# My newest additions! Bolivians!



## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Picked up 4 Bolivians last night to add to my 40gal breeder.

I pretty sure at least ONE of them is a male... May have gotten lucky and gotten two pairs!! Maybe.

My GBR seems to be a bit smaller then two of the Bolivians, for sure, but he now has more coloration then he ever did... I think he wants them to know they are swimming in his part of the tank... lol

Pictures were taken with a crappy old camera. Sorry the quality! Also, the tank for some reason looks to be dirty in the pics, but it is crystal clear in person... just this **** camera!

The two bigger ones in the store(which I got) were FULL of color, and were bullying the poor smaller BR's with them constantly.. but in my 40g they don't know what to do with all the room it seemed! lol


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

they look great, congrats


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Thanks!

Here is a video of the angry as **** GBR during feeding time... lol


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## irondan (Nov 22, 2007)

very cool vid. i see a lot of similarities with my tank. i have a 35 with 3 bolivians and an albino cory and a peppered cory. i also have a halfbeak and danios. great looking setup you have there


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Thank very much!

I am going to have to either get rid of my cories and loach, or move them over to my old 36 gallon bowfront... But my cory's were the first fish I put in my tank... so.. it will be hard. lol


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Just wanted to see them sleeping so I turned on the light and found one of the BRs full of black!


















Is this normal, looks amazing to me!


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## sergey6116 (Aug 2, 2011)

Wonderful fishes :thumb: :fish: :fish: .


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

Old camera or not, nice pics, great looking tank and fish! You found some nice ones :thumb: Yes, I've seen my BRs and GBRs go black like in your pic when startled or stressed... Maybe trying to camouflage..? :fish:


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I think the light is what did it... if you like watching them while they sleep, try actinic lighting, or just have background lights on. That way, you won't startle them out of their slumber.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Thanks guys!

Well.. my main hold up on my plants are lighting... I am using my old 22" single bulb tp light my 40 gall that is 36" long.. lol

I am gonna get some of those silver dome "work/shop lights" and put some HO CFLs in them for the 40, and put the old bulb back on the 36g BF so I can get that started again! 

Am thinking of moving EVERYTHING(fish wise lol) to the 36 gal beside for my rams... that way, they can chill, and settle down and hook up!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

TeteRouge said:


> Old camera or not, nice pics, great looking tank and fish! You found some nice ones :thumb: Yes, I've seen my BRs and GBRs go black like in your pic when startled or stressed... Maybe trying to camouflage..? :fish:


This morning they were all like that, well all of the Bolivians that is.

I am guessing its for camouflage at night time while they sleep.


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## Rammer (Jun 6, 2011)

You must have a male BR lol. I think its the one in the vid that always faces your GBR head on lol. Your GBR doesn't want to lose his reign over your tank for sure! Nice pics and vid!!!!!!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, I saw that one of the BRs FOR sure is a male by his anal tube, the ratio is 1:3 M/F

The GBR I am still confused about as far as the sex... I have never seen it that colored up till I put the BRs in.

Last night I rearranged the tank to diminish the GBRs "grounds" lol. The BRs look to be slightly more colorful, and all are not fighting as much.

Will get a new video and some pictures up soon!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)




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## Rammer (Jun 6, 2011)

I think your GBR is a male, I didn't notice any pink on the stomach area so I am going to say male.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

*glares at that guppy*

Does not belong! :x you should sell him and get a nice school of tetras.

Also, the tank could do with some driftwood/rocks on top of what you have to make little caves and hideouts. That would probably help decrease the territorial aggression as well.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, I was honestly hoping my African Cichlids(when I was gonna do a rift tank) would get him...

I am waiting to see if anyone wants him... and the rest of my other stock besides my rams...

I am currently soaking a piece of wood I found in the desert of tannis ATM.. been doing so for the past week or two now.

Debating just getting a huge pot to boil it and get it over with in just a few hours. lol


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I like the blackwater look 

That's probably just me though... The tannins do help lower the pH and keep it low though.

And I think boiling the wood would be much faster, but you may need a huge pot, or a cauldron+bonfire, for that :lol:

Edit: bolivians like the blackwater effect as well; most SA dwarves do I think...


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, I would like ti too, but this wood is stinky! lol

I just boiled it for 10 mins and the water was BLACK! It leached the Tannis out soooooo quick!!!

