# Electric Blue Acara



## ACC in NC

Is there anyone else around here keeping these? I received 8 back in June and there doing great.


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## Mr Chromedome

I've been hearing that these are male heavy, just like the blue Dempsey. However, when a female does show up they breed true and the fry are healthy, unlike the blue Dempsey. But so far that's all hearsay. Not particularly interested in these fish; I prefer the normal wild type. However, I find genetics fascinating, and always want to know where odd variants originated.

They look very fat and sassy, hope you get a female or two out of the group!


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## Narwhal72

I had a group of 6 that produced two pair eventually.

Fry grow pretty quickly if you keep them in a large tank. They have color from a very small size so are very marketable if you are interested in raising something to sell.

Mine produced 3 good spawns and then started eating eggs. I got bored with them and sold them off over the summer.

I found they were not that aggressive and I was keeping the pair in a 20 gallon tank with LF ABN plecos and kuhlii loaches without problems.

Andy


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## yamadog

Within the last week or so, both the big chain stores in my area got these guys in stock at $25 a piece for two inch fish.


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## football mom

Back in the spring of this year, I bought 3 at an auction for my show tank-hubby requested something with color. They have grown quickly and I now have a male & two females, one of which spawned a few weeks ago. I recovered most of the wigglers, and the fry are doing great in a tank of their own. Nice, mild-mannered fish, good tank mates with H. multispinosus and a few large angels. 
I understand these are a man made color morph-but they are nice fish, non the less.
J


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## ACC in NC

Well, finally got the first spawn, or should I say spawns. I lowered the pH and hardness on the last water change and thinned out/sold 3 extra males which left me with 2 males and 3 females from the original 8 I purchased. Right after removing the extra males 2 of the 3 females laid eggs at the same time. The males are 4.5 inches in total length and the females around 3.5 inches.


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## ACC in NC

They must be practicing a little harem polygamy as the third female is sitting on a group of eggs!


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## Iggy Newcastle

Sweet! Any recent photos?


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## ACC in NC

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Sweet! Any recent photos?


No recent photos but will try to get some. I siphoned out 2 of the 3 spawns and have free swimming fry but they're very tiny.


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## football mom

I fed mine newly hatched bbs. They will grow pretty fast.


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## ACC in NC

football mom said:


> I fed mine newly hatched bbs. They will grow pretty fast.


I'm feeding boiled egg yolk, spirulina powder, Hikari First Bites, and New Life Spectrum Small Fry Starter Formula. There doing great!


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## ACC in NC

Male 4.5 inches plus


A few babies


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## Iggy Newcastle

Male looks awesome


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## ACC in NC

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Male looks awesome


Thanks Iggy!


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## ACC in NC

3.5 inch female starting to darken for breeding


Male flaring fins


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## ACC in NC

I've hoped that the Electric Blue Acara has been bred for color and is not a hybrid. Over the years the regular Blue Acara that is known is considered Andinoacara/Aequidens pulcher, but I've also seen A. latifrons sold as Blue Acara. I found a picture that closely resembles the Electric version and it's possibly A. latifrons. It comes from the Cauca River near Cali Colombia. Check out the info and photo by Rainer Stawikowski below.

This fish comes from higher up in the Rio Cauca near Cali. Rainer Stawikowski also says that this is probably Andinoacara (Aequidens) latifrons. 
Photo: Rainer Stawikowski. 
http://www.lem.net/alf/THU/And_latifrons_cali1.jpg


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## Narwhal72

Afraid that this is a genetically engineered fish. It's made by taking eggs or sperm from an Electric blue ram and then combining it with the opposite number from a blue acara. After that the fry are line bred until the color is stabilized. This process takes only a handful of generations whereas line breeding can take dozens or even hundreds of generations.

These fish came from the Asian farms originally where this process is pretty well established. I remember seeing them for the first time at Superzoo 2 years ago and talked to the importer.

There are a lot of hybrids made this way (Synodontis, RT shovelnose, Flowerhorns) where fish that have different breeding strategies such that they would never cross breed on their own are made to hybridize in the lab directly through human intervention.

