# Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)



## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
It took about a year, but my wild Muzi gold head comps finally started to spawn. I did this with my calvus and folks seemed to like it; so, I thought IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢d try it with my F1 Muzi gold head comp fry: a photo journal of their development.

One of the wild females guarding eggs









The fry start to emerge from the spawning shell (11/4/11)









Thanks for coming along for the ride 
Russ


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
A few pics of one of the males (he's the alpha male)


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
The 2.5 gallon nursery tank (11/29/11)


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
The two dominant males have each paired off with a female and they exclusively spawn with only that male. This is the beta male and he is my favorite. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve had a hard time getting good images of him as he is always moving when his fins are flared.


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
Moving up Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the fry were moved to a larger nursery tank: a 10 gallon tank (1/11/12)


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
Updated pics (1/28/12) Ã¢â‚¬â€œ closing in on three months (most of them)


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## Razzo

Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head)
One of the females guarding eggs again and squaring off against an intruding brevis


















A couple of the females getting Ã¢â‚¬Å"biffyÃ¢â‚¬Â


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## bigwaverider

Sick sick sick

What size tank you got going how bout a pic of it. Was thinking of doing the same type set up brevis with calvus the Congo black ones. Really want a.tank with a pair of bruescheri and maybe sunburned dwarfs mix in some cyps and I would be happy if that would work.


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## Guest

=D> Great pics!


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## PTrops

How big are the goldheads?


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## Razzo

The males are probably 5 to 6"

Females 3 to 4.5"


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## PTrops

That's nice :drooling: :drooling:


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## londonloco

Wonderful as normal Russ. Glad to see they finally spawned for you!


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## Razzo

londonloco said:


> Wonderful as normal Russ. Glad to see they finally spawned for you!


Thanks 

How are your calvus doing?


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## hrunok

Congratulations!!
Great fish!

When they start to spawn?
I have 3 altolamprologus compressiceps gold in mix tang. with frontosas and multifasciatus group, and they are dooing well. they are aprox. 5-6cm big.


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## Bodenhimer

Man those are gorgeous!! :thumb: I love the gold around the whole animal. I havent seen that before!! Gonna need some of those!! =D>


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## Razzo

2/24/12 - Just an update on the *Altolamprologus compressiceps Muzi gold head* fry...

They are approaching 4 months old and are doing very well. I had minimal losses with these altolamp fry. I tried to increase the protein levels in their food and it seems to have helped. Also, I keep a VERY clean tank with approx 50% water changes every few days (each water change includes vacuuming the tank and cleaning the filter sponges). They are doing very good and seem pretty robust. They are very active and very personable - they like to greet me at the tank.

I work from home many days so I do frequent smaller feedings (sometimes as often as 4x per day. They seem to like it. Here's a few pics from tonight. Hope you like


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## Razzo

Just an update on this group - I've had a couple people on my fry waiting list ask for photos (figure this would be the easiest to just copy/paste this link).

I have been growing out these Muzi gold head comp fry with some calvus fry in a 30 gallon tank. I really haven't paid much attention to them this spring & summer. I decided to measure a few fish from each species and was very surprised to find that some of the largest Muzi are 1.5"  I was even more surprised that the largest calvus fry have reached 1.25" So, with the request for photos, I started shooting again. Haven't quite figured out how best to shoot this tank yet but I am working on it. Here's a couple pics...



















Took a few pics of the adult Muzis. Here's my favorite below. This first pic was a little soft and I increased my ISO on the 2nd pic so I could get a faster shutter. I really like how dark this male is - he's my favorite fish in my collection. Hope you like...



















Take care,
Russ


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## Dawg2012

Man... awesome... just awesome... I'm setting up a new Tang tank and just fell in love with this fish. Might have to check into them.

Nice fish and nice pictures. :thumb:


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## Razzo

Thanks Dawg 

This is my favorite male and he is constantly flaring his fins and moving. He has been a challenge to photograph. I have not been very happy with my photos. My lighting needs improving - gotta have my ISO up to 1600 or 3200 just to get a shutter speed of 1/40 (f/5)  I would love to get my ISO down to 100 or 200 and my shutter speed at 200+ to capture motion. Would love to increase DOF too. I am looking into some speedylights to help with this. Light is the answer.

I liked this pic (little soft but about as good as I can get without bumping the ISO up to 6400).
He has some gold blaze in his tail fin and at the back of his dorsal & cadual fins. Got blurred unfortunately.









I am OK when they are "standing" still 









Russ


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## Dawg2012

I'm so freaking excited it's not even funny! :drooling: :dancing:


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## Storiwyr

ME TOO!


