Michigan Cichlid Association

General Category => New World => Topic started by: dexternovice on April 16, 2015, 07:08:35 PM

Title: Zucchini war
Post by: dexternovice on April 16, 2015, 07:08:35 PM
While this may not be news to many of you, but it was quite a surprise to me. I dropped some zucchini into the three of my tanks with ancistrus.  One of those tanks also houses my trio of red spotted turquoise severums.  Within 90 seconds, both of the bristlenoses were munching happily away, as if nothing else existed. Here's where it became very interesting to me,  the severums began to check it out.  After a couple of minutes carefully circling,  the smallest one flashed in and took a nip of zucchini.  Neither of the ancistrus even twitched.  From that moment forward, the liar let severum has owned the center of the tank.  He/she is seemingly unaware of the two cats but violently deters the other severums.  Just thought I'd share what I found to be a fascinating change in the dynamics of my tank.
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: thebbqguy on April 16, 2015, 08:23:44 PM
Very interesting
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: Regalblue on April 17, 2015, 06:36:55 PM
How big is the severum?  Might wanna put a plate or flat rock there for it to claim. It should prove to be helpful when it reaches spawning age.
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: dexternovice on April 17, 2015, 08:01:06 PM
How big is the severum?  Might wanna put a plate or flat rock there for it to claim. It should prove to be helpful when it reaches spawning age.

It's around 3 inches which makes it roughly 1/2" smaller than the other 2. Thanks for the idea. Purely by chance, there's a roughly 6x6 rock just behind and to the left of the zucchini.
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: Regalblue on April 17, 2015, 08:02:20 PM
Good deal
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: dstuer on June 11, 2015, 07:22:21 AM
Many large, flat, round, omnivorous cichlids have very vegetarian tendencies.  I have a hard time finding enough dandelions in my yard to keep up.
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_1219_zpsd85vrp0y.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_1219_zpsd85vrp0y.jpg.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_1222_zps82w3pjkl.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_1222_zps82w3pjkl.jpg.html)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_1308_zps0f782f0c.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_1308_zps0f782f0c.jpg.html)
in a few hours a dandelion clump the size of a basketball
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_0016_zps4b25c45c.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_0016_zps4b25c45c.jpg.html)
is reduced to this
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_0079_zps794042e6.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Paratilapia/bocourti/dsndelion/IMG_0079_zps794042e6.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: LanaK on June 11, 2015, 10:31:11 AM
What a good idea - I never through to give them weeds, but goodness knows I have enough of them in my yard!  Do you blanch them first?
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: dstuer on June 11, 2015, 10:43:06 AM
All I do is rinse them off a bit, and remove the flowers, dandelions seem to be preferred by the cichlids in my tanks, I have tried some other weeds like columbine, but it is left alone. (I don't use any weed killer, and don't use any weeds close to the neighbors property line, just in case they do)
(http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i97/dstuer/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_2741_zpsefaw7g6u.jpg) (http://s70.photobucket.com/user/dstuer/media/Etroplus/secondsuraten/dandelion/IMG_2741_zpsefaw7g6u.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: thebbqguy on June 17, 2015, 05:29:36 PM
Nice pictures. What a nice idea.
Title: Re: Zucchini war
Post by: Jen L on June 18, 2015, 02:14:51 PM
Tried dandelions in mine and they wouldn't touch them. They do love cucumbers, though.