Andy


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## ACC in NC

Narwhal72 said:


> Afraid that this is a genetically engineered fish. It's made by taking eggs or sperm from an Electric blue ram and then combining it with the opposite number from a blue acara. After that the fry are line bred until the color is stabilized. This process takes only a handful of generations whereas line breeding can take dozens or even hundreds of generations.
> 
> These fish came from the Asian farms originally where this process is pretty well established. I remember seeing them for the first time at Superzoo 2 years ago and talked to the importer.
> 
> There are a lot of hybrids made this way (Synodontis, RT shovelnose, Flowerhorns) where fish that have different breeding strategies such that they would never cross breed on their own are made to hybridize in the lab directly through human intervention.
> 
> Andy


Thanks for the information Andy! I knew they were imported from Asia but haven't been able to find out any information on how they were created anywhere on the net.

The genetically modified fish I've seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.

Checkout these videos


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## Narwhal72

> The genetically modified fish I've seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.


Not quite. The creator of the Glofish actually did a talk at one of our club meetings a few months back and described how the process was done. Zebra danio eggs were taken immediately after being laid (there was only a few minutes before the membrane would harden) and the fluorescent protein creating DNA was injected into them which then combines with the zebra danio DNA. Then the fry were raised and out of many thousands of attempts they would get a few that exhibited the fluorescent protein. Then those were selectively bred to produce the modern day Glofish.

All of the glofish in the world come from just a handful of these creations. Love or hate these fish, you have to admire the technology and the difficulty it took to create them.

What created the Blue Acara was forced hybridization. A female fish is treated with a hormone (usually BCG) which causes eggs to ripen. Then the eggs are stripped from the female and mixed with the sperm stripped from a donor male. This is actually quite easy to do since the fish have external fertilization. Then they are hatched and raised in a lab. From there it's just line breeding to get the trait stabilized.

Fortunately Acara's and Rams aren't that far apart genetically and were able to breed true. It would be a lot different if it was tried with an Acara and a Red Zebra.


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## ACC in NC

Narwhal72 said:


> The genetically modified fish I've seen, they use a fluorescent protein gene derived from jellyfish or coral. When they inject it in the reproductive organs the fish will produce offspring that are fluorescent and glow under a black light and when those offspring breed they will keep passing it along.
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite. The creator of the Glofish actually did a talk at one of our club meetings a few months back and described how the process was done. Zebra danio eggs were taken immediately after being laid (there was only a few minutes before the membrane would harden) and the fluorescent protein creating DNA was injected into them which then combines with the zebra danio DNA. Then the fry were raised and out of many thousands of attempts they would get a few that exhibited the fluorescent protein. Then those were selectively bred to produce the modern day Glofish.
> 
> All of the glofish in the world come from just a handful of these creations. Love or hate these fish, you have to admire the technology and the difficulty it took to create them.
> 
> What created the Blue Acara was forced hybridization. A female fish is treated with a hormone (usually BCG) which causes eggs to ripen. Then the eggs are stripped from the female and mixed with the sperm stripped from a donor male. This is actually quite easy to do since the fish have external fertilization. Then they are hatched and raised in a lab. From there it's just line breeding to get the trait stabilized.
> 
> Fortunately Acara's and Rams aren't that far apart genetically and were able to breed true. It would be a lot different if it was tried with an Acara and a Red Zebra.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information!


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## Iggy Newcastle

Thanks for the education narwhal


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## Narwhal72

Thanks. The speaker who gave the talk is Bill Shields. If you are a member of a local club I highly encourage getting him to speak about the Glofish history. It's really fascinating.

Andy


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## Caryphotography

I'm trying to determine the sex of my Electric Blue Acara and would anyone happen to know the tell tell differences between a male and a female.


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## ACC in NC

Caryphotography said:


> I'm trying to determine the sex of my Electric Blue Acara and would anyone happen to know the tell tell differences between a male and a female.


