# Chocolate, Chanchitos and Keyhole pictures



## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

Sorry for poor pictures









































































Thanks for looking!


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Lookin good.

Nove blues and red tail on the Oblongum.

Love the Chocolate. Gotsta get me one of them someday.

...Bill


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

Thanks Bill, they come from good stock :thumb: 
Like I said in my pm, I am still waiting to see a pair form.
By the way, the smaller fish in the foreground of the 4th picture is the tiny fish you accidentally caught and threw in with the 3 fish i ordered. He/she is about a third the size of the others, but still doing great.

Chocolate is awesome. What a great Cichlid. He has gotten along really, really well with the Oblongum and Keyholes.


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

What size tank Hondo? How is the Chocolate tempermant wise towards the Keyholes? It's been my experience that Keyholes are most enjoyable when they are the undisputed 'bosses' of the tank - but in the 3rd to last picture with the Chocolate your keyholes look great - no stress bars at all!

I've got a 75g with half a dozen keyholes (hoping to get a pair or two), some Bolivians, fancy plecos and tetras... The keyholes & Bolivians provide great personality but I always wonder how the tank would be with one bigger 'feature' fish... Chocolate or Rotkiel have been the choices I flip back & forth on... I am worried about upsetting a great balance I have in my tank and would also worry about the Cardinal tetras becoming lunch...


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

Currently, these fish are all together in a 75. I have a 180 that I am working on getting setup, so this is a very temporary set up. They will all go in the 180 and nothing else. Long term, I will have the chocolate, chanchitos and keyholes with tetras. I may add a few keyholes as I only have 3 now.

The keyholes are the fish i have had the longest. i think that helps. they are more mature and the oblongum and temporalis have been with them since i got them. they basically ignore eachother and the keyholes show no real signs of stress. the largest keyhole was actually the one chasing the chanchitos and chocolate when i first got them.

chanchitos do chase eachother and i hope to eventually just have a pair. i try to do my best to always make sure the keyholes have places to hide out and relax. one last thing, besides the temporalis being ectremely laid back, he usually has his nose sticking out the top of the water looking for food while the keyholes prety much chill on the bottom. seems to work for me!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

illy-d, i forgot to say, your chocolate will probably eat the rummynose. mine was picking off pristellas until i moved them. keyholes may also take care of them though, so it may not be an issue!

if you go with temporalis, i would get rid of either the rams or keyholes... i think its not enough room for both. just my opinion.


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## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Beautiful!

What kind of plants are those?... and what are you lighting the tank with!

I love it!

-Ryan


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Awesome, some of my favorites!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

thanks guys.

all the plants are anubias. couple different kinds and all are floating and/or have attached themselves to the wood. there are actually a couple small java ferns attached to the wood also.


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

Do you only have the one chocolate? I'm considering doing something similar except in a 150g tank and silver dollars instead of tetras.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

yep, one chocolate. i have heard there are very agressive towards eachother. hes great with the other non chocolates though.

he just ate all 11 of my pristella tetras last week and i saw a huge wound on one of my blackskirts yesterday. silver dollars is probably a good idea... just a heads up though, silver dollars will most likely eat any and all plants you keep in the tank. i know you were asking if chocolates eat plants, so thats something to think about.


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

Good point, I didn't realize that silver dollars ate plant too. Maybe I'll just go with fake ones and toss in some watersprite every now and then. I also didn't know they were aggressive with each other. I'm trying to decide on going with a chocolate or some severums.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

150g you can do both.

...Bill


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

yeah, you could do one of each and they would be good to go.
the sev i used to have liked to eat anacharis as a treat once in a while. peas too.


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

I guess I could do both. I've heard that chocolates are really messy fish, comparable to oscars. Is this true too?


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I don't think a chocolate would be messier than an oscar...


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

I'm hoping not! Oscars are pretty darn messy! I had read somewhere that chocolates are just as bad, but I wasn't sure. I'm looking at having a nice somewhat peaceful south american community. Chocolates are up at the top of my list but seeing as the tank is still in the being built stage, I have time to change my mind :lol: , hopefully not too many times!

I'm also thinking of a chocolate because I've always liked them and Spencer Jack just so happens to have some. I'm debating waiting until the tank is ready and hoping he still has some or getting one (they are 1.5" at this point) and putting it in my 33g planted angel tank temporarily.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

dont buy one and put it in a 33 with angels if you dont have the big tank. they grow FAST and that will quickly become way overcrowded. also, if you do it, you will jinx yourself and the big tank will fall through. its murphys law and its real, haha.

get the tank, then get your fish. you will be able to find a chocolate. they arent really common but they are by no means rare.

i could have just said "see thefishguy's signature"


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

lol :lol: I was thinking of the fish guys signature when I was contemplating buying the chocolate! I figured it would be a bad idea. but the tank had better not fall through! I already put a deposit on it!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Signatures are so often overlooked. I'm glad people are taking notice


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## thinking_fish (Aug 13, 2007)

Very nice tank, and its true you should always work on getting the tank before the fish. Never know what the future holds.


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