# Post pics of your viejas



## gage

hey, anyone who has a vieja, post a pic of it!


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## Feverdream

I'm a lousy photographer.


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## Joels fish

Nice!


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## bernie comeau

Thes are a few pics of my ~1 yr. old BB (1m & 2F) taken on oct. 27, 2007.









Smallest female.










The other female










~7" male.










Another picture of the male.


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## chrispyweld

nice!!

I love that first pic. Stunning.


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## Pei

I don't have any of these guys anymore since I moved and had a baby  I do miss them. And a friend of mine has them all. And he gives me update of these guys whenever he can. Now they've all grown pretty nicely. I especially love the breidohri and synspilus.

Male breidohri at 5". Currently, he is about 8-9".








And this is the most updated picture of him, from Dec. I sure miss this guy 









Male syns when he was 8".








Most updated pic of him from Dec. with bocourti which I also gave to my friend. Now he is about 10"+ He is still one of my favorite *sigh*









Bifas I had since he was .5" big. This picture, he was about 5". My friend also has this guy.








Here...taking food from my fingers

















Vieja is definitely one of my favorites genus


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

somebody has told me 2x that my synspilum is not a synspilum....im almost guessin now, based on your photos, that hes has some bocourti in him as well....is that possible, i wish i knew how to post pics on here


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## gage

hey, go to photobucket.com and register, u can load your pics on there :thumb:

very nice guys , i have always been a fan of syns, i bought one today, hes 1.5"


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## RDFISHGUY

My 3.5" synspilum


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## SinisterKisses

I'll have to get new pics of Vixen tonight...I just moved her to a different tank the other day and she's now over black gravel instead of the previous white...and WOW. She was gorgeous before, but now she's amazing.


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

thanks for the tip gage


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## TheFishGuy

Can I be your friend Pei? :lol:

Here's a few of mine:
This is a hybrid who came to me as a rescue. It's half black belt/half synspilum









A black belt rescue:









My synspilum... still unsexed but asuming it's female:









I can't seem to find any picture of my regani :?


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## TheFishGuy

Almost forgot about the guy that was bought as a black belt :? :


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

the 1/2 and 1/2 has the same body shape and facial/head structure/markings...could be the answer! i had a breeding pair of syns i got from a guy and he looked way different than they did


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## TheFishGuy

That male hybrid looks exactly like what he is. His front half looks BB and the back half looks synspilum. I still have his sister... She looks more black belt than anything.


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## gage

hey, very nice TFG, that last one is either just a vieja hybrid, or it may actually be a RBK (rainbow king) which is essentially made by crossing a syn and a parrot over many generations of breeding the fry with the syn and the fry of the fry with the syn and so forth to to RBK's amazing looking fish, its technically not a flowerhorn, just like SRT's and RQ's, but in my mind they are all similar.

anyway, back on topic, very nice viejas u have there everyone. makes me cant wait until my tiny syn grows up.


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

[/url]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii162/alaskaJW1985/110407009.jpg


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## alaskan_aquaristJW




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## alaskan_aquaristJW

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this is synsei when he was around 4.5", like 3 months ago, in the 135

this is him recently at 6"

























here are pics of my black belt, hes about 5"
























IMG]http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii162/alaskaJW1985/blackbelt3.jpg[/IMG]


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## SinisterKisses

Okay, new pic...here's Vixen, female V. fenestratus










And the little guys, V. argentea juvies from Rapps:
Finnegan, pretty sure is a male








Basil, hoping female and seems to be


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## Pei

alaskan...you don't have pure breed syns. That fish you have...is definitely hybrid.


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

thats what i was wondering about, he doesnt look like any syn *** ever seen....any ideas of what it could be? thanks


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## gage

your syn is a hybrid, a beautiful fish though , if i found that in a store, it wouls be mine in a heart beat, wow! it may be a Rainbowking, which is usually owned by people with flowerhorns, it is a cross between a Syn and a Kkp over many generations i believe. and your BB is a beast! (thats a complement, at least in the flowerhorn world lol)

SK, your viejas are beautiful! im a particularly fond of your assumed male argentea, lately i have been really liking the argenteas, and yours tops it off, its goin to be an extremely nice male when older! wow.


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## SinisterKisses

Thanks. I've been after them from Rapps for years, and finally got them. Looks like I'll be getting another 4 juvies in the next few weeks too, lol. Basil actually has got more colour today...he/she wasn't happy in the tank before, so I moved him to his own tank and he looks much happier today.


