# Rotkeil, then and now....



## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Nearly one year later!










I haven't posted anything in a while, just thought it would be interesting to see side by side how much the Rotter has changed since I got him. After some plants soon to rescape the tanks, will probably post in here when I do that....

8)


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## akapaul26 (Sep 6, 2007)

I hope my 2 Rotkeil's get that good looking. Beautiful Rotkeil you have there! Mine are only the size of a half dollar. What do you feed him?


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Thanks mate, I feed him New Life Spectrum - the extra large fish formula .


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## akapaul26 (Sep 6, 2007)

blairo1 said:


> Thanks mate, I feed him New Life Spectrum - the extra large fish formula .


I love NLS I feed it to all my fish exclusively!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

He looks amazing, Blair!

The nicest I've ever seen!

Kim


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## Firedog (Dec 30, 2007)

I'm definitely going to get some NLS.


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## edburress (Jun 9, 2007)

Beautiful fish Blair, he has certainly done very well under your care :thumb:

Until I have the tank space for one, you should stop posting pictures of him, you're killing me :lol: but seriously, keep them coming and be sure and post some full tank shots after you rescape.

Ed


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

edburress said:


> Until I have the tank space for one, you should stop posting pictures of him, you're killing me :lol: but seriously, keep them coming and be sure and post some full tank shots after you rescape.
> 
> Ed


And if he's going to continue to taunt us with pics, the least he can do is come over and aquascape our tanks! :lol:

Kim


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Stunningly beautiful fish Blair :thumb: He is realy gorgeous!!! I will look forward to some full tank shots.

Talk to you soon bud,

Ruurd


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## GBSTEVE (Dec 10, 2007)

Lovely fish!! I hope the Cornish water plays a part  Mine has a way to go yet, but if he looks nearly as good as that I'll be happy. Plants are out for me, though, he lives with Uaru


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Gorgeous fish, Blair...way to go! :thumb: 
BV


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

In all my years of LFS window shopping I've never seen a Rotkeil. I'm sorta glad about this as I definately would have to take over the garage and turn it into a dedicated fishroom with just show tanks.

Awesome looking Severum Blair. Keep the pictures coming as there are many species of fish I only get to see on here. To the rest of you


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hey thanks everyone!

He's a real flirt with the ladies too this one, knows just how to play it to get that pellet (doesn't work on me though, I'm immune thanks to my, manliness, :lol.

Steve, whereabouts in Kernow are you? I'm by the ol' Fal. Best water in the UK here bud, can't go too wrong! Yours looks a lot like mine did when I first got him, it's a fun time. I'm sure yours would appreciate some live shrimp to hunt down - it's what really made my sev flourish at that transitional phase, just suddenly kick started him along and the next thing I know he's huge.

If you notice in my first pic of him he has his fins flared, in the latest pic he isn't flared and still looks much bigger, unfortunately getting a pic of him flared up is like striking gold. To say he looks twice the size is an understatement. Some friends were over recently and I showed them how he reacts to his reflection, he flared up etc and they could not believe how big he really is.

:lol: They also asked if he was a special fish because he appeared to be glowing orange - nope, that's just the colouring of his pelvic fins and eyes when he's ready to kill. You couldn't be blamed for thinking it glowed, he really does seem to emit light when he does this. I endeavour to capture it on camera, I doubt that I will truley capture the essence of it though.

Thanks again.
Blair.


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## GBSTEVE (Dec 10, 2007)

Hi Blair, I'm also on the Fal, sort of, anyway, in Truro and just a couple of hundred yards from the river, I have been known to collect shrimps from around the pontoon! I'll try him on them when the weather warms up and the shrimp start swarming. You can also get juicy large ones in the tidal pond at St. Clement, a couple of miles away - I had one of these survive about a year in a marine set up before being devoured by a boxer during a moult.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Ah nice, only up the road from me then - I'm just outside Falmouth.

I'm curious where you got your Rotkeil from? I usually go for River Shrimp as they live long enough in the tank for him to take his time stalking them - I had 18 and he got through them over a period of two weeks, it was great fun to watch.... Keep an eye on him just after you turn the lights off, mine has learnt that the dithers etc are slightly bewildered when this happens and usually goes for a pot shot then. Clever fish.....