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## iandraco

me three.


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## Dawg2012




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## Razzo

Put some new lights on the F0 Muzi tank in hopes of getting faster shutter speeds. Took a few pics of my favorite Muzi (my beta male). He is so dark (which I love) and I have to take my light meter reading off his dark side but when I do, the white substrate gets over exposed. I'll have to work on that.

I'll add a few camera setting comments for my fish friends with DSLRs

These pics: ISO 800 (which is an improvement), Shutter 1/50, & aperture 5.6
In the right spots, with an ISO of 1600 I was able to get a shutter speed of 1/250 which should be good to capture motion. Sensing I had the room, I bumped the ISO down to 800 and shutter speeds between 1/125 and 1/50. Previously, before the new lights, I had to have my ISO at 3200 (which yielded very grainy images) to get the same shutter speeds. With tank lighting, I need the lens opening as large as possible to keep the ISO down to an acceptable level and still give me a shutter speed that can capture motion (vs. blurring it).

The ideal for me, in this setting, to capture a creatively correct exposure would be an ISO 100, a who cares aperture of f/8 to f/11 and shutter speeds near 1/250. Without a flash, those conditions are outside conditions with natural sunlight. Inside my dark basement with no flash: ISO 800, Shutter 1/50, & aperture 5.6 is where I am at 










I just love the gold blaze in his fins









An aperture of f/5.6 (the largest lens opening letting in the most amount of light) also causes a reduced Depth of Field which is seen as the blurring of the background. An aperture of f/22 would be a much smaller lens opening and would increase the depth of field and the female in the background would be in focus too.


















Hope you like  
Russ


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## dbcb314

You fish and pictures are stunning!

Do you have a FTS?


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## Iggy Newcastle

He's a real stunner Russ. Sweet.


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## Razzo

dbcb314 said:


> You fish and pictures are stunning!
> 
> Do you have a FTS?


Thanks 

FTS is nothing special - just a boring tank set up for breeding priority. I'll snap a FTS later today.

Russ


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## Razzo

Iggy Newcastle said:


> He's a real stunner Russ. Sweet.


Thanks man!


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## metricliman

I wish I had room for a tank like that! :drooling: 10 is the max I can fit in my house :x


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## Razzo

dbcb314 said:


> ...Do you have a FTS?


Here's that FTS....

Far left is a calvys bcwp that I have been growing out.
Shell left center - Alpha Muzi pair spawning shell
Shell center right - Beta Muzi pair spawning shell
Far right - shell for lone brevis kituma

Fish are very shy today bc had major tank maintenance a couple days ago and they are a little freaked out with the new lights.

Like I said, nothing fancy, just a tank setup for spawning the Muzi.










Russ


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## Razzo

I have waited a long time to capture this image.

Wild Muzi gold head comps do not come in from the lake very often. A friend imported a group of them and I have long since known that Muzi are his favorite altolamp species. I had placed an order for my wild calvus (bcwp) and he began to talk me into getting some Muzi too. He sent me a couple pictures which he would confess were not very good. My reason for saying that is to point out that the photos he sent were not going to sell me the fish. I took my friend at his word and ordered some. After a few years of them maturing, this is what I ended up with. This particular male Muzi is my favorite altolamp period. I am so glad I took my friend's advice.

*Altolamprologus compressiceps Muzi gold head* (wild male)
f/5.0, ISO 800, Shutter 1/60, & Exposure Compensation -1/3









If there is a smiley for "contented" I would insert it now 

Russ


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## Razzo

I turned that pic into my new avatar


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## Razzo

Just an update on a group of the F1 Altolamprologus compressiceps Muzi gold head fry that I have saved for myself to grow out. I had removed a group from the general population and put them in the 55 with the wild calvus to grow them out a bit and until I make the 72 gallon bow front tank ready for them.

These guys were first noticed in the mouth of their spawning shell on 11/4/11 and that would make them approx 10 months old 9/5/12. Btw: the oldest ones are from that spawn and there are younger groups most likely mixed in too (so, not all are 10 months old). I would guess the larger ones to be somewhere between 1.50 and 1.75". Here's a few pics.... Thanks for looking


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## Ladyfish

Fabulous pictures of some truly lovely fish! Your Muzi gold head picture is especially wonderful, gratz on capturing that! And thanks for all the camera details, that is helping me a lot


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## Razzo

Just an update on the Altolamprologus compressiceps (Muzi gold head) factory. I kept a group of F1 fry from my very first spawn and have been growing them out to, eventually, be put in my frontosa tank. I have them in a 72 gallon bow front right now and the biggest one have got to be close to 2" now.