But it smells terrible!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Here is the male Bolivian this morning in full colors...

He was chasing around one of the little females like crazy too!

But now, he is all alone with my GBR hanging out in the "dude" corner. lol


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I use manzanita and malaysian driftwood, which leach tannins like mad, but don't smell or anything  Also, I cheat and add extract :lol:

As for the colour, that's nothing; wait till he gets about 3 inches, then he'll have some VERY nice colours.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

What exactly does extract do???

I don't want a tea colored tank.. lol but I want some DF in there!


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

It makes the tank a dark tan/brown  and it can also lower the pH

Idk I like that kind of look... maybe I'm just weird :lol:

Btw... what's DF? only thing that comes to mind is dead fish...


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

I also like a light brown water. It helps stable your ph out and blocks some light. And bolivians do like lower lighting. By df I'm thinking he means drift wood? Dw


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah Drift Wood. 

I would have to see a tank with the water like that to actually consider making my water a black tea color.. lol

The wood I have been boiling leaches out DARK tea coloring's and smells TERRIBLE!


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

Gimme a few days I gotta get my camera fixed; I'll try and get a few nice pics of my 20H blackwater once it's fixed


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Sweet!


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

halffrozen said:


> Yeah Drift Wood.
> 
> The wood I have been boiling leaches out DARK tea coloring's and smells TERRIBLE!


Was that piece of wood found along a path where dogs are walked? (sniffing suspiciously)  :lol:


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

TeteRouge said:


> halffrozen said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah Drift Wood.
> ...


LMAO!

No, I wander about half a mile off the beaten path and found it in the middle of a bunch of nice dark rocks...

I let it dry out all yesterday and today, tonight I will boil it a bit more and see how much tannis comes out.


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## Rammer (Jun 6, 2011)

I have never had a piece of drift wood leach that much tannis before!! I let mine sit in a bucket of water for two days and got a light yellow/tan color. Put it in my tank and only had the light yellow/tan color for a week, lol!!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, I am thinking of ordering some from a local seller or or online... online seems to be a tad bit cheaper.


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## Rammer (Jun 6, 2011)

I like local, just because you can actually see the pieces before buying instead of getting a mystery. There is also the joy of it being a suprise then you can play around with it lol!!!


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, but the only downside to local is.. they are about 2 hours away.. lol

Here are some recent pictures from today...

One from this morning before I left for work, the male and female I think that have paired off, already.










And just taken before bed time. 

They are still together, which makes sense.. when I was looking at purchasing theses guys, they were both FULLY colored, and BOTH were bullying around all the other 6-7 BRs.. lol I think I might have gotten the M/F that laid eggs a few days before I had bought them... they protect each other, and when my GBR(the little a55hole he is) attacked them.. one swims to the other and then they both chase the GBR around.. lol

Note: you can see the butthole GBR in the background.. lol


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

They look great. I have just got two like 4 days ago. I believe one is male the other female. They always are by each other. But mine have this dark brown color all the time.


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

See


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

What are your parameters?

Also, the best and surest way to tell the sex is by their anal fin size/shape.

The bigger more blunt anal fins are females, the smaller more pointed anal fins are males.


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

My ph is about 7.6. Nitrate is 5. Gh is 40. Ammonia and nitrite 0. 
It's a 20 gallon lightly planted with drift wood and rock caves. Only ottos and a snail are in with them.


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

Nitrate is 5???


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

Ya it's 5 ppm. That's low is it not??? I have planted tank so the plants pull some nitrate out?


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## halffrozen (Sep 24, 2011)

I thought you might have meant 50ppm.. I was gonna say.. wow! lol

That should be ok...


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## Z90a (Sep 25, 2011)

I actually just tested and it came back as 0. 
I guess it could be due to them getting used to there surroundings still. Could it be due to me having black gravel so there blending in? But it could be to bright of a light. But my onion plants and waterlilly will take care of that when they grow a bit more.


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## Raylans_girl (Aug 11, 2011)

Really nice bolivians. I have 3 in my 20 long and they are my favorite fish. They have awesome personalities, they hide from everyone that walks up to the tank but me, they know who feeds them and cleans their house! Good luck.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

My rams (blue and bolivian) had much better colours when the lights were dimmer; I think that's because, in the Amazon, the rainforest canopy tends to block out most of the sunlight, and what's left are usually diminished by all the plants.


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