Ben Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 Hi Everyone. My all time favourite cichlid species is Cyathopharynx foai and Cyathopharynx furcifer. I would like to build a gallery here of all the types of featherfins available in Australia. I know we can import any variant we wish but let’s start with what is here now and as new variants come into the country we can build the list. If you are one of the few who keeps and or breeds these amazing fish, and if you don’t mind sharing, please post some pictures and details here. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 24, 2004 Author Share Posted April 24, 2004 Cyathopharynx furcifer Karilani Copper I have kept Coppers since August 2002. I bought 6 fish that were from the original import. Ratio was 2 males and 4 females. I also purchased 15 juveniles at the same time with the intention of growing them up and replacing the adult colony as they got older. Since then I also purchased another colony, fry from my original imports which the previous owner had breed, ratio of 2 males and 4 females and added them with my what were juveniles now adults. Currently I have a colony of 10 males and 11 females. That’s way too many males for a colony, so I have all the girls and only two of the boys in a 6x2x2. I am selling the boys if anyone is interested or I will sell a few pair or 1:1 ratio groups. Here are some pictures of my colony over the last few years. Dominant male from the original imports. One of his son's. Now about 2 years old. Picture taken 24.4.04. Another of the original imported colony's son's. Two males trying to work out who is boss of the tank. Female holding. Picture taken 24.4.04 Another female holding. Picture taken 24.4.04 Taken from the mother a little early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 You have some truly beautiful pics. there Ben. Sorry i can't help with your post though. merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 24, 2004 Author Share Posted April 24, 2004 Thanks Merjo, There isn't many people I have found keeping these fish which is a real shame. I don't understand why. Maybe someone can tell me why. Is it the tank size they require? The price of them? They are ugly ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kasanga Vince Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 Ben, Your camera work makes Jacques Cousteaux look like an amateur!!! Great to see a rare species being bred with such aplomb for someone scaling down in the hobby (not)! I set up a new 5 x 2 x 2 for my Zaire Blues this week. Can they be kept successfully with Coppers??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mbuna Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 hi ben, the reason i dont keep these awesome fish is room. i reckon they need at least a 2 foot wide tank and when i end up getting a tank of this size, foai would be on the 'fish to get list'. cheers Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezzacam Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 If i ever get a 6x2x2 i'm goig to get a colong of foai that's for sure, but they do carry a hefty price tag $$$ as yous probally know but i'll eventually get my hands on some.. eventually cameron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 25, 2004 Author Share Posted April 25, 2004 Hi all, @ Vince. Yes I am meant to be down scaling but it just isn't working. I went from 2 x 6x2x2's tow 4 x 6x2x2.... Harry, your right. I think a minium of a 5x2x18 for 1 male and 4 female. If you wanted two males you would need the extra foot or you will be forever giving the subdominant some sand to play with. Cameron. You don't have to go far to get some. Andy has the sumbu and I have the coppers. Take your pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trent Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 i have just started out and i am looking to start breeding i have freeshwater and saltaer tanks at home what do u recomend as a setup these fish in the photos in this section are awesom how much do they sell for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtchye Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Hi guys, They are a beautiful fish but I have found the variant I have very timid, and the male will not colour up if you have anything else boisterous in the tank. Also they are best lit from the side, so they look really good when the tank lights are not on and the sunlight is just streaming in from a side window... Heres a few pics of ours: Cyatopharynx foai "Magara Burundi" or just "Magara" .. They are the common "blue-green" variant thats been here for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 26, 2004 Author Share Posted April 26, 2004 Hi Vincent, They look great. How many do you have? What size tank? Do you have them breeding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilli Powder Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Vincent, That tank looks mad. Those occies look good too! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 I agree with you Arj.....I have seen the tank in person and it is a lovely sight indeed! merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graceless Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 God they are good looking fish! I haven't seen them anywhere in Canberra (not surprised really) I would keep them if i knew more about them i think... do they need a big tank though? Cheers Grace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Darn, if only this was a post for all featherfins. Then I would add some pictures of my nasuta. I agree with mtchye that featherfins look a lot better when lit from certain angles. The other thing is to move the light at the top of your tank as far forward as possible to bring out the colours in the fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtchye Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Thanks for the compliments guys. I had 1m and 3f of these in a 6x2x2 community. Did not have much luck and thought I had 4 females for a long time till I removed all competitors (enantiopus) from the tank and cleared some shellies for them. THey have bred many times, though at the moment I am down to 1 f due to jumping! At the moment they have stopped breeding again, I believe its because of a stray electric yellow male that has started displaying - its funny because this yellow is about 1/3 of the size of the foai - thats how timid they are! I am surprised that you couldnt find any in Canberra as I believe that one of the members on here is from there and he breeds them? The tank was originally designed to accomodate many species in their own niches, and I have found its very interesting as the tangs are mostly non predatory towards fry and they all seem to be able to raise at least a few fry by themselves in the tank. I have N brevis, multifasciatus, occelatus, the foai, nigripinnis and some stray malawis that i have to catch out that fell out of their fry saver... I also used to have at various times caudopunctatus, J dickfeldi in there as the cave dwellers, and enantiopus as another sandsifter. Cheers, Vincent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 27, 2004 Author Share Posted April 27, 2004 God they are good looking fish! I haven't seen them anywhere in Canberra (not surprised really) I would keep them if i knew more about them i think... do they need a big tank though? Canberra is foai central. Send me a Pm for more information. Darn, if only this was a post for all featherfins. Then I would add some pictures of my nasuta. I agree with mtchye that featherfins look a lot better when lit from certain angles. The other thing is to move the light at the top of your tank as far forward as possible to bring out the colours in the fish. Lets make it a featherfin post. Add your pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 Here are the pictures of my Ophthalmotilapia nasuta "Green Tiger". They are not as fancy as some of the others but I love them anyway. They haven't bred for me but they seem happy enough just being with their friends and swimming around all day. They are the happiest when I put frozen brine shrimp into the tank and they spend 15 minutes gathering up all the fine pieces that the others leave behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted April 28, 2004 Author Share Posted April 28, 2004 Hi Rob, My foai love Adult Brine Shrimp. They also love tetra bits. Have you tried them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 I have tried everything. I haven't found anythnig that they don't like yet. They would have to be classified as the vacuum cleaners of the cichlid world. I have also noticed that the tetrabits are usually all eaten before they hit the bottom. One funny thing happened when I first introduced them into my tank. My other fish thought that the egg spots on the pelvic fins were food!!! The poor male nasuta was being thought of as food and all the fish were chasing him around trying to find out what that yellow spot tasted like, luckily it didn't take them long to realise that it wasn't edible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trofius Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Hey All , ben I have some C. foai "magara", but at present they are about 7cm, starting to get a bit aggro at each other, over feeding areas. and are starting to show a bit of blue through the scales in the sunlight, fins are getting darker.. I will be getting their parents in a june so will hopefully be able put up pics of them all then. I also have some O. ventralis "samazi" also only about 5-6cm at present. feeding them , they all get a mixture of osi spirilina , osi cichlid flake, and sera flora, there are some pics on my web shots page, that include the smaller magara but none specific to them yet micks Tanganyikans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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