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## alaskan_aquaristJW

does anybody find it odd though....the first pic of synsei at 4.5" he has the markings of a typical synspilum along his flank, but a way different body shape, then at about 5.5" i moved him from the 135 gallon to the 75 gallon with all the little juvi guys( JD, FM, Sals, BH, there al small juvies so there not a problem for him, anyway within 2 weeks he changed to the pattern and color he has now.....wierd or what? in the 135 he was bullied alot by the 6" GT and 5" BB, and the DT's ( dempsey twins) what is kkp gage? my friend bought one of the same "syns" when i bought that fish out of the same tank and it kinda looks the same, but a lot smaller and im guessing its a female.......


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## gage

oh, srry, a kkp is a Kingkong Parrot, almost like a blood parrot, but not exactly the same.


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## JWhipple

Here's a couple of my breeding pair of pink Vieja Fenestratus.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/ ... ithFry.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l260/ ... ithFry.jpg


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## gage

hehe, i was waiting for you to post yours up here, they're a very nice pair.


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## JWhipple

I just had to...

Here's another of my female...


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## Ives

This was my guy/girl before it passed about a month ago. Not sure what happened, I'm thinking the JD pair jumped her/him but by the time I noticed it was too late. Was somewhere between 5-6."


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## gage

*JWhipple*, very nice

*Ives* im really sorry for your loss, that was an extremely beautiful fish...


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## TheFishGuy

Very nice fish guys, very nice :thumb:


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## Macattack71

Here are some new pics of my guys. Just wish they would breed already so I can thin then out some.


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## chrispyweld

*Macattack71*
Nice lookin Syn's. What do you feed them?
How big are they?

I want mine to look that nice :?


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## Pei

chrispyweld said:


> *Macattack71*
> Nice lookin Syn's. What do you feed them?
> How big are they?
> 
> I want mine to look that nice :?


I believe what you think it was syn...it is actually bifasciatus  Note the gill markings on the red/yellow/black marking fish


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## chrispyweld

Oh i guess they are a little different looking.


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## gage

Macattack71 said:


> Here are some new pics of my guys. Just wish they would breed already so I can thin then out some.


beautiful, i wish you lived closer to me, id help you think then out :lol:


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## JWhipple

Ok guys, I have to ask!

What color substrate is known to be the best for viejas to bring out their colors the best?

The SA/CAs at my LFS are usually kept in tanks with no substrate, but non-cichlid breeds showed a HUGE increase in coloration when they changed out the substrate from black to a natural brown mix.

With the black, many of the fish were color unusually dark. Clown loaches, for example, were almost black.


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## TheFishGuy

I find the darker you paint the tank the deeper the colors are. I used to have a black 55 and every fish that was ever in it looked awesome :thumb:


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## JWhipple




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## chc




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## TheFishGuy

NICE BLACK BELT!!! God I love the Vieja complex, it's by far my favorite group of fishes! Whoever started this thread deserves a raise!


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## TheFishGuy

Check out these videos on my other thread:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 82&start=0


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## gage

TheFishGuy said:


> NICE BLACK BELT!!! God I love the Vieja complex, it's by far my favorite group of fishes! Whoever started this thread deserves a raise!


i get a raise huh? :lol:


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## scarysdad

My two....

12" Blackbelt female...










14" Synspillum male


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## TheFishGuy

Do you allow them to spawn? And do thier fry look like this?









Yes, she's a hybrid, and also a rescue....


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## scarysdad

They HATE each other lol :lol:


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## TheFishGuy

:lol: That's funny, he's a beautiful fish by the way, congrats on that... How long have you had the BB and synspilum?


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## scarysdad

I've had the BB since she was a 'fry' about 2 inches got her in Feb 05. The Synspilum I adopted at 11" when his owner was going through a messy divorce and he feared for the fish's safety as he was the one who moved out of the family home. I've had him for around 6 months and he has grown at least 3" and put on some serious weight.....then he was in a 75 gal before he went in to my 255


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## TheFishGuy

Size matters


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## JWhipple

Ok ok ok - I have to ask - who else has good shots of their fish's grill? 

Show those pearly whites!


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## gage

lol, this thread just keeps coming back lol, maybe i should post some of my synspilum in here.


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## gage

id say my little syn is pretty good looken for 2.5"TL, what about you?

(he/she has black bars cuz he/she is digging a spawning pit, i dont know why, im sure it isnt mature yet, but it is...)


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## JWhipple

He looks good for his size!

That tail looks a little ratty though - did someone get ahold of him?


