Heichthys Carpintis

[kanzaris]

Hi All

I was in my LFS today and saw what I thought was a Herichthys Carpintis. I remembered the fish from Neales book. I know the guy from the shop and he confirmed that it is a Herichthys Carpintis. A customer brought the fish in. It looks if it is fully grown at about 5 inches and it is in excellent condition. I know it can go up to a salinity of about 1.010, so that would be fine for my tank. My Tank is 61/2x 2x2.
My Question is: What about tank mates? I don’t think my Cat Sharks would bother him, but what about Archers and Monos? I have been thinking of swapping or selling my Monos for a while now as I find them to boisterous. So if they would have to go that would be fine, and what about his behaviour? Also at the moment he is in Fresh Water, the guy in the fish shop said he would acclimatise the fish for me over a period of 7 days. Is that ok? Or should he stay in fresh water as it seems he always has been in fresh water? And my last Question is how old do these fish get?

PS The LFS Shop is keeping the Fish for me untill tomorrow. I told him that I wanted to make sure that he is the right fish for my tank.

Thanks

Sabby

 

[nmonks]

Hello Sabby,

I'm glad you're having the Texas cichlid adapted to brackish water gently. While there are reports of these fish spawning in seawater, I'd certainly take things slowly to see how things go. As I say in the book, this is a fish for SG below 1.010, and while SG 1.005 is no problems at all, I'd adjust the fish to anything higher as gently as possible.

Fish don't lose their ability to tolerate salt just because they've only experienced freshwater. It's in the genes.

As for compatability, I have no personal experience of this species. When I mixed various tilapia species with shark cats, monos, and scats in a 200 gallon tank, there were no problems. So my guess is you'll be fine. More often than not, the problems happen when the fish decides to spawn. If you have just the one, and especially if it's a girl, you may avoid the worst. Monos and scats are too fast to harass, but oddly shark cats are easily bullied, so watch them. As you probably know, shark cats are "kittens" at heart and love playing with their friends but ignored by everything else.

Large cichlids will live for 10 years plus. Even angels get to around 12 years, so I'd assume a Texas could easily reach 15 years.

I had to say, Texas cichlids wouldn't be on my list for your community tank. I'd personally be looking for green chromides (E. suratensis) or black-chin tilapia, both of which are "true" brackish water fish with a much wider range of SG tolerances as well as more amenable personalities. Red-breast tilapia (T. rendalli) are also very attractive and salt-tolerant, but not common in the fishkeeping trade, though widely farmed for food.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kanzaris]

Hello Sabby,

I'm glad you're having the Texas cichlid adapted to brackish water gently. While there are reports of these fish spawning in seawater, I'd certainly take things slowly to see how things go. As I say in the book, this is a fish for SG below 1.010, and while SG 1.005 is no problems at all, I'd adjust the fish to anything higher as gently as possible.

Fish don't lose their ability to tolerate salt just because they've only experienced freshwater. It's in the genes.

As for compatability, I have no personal experience of this species. When I mixed various tilapia species with shark cats, monos, and scats in a 200 gallon tank, there were no problems. So my guess is you'll be fine. More often than not, the problems happen when the fish decides to spawn. If you have just the one, and especially if it's a girl, you may avoid the worst. Monos and scats are too fast to harass, but oddly shark cats are easily bullied, so watch them. As you probably know, shark cats are "kittens" at heart and love playing with their friends but ignored by everything else.

Large cichlids will live for 10 years plus. Even angels get to around 12 years, so I'd assume a Texas
could easily reach 15 years.

I had to say, Texas cichlids wouldn't be on my list for your community tank. I'd personally be looking for green chromides (E. suratensis) or black-chin tilapia, both of which are "true" brackish water fish with a much wider range of SG tolerances as well as more amenable personalities. Red-breast tilapia (T. rendalli) are also very attractive and salt-tolerant, but not common in the fishkeeping trade, though widely farmed for food.

Cheers, Neale

Hi Neale

I am reading between the lines, so really you are saying sort of yes but really no. I that a personal choice or is this because the higher salinity I have in my tank? Are the black–chin-tilapia featured in your book? I must admit I would like a bit of a change. The only Fish I would never part with are my Cat Sharks. I got some one on this forum who has one Green Chromide about 4 inch and would like to swap it for some Monos with me. If I decide to have some tilapias should I stick to one fish or a group and would the green Chromide get bullied by them?

PS: The Fish in my LFS is beautiful. The colours are out of this world thats why I fell in love with it. It is identical to the one in your book.

Thanks again

Sabby

 

[nmonks]

Sabby,

It's basically a yes, Texas cichlids are fine below 1.010, but no, I'm not 100% sure at or above 1.010 so don't want to be blamed if the fish keels over and dies!

As I said, there was a thing in TFH years ago about them breeding in seawater. But I can't verify this, and so I'm not going to be as confident about making recommendations with other people's livestock as I generally try to be. If this was me, I'd certainly try it, but that would be me and my money (and I'd have another tank to move the cichlid to if it looked stressed).

Green chromides and black-chin tilapia should be fine in a 200 gallon tank. I've kept *far* more violent cichlids together in 200 gallon tanks without incident.

Here's a suggestion. Look up Microcanthus strigatus. I've seen (but not kept) these fish. They're brackish-marine, and would be a really nice alternative to the monos. Cute colours, nice size, fine with shark cats. Not common in the trade, but on the exporter's lists, so certainly gettable. You might even think about a batfish (Platax sp.), though adult batfish probably need SG 1.018 to do well, as it's really only the babies that live in mangroves.

Cheers, Neale

 

[kanzaris]

Hello Sabby,

I'm glad you're having the Texas cichlid adapted to brackish water gently. While there are reports of these fish spawning in seawater, I'd certainly take things slowly to see how things go. As I say in the book, this is a fish for SG below 1.010, and while SG 1.005 is no problems at all, I'd adjust the fish to anything higher as gently as possible.

Fish don't lose their ability to tolerate salt just because they've only experienced freshwater. It's in the genes.

As for compatability, I have no personal experience of this species. When I mixed various tilapia species with shark cats, monos, and scats in a 200 gallon tank, there were no problems. So my guess is you'll be fine. More often than not, the problems happen when the fish decides to spawn. If you have just the one, and especially if it's a girl, you may avoid the worst. Monos and scats are too fast to harass, but oddly shark cats are easily bullied, so watch them. As you probably know, shark cats are "kittens" at heart and love playing with their friends but ignored by everything else.

Large cichlids will live for 10 years plus. Even angels get to around 12 years, so I'd assume a Texas could easily reach 15 years.

I had to say, Texas cichlids wouldn't be on my list for your community tank. I'd personally be looking for green chromides (E. suratensis) or black-chin tilapia, both of which are "true" brackish water fish with a much wider range of SG tolerances as well as more amenable personalities. Red-breast tilapia (T. rendalli) are also very attractive and salt-tolerant, but not common in the fishkeeping trade, though widely farmed for food.

Cheers, Neale

Neale

Definitely something to think about. Thank you very much.
(I’m starting to wish again that I had a bigger house so I could keep more then 3 tanks)

Thanks again

Sabby