That's a male! The males have longer dorsal and anal fins like yours and are larger and more full bodied. Males seem to have more of a hump on the forehead also. I'm thinking the males max out around 5 inches and the females 3.75 inches but males seem to be twice the body mass.

Female


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## ACC in NC

So far both batches of fry I pulled are all starting to show the blue coming in.


Another shot of one of the males.


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## Jersey_cichlid_guy

ACC in NC said:


> So far both batches of fry I pulled are all starting to show the blue coming in.
> 
> 
> Another shot of one of the males.


Do you pull all of the fry? Would the parents eat them if they were left in the tank?


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## Iggy Newcastle

Awesome photos guys!


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## ACC in NC

Jersey_cichlid_guy said:


> Do you pull all of the fry? Would the parents eat them if they were left in the tank?


I pulled the first two batches just so I would have some fry. All three of the females have spawned two more times and I didn't pull them and they disappeared. I have the EBA in with a school of large Gold Barbs that are about 3 inches long with a few Bushynose Pleco's. The females have been spawning about every two to three weeks and usually right after a water change.


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## ACC in NC

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Awesome photos guys!


Thanks Iggy!


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## Jersey_cichlid_guy

nice


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## ACC in NC

Narwhal72 said:


> Thanks. The speaker who gave the talk is Bill Shields. If you are a member of a local club I highly encourage getting him to speak about the Glofish history. It's really fascinating.
> 
> Andy


Saw this on YouTube about making Transgenic Fish >>>


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## dkd49424

Hi- I decided to try and breed these beautiful fish. I really had never tried any of this before. I ended up starting with 20 juvies. So far I've now had 7 successful hatches and am raising approximately 900 fry. The oldest are almost an inch long. These are truly amazing fish to watch. Very interesting.


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## ACC in NC

dkd49424 said:


> Hi- I decided to try and breed these beautiful fish. I really had never tried any of this before. I ended up starting with 20 juvies. So far I've now had 7 successful hatches and am raising approximately 900 fry. The oldest are almost an inch long. These are truly amazing fish to watch. Very interesting.


I think there the perfect cichlid! Their hardy, colorful, not to big, full of personality, live long, and are true "Wet Pets"!


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## ACC in NC




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## Jackonite

Hi, i have a pair of these in a 40 gallon planted tank. Is there any fish that i could put in with them?


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## nicola1986

ACC in NC said:


> Is there anyone else around here keeping these? I received 8 back in June and there doing great.


In got 2 male and female eba's around 6months old they're 4-5cm right now
Think they're amazing I love them 
Don't know how to post pics there's nothing to upload attachments sorry if I'm being stupid lol


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## ACC in NC

Video of Electric Blue Acara outside in the pond.


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## ZeroSystem44

I have one of these guys in a 15 gallon. He's about 1½ inches. I was planning on moving him to a 75 with CA cichlids eventually, however if he'd be alright in a 15 with a few dither fish, I'd like to do that instead. Is a 15g too small for a lone EBA?


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## robn_69

I just got my first one the other day! Saw them in the lfs and had to have one! I setup my old 75 gallon african tank just to house him or her.


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## mcmaxie

ZeroSystem44 said:


> I have one of these guys in a 15 gallon. He's about 1½ inches. I was planning on moving him to a 75 with CA cichlids eventually, however if he'd be alright in a 15 with a few dither fish, I'd like to do that instead. Is a 15g too small for a lone EBA?


These guys get up to 4-5 inches and really need at least a 30 gallon tank. I tried one in a 20 gallon and it soon became obvious he needed more space. He would do much better in the 75 with your other CA Cichlids assuming the 75 is not two crowded.


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## LarryZ

Just bought 8 the same 1.5" - 2" size you folks are referring to. My old male green sev died and the female was acting skittish. I figured I'd try a new cichlid in my 135 and try some breeding again. I saw these for the first time a couple of weeks ago at a pet shop in Denver. When I put them in they were terrified of the old female, (about 6"), but now they all get along fine. My sevs loved frozen bloodworms as well as live nightcrawlers. Anybody got an opinion on the same for the EBA's ?