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## JWhipple

Bad photo - his markings aren't showing very well, as I just added some PH Increaser... this is one of my two 2.5" blackbelts.


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## gage

ya, see that little faded flowerhorn behind him? ya, it was that guy hehe, hes a mean little orange guy!

nice little fish, but you sure thats a Black belt? dont they normally have a black bar on them at that size?


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## JWhipple

Yes, he/she has the bar - but they were a little stressed last night. Along with me adding pH increaser, I did some moving around of things in the tank and they were a bit unhappy with me. So - this morning the bar is back.


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## TheFishGuy

What is your ph to begin with?


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## JWhipple

I failed to test it for a month  and it was at around 6.0 ... So I added a small dose of the increaser.. It's up to about 6.5 this morning. I'll add some more tomorrow morning.


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## gage

if i were you i wouldnt even ad the stuff, my pH with my CA is 5.5-6 and everyone is happy


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## TheFishGuy

Gage is right, consistency is key. The more you mess with the water chemistry the more stressed they'll get leading to a short life and stunted growth. Of course this isn't true for every fish but for most of your common CA/SA cichlids they'd rather have consistency :thumb: Mine live, thrive and spawn in 8.2


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## JWhipple

I find that when my pH is above or below, I am more prone to getting algae blooms or stuff growing on the glass. That's why I try to getting it at 7.0.


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## JWhipple

Ok, got one showing the coloring starting to fill in on the blackbelts!


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## JWhipple

Here's a good shot of daddy pink!


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## gage

thats a beautiful BB for that size, wish i could have a BB, but bad idea for me, either it would be killed, or it would kill something (with flowerhorns i think it would be killed)

all your Viejas are beautiful, i hope my synspilum turns out that nice!


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## JWhipple

Here's just one more - here's the biggest of the 1st brood of pink fenestratus... He's just over 1 inch long already!


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## gage

i wish you lived closer, id buy a couple fry off ya.


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## JWhipple

Here's a couple new ones of the remaining 2 fry... See my other thread - some vandals broke into the house and destroyed 2 of my tanks - including the fry tank.. These 2 were the only ones that didn't flow out onto the floor and survived in less than an inch of water.


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## JWhipple

Caught a good one today of one of my blackbelts - they're growing up nicely!


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## TheFishGuy

This has inspired me to take some recent photos of my vieja collection! These were taken just a few minutes ago. They thought they were getting fed so it was easy to get everyone! :lol:

Male regani:









Female regani:









Synspilum:









Black Belt:









Black Belt / Synspilum Hybrid (Female):









Black Belt / Synspilum Hybrid's off spring. Dad was an unknown... possible zonatum??:


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## WakinAZ

Blackbelt, sex unknown, 8", a month or so shy of a year old, growing like a weed, color getting better every day, unlike my photography. When he's about a foot, I'll be inspired to spend some time and get a good shot of him.

btw all my fish are in 7.8 pH and loving it. pH roulette is a losing game - deal with the algae or limit the light/nutrients that are feeding it. I only turn on my tank lights about 4 hrs a day.


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## TheFishGuy

My tank lights are on just long enough to feed...


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## WakinAZ

I actually like the way they look in ambient/room lighting better sometimes than the fluorescents.


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## TheFishGuy

Yeah, the 800 has a window behind it so it lets in very little light, but it's actually perfect for cichids as they're not big fans of bright lights to begin with...


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## gage

nice Viejas guys, all i have for Vieja now is my little 3" Synspilum, and still waiting as patiently as possible for it to GROW! LOL


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## Frameshift

Think I might have posted in here a while ago...but oh well.

Pretty synspilum









Ugly synspilum (pretty's sibling)









V. argentea









And I have a black belt in there as well....but it's tiny. Middle photo, on the bottom.


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## TheFishGuy

It's worth the wait....


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## Reiner

argentea









F1 bifasciatum (Rio Chacamax)









same fish younger


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## fitznacio

enjoy,







:fish:


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## JWhipple

Fitznacio, do you have a blue moon light in that tank that was on when you shot the photo?


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## JWhipple

Frameshift said:


> Think I might have posted in here a while ago...but oh well.
> 
> Ugly synspilum (pretty's sibling)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


What's that awesome looking orange fish with black stripes?


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## DirtyBlackSocks

That's a datnoid - siamese tiger fish are the common names. That one looks like a wide bar - they're very expensive, probably worth 300-600 bucks for that single fish since exportation on them is banned.


