.

Anyways I just pulled my bocourti and put in the istlanum, they are all over the tank super active. I'm very pleased with the health of these fish, so far they seem really healthy. I am a little disapointed about the size they were advertised at 1.25"+ and there maybe an inch. But overall good experiance. I appreciate you (dmd and madness) making the extra stop for me. And madness for orginizing it all. Thank you also adonijah and spyral for getting in on it, it really makes a big cut in shipping. Anyways great job and I'm happy I did this. Thanks.

Will put up pics when I can, the color of these guys is already really good.

Those of you who got fish from Gage should go post in his thread over on MFK:

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See a few familiar faces?

Spyral wrote:Those of you who got fish from Gage should go post in his thread over on MFK:

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See a few familiar faces?

I did!

fish_n_vw wrote:Haha, you called me down to earth. Thank you for all the kind words, and that does sound like a good time wish I could have takin the trip with you guys

I say down to earth because most people could see themselves having the tanks you have spread out in the house and no big deal. It really does not seem overwhelming. I love the set up that madness has but I just could not even begin to imagine having all those tanks and trying to keep track of all the parents let alone the fry. Its pretty mind blowing!

fish_n_vw wrote:I plan to go for another group buy in the spring of next year and will probably be getting a few bigger guys and some fry as well. I imagine I will be spending ballpark of around 2 to 300 dollars. I want some wild breeders I have never owned a wild caught fish before. I will be going through gage or rapps depending on stock at the time. You def get more for your buck through gage, but with enough people rapps wouldent be bad.

Let us know, I might be ready to take on a new fish project by then. I am going to relax and enjoy my 210g for a little while.

Oh, I see. I would love to "have" to take care of all those fish and fry. One day I will be in the same sittuation I'm sure. I just recently started keeping a fish journal, so I can just look and see when I bought a fish and how big it was. I'm goning to start tracking tank moves too just in case. I wonder if madness does this as well I could imagine what it is like trying to keep track of 20 spawning pairs and there fry.

I still stick to the "one big tank" is all I need and then a couple of small goof around tanks for fun.

When the "small" goof around tanks start becoming 180's and the "one big tank" is 300g+ then I have officially become obsessed. Not quite there...

Well, we can help you... step one, keep your 120 step two start planning for that 300... lol sorry couldent resist.

Laugh it up, but remember it goes both ways! The first step make your 180 your small tank, step two start planning for that 500g...

You must be psycic, or perhaps I have told you of my dreams before. I want like 2 or 3 1000 gallon tanks one day. And like 8 or so in the 3 to 500 gallon range. My wife dosent know it yet. But I am slowly building up to something bigger. I'm just keeping all the smaller ones as I go. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna set up a 75, 90, or 4' 120 in place of that 45 in my cildrens room. But that will be my smallest tank. Its 120s and up from here on out. With a 300 in the plans within the next few years.... unless I come up on a great deal before then. I mean who am I to pass up something like the great deal madness got on his 300. Although I would like an 8' 300 I think its 96"x30"x24"... I think that's right... that's what I want for the dining room... as soon as the remodel is done and I save the cash, I'm getting it.

That 300 would be my ideal sized tank also!

I have always wanted a black arowanna in with cichlids. I know better than to try one of these in a 24" wide tank, a 30" would be perfect along with the 8ft length. Lets organize a group buy on tanks...

I don't think it would change shipping costs. There's a place online that does free shipping. I think the tanks are acrylic though, so pretty spendy.

fish_n_vw wrote:I don't think it would change shipping costs. There's a place online that does free shipping. I think the tanks are acrylic though, so pretty spendy.

It was a joke!

Can you imagine a tank group buy and how many heads would roll when the wives found out? Well at least your and mine.

Think about it this way, your wife can only kill you once, its all smooth sailing after that... honestly it would be worth it.

Between you and madness it really will be the death of me!

"Come to the dark side, we have cookies" lol were just trying to promote the hobby. You know between the three of us, we could either keep or breed every central american cichlid..... ooooo, that would be fun. Let's do it!!!!! Madness already has like 1/2 of them. So its up to us two to make up the other half..... I'm getting more tanks!!

I tell you what 'D' I will increase my fish room, buy a couple (like 5) more tanks. And I will let you stock one of them with all of you dream tank fish. I will maintain it, you just have to help pay for food. Then you can come hang out at my place say a couple times / week to get acquainted with your second family.

Lol, your a nut. I'm coming too, I will bring the beer.

Well it looks like the 120g maybe going... Seattle23 has been asking, might come out this weekend to check it out.

fish_n_vw wrote:"Come to the dark side, we have cookies"

nookie or cookie the choice is obvious...

fish_n_vw wrote:lol were just trying to promote the hobby. You know between the three of us, we could either keep or breed every central american cichlid..... ooooo, that would be fun. Let's do it!!!!! Madness already has like 1/2 of them. So its up to us two to make up the other half..... I'm getting more tanks!!

I will let things cool down a bit but I'm not completely saying no to some more tanks...

That's alright, fulfill your word to your wife. Then "rearange" the house in a few months. Then a few months later start talking about (this is my line, you can borrow it though) feeling so limited, and needing to express yourself through your hobby. Talk about how keeping fish and setting up a tank is so rewarding and give you a really big sense of accomplishment. That it fills a void, and brings you great pleasure. And then mention that celebrities pay thousands of dollars a year to have a fish tank in there house and pay for someone to maintain it. I have been at it for a long time I know most the angles.

If I did want to try some other projects out I would look more at 75g , 40B, and 20L as my project tanks. These I could sneak in one at a time.

And madness, what up with the text pictures of fish in hand? My wife thinks Ive totally lost it now...

Hey that was a great looking argentea.... right?

DMD123 wrote:And madness, what up with the text pictures of fish in hand? My wife thinks Ive totally lost it now...

That fish is a beauty!

I had to share it. I really tried to acquire it. I have never seen a GOLD Argentea. I would pay whatever, (within reason) to get that fish. I couldn't help myself.

madness wrote:I really tried to acquire it. I have never seen a GOLD Argentea. I would pay whatever, (within reason) to get that fish.

How much did the person want for it? Was it even for sale? Or were they just showing it off?

He said it was gage's, and that it was the only one from his w/c pair.

If we were bidding, and assuming it would come sexed, I'd atleast bid up to $150!!!

It was kind of a Willy Wonka golden ticket moment except with a golden argentea. I have been thinking of just spray painting my argentea gold and see how much I could get for her

She is a total pill and needs to be bred ! She needs a male argentea to say !

Well that Argentea (GOLD) was a male. VW was correct, it was just one of thousands of fry that his WC pair have produced. He was hoping that it would stay gold, and it has. He is now 8" and Gage is trying to find a beautiful female for him.

Why do I always get the panzy agrentias? The new one I got is the big boy and he isn't flexing on anyone. The female Argnetia is the one nippin at him, lol.

My male does look to have more dark tones in comparison to my large 7"

That was a nice looking male. Funny but my little WC female argentea that I got from apfp is also very domineering.

This is an old thread but I had to share. I spoke with Gage this past weekend regarding the GOLD Argentea we were all gawking over.

Well I wish that I still had the picture of it so that everyone could see it. But, he sold it recently. So before I say for how much he was offered for it and he had to let it go, how about you guys guess. He sold him at 11".

If any of you, DMD, VW, Adonjah have the pic still, post it.

I remember the fish in hand picture, but I dont have it anymore.

I don't. Given the size/being WC I'd say $110

Since VW is never on here anymore I will tell you. He was given $400 for it.