Veija argentea

[Regalblue]

One new behavior I haven't ever seen in my 38yrs of fish keeping is that the hartwegi will sit down against the sand and fan with it's pectoral fins furiously and seems to be looking for food in the stirred up substrate. Perhaps they eat aquatic insect larvae and nymphs in the wild. Whatever the reason it is very cool to watch. If I can catch it on vid I will share it here later...

Close...  They are a Detritivorous, Herbivore species.

Tank looks good!

[Brianyfishguy]

Awesome tank Danny sorry you had some losses but it looks great cant wait to see those guys grow out

[danotaylor]

Thanks guys! I'm looking forward to seeing them get big. Hopefully they can coexist in the 125g...but since my wife loves loves loves the carpintas if I need to go bigger my fingers and toes are very crossed, lol.
I have never heard the term detritivorous. I googled it. That's cool, like a scaley earthworm, haha!

[danotaylor]

A few crappy phone pics from today. The synspilum are showing some good potential, as are the carpintas. The hartwegi wasn't feelin it for the shoot today 

[danotaylor]

Mr Hartwegi decided to show himself...

[Brianyfishguy]

Looking great Danny I love the look of the sa/ca cichlids such awesome color and patterns.  I really like your new tank keep the updates coming

[danotaylor]

Showing off even more later tonight...

[Regalblue]

They're looking good!  Just keep up water quality and them well fed,  they're just going to get better and better looking.

[danotaylor]

Thx mate. I wc 50% every 2 weeks and since losing the fire mouth & 1 carpintas to aggression there's only 6 fish in the 125gal. Unless I find a decent sized hartwegi or argentea I will leave well enough alone.
I feed Ken's spirulina flakes, Australian freeze dried black worms with spinach, and xtreme big fella pellets.
The wood is still leeching lots of tannins which makes the water look nitrate laden but they're actually <20 pre water change.
Looking forward to seeing these guys grow some more for sure!

[danotaylor]

Anyone else have hartwegi? Love to see a pic of yours if you do for comparison. Mine is the only one I have ever seen in person and it's colors really amaze me after keeping African cichlids for a decade. Please share pics if you do. Thx

[danotaylor]

I have been really surprised by how aggressive my lone 4" Nicaraguensis is...I included it because reviews I read score the species well below carpintas and the Vieja's on the aggression scale but he is the tank bully for sure. He hasn't hurt any of the other fish and hopefully as the others outgrow him the balance will shift. Any other experience out there to comment on with this species?