goldenswimmers

That cherry shrimp technique is a winner as Chris mentioned and looks cool having a colony of little egg maintenance guys that clean the eggs for you..Nice to hear you did get a batch Abe and good luck with the little monkeys 🤙

Get the feeling these guys are losing numbers because of their personalities as you find with angry fish that dont make it easy for the novice aquarist...I remember they were quite common...now....😕..anyone seen any recently?..quite an underrated fish with the size they can grow to and the nice colouration you get in both sexes....they kind of look like the in-between stage of mbuna and haps with that longer face profile (in comparison to other Mbuna) for eating small fry/fish etc and that extra size in comparison to most of the rock dwellers.....

Because of our unique situation with a "what you have you can keep but no more are coming in" policy we almost need a genetic library or home base to maintain many varieties and as mentioned in an earlier post even some of the less rare species have become rare or are now at risk of being lost...we just won't get them back which is a feeling that's getting worse and worse as more and more varieties of fish are lost from our hobby...breeders really need to help each other out and trade fish or help maintain fish because it's not about making money..it's about actually having a hobby to enjoy...on a good note some of the new rogue internet breeder sites do maintain some of these rarer guys so some of them are still out there but instead of forums being a meeting point like in the past, Facebook and the internet has scattered everything in different directions which is even worse for working together to maintain varieties..I'm personally trying to use the forums again because they are valuable when active...it's a question of how and where people choose to spend their time...

Tyrannochromis Macrostoma (Aquotix in WA had them just over a decade ago but looks like there weren't enough around to keep numbers up but at least there has been a recent resurgence in T.Nigriventer numbers) Afra Lions Cove (I actually spoke to a guy down Shell Harbour way about 7 or 8 years ago who was selling off his small colony but he wouldn't/couldn't ship and with the limited numbers I feel they might now be gone) Metriclimia Elongatus Chailosi (Currently searching for these but it's looking grim. Conversation exists about 11 years ago with fishkeepers saying they were here and others wanting to add them to a current tank so they must have been here but think it's similar story to the guys above. Not enough initial numbers and probably now lost to the hobby). 🙃

Ha ha yes will be needing some size for these guys...just renovated the tank for my colony of blue lips and my big male well he's real tough nowadays 😠 ha ha..attacking the hand that feeds...little turd..but can't help but love the guys..jist defending his home ..and it is his world after all 🤗🤣🤣

Wondering how these two would do together and I dont think it would be a drama plus could end up looking pretty sexy in there 😆😆 So some Placidochromis Phenochilus Tanzania (the Star Sapphire Cichlids) with some Pseudotropheus Williamsi North Makonde(the Blue Lips.. & that's a little easier to say 😆)... I think you can see the potential for this to look pretty nice as a big display and have also thought this could be a good combo as they both love to sift sand and a quality that makes these guys very happy...(my big Blue Lips boy loves nothing more than cruising around all day sifting.. looking for snacks! 😆) Thoughts guys and things to be wary of(?)..I've actually only recently added some of the Star Sapphires and never kept these guys before but hoping they would do well in this type of set up... At full adult size I'm thinking this could look really nice 🧐👍🏼

Yeah late response here but definitely have to be something lake Victorian but next question..is it deformed or hybridised as it has a funky shape going on 😳

Yeah I used to be on here quite a bit and qldaf (I'm Qld based) and even on the Perth site but Facebook really changed things alot...I remember watching the people leave for Facebook (and they very rarely came back 🙃) but I do think the new rules with selling live fish on Facebook will favour the forums once again as it's become harder for people to source fish this way...it was always better to go through the forums anyways if you ask me as you had people with years of experience as opposed to newbies on Facebook and you could get advice at the same time. I think the hobby itself has taken a hit with the franchise stores (petbarn etc) that stock a variety of 10 fish that are so common and very very limited with advice...if you treat it like it's not special and supply fish that aren't all that special and well the whole hobby suffers..plus prices are insane ($50 for a generic brand cheap heater..how much 😳!!!)and I do think with the right push forums can actually once again help boost the hobby...but people need to know about them...if the only way you hear about them is to log in..it's missed the point...there are definitely new fishkeepers out there and interested ones but they are buying plain Jane fish from petbarn or potential hybrids off other competitors such as Gumtree...and with no interesting regular traffic on the forums the old wise timers don't get interested so we all lose..the hobby is in a bad way in Queensland with only 2-3 real good aquariums left and I think people need to promote this great hobby..I used to garnish some interest with talking about cool rarer fish and showing images of them..at the end of the day people like to see cool fish and another problem is the fact some beautiful hard to find fish are in some rich 'smugglers' tanks..and we need to share anything and everything when it comes to cool fish because we can't import plain and simple so we kind of need to treat the rarer species almost like conservation projects...so the legalities of the industry make it a whole lot harder to maintain too..if we are not allowed to bring in fish..what choice do we have than to really do our best with what we have..I've watched Salvinis turn yellow and fade from a once beautiful fish..deformed Ellioti being accepted again..and these are fish that breed in the hundreds so we should be able to maintain some genetic standard...I've bred some rare guys here and there and they still seem to almost vanish just seems the industry sucks when you can't bring in fresh and vibrant stock..everyday and new to the hobby fish keepers don't know ...and without the conversations are just not aware.. they desperately need the forums if you ask me!...you are trusting the everyday fish keeper to maintain the genetics of your brood stock and a lot of those people just want a display tank... So it's Oscars and guppies vs beautiful dieing off cichlids...so the legalities also keep this industry behind the 8 ball..don't get me started on why you can import an Oscar but a wild compressicep from the lake is banned... The industry has been made dumb and it hits the good fish keeper hard... So I say promote the forums..tell people they can sell online here with no drama (as long as they don't bring drama 😆)..and create the buzz again as referred to in one of the earlier posts the forums need some juice..a boost and push to let people know they even exist..id rather be on here if people were actually here..logging on and seeing that the last activity was 3 days ago..well you can see a tumbleweed roll by 🙃😳😆..facebook sucks if you ask me because it's cowboy town and many a noob thinks his 1st fishtank is the bees knees..you argue a lot more on Facebook and no fish sales..says it's time for the rise of the forum again 😆🙏 Sorry for the rant guys *PS...Have to also commend and pay respect to the true aquarium stores out there that do keep supplying the variety of beautiful and rarer fish we need to maintain in this hobby..without them sourcing some of the great fish that still exist in the hobby we would be totally screwed so these guys have been really carrying the industry in the background. The Petbarns etc are destroying it by not keeping fish that can now only be sourced from the home breeder.. 😠 ..just a couple of comments hey 🙃😆😆😆sorry guys