Gold head comps are one of the hardest cichlids to photograph for me. The reason I say that is, it is so difficult to get the warmth of their color to show up in pictures. When I got my wild group, that frustrated me and I took it as a challenge to be able to capture them the way I actually see them. It took some time but I felt I accomplished that with the parents. I am now experiencing the same issue with the their fry.

I plan to photogrpah this group for a couple weeks, getting them used to the camera and all so I can get some good poses. In any event, here are a couple images that I liked....










This one and a few others seem to have the trait that I liked so much on one of the males that produced half of my fry.









Here's the wild dad when I first got him. He kinda had lighter bars and a glow to him which eventually turned really dark contrasted against that gold head. I love that. It will take a while for them to grow up and color out, but they have early signs that they may turn out like their dad. Here are a few pics of the wild dad throughout the years from when I first got him to recently.



















It wasn't until about 4 to 4.5" that he really got dark

Here's the latest batch of F1 Muzi fry mixed in with some calvus fry.









Hope you enjoyed 

Ryss


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## TLO1

Nice! opcorn:


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## Razzo

Thanks 

Here's one of the one's that I have in my personal growout tank - he thinks he is the alpha :lol:

He does have nice color though.



















Russ


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## LouIE82

You always have the best looking fish! 
Do you notice much digging from your comps? Is it a trend that only happens with male or female? My one comp digs all the time, it makes sand mountains in no time.


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## kendallikeeper

thanks for posting these are beautiful!!!


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## Razzo

LouIE82 said:


> You always have the best looking fish!
> Do you notice much digging from your comps? Is it a trend that only happens with male or female? My one comp digs all the time, it makes sand mountains in no time.


Thank you 

I only notice digging with F1 fry when I have a fine sand in with them (no shells and some rock clusters). None of my wild groups (Orange fin comps, Muzi gold head comps, or calvus BCWP) seemed to dig. They took to the shells I had for them. Just don't recall much digging.

Russ


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## Razzo

TLO1 said:


> Nice! opcorn:


Hey TL01,

Can't recall if I asked the following question in another thread???? I really like your cartoon avatar. I am seeing more and more of those lately. Did you make that yourself?

Might as well put up another Muzi picture too:
One of my favorites, two of the wild females getting biffy with each other...
Notice the dropped tube on the female on the left


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## TLO1

Hi Razzo,

you did...  
Here you go again:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=239977&start=105


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## FJB2

Hi Razzo, I have 6 gold head muzi's in a 125g community tang tank with calvus (chaitika whites and inkfins), 3 Callochromis pleurospilus, 4 Neolamp caudopuncs, and a bunch of Cyprichromis leptosoma. Most of my fish have begun to "pair off" and hanging out exclusively with each other. This morning I began to notice that a particular pair of gold heads were hovering over some barnacles. They are not letting anyone anywhere near these barnacles nor have they themselves left that spot all day. I am assuming that they have spawned. My question is...do I remove said pair of gold heads and their barnacles OR should I remove just the barnacles OR should I just leave everything alone and wait for fry to come out and hope the other fish do not eat them for dinner? Any help/info on spawning calvus/comps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## Razzo

FJB2 said:


> Hi Razzo, I have 6 gold head muzi's in a 125g community tang tank with calvus (chaitika whites and inkfins), 3 Callochromis pleurospilus, 4 Neolamp caudopuncs, and a bunch of Cyprichromis leptosoma. Most of my fish have begun to "pair off" and hanging out exclusively with each other. This morning I began to notice that a particular pair of gold heads were hovering over some barnacles. They are not letting anyone anywhere near these barnacles nor have they themselves left that spot all day. I am assuming that they have spawned. My question is...do I remove said pair of gold heads and their barnacles OR should I remove just the barnacles OR should I just leave everything alone and wait for fry to come out and hope the other fish do not eat them for dinner? Any help/info on spawning calvus/comps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


Hey Frank,

Sorry that I missed this. I am not getting email notifications anymore???? I need to check into that.

In any event, sounds like a spawn to me. I usually wait until I see fry swimming near the mouth of the shell. I then pull the shell and dump fry into a nursery tank and try to remove the adults back to the main tank.

Hope that helps!

Russ


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## Razzo

TLO1 said:


> Hi Razzo,
> 
> you did...
> Here you go again:
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=239977&start=105


Thanks Mate. I replied to that thread with a work flow question.

Russ


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## austings

You have some stunning fish! I gotta get me some of those Muzi gold heads.


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## blueDiamond

They look great.


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## Razzo

austings said:


> You have some stunning fish! I gotta get me some of those Muzi gold heads.


