Looking for some help with a new member of the family

Okay, so I am adopting a new guy this week.
Was wondering if anyone can tell me more about it.
Right now hes going into a planted tank. What is the best set up for them. Whould it be possible at this point to introduce a mate? Any idea where to get one?

It is a Herichthys carpintis.

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. o O I've never housed one but wanted to take a second and say, WOW- look at that color! Very nice looking fish you have there.

They can be very aggressive, and very beautiful. Looks male to me, (does it have a black dorsal?). Your plants may not survive long. They like to dig and redecorate. As for a mate, do you know what he is? I know its a Carpintis, but is he Escondido, or Vontahillo. It looks Vontahillo to me. Not sure where to find a female of adequate size.

he is stunning! I had a female and she was a wholly terror, I also had a male a few years ago that successfully lived with a dovii...... I second what madness said, mine dug up and messed with everything in the tank.... good luck.

Dont know if its a Escondido or Vontahillo. I will see if I can find any info on these.
I did read that they are very aggressive. As long as he doesn't bite me, I'm fine!
So they do fine with the plecos, so I am assuming they are aggressive towards others of the same species. Or do you think they are agressive to smaller fish. Oh, they would probably eat small fish, wouldnt they. So no mixing it with tetras huh!

lloyd378 wrote:he is stunning! I had a female and she was a wholly terror...... I second what madness said, mine dug up and messed with everything in the tank.... good luck.

HAHAHA...thanks

oh god, what have I gotten myself into!

theChad wrote: . o O I've never housed one but wanted to take a second and say, WOW- look at that color! Very nice looking fish you have there.

Thanks. I haven't really been a fan of cichlids, but I really like this guy. For some reason, I dont know why, but I do. Hopefully he has some personality.

What is everyones opinion as to the best food for them?

You will love it! only word of caution is that they will breed with anything. my first one(male) bred with a dovii once, and my last one(female) bred with a creamsicle red devil.


as for food, my ate whatever I had. they were not picky at all. Though they absolutely loved frozen bloodworms, and hikari pellets.

Well he will be the only one in the tank until I can find a female of the same species.
I dont want to mix breed him. Maybe I will start breeding them.

I used to feed my gouramis and bosemani rainbows the same food as my saltwater fish, which was shrimp and scallops soaked in vitamins and garlic extract. They had great color. Bright and shinny. That and algae pellets is what he will probably get fed. I have hikari pellets too, but those only get fed once a month at most.

Great idea! I didn't want hybrids either (just happened ). I sold my female about three weeks ago because she wasn't playing nice with some of my other fish...... wish i could get it back to give to you. she was beautiful, just like your male!


i am sure that shrimp and scallops will be great!

Oh, I guess I missed out.
If she was that big of a terror, maybe they will give her back to you. LOL!

Okay, the previous owner says he is a pure Carpintis from Escondido.
He has tried introducing a female, but they were much smaller than him and he killed them. So, when and if I can find a large female, I will put a screen in the tank to separate them and let them get used to each other for a while before removing the screen. I'm kinda excited about keeping this guy.

Carpintis are super cool looking . I'll jump in line for fry no if you don't mind....

Nobettername wrote:Carpintis are super cool looking . I'll jump in line for fry no if you don't mind....

dont mind at all. You might be waiting a while. I think it might take time to find the right female.
If anyone has a lead on one, pm me.

madness wrote:They can be very aggressive, and very beautiful. Looks male to me, (does it have a black dorsal?). Your plants may not survive long. They like to dig and redecorate. As for a mate, do you know what he is? I know its a Carpintis, but is he Escondido, or Vontahillo. It looks Vontahillo to me. Not sure where to find a female of adequate size.

You asked if it had a black dorsal fin. I dont see any black.

Is there an easy way to tell if it is a male or female? Is there a definitive body shape or fin size/shape that can help sex it?

I took more pics last night. I will post them tonight. See if we can determine for sure the sex.

I am new to these guys. Thanks for all the help.

black dorsal = female

madness wrote:black dorsal = female

Hard to tell but it looks like an Escondido. Vontahillo's has the larger pearls on the body, but the side view of your carpinte makes it harder to discern.
Nice looking fish. As madness said, Carpinte can be very nasty as far as temperment, but their coloring can be very attractive..

madness wrote:black dorsal = female

So is the entire dorsal fin black? I've seen some pics of others with a black spot on the dorsal fin but none with an all black one.

Drd62 wrote:

madness wrote:black dorsal = female

Hard to tell but it looks like an Escondido. Vontahillo's has the larger pearls on the body, but the side view of your carpinte makes it harder to discern.
Nice looking fish. As madness said, Carpinte can be very nasty as far as temperment, but their coloring can be very attractive..

Thanks. I am happy with him so far. I think we will get along.
The previous owner confirmed he is an Escondido.
Yeah, he is showing a bit of aggression to the pleco in the tank with him, but not bad. Just moves it along if he doesn't like were its at.

I am sorry, yes the dorsal will have a black blotch not a completely black

madness wrote:I am sorry, yes the dorsal will have a black blotch not a completely black

Okay, perfect. Now I know more about what to look for.
Thanks

Okay, so he has started rearranging the tank. LOL! He's cool. Its his tank, he can do what he wants.

Black in the dorsal does not always mean female from what I have seen, but as a rule is generally right. That being said looks male. And If you weren't provided with locale then telling by visual cues the origin is basically impossible to tell and is just easier to think of it as some sort of LFS strain of carpinits with no real local attached to it.

As far as setup goes some will say differently but as a solo fish/pair a 75 is a good tank size and planted most likely wont do well as he will more than like eat/uproot plants.

Best food by far IMO is NLS (New Life Spectrum).

Thanks for all the info.
I will check out the NLS. See if I can find it at any of the LFS's. He's eating good. He really likes bloodworms.
He will be moved into a 55 gal tank when I get all my SW fish out of it and into the 240. I wish I had a bigger tank for him. Maybe one day I'll swap it out for the 90...OH I will do that. I will take down the 90 SW and move him into it. Perfect!
I removed most of the plants from the tank. he has dug a hole in the substrait under one of the pieces of bog wood and is hanging out there. When I move him, the tank will be more suited for him.

Okay, I'm back with another question.

I want to set up the best habitat for this guy that I can. What would be suggested as far as rock work or bog wood. I know I dont want anything that he can knock down, cuase I get the feeling he could easily if it was not stable.

I was at a place for pets today and he had a whole talk of carpintis,I think they were around 6 bucks there was a couple of good looking little ones .I was tempted but just said no. They were about 2" btw

Oh, boy those are small!

I wonder how this guy would take to them.

I have to get this tank up and running first. Maybe they will still have some or will have them again.

Well the tank is getting closer to being set up. I have some plant substrate and small rock on one side and some larger rock on the other side and kinda blended them. I picked up some nice pieces of malaysian driftwood from Cory. I dont know if I should put a clay pot in for him or not at this point. I think I will. I am also thinking I may see if I can find another hopefully female to put in the tank first. Then introduce him. She would have to be an older, good size one though.

finally got his new home set up and its full of water. need to stop and get some test kits and some more filters. He may get moved in next weekend. we'll see how it tests.

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so what do you think? Female? Dorsal fin is rounded at the tip, not long and pointed like my male.

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Well I dont think so. found out it is a mix and 8+" long. little too big. probably not female. Kinda got a comical smile with the dots off the corner of the mouth. LOL!