# Red Jewels



## Captain Jim

I have always wanted to try and spawn jewels..like the "new" turquise ones, but I bought 6 juvys last night, they should be here later in week. I'm a little unfamiliar with them, but I raise kribs. Is there much difference in raising these two species other than jewels are more aggressive? What is best foods?


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## viejo

The 'turquoise' form of jewel cichlid is possibly a color variety of the species guttatus but could also be a separate species in itself. They are actually in approximately the same aggression ballpark as most kribs, especially pulcher & sacrimontis. They spawn in the open as opposed to caves & have larger spawns. A diet suitable for kribs would be just fine.


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## Captain Jim

Im sorry, I didn't write that very well.. my new jewels are red. Though I have been confused because I see gutteri, cristatus, wood jewels,lilifalli, and bimaculatus...several are red. Is this old and new catalogation?


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## Fogelhund

If you post pictures of your fish, perhaps we can ID which you have. Many of the common red jewels in the hobby are believed to be a hybrid, though that is often debated as well.


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## 24Tropheus

Many are often missold here too. Good idea to get em checked out first esp if being sold as anything other than Hemichromis guttatus or Hemichromis guttatus line bred plus type.
The none H.guttatus ones go for quite a lot of money. Good pairs of H.guttatus have been given away at UK cichlid auctions in comparison.

All the best James


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## Captain Jim

I will get pics out as soon as I can..not tech savvy here, sorry. I would appreciate your help when I figure out how to post- The fellow I bought them from doesn't know what they are. Thanks so far..I don't expect to actually see them for about a week, will ship this Monday from Maine. I trust people in Maine.


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## Captain Jim

Obviously these fish are not as young as I thought.I haven't found time to play with my camera yet, but this morning I find a clutch of eggs being guarded by a very serious fish. All 7 of my young jewels are in a 20 gallon long. Eggs are in center of tank on flat spot of driftwood. If these hatch (around 100) do I feed live brineshrimp? Or what- this caught me by surprise,..I thought they were younger than this.


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## 24Tropheus

In a 20g you realy want to get the others out ASAP. The pair will prob kill them as soon as they can. Not that its a bad thhhing to start with so many, you ave seleceted or alowed to be selected the best for tank conditions. The others are well worth saving and passing on but prob not for a lot of money.
Yep baby brine shrimp will be OK but to be honest few bother with much more than crused regular flake or NLS grow for such hardy cheap fish.

Arg that sounds arrogant but its realy is kind of hard to kill Jewel cichlid young. And once they start breeding even in just a 20g you should soon be swamped with young no matter how badly you treat them. This batch or the ones soon to follow.

Its kind of the reason they are so cheap yet rewarding cichlid.

If you serously want to improve the line then the brightly coloured ones rather than the early breeders are the ones to select for but it takes a few tanks etc.

All the best James


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## 24Tropheus

Silly forum your going to "benifit" from my edited version dispite the very odd thing about this forum. No editing unless you are real quick. :wink:

In a 20g you realy want to get the others out ASAP. The pair will prob kill them as soon as they can. Not that its a bad thing to start with so many, you have seleceted or alowed to be selected the best for tank conditions. The others are well worth saving and passing on but prob not for a lot of money.
Yep baby brine shrimp will be OK but to be honest few bother with much more than crused regular flake or NLS grow for such hardy cheap fish.
Yep 200 young is pos but not usual from a young pair. If looking to produce quality young you should let em die and only keep later breeds from qua;lity adult pairs. Its not genetics its just that older bigger fish give em a better start by putting more into each egg so you get larger better young.

Arg that sounds arrogant but its realy is kind of hard to kill Jewel cichlid young. And once they start breeding even in just a 20g you should soon be swamped with young no matter how badly you treat them. This batch or the ones soon to follow.

Its kind of the reason they are so cheap yet rewarding cichlid.

If you serously want to improve the line then select for the brightly coloured ones rather than the early breeders but it takes a few tanks and grow em on to a reasonable size 3" or so.

No harm in what your doing of caurse its kind of why Juwel cichlids are so easy these days.

All the best James

PS sorry for the double post. Must be kind of confusing to anyone not used to this forums silly set up.


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## Captain Jim

24Tropheus..Thank you for your quick response..I was just on way to work. I did take time to get the others out and all appears calm at this point. Sounds like taking care of kribs, easy but I like to spoil- but my young angels will get most of the shrimp then. I like your direct, honest attitude about raising quality of fish..gotta go,..hope talk to you again..Jim


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## Captain Jim

New at computer, can't get pics here, but will you please visit http://jimbosstuff.shutterfly.com/pictures13 These are my red jewel cichlids I hoped were Lifalli, but I don't know if they may be cristatus? Will you help identify or tell me what to look for?


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## 24Tropheus

I get 
Page not found

This page you requested could not be found. 

My feeling though is if in any dought you will have one of the many line bred _Hemichromis guttatus_

_Hemichromis lifalili_ and _cristatus_ are just not in the shops kind of thing.
No I could not tell a _H.lifalili_ or _cristatus_ just by looking. But buying em I would want proof thats what they are.

Its a bear pit out there on these. So much missinfo about. So many folk selling stuff as _Hemichromis lifalili_ and _cristatus_ (and showing pics of em Ided) that is line bred _Hemichromis guttatus_ I think.

All the best James


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## Captain Jim

Try http://jimbosstuff.shutterfly.com/


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## 24Tropheus

Dunno. Think spot on the back looks very _guttatus_ like.

I would ask an expert. Maybe on http://www.cichlidae.com/askpam/viewfor ... c957a50d43

Very nice lady and far better at this than me.

All the best James


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## 24Tropheus

Guess I should say. Very nice set up. Rather hope rather than expect they turn out to be a rare species for you.

All the best James


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## Captain Jim

Well, rare or not..I fell in love with these fish back in high school when I had a couple Kribensis, and I finally went thru with getting some. The fellow I bought them from said he knew nothing about what they were-sold as simply two inch red jewels. Likely they are nothing much, but I like 'em. Thanks for your time and effort..sorry it must have seemed I dropped the ball concerning pics..I have nobody to teach me on this machine and little time to self-learn. Thank you..


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## 24Tropheus

Captain Jim said:


> but I like 'em.


Thats 8) . Not got anything much rare myself. Pretty happy with the less expensive common stuff.
Kind of popular for good reasons. :thumb:


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## 24Tropheus

What I do not like because they are so cheap and red is the habbit of LFSs selling em for mainly Mbuna or mixed rift tanks.
They just can not stand the same water and activity levels IME. Tend to survive but as a mear shadow of what they can be. Far better to keep em in a tank like yours and enjoy lots of breeding from a common but very well coloured cichlid with excelent interesting brood protection. 8)


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