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## Reiner

that would be a datnoid or Siamese Tiger fish


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## Reiner

LOL looks like I need to type a bit faster next time.


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## gage

i got mine for 50 bux, it was 7" at the time, and i previously bought one for 24.99 at 3". depends on where you live though.


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## Frameshift

I wish it was a widebar. 

I bought it for $20 in Seattle's Chinatown last Sept at 2". As far as I know, there are no more exports of small widebar datnoids. So it's just a nice looking indo. Worth about $50 vs. a couple hundred.


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## Marshes

i will post mine tommorow and perhaps one of u can confirm the breed.


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## Marshes

What type are these above?


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## TheFishGuy

They look like:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=95


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## burtoncb47

wow!!  you guys have some amazing fish!! i never really looked at viejas before but now that i have seen all of yours im definately gonna be looking into them. makes me rethink what i wanna do with my big tank when i get it!! haha


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## Frameshift

TheFishGuy said:


> They look like:
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=95


Yep. Paratheraps fenestratus. The top one is quite the looker. Definitely the dominant fish.


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## RyanR

Here's a crummy picture of our brandy new Vieja/Paratheraps synspilum (labeled synspilum, still trying to confirm that):










I'm thinking she's a female (Anyone else wanna hazard a guess on the gender?). 5.5"-6" long. There were a pair at our LFS. The survivors of perhaps half a dozen of them from maybe 4-6 months ago. The pair was all alone for a long time, excepting for a large, but transient, gold saum.

Apparently, someone bought the male within the last few days. We popped in, and this lonely fish zipped from one side of the 75 gallon tank to the opposite corner of the tank (closest to us) as we walked up to it, face up against the glass as if to sweetly say "Take me home!!". This behavior was so dramatic, that my girlfriend (who was vehemently against getting any more fish) looked at me and said, "We're taking her home".  Usually, she reserves this phrase for cats and dogs. :?

By the time we got her home, my girlfriend had named her Maya. Which I thought was fitting for a central American cichlid. She's (the fish, not my girlfriend!) quarantined in the 29 gallon (scaring the you-know-what out of our tiger barbs!:lol for a couple more days. With luck, I'll have another tank online tomorrow (yep, girlfriend also green-lighted another big tank!). 

-Ryan


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## gage

that would be a Black Belt cichlid my friend


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## RyanR

gage said:


> that would be a Black Belt cichlid my friend


I was suspecting that. 

-Ryan


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## dwarfpike

Not mine, but holding it for a fellow C-F member for a month or three until the lil bugger can be delivered. Am sure 'he' is wondering what all these pikes and dwarf acaras are!! :lol: This lil argentea baby deffinately has me hooked on the genus though, once I get a size appropiate tank!


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## gage

hes cute! but looks a little skinny, id fatten him up a bit.


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## dwarfpike

He was on the bottom of the totem pole in the tank he's in, but purchased new fish and had to rearrange where was what, now he's king of the tank ... well except the bristlenose pleco, she's really the top dog sadly enough. But should be getting lots more to eat now that the cichlids that were chasing and splitting the tail got moved out.


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## JWhipple

Some new updated photos of my blackbelts - they have grown up and colored up beautifully!


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## allen831

well im not sure if this is the right place to post this question but i will do so anyways im getting a jack dempsey just like the one in this pic http://www.mediastorehouse.com/image/Ci ... 645282.jpg and i was wondering what is the best ph to have this fish in ? also what is the best temperature to keep them in? please can someone help me


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## JWhipple

Here's a link to the Jack Dempsey profile - it has all the info you seek!

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=23


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## Notrevo

Here is my Argentea...he/she is about 7" now


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## JWhipple

Ooooh - BEAUTIFUL!!!


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## Plainman




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## JWhipple

Another excellent specimen!


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## PepoLD

OOOOooooooooohhh... look what i found! 

/Bump for all of you Vieja owners! i hope i can post here soon 

:dancing:


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## mlancaster

Hi *Notrevo*,

Do you mind posting an updated picture of your Argentea. Besides the ripped fin he looks like an absolutely perfect little guy and i am sure he looks great now being older.

Thanks,
Matt


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## bernie comeau

bernie comeau said:


> Thes are a few pics of my ~1 yr. old BB (1m & 2F) taken on oct. 27, 2007.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Smallest female.


Some updated pictures, 2 years later, of the same fish, now over 9" long. BB change quite a bit as they mature.


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## mlancaster

Thanks for sharing *bernie comeau*


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## PepoLD

whow, great pictures!


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