Pictures Added Of Jaguar, Festivum...etc

[QuotheRaven]

Hello

It is my Birthday today but because my sister works all day friday I was given all my present's yesterday and was set to go out to aquariums all day today.
I got 1 a wrestling Dvd, new pants, 2 books of Dragon ball (the original dragon ball stuff is great), a book all on fish tank design and has design with people using only kitchen whisks and appliance parts aswell as natural designs. Then my grandparents gave me $50, my sister gave me $100 and my parents gave me $200 and I had $100 set aside. So going into today I had $450 to spend.

My first trip of the day took me to TVS Aquatics time was 10 am and not open and didn't open today for no reason at all Bugger!

Well then proceded to go to my favourite aquarium and the boronia aquarium (Rhiannon I didn't get time to ask about the murray cod as I didn't buy anything and was there for 5 minutes). I bought 3 pieces of drift wood of decent size a large tub of shrimp pellets, cichlid pellet , a breeding net and a large bottle of water conditioner.

Now I made a fatal mistake in purchasing a fish due to bad advice in a book I have. What made this purchase worse was when getting the fish I was busy buying two HUGE bits of drift for $24 together and glanced across the store to see this HIGHLY aggressive cichlid drop to the ground with a thud and put in a bag... I wandered over and asked how he was and the guy blatently lied that he didn't drop the fish. Now first to support my purchase it was in a aquarium that was closing down... all there tanks were dark as all the lighting was taken and he was in a tank by himself somewhat large so I pretty much rescued him, (if you saw how bad the owner of this store was you would realise... tattoed, cigarette in mouth, missing teeth and lied to me....). However I am banking on if this beast of a fish is overly aggressive my favourite aquarium will take him in due to his uncommon nature in my aquariums.... He is currently residing with my very evil Anostomus Anostomus in a 15 gallon tank (long tank not hugely wide) as quarentine. The fish in question is a Jaguar Cichlid. A mistake however I am sure if it goes pear shaped I can find a new home for him/her. I am looking for personal experience with these cichlids.

I also purchased a Festivum, Usd catfish and a cuckoo catfish and 6 large plants ( elodea, bamboo etc).

I have $230 left to spend at least. The jaguar is a mistake and a rescue at the same time. The tank mates of possibility are severums, firemouth's, angels and festivum's in a 75 gallon however that would be a to small tank unless extra filtration might allow it.

This isn't all about the jaguar, I will be posting pics of my new tank looks with my new drift wood etc.

 

[t1tanrush]

If you were careful and had good filtration you might get away with it in a 75..

 

[QuotheRaven]

On a somewhat positive note it is sexually mature and going by sexing guides this Jag is a female and not a male as it has Very strong black stripes verticle on it's body

 

[TerraDreamer]

As I'd never heard of this fish I looked it up. Quite a beautiful fish, really. But after reading this article my eyes opened rather wide. I think you should name it Killroy - LOL!

http/www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Cichlid,%20Jaguar.htm

Good luck with it. It sounds like you can keep it in a 75, but make sure it gets fed often. From the size of their mouths it looks like they could eat whole frozen chicken hearts -

 

[QuotheRaven]

Thanks, I doubt I will keep this fish as I realise the issue's however I know if I do not keep it it will go to a reputable home as the aquarium I frequent is very good.

The fish is on the bottom of the tank on the gravel with it's top fin up if I put my finger near the tank it moves away.

 

[Bozza]

Happy Birthday. Sounds like a really good looking chiclid. Shame its so big for u to keep. Ive never seen them in australia before.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Thanks Bozza It was great to go the aquarium's... I almost bought a puffer fish against my better judgement....I almost bought a Coal Grunter.....I almost bought a fish for $75 but my catfish addiction isn't strong enough for me to part ways with $75 for a 2 inch fish

 

[Amunet]

Wow.. it sounds like a very lively fish!
Are you sure the owner dropped him? Cause according to that site Terra posted, they like to jump.

Anywho! Wish I had the money to get a big enough tank to get big fish like that. They seem so intelligent and just fun to have! I hope all goes well!

 

[t1tanrush]

A jag female isn't as aggressive and won't get as big, and as long as she isn't huge right now, your fine. From what I've read after 6 inches they grow VERY slowly. You should have no problems keeping this beautiful fish in your 75 for a long time, if not for its life.

 

[QuotheRaven]

if it doesn't kill everything first Lol and yes it could of jumped but he actually lied that it hit the ground... It's health has improved slightly and fin is up more.

I also bought some PH up to settle the ph issue and currently soaking the wood... almost ready to rearrange

 

[t1tanrush]

Lots of hides, maybe get some sort of target fish that it could chase around, but the targets are faster, and if killed are replaceable. Its usually the case in larger cichlids! I'm hoping for a jag in a few months, very neat fish. It most likely will leave the catfish alone, but I'm not sure what a festivum is or how big they grow, that might turn out to be a problem.

 

[QuotheRaven]

well it appears it will not survive as it is breathing very very slowly on the gravel and barely reacts when my finger touches the tank and it doesn't want food. Could it merely be very very very stressed and in shock? It's top fin is still up and it has full colour.

My father rang the aquarium and the guy on the other end said he is a new guy and wasn't there when this happened even though his voice was very similiar to the other man

 

[Gatorbait]

Some jags are aggressive like most larger cichlids but there are a lot of jags that are big sissies, also. You never know what you'll get with them.

If he fell onto the floor he might have internal damage. I would keep the lights off full time and let him relax. Give him a couple days and then try feeding him something. Give him a large rock to hide behind and don't go up to the tank a lot. It sometimes takes cichlids a day or two to settle in.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Well it's now begun to swim about abit today which is good and I believe it's sleeping patterns are stuffed as during the day it was in the dark aswell because this aquarium didn't have lights for the tanks... and the one's they did were terrible.

I will post a picture of the Jag later tonight.

I just had a shower wandered back to my room to figure out my filter wasn't working properly so I decided better now when I have to open it up to clean the filter pads...well I cleaned them fine no problems until I put more water in my bucket for maintenence to discover a hole near the top and algae and god know's what else water on my floor.... fixed that up put the filter back together turn the filter on and water starts spurting out the sides.... The orange ring on the filter had fallen off and I didn't realise.... I need now to get a fresh pair of clothes and another shower..... ARGH.

And I believe my Jag might be a bit of a sissy it's very scared of my anostomus anostomus

 

[QuotheRaven]

The photo add on button wasn't listed so I will just add link's to the pics.

Festivum: http/img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=festivumlk4.jpg

Jaguar: http/img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jaguarfacehi9.jpg

Jaguar 2: http/img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fullbodyjaghx2.jpg

Severum: http/img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=severumnw6.jpg

Anostomus Anostomus ( Striped Headstander and evil lil devil): http/img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wbanostomusov5.jpg

I will post pics of my tank's soon, comments welcome.