# Midas/RD info request



## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

As some of you know I scrapped my African setup and switched the tank over to house a Midas/RD a couple of months ago. Pat is doing well and has grown from 2" to over 3.5" (probably a bit more but it's hard for me to judge it while he's in the tank and I can't really justify pulling him/her out for measuring) and has beefed up considerably even starting to show a bit of a hump. He/she(hence the name :lol: ) is kept solo except for a school of giant danios which Pat ignores completely. So far Pats been really fun to get to know. Always digging and already has quite a personality and never shy. In fact, now that I have him I cant help but wonder why I never kept them before.

My reason for the post is that since I've never kept one of these guys before I was wondering if Pats on par with where he/she should be right now. Any info from your experiences with them would be appreciated such as growth rate, diet, when to expect to start missing some Danios ect. You know, the stuff you don't get from a species profile. Thanks in advance, Joel


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## reddevil6 (Mar 4, 2007)

How big are the danios?
what do you feed pat? how much and often?


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

The danios average 2" and I'm feeding Omega One pellets with ocassional frozen foods (Brine shrimp, Mysis shimp, blood worms , once in while krill if he'll take it). he also gets some Tetra flake food that I feed the danios, and I feed three times daily and four when I'm home for long enough to get in another feeding. Eats like a pig :thumb: .


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## reddevil6 (Mar 4, 2007)

Ok thats good growth maybe a little slow but not much.
when hes bout 6 - 7inch u should start expecting danios missing.
i would recommend feeding him more meat than anything else blood worms an beef heart are great. if you want to feed him live fish don't feed him goldfish they are full of fat an ****.
good growth rate is about 1 - 1.5 inch per month.

can you post some pics (Red devils are my fav fish love to see yours)


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

That's kinda what I thought on the growth. Might have to make up some pre measured food containers so that my wife can give him an extra feeding when I'm not there. Beef heart is not a good thing to feed cichlids , they really cant digest it . I think shrimp from the grocery store is be a better alternative. I normally don't feed live fish to my cichlids but mostly as a diesese preventative, plus they don't have a lot of nutritional value either. It is cool to watch them hunt feeders down though :thumb: . I'll try to get some pics up sometime soon.


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## reddevil6 (Mar 4, 2007)

OH ok i didnt know that about the beef heart lucky *** only ever bourt 1 of them an that it


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Glad you're enjoying your new Midas/RD.
Be sure to show us some pics whenever you get a chance...it'd be nice to see the growth progression. :thumb: 
BV


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Yes. We must see pics in order to help you.

:wink:


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Well I finally got time to get a few fresh picks of Pat. First picks are from when I first got him, second group from tonight. 
Pats the golden guy on the left. The other guy was going to be a tankmate , and once they grew out some I was going to keep the better looking of the two. That guy was a little too dominate and has since been re-homed.








Pat and danios









These are from tonight.

























Kinda hard to get a pic of his hump , but it's just getting started. His new trick is trying to intimidate my hand when it gets close to the glass. Spunky little devil! :lol:


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## Johnson14 (Mar 29, 2009)

this is mine, he is about a year old. his hump is starting to get more pronounced. He was paired up with a jack dempsey but he started out growing him so i had to get rid of it. his colors were washed out for a while but i put sand in my tank and made some rock caves and his they are starting to come back


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

One thing I've noticed with mine is that His colors change all the time. When I first got him he was a nice golden color with red orange fins , now he's more orange red with paler flanks. Last week he was bright red orange with black markings on his head and fins. I've heard though that this kinda chameleon quality is very common, and that the colors change throughout their lives. My camera though seems to was out the vivid hues of Pats coloration  .


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## Johnson14 (Mar 29, 2009)

with my camera he had to be right next to the glass to get a good picture of his color, he the same color now as when i first got him. he got to be kinda white with a hint of pink but hes back to normal now.


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Looks good, Joel.
I like the way you've scaped the tank with that sand and rockwork. 8)

Thanks for the pics! :thumb:
BV


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Thanks for the pics Joel!!  I love your RD/Midas and I love how you have your tank set up too :thumb: I wonder if the other fish you had to get rid of was a flowerhorn? Kinda looks like one....

Nice fish Johnson14!


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

No it wasn't a flowerhorn, wrong head shape ect , I'm not really sure exactly what it was but was in the same tank Pat came from with a bunch of other little RD/Midas. Tried to claim the whole tank and wouldn't let Pat out of the corners so away it went. Had colors similar to a Bared Midas but otherwise looked nothing like a Midas . Just a funky hybrid as far as I could tell.

Thanks for all the compliments


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## kingmidas (Jan 30, 2009)

my 4 Red devils looked like Pat, 4 months ago, now they are all around 6inch, they grow fast! i have 4 midas, 4 red devils, 7 blood parrot, 2 jellybeans, 3 convicts, 1 silver doller,2 small sucker fish, in a 75 gallon, i know is a lot fish for a 75 gallon, but i dont have the money to upgrade, my other 75 gallon is housing the midas fry they are 3 months old, hopefully by this june, they are big enough so i can give them away.Good luck with Pat !


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