trying another new to me fish... again, not a lot of info out there... Myloplus arnoldi)

[Magnum Man]

this will be a third wheel to one of my angel / silver dollar pairings... still deciding which tank / pairing to add it to...
trying to read between the lines with little info out there, and one sellers fish picture with lots of nibbled fins, if these were over crowded, or if the fish has a tendency to nibble fins... since any other pictures out there the fins are always good, I suspect they were over crowded before the one got it's picture taken... Yellowfin Red Hook Silver Dollar (Myloplus arnoldi)

I'm kind of experimenting, as I'm thinking of adding a shoal of mixed dollars in with a shoal of discus in my 250 gallon, when it's ready for fish... so, if this gets too big down the road, or just isn't working out there will be an outlet to move it to

 

[FranciscoB]

Arnoldi get quite large. Beautiful fish. Not compatible with a shoal of discus, even in a large tank. Although the habitat of both type of fish changes dramatically seasonally, Discus are mainly from slow waters, while Arnoldi are rheophilous fish, with higher oxygen content. Also, Armoldi prefer lower temperature than discus.

 

[Magnum Man]

I've actually been rethinking doing discus... I've never had them, and are a bucket list fish... but the 250 will be a show piece, all the rest of my tanks are in the basement, so almost no one even knows I have aquariums, and there are just so many fish that can be put together for a display tank, if discus aren't included... it'll still be a while, before that tank is ready for fish yet...

 

[Magnum Man]

so, I got a smaller Myloplus arnoldi... that seller had what they were calling large and medium , so I got a medium, fins pretty beat up, and starving, and really skinny... like it was in an over crowded holding tank, and was the smallest fish... it ate ravenously this morning... it's been swimming in the top 1/3 of the water, it did go to the bottom, for sinking foods, but seems to prefer hanging in the roots, from the terrestrial plants in the clip on pots... it will be interesting to see how it develops color wise... it's got a little red / orange / yellow on it's anal fin, but no color yet in it's tail...
I'd never seen them before... sometimes fish pop up, not to be seen again, and sometime a supplier gets a line on them, and they are in the hobby from now on, so we'll see... I may order more???

it does have more of. Pacu body shape, than my other "dollars"

 

[Magnum Man]

adding a fish like this, makes you realize how your other fish are growing... this one is the size of a US half Dollar, and it's in with Tiger and Mutt, and it's literally 1/4 the size of my Tiger Silver Dollar right now ( Tiger was bought at the same size as the new fish originally )

 

[Magnum Man]

I'll admit I didn't think this fish was going to make it... it was starved, beat up, and covered in slime coat when it arrived... it's been eating very well. slime coat is gone, and like a butterfly from it's cocoon... it was dull grey with the slime coat, it now gleams like the bumper of a classic car... the Tiger Dollar in this tank is the typical grey color, this new one looks chrome right now... it was emaciated, when it arrived, and still skinny, but has started to fill out, ( at least it's digestive system ).. I imagine it'll take a while to restore muscle...

 

[anewbie]

I've actually been rethinking doing discus... I've never had them, and are a bucket list fish... but the 250 will be a show piece, all the rest of my tanks are in the basement, so almost no one even knows I have aquariums, and there are just so many fish that can be put together for a display tank, if discus aren't included... it'll still be a while, before that tank is ready for fish yet...

Why you should keep wild caught discus:



And blue rams as well as Dicrossus [maculatus,filamentosus] make decent enough tank mates and are really quite show piece in themselves.

[btw this is a basement aquarium not a display aquarium]

 

[Magnum Man]

hard to get a good picture ( water is turbid right now, just scraped algae, and fed them ) but it's getting a black edge to the tail, like the 2nd picture above, and more color in it's anal fin

 

[Magnum Man]

little guy is starting to hang closer to the other fish, still on top in this picture black edges on his fins much more evident, than in pictures on line... he's slowly starting to put on some body mass

 

[Magnum Man]

got to witness some interesting activity this morning... the more mature Tiger Silver Dollar found something it could eat ( it's about feeding time so it was likely a piece of root or leaf, as no food has been added since yesterday morning ), and the new little arnoldi wanted it, if it was edible, dancing around, like a young animal that wanted what it's parent was eating... tiger almost exhibited parental actions, not getting mad at the little dollar, just kept turning away, while it was chewing on what ever it was... it was interesting watching them interact like that...

 

[Magnum Man]

I don't think it's good... the lights have been on for an hour, and no lil dollar in sight... I was hoping I could save it ( it came to me in such a rough condition ) I was sure it would die pretty much right away... something changed after dark last night... the rest of the fish all sleep sitting on the bottom, and lil dollar always went up top, among the pothos roots ... I've not gone looking for it yet, but it had started to integrate into the rest of the group, maybe it tried to find a good spot to sleep in the lower tank, and worked it's way into the thick java fern tangle??? but, no sign of it dead or alive this morning, and it's almost time to feed