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## marge618 (Mar 12, 2006)

blairo1 said:


> Nearly one year later!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Oh, thank you for posting such great Rotkeil pics. The pics really do the fish justice. The color is tremendous.
I have a pair that look a lot like yours, but my pics are too blurry to share.

Later,


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## GBSTEVE (Dec 10, 2007)

HI, picked mine up from maidenhead aquatics at carnon downs - so far i have been impressed with all the stock I've had from there.


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## crazycanuck (Feb 10, 2008)

are rotkeils easy to come by?? i ove the look of them and really would like to get one or 2.
also how much would they cost me,i have seen full grown regular severums and they are about 50 dollars near me.


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## illy-d (Nov 6, 2005)

I bought a wild caught female (aprox 6" TL) for $80 CDN from a LFS.


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## conor (May 19, 2007)

Looking good Blairo1. I often see how deep-bodied sevs can get but also see many pics of adults that are not so deep-bodied. I wonder if this has anything to do with breeding/species?

My green is now between 5 and 6 inches TL (hard to tell with a bow front). He's definately on a good varied diet but hasn't got that deep body yet.

I think I'll be getting some shrimp tomorrow (he ate all my amanos months ago!)

Blairo1, where can I get NLS in the UK?


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Thanks guys!

Conor, thanks, you can get NLS at Maidenhead Aquatics, or at least at the one down here ever since I got on at them about it - give them a call. 01872 870055, ask for Adam or Louisa and tell them that Blair says hi. If your local maidenhead doesn't stock it then Adam or someone else from down here will have it sent to you/your local maidenhead where you can pick it up.

Yup amano shrimp are my Rotters favourite too.... A bit expensive for a snack though - get some river shrimp if you can (and quarantine them). I keep mine in a ten for a week or so to make sure they're nice and clean.

:thumb:


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## conor (May 19, 2007)

I'll check my local Maidenhead. I don't think they stock it but with a bit of gentle persuasion maybe they'll start. Failing that I'll contact your place.

I'm also starting to think about upgrading my tank to a 5 footer (450 litres or so). I currently have a 190 litre corner bowfront with sev as my 'show' fish, but I'm seriously thinking about the bigger tank and some bigger tankmates (a rotkiel and some uaru are on my mind...) Somehow I have to convince the wife that this is a good idea :roll:


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## conor (May 19, 2007)

Here is my sev. It was taken about 4 months ago and he's obviously filled out a little more. I haven't taken a pic of him in ages so I'll try to get a current shot up later to see how they compare.


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## MFielding (Jan 29, 2008)

I got these little guys yesterday morning. Another, larger one from the order is showing some really good red at a little over 3", but I couldn't get him to stand still for the camera.



















I can only hope they grow up to look like this. Awesome.



blairo1 said:


>


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hehe, nice young looking Sevs there everyone.

In terms of personality and responsiveness to my presence, the Rotkeil wins hands down every time, the pure excitement as I walk up to the tank, so much so that he bumps his nose gently against the glass if I put my face up to it, if I walk off he chases me accross the tank, when I feed him he rewards me by showing some funny and awesome hunting techniques. Whilst I sit here at the pc writing this he is at the pane next to me just, seemingly, watching me.

All I can say to those with young sevs is interact with them, but not too much - he will let me stroke him or gently push him about but I don't like doing it too much, I prefer to keep his general behaviour as "natural" as possible, with only a few interactions that we can both enjoy without him becoming a complete pet when I'm around - if I ignore him for a couple of minutes he gets on with normal fish stuff . The other thing is, keep them hungry, just a little bit, they should be bobbing heads out the water for food if you hold it up there, I think most people would be shocked how little I actually feed this guy but he's obviously happy and healthy, it also keeps them nice and inquisitive.


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## GBSTEVE (Dec 10, 2007)

O/T here, but Blair, have you been to maidenhead recently? The 7 foot tank with the synspillum breeding 1 foot away from the Festae rearing a brood? Awesome


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## ukneil (Apr 24, 2006)

what do you think to my 3 year old male? showing off as usual!!!