I currently have about 100 F1 Muzi gold head fry left (about 1.50" long). They will be my last fry as I moved the wild parents to a friend in another state.

Shoot me a PM please for details. I do ship.

Thanks,
Russ


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## Ladyfish

Razzo said:


> I currently have about 100 F1 Muzi gold head fry left (about 1.50" long). They will be my last fry as I moved the wild parents to a friend in another state.
> 
> Shoot me a PM please for details. I do ship.
> 
> Thanks,
> Russ


Hi Russ, I''d love some too! PM sent


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## Ladyfish

Razzo said:


> austings said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have some stunning fish! I gotta get me some of those Muzi gold heads.
> 
> 
> 
> I currently have about 100 F1 Muzi gold head fry left (about 1.50" long). They will be my last fry as I moved the wild parents to a friend in another state.
> 
> Shoot me a PM please for details. I do ship.
> 
> Thanks,
> Russ
Click to expand...

Hey Russ, I've replied to your PM, but my reply seems to be stuck in my outbox for the past day :? Hopefully will reach you soon!


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## Razzo

Ladyfish said:


> Razzo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> austings said:
> 
> 
> 
> You have some stunning fish! I gotta get me some of those Muzi gold heads.
> 
> 
> 
> I currently have about 100 F1 Muzi gold head fry left (about 1.50" long). They will be my last fry as I moved the wild parents to a friend in another state.
> 
> Shoot me a PM please for details. I do ship.
> 
> Thanks,
> Russ
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hey Russ, I've replied to your PM, but my reply seems to be stuck in my outbox for the past day :? Hopefully will reach you soon!
Click to expand...

Hey LF, messages stay in your outbox until the recipient opens them. Not your fault but mine  I replied 

Thanks,
Russ


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## bwestgsx06

I just sent a PM concerning some fry!


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## Ladyfish

Received some absolutely beautiful Muzi Gold Head and Calvus fry yesterday from Russ. Today, they are settled in, eating voraciously and looking lovely!

I have uploaded loads of pics on my other thread: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=262185 but here is one just for fun:









Thanks again for these beauties!!


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## Razzo

Ladyfish said:


> Received some absolutely beautiful Muzi Gold Head and Calvus fry yesterday from Russ. Today, they are settled in, eating voraciously and looking lovely!
> 
> I have uploaded loads of pics on my other thread: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=262185 but here is one just for fun:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks again for these beauties!!


You are most welcome! You tank looks amazing and the Muzi and calvus look really happy!

Very excited to see you enjoying them!

I look forward to pictorial updates 

Russ


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## TfnG

old post but i have to ask...do all gold head comps get this AMAZING dark body color? or is this specific to the Muzi ?

i NEED these


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## Razzo

TfnG said:


> old post but i have to ask...do all gold head comps get this AMAZING dark body color? or is this specific to the Muzi ?
> 
> i NEED these


No, all gold head comps do not get that AMAZING. That male was an exceptional specimen from a collection point with the best altolamps in the lake  This is all just my opinion and the opinion of my importer (mentor and friend) who talked me into Muzi. Muzi do not come in from the lake all that often and when they do you need to jump on them. They are the best gold head (period) and my favorite altolamp of all of them. My friend talked me into that purchase and I made it on his word alone (as he could not take a good photo to save his life).


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## TfnG

thanks for the reply.

*** been asking my LFS for a good 6 months to find me the Muzi and he finally has. so Muzi it is!


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## Razzo

TfnG said:


> thanks for the reply.
> 
> I've been asking my LFS for a good 6 months to find me the Muzi and he finally has. so Muzi it is!


Really? And how did this LFS find Muzi???? Sorry, that smells "fishy."  Not impossible but not probable. I suppose he could have watched the internet like you could have?

Sorry, just very skeptical.

What town in Illinois do you live in?

Russ


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## grmantis

Daves Rare Fish San Antonio,Tex has 1inch Muzi


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## Electric Bluez

Are these different from the Goldhead Kasanga?


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## Razzo

Electric Bluez said:


> Are these different from the Goldhead Kasanga?


Yes: Muzi's color is more gold whereas Kasanga's is more yellow.

Not 100% but,... I think Muzi's bodies can get much darker in some specimens.

Russ


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## bwestgsx06

BUMPING THIS THREAD...

btw Russ, have you thought about getting some yellow calvus to breed since you're a master alto breeder!?


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## Razzo

bwestgsx06 said:


> BUMPING THIS THREAD...
> 
> btw Russ, have you thought about getting some yellow calvus to breed since you're a master alto breeder!?


Saw them come in recently from the lake and was tempted. They went really fast.


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