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## LarryZ

Well, to answer my own query, the EBC's don't really care for the bloodworms. They love frozen brine and Omega One flake. They've already added about one half to three qtrs. of an inch to their length. Beautiful specimens


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## KellyAnn682

My EBA's love bloodworms. Yesterday I introduced them to brine shrimp. Mine eat anything. I have 2. One loves flakes which I put in there for my tetras/rasboras. And the other is a pig. He eats: NLS sinking pellets, flakes, blood worms, and brine shrimp so far. :fish:


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## Mudkicker

It's too bad these are Hybrids, beautiful fish!


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## LarryZ

Had quite a surprise this morning. I've got my ebc's in this 135 that is bare bottom, (no gravel), with one end a pile of driftwood where the outside filter is with siphon tube. The other end is a 6" x 6" x 4" double stacked foam filter with a power head on top that I made. I usually do 2 10 gallon water changes per week that I water my plants with in my greenhouse. I'll shut off the power head and gently move the foam out of the way, while I siphon the crud that congregates there. When I moved the foam one of the ebc's came out and attacked the hose. I thought it odd that they weren't afraid and swim to the other side of the tank like normal. Then I realized when was happening. I let the stuff settle in the bucket, and gently poured out clear water until I got down to the last half inch or so. Sure enough I saw about 8 little fry which I returned to the parents and saw a whole lot more in the corner. I've decided to leave them in together for now, so I took a large piece of plastic and wedged it at an angle with suction cups to hold it in place. This serves as a tank divider to keep the other 6 ebc's and a large pleco at bay.

My plan is to feed them some frozen baby brine, and what they can graze off of the foam. I'm sure there's a lot of little organisms that live on those things as well. When they get a little larger, I'll move them to a nursery tank.


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## Julie0811

I am quickly skimming thru these post trying to figure out how to tell the difference between a male and female? Thank you


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## fathertime

Julie0811 said:


> I am quickly skimming thru these post trying to figure out how to tell the difference between a male and female? Thank you


Sexing Electric Blue Acara can be a bit tricky as they are almost sexually monomorphic; however, if you are working with mature EBA it's a bit easier. I am no expert on the matter by any means, but I have successfully spawned EBA on several occasions and have developed a few helpful methods of identifying males vs females.

1) In mature EBA the male is usually substantially larger than the female... For instance, my breeding male almost hits 7" in length; however, his breeding partner is only 2 1/2 inches in length, both fully grown.

2) The dorsal fins on the males tend to be longer than the females, often extending past their tail fin with a hair like extension on the tip, while the females dorsal fin will be shorter than the tail fin and be rounded on the tip.

3) the tube from which eggs/seaman is extruded is longer and more prominent on the females than on the males.

4) during courting the female will demonstrate a very dark face coloration, or as I call it the "homer simpson beard"; where as the males body tends to darken rather than his face.

I can't stress enough, the above comments are by no means an absolute method of identifying males vs females, but rather some common trends between males and females that can help make you an educated guess; but simply put, you can always be wrong even when all of the above point to that you are correct.

On a personal note... I can say that hands down this has been my favorite species to keep to date... Their mild temperament, courting behaviors(I swear mine play peekabo while guarding the eggs to pass the time), parental skills and overall beauty make them a fish that can't be overlooked!


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## Hillyer73

Just showing off my pair, had two successful batches so far, on my third now.


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## Hillyer73

Two..not to..Sorry, autocorrect sucks sometimes. Lol. And site won't allow my edit for some reason.


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## Deeda

Welcome to C-F!!!

I edited your post to correct the batch number and you can only edit your post for a few minutes after posting.


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## NJmomie

Hillyer73 said:


> Two..not to..Sorry, autocorrect sucks sometimes. Lol. And site won't allow my edit for some reason.


I think I also have a pair... may I ask what else you have in the tank with the pair and how large is the tank they are in? Thanks.


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