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## saorsa (Nov 29, 2007)

ukneil said:


> what do you think to my 3 year old male? showing off as usual!!!


That fish is absolutely beautiful, what a stunning fish.


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## Chrispy (Apr 8, 2006)

Here is my guy, getting a side shot of him is impossible though. He watches you constantly begging for food.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hi Steve sorry I haven't got back to you mate, I haven't been to m/h for quite some time now actually, mostly because I have a tendency to buy things when I go to fish stores, so I try to limit the visits :lol:.
*
ukneil* - nice young sev, you should get some shots with the flash off, the bright colours aren't quite as bright but you'll pick out the beautiful subtle green's, blues etc, which, IMO make these fish so special, so much colour, you just have to take some time out to really look at them. People are always amazed at his colours and ability to shift them......

*Chrispy*, I know that look! It's the "ooh are you going to put some food in" look, begging buggers, they're all the same like that, I have to keep telling the gf no, no food for them! He's a real tart.....

Let us try and keep the pics/topic about Rotkeils, preferably along the before and after pic's topic line please!  I'm always happy to see other Rotters and how they've progressed. Don't get me wrong, I like other Sev's, just not in a Rotter based topic .


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## Guest (May 4, 2008)

GBSTEVE said:


> Lovely fish!! I hope the Cornish water plays a part  Mine has a way to go yet, but if he looks nearly as good as that I'll be happy. Plants are out for me, though, he lives with Uaru


nice severum.

they can live with angel fish??


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I've removed some really great pics of some very nice fish in an effort to keep this thread on topic!

Please post your pics in the photography forum, or start a thread regarding that particular species! :thumb:

Kim


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Ok so I have found a way to share decent video's of the Rotter with you guys. Best way to keep you up to date with how he looks in real life.

Unfortunately most video hosting websites re-size the video's (and re-encode them) which makes a right mess so I've gone for the file hosting method and simply created a little package for you to download (45mb). In the file is a text file explaining how to watch the video (included is the free divx video player needed) and how to ensure the clip is played in 16:9 aspect (widescreen).

It's a full screen, good quality video of him scooting around, eating contently after a tank re-scape, and at the end I show you just how he changes his colours as he signals his dominance (usually to his own reflection :lol... It's a good player and if you keep it then in future I won't have to include the free player with the video's - ie reducing the file-size by a good 15mb.

It's a bit bright so there was a lot of glare, but call this a practice run, the video's will get better. I want to try and catch his interesting behaviour well.

Just waiting for the plants now...

http://www.filedawg.com/NSVZO2TZRJCV/Ro ... d.rar.html

(It took me about 10 mins to download but my download speed was only about 80kb/s, I'm sure most of you US cable whizz kids will have it in about 10 seconds...)


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## cuddlefish (Jul 16, 2005)

He's awesome blair! I can't believe how mellow he is considering there's no hiding spots in there. [email protected] Siamensis - 1:55 - mugging for the camera. The posturing at the end is wicked. Man, he'd thrive with the right companion. It would be better than watching tv!

hey, thanks for sharing that blair.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hey bud, thanks for stopping by! How's it going!?

He's not too shabby eh, I wish I could find him a decent female but I fear that the only ones available are all too small for him so I would be concerned for their well-being, he is quite sizeable now.

Mind you, he's as gentle as a pussycat, I've never known such a tolerant fish - even when highly aggravated, repeatedly, by the breeding Pelvicachromis he will still only barge into them when he could quite as easily have bit one in half. The Keyhole, his little groupie, has even started to realise that he's a big push-over, it's very comical to watch the Keyhole stand off with the comparatively monstrous Sev, in fact all he does is watch them with interest whilst they go crazy, flashing all over the place. He must just wonder what exactly they think they're up to.

At the end of the video, his dark, dominating signals are almost never displayed at challenging fish, perhaps only for a mere second or two, then he just goes back to ignoring them and swims off (they usually see this as their chance to throw in a kick rib-shot whilst he's not looking :lol.

