Wilsta Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Hi All, Just curious to know what you use to colour up Tapajos, currently i have 4 young (approximately 10-12cm long but they are not showing signs of the bright head colour. At what age do they colour up? what food do you recommend? any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 they should of already had a orange head colour but yeh not all show strong colours, or none are males. normally the male will show more orange. maybe just a bad batch, what did the parents look like. thanks mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I have recently changed foods and there has been an improvement but your probably right they probably were a bad batch. I got them from Lams aquarium in Parramatta. Parents were not seen obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 yeh since you got them from an lfs, generally the stock wont be as good, there's only a few really good coloured pairs running around so yeh probably just unlucky. cheers mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 Hopefully they come good but i am not putting my hopes up thats for sure. What do you feed your eartheaters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Use suppliment foods with high beta carotene or astaxanthin so google carotenoids, astaxanthin, carotene supplementation in aquaculture there is lots of reading BTW best to vent sex the fish too, as you may have all females Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 I am currently feeding them Frozen Blood worms, Hikari Cichlid Gold, JBL sinking pellets for discus and Spirulina flakes by Aqua one anything else I should include in their diet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 I feed my Geo's staple of Prestige Aquatics Colour Pellets, and some leftover NLS, also Brine Shrimp, Mysis Shrimp, and the odd earthworm. thanks mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 I have introduced two more Tapajos to the mix they seem to have better colours so we will wait and see what happens. It maybe they I had all females hopefully i get a male from the two introductions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Hi, I have to disagree about male orange heads being more colourful than females, the fish on the left in the pic below is one of my females at about 10cm. Cheers Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilsta Posted October 29, 2009 Author Share Posted October 29, 2009 They are nice Laz what do you feed them? you must have good stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 They are nice Laz what do you feed them? you must have good stock. Hey Wilsta, I feed my geos mainly nls and bloodworms and mysis shrimp as treats. and yes these are from very good stock, even overseas there seems to be great variation in colouration, in an article by U. Werner (2005) that I read recently he stated that the males are less colourful than the females, the pics he provided showed that to be the case as well for his fish, I've seen other pics from germany showing very plain males and brighter females, and other pics of absolutely stunning males. So I think you are right that the particular stock is of primary importance and then of course good water conditions and quality food. Good luck with yours, they are great fish to keep. Cheers Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Yeh well if you look at chevguy/fella's pair the male was by far the best Tapajos in the country, and i stated in most instances "normally", not in all, this is from my personal experiences with these fish. Same goes for my altifrons, the female is brighter, but thats cos she came from better stock than the males. Thanks Mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiguy Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 How much does diet early in life effect colour?We all remember the yucky washed out L.leleupis that appeared as F1s ,then we worked out they needed a diet almost exlusively of BBS then colour enhances early in life and hey presto Orange or yellow leleupis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Well obviously a good diet is important, if you fed useless food early on or later, even to very good stock, they would still turn out pretty drab, Good food is important. Hence why i like to mix up and use good quality pellets/flake, and live or frozen foods. Thanks Mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Yeh well if you look at chevguy/fella's pair the male was by far the best Tapajos in the country, and i stated in most instances "normally", not in all, this is from my personal experiences with these fish. Same goes for my altifrons, the female is brighter, but thats cos she came from better stock than the males. Thanks Mark~ Hi mark, I agree that keith's male is the best in the country, he's the father of my female in the above pic, also I wasn't meaning in all cases, I have some orange heads from another source in which the females show similar orange on the cheeks to keith's male but the males show no colour on the cheeks, however the males are still just as stunning as the females due to the brightness of the head colouration. I also have o/h's from 2 other sources that show no orange colour at all on the cheeks, one lot have red heads and the other orange, still very nice fish though. There just seems to be a lot of variation within this species. You make a good point with your altifrons too, I have 'Tocantins' from 2 sources, one pair have a more blue colour through the body while the other pair look more golden. Which variant are your altis? Cheers Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I have the Altifrons Manaus, female is just showing much better finnage colour, and the body spotting is a little better. Yeh goes for each way they all show different colours, male or female. Cheers Mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killiguy Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 Well obviously a good diet is important, if you fed useless food early on or later, even to very good stock, they would still turn out pretty drab, Good food is important. Hence why i like to mix up and use good quality pellets/flake, and live or frozen foods. Thanks Mark~ I wasnt refering to a good diet,I was refering to a specific diet.The first f1 leleupis had a great diet but it was the wrong one to induce colour at a critical stage.If youve raised leleupis you would soon realize the importance of the specific diet for the first few months,I just wondered whether it may be the same in these fish,Ive noticed a similar situation in the red finned variety of Melanotaenia mccullochi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsx Posted October 29, 2009 Share Posted October 29, 2009 I dont think so, these guys eat and like pretty much anything you throw in the tank, and i dont think i ever noticed any better or worse colours depending on what i was feeding. More live foods would prob be good for them. Cheers Mark~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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