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W/C Gold Occies


rosco

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Sorry to burst your bubble but they don't look too gold to me? :shock: A few years back I ordered 10 wild caught gold occies through Air Fish (via Nigel) and they were more silver than any gold occie I have ever seen! I paid $55ea for them (up front) and Nigel couldn't do anything about the shamelessly dodgy stock! Not at all what was portrayed on the website (photo of the available stock) :angry:

you might want to touch base with Grant (parkesg) as he has a pair of my gold occies and they are a lot more gold.

I really hope they color up :yes::thumb Also hope you didn't pay too much for them!

Here are mine

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I think the wild natural gold occie is a very bland brown/silver fish. After seeing Roscos and Eds (Fins) fish and hearing about yours this is what I am to presume. These highly coloured gold occies are mostly likely the result of selective breeding of the most gold specimens to produce an unnatural highly gold fish.

Bruce

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I hope so too Arj because they came of the same source <_< (from the airfish import by aquapets). They were only in my tank for around 5 hours when I took the photo's and it is a bare bottom tank with just shells. Seeing yours I hope they colour up some more because that is what I am after but the description you just gave of yours has be a little worried. I paid $43 each for them. Well I guess time will tell with good foods they and once they settle in maybe some improvement. They are well formed and have good markings so that is a start.

cheers

rosco

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Just to clarify, those pictured in my post are not the wild caught ones that I bought. I got rid of mine ages ago and some didn't survive. I will see whether I still have the photos!

to be honest, I do not believe the label wild caught to start with. Unless it can be proven without a doubt, i will not believe that they are actually wild caught. I have paid too much money for such lables in the past and don't believe in it anymore! :no:

I have spoken to many people that had bred them about 20 years ago when they first came into the country and all of them said that the fish were so brightly colored gold that it was a must have at that time!! Since then due to the inbreeding etc, the color has deteriorated and deformities emerged :cryblow:

I paid about $65ea for those in the photos from as shop here in Melb called Subscape. They were from their breeding stock that they have had for years. ie fry from fry from fry etc as they kept the line going due to their awesome color. I have not had any deformities from these guys at all and Grant has a pair of the fry I bred.

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yep seen Arj's occies when it got shipped down to sydney still in the bag and these photos are nothing compared to seeing them in real life. i mean they were in the bag for an estimate of 5 or more hrs so one would think that the colour would die down a bit. but nope solid gold.

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They do a little but I don't know to be honest. While I was up there to pick these guys up I was also focused on the trophs trying to resist the temptation to grab some. I didn't even know he had black occies there, if he did mix them it would have been really silly. If they are blacks they are biggest I have seen. These males are big when it comes to occies. The black occies I have seen are not in the same league when it comes to size and that would mean that they have even worse colouration. <_<

cheers

Rosco

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No they are definately not the speciosus. They are all at my place :wub .

As far as this colour thing goes....

If you breed selectively from the same line of stock, picking the colour traits you find desirable, you are going to pass those traits down the genetic line, as in the case of Arj's fish. But these are not line bred fish. They are wild caught. Try and find a picture of a WC fish in any Ad Konings book that shows as much colour as Arj's fish. You won't.

It's like trying to compare WC Aulonacara sp. with some of the more flourescant German line bred fish.

Personaly I would rather keep a fish that is geneticaly sound as apposed to a fish that has been inbred for generations, even if it means sacrificing a little colour.

Sorry if I sound harsh, but I've seen these fish and they are really nice. Give them a little time and they will colour up.

Bretto.

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No they are definately not the speciosus. They are all at my place wub.gif .

great Stuff Brett we must talk once you get fry ;)

thanks guys. I am going to get them some sand today and give them something to do and hopefully this will helpe them settle down.

cheers

rosco

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If you breed selectively from the same line of stock, picking the colour traits you find desirable, you are going to pass those traits down the genetic line, as in the case of Arj's fish. But these are not line bred fish. They are wild caught. Try and find a picture of a WC fish in any Ad Konings book that shows as much colour as Arj's fish. You won't.
This is pure speculation. Sorry. No where have I said that they were line bred to retain color.

For all we know, YES, these fish could have been line bred. Given that people who had them when they originally landed in Aus about 20 years ago say that they were gold as ever leads me to believe otherwise. Normally fish are line bred to remove and enhance traits. Like the shocking elec yellows with no blac, the white knights, red rubins etc etc.

All I'm saying is that not to listen to the W/C tag and judge the fish on their appearance/merit. For all we know, these fish could have come from someone's dodgy tank in Germany! Like I said, when I bought mine, the photo on the Air Fish site were of occies that were really gold! the ones I got were silver! Worse than those the 'Silver stream Congos' we had! By the way, I'm not questioning the integrity of the LFS either. They don't know what they get until they receive their stock! Same with Nigel who tried to help me get my money back but no luck! :)

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No they are definately not the speciosus. They are all at my place wub.gif .

thanks guys. I am going to get them some sand today and give them something to do and hopefully this will helpe them settle down

hi Ross

spread the shells out while you're at it as well.

they do like their own space. they do look a bit stressed, [blotchy colour]

just how big is this monster male? :lol2:

cheers mate

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I'm not questioning the integrity of the LFS either. They don't know what they get until they receive their stock! Same with Nigel who tried to help me get my money back but no luck! smile.gif

These didn't hit the store tanks Arj they were straight from their Quarantine tanks (after the mandatory 2 week period) into mine. They came in with all the new trophs from Airfish. I would hope all the time and effort that both Thomas and Chris took into this getting this shipment here that they are the real McCoy. If not it would be a little disappointing.

Col, I will spread them around tonight and add some nicely washed brown sand and hopefully that will settle them down. They do appear to be hanging together as a group so I hope they continue to play nicely. I ma also having a huge problem keeping water stable ATM with all the rain we have been getting. As to a monster male well compared to a big fella Laurie got off you recently a little larger.

cheers

rosco

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I can use afra cobwe as sacrifical ensigns (star trek speak). I also have another tank I was going to split them into trios. ATM they are in 2x18x18 and now you mention it Col the girls are getting fiesty flaring up their gills at each other etc with males sitting back almost laughing. Are they better in pairs or harems

cheers

rosco

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They are better in what ever they want. Let them sort themselves out and take out the spare wheels once the dust has settled. It may help to put a rock (or what ever) in between females to block their line of sight from each other.

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They are better in what ever they want. Let them sort themselves out and take out the spare wheels once the dust has settled. It may help to put a rock (or what ever) in between females to block their line of sight from each other.

I did this with my speciosus helped alot :) Especially cause they are so small on nice big rock really does block their line of sight...

And Rosco I have 2 gold occies from the same batch and they are showing gold so don't fret too much :)

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