It is pretty sparse in there at the moment, but that's because I took out the driftwood etc for a re-scape, I don't know if you remember but it looked like this:









So he's never really had any hiding places he could fully go into, at the very beginning I did provide plenty for him, but I've gradually reduced the cover over the past year until I've got him to a point where he's not just comfortable, but happy to be out in the open. The back left area of the tank is his and that's where he rests at night. This is one chilled fish, even to new faces and busy living-room traffic, give him a couple of minutes and he's right back to normal....

You really can train them like a dog in regards to certain things - I'm always cautious about how far the training goes because a very large part of my enjoyment is watching the fish behave naturally - in the sense that, they behave as though they are unaware of your presence - I don't want fish that line up at the glass when I walk in, I want that sort of behaviour to be initiated, rather than instinctive. So, all I've ever done is reward him with a single pellet at times where he's overcome shyness, tempting him out to take it from my fingers at the surface - ie if he'd gone shy due to new faces then I get the person up to the tank to watch him whilst I coax him out and feed him.... A few months of that and he's sussed that these people aren't bad, they're good, they mean the potential for food. Once they've learnt that association you rarely need to reward them any more (ie don't over-feed, keep them hungry and therefore more eager for that reward when it does come again).

The reason I'd tempt him to the surface is that I know this is where he felt most vulnerable, so it was a case of addressing that instinct head on, once he'd overcome that the rest was easy money. He hasn't had a Severum spaz in months, in fact, I can't remember the last time he freaked out, period!

So I've reduced the driftwood to enable more space for the Sev once I plant it up, we'll see how it goes, it took me a couple of months to train him not to pull up and eat plants but that was a while ago, we'll see if he remembers or picks it up again quickly, there's just nothing like a planted tank IMO, so much more enjoyable.

More video's of him to come, I'll try and catch some of the funny stand-off's when they happen.

Blair.


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## saorsa (Nov 29, 2007)

blairo1 said:


> http://www.filedawg.com/NSVZO2TZRJCV/RotkeilMovie,PlayerIncluded.rar.html


Just watched your vid, what a superb looking sev you have.
Just curious to know, what size of tank is it in, and also, what other species of fish are in with the sev ?
Btw, better using megaupload to share stuff, you can u/l big files.
VLC media player is also a great free prog to watch your vids.

Keep them coming, cheers....


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## cuddlefish (Jul 16, 2005)

Hey Blair, I'm doing good brother - busy with work and whatnot. Thanks for asking. 

As for your Rotty; I bet he'd be fine with a Juvi. Wimpy took George in right away and the two are almost inseparable. They're so enjoyable to watch and provide countless hours of entertainment. George is fascinated with Wimpy's tail. He'll cruise up behind Wimpy and just sit there, transfixed. This is usually when Wimpy is asleep and he doesn't seam to mind. Sometimes George will push his luck and make contact with Wimpy's tail. This results in George getting fanned in a disapproving way and sent reeling. A few minutes will pass and the whole cycle repeats. :lol:

The key is getting the right companion. George has the perfect disposition; he's fearless but not aggressive. He's really helped calm Wimpy in the past year. Fish seam to take on the stress level of tankmates.

Your fish training theory is very interesting. I don't think I have the patience to try to train fish and besides, I don't think Wimpy is smart enough to be trained. He's got two expressions; dumb and dumber. 

I look forward to seeing more videos M8.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Wo sorry guys forgot to get back to you!

*saorsa*, Thanks for the kind words bud, he's in a 55 gallon which is now densely planted (although it is only JUST planted so I won't be putting pics up just yet, or maybe not, possibly :lol:.

Other Cichlids -
_Mikrogeophagus altispinosa,
Cleithracara maronii
Pelvicachromis taeniatus Dehane_

Other tank mates-
_Corydoras arcuatus
Crossocheilus siamensis
Aplocheilichthys macrophthalmus
Tanichthys albonubes_

Adonis plec
GN plec

Megaupload :thumb: I knew there was a more mainstream one that I'd missed.

Re VLC, I do have it already - the only reason I supply the DivX player is because I encode to DivX and unless people have the DivX codex they won't be able to play it - I should have made a note that you don't need to use the divx player and that you can just install the necessary codec to allow your normal video player to read the encoding.

However I'm going to see if I can get future projects as avi/wmv files whilst still keeping the same quality and filesize that I can achieve with DivX as I've found that if I can do this then if played in WMV the clip will re-size to 16:9 automatically, something which VLC, DivX don't seem to do (they stretch to fit 4:3 as the default every time.)

*cuddlefish,* Glad things are good yo, never a bad thing to be busy with work, better than being without eh!

So you think find him a little playmate, he sort of has this with the Keyhole and it's really fun to watch the two of them pulling their bluffs - the keyhole has some real cajones and nothing entertains me more than seeing him follow the Sev around every now and again, then when he turns to face the Keyhole he starts giving it some, this tiny little David taunting a very confused Goliath. Fortunately Goliath is too much of a hippy fish (something in the water perhaps :lol and so just floats there, staring at the Keyhole as if to say, "what ARE you doing man!"

My only real concern is that I know that if he wants to, my Rotkeil could kill very quickly (in regards to another sev here), you can see it in his behaviour when he does (however rarely) get pissed off.

The Keyhole is a joke to him but I wonder how he'd do with an actual potential competitor - until that female wants to breed she's taking up his space and food. One thing he doesn't tolerate is something in HIS space, that's the one area where if the Keyhole challenges him in then look out! The last thing I'd want is to have a nice young Sev getting imtimidated and the snot kicked out of it as I'd have nowhere to put it until I could get it back to the LFS (which I hate doing to them anyway).

My other main concern is - if I get a female and they do bond, what on earth am I going to do with my other fish - the Pelvicachromis would have to come out or they'd get themselves killed, they couldn't go in my other tank as that has my other breeding pair of P. taeniatus (I don't want to get rid of a pair if I don't have to) and surely the Keyhole and Bolivian would also need to find another home - I have no experience with Sev breeding aggression or how they tolerate other Cichlids/territorial fish in the tank.

Hmm,

I want to get one, I just don't know if it's the best thing for my other fish right now.

:-? 
Blair.


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## saorsa (Nov 29, 2007)

After seeing all the beautiful fish in this thread, I had to get some. Here's a pair of wild caught Rotkeil I got today -










Female


















The female is around 7 - 8 inches and the male around 5 inches.
The pictures are pretty poor, taken on my mob phone with the light off, till they adjust to the new surroundings.
I cant stop having a look at them, they're such nice looking fish....


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hey hey!

Congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of Rotkeil ownership, oh man are you going to enjoy it. Probably even more so on account of having a pair of them :thumb:, I'd love to get my fella a female.

Nice markings!

Get them on a good quality feed and don't overfeed! They are seriously greedy, to the extent that you have to be pretty careful. Out of sheer curiosity - what will you be feeding them? At the moment they're a little undersized, specifically the female - it may partially be the camera angle, but the female for a 7-8 inch fish is not quite as thick or full bodied as I would expect - do you know what they were fed at the LFS - flake is probably my bet :roll:.

At least they're in good hands now eh!

They do look fairly young so they have some growing to do yet and those colours really change as they mature too - I found that the orange/yellow deepens to a strong red, becoming a fiery bright orange at the tips of the fins, over which a nice iridescent turquoise "highlight" develops to the tip of the dorsal.

My point is, if you can't stop looking at these fish now, you're going to have a real hard time as they mature :lol:.

You did well, I hope they continue to fascinate you, I know mine still does, they are very, very cool fish....

:thumb:


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## saorsa (Nov 29, 2007)

Thanks mate, I love them already, what a contrast between these and my pair of golds (which were re-homed)

Well *** got Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets,Cichlid Staple pellets,Interpet flakes, frozen bloodworm and algae tablets, but *** just gave a couple of pellets earlier on and they just mouthed them.

They were only in the LFS a couple of weeks, so they prob have'nt seen many pellets if at all.
Think the LFS feeds a combo of flake and small pellets although not sure about this pair.

I know from reading your thread you like the New Life Spectrum brand, Ill maybe have to get it, if it conditions them like your fella, but through mail order as the local LFS's around here don't seem to stock it.

They've already started displaying to each other, shaking and mouthing the sand, so fingers crossed they'll start breeding in the coming weeks.

Ill try and get some decent pics up in the coming weeks...


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