Boita Compatibility

[Essjay]

That's what makes life interesting with bolivians

The only sure fire way to tell is by the vent, other things are just indicators. Females have round bellies, males are flat towards the tail - but so are undernourished females, a common thing in shop tanks. Males have fin extensions at the front of the dorsal fin and the edges of the tail fin - but juvenile males haven't grown them yet, and shops usually have juvies for sale.
 
You've not had your long yet. Let them settle and grow a bit, it should be easier to tell then. If they breed, you'll know for sure

 

[greenmumma141]

It really does look like two girls. I think it's crazy that with it being as hard o find females as it is, you got two of them lol.  But maybe its's not as hard to find females as i thought bc apparently I had no idea what I was doing.......

 

[BigFish01]

Well If thats the way it is I can just leave them be and they will be fine together? its the males that you cant have two of them together right? they do pretty good together. once in a while one gets an attitude with the other but other than that they do really good and hang out together a lot. I'm gonna go get my six angels soon. Hoping that having them in the 20gal long with the others wont cause any issues for two weeks. they will be small so i think it will be ok.  
 
Hows everything going in your tank? How are the little polka dotted loaches doing? no more ammonia or anything right?
 
I spent the whole weekend outside was so nice out for once. We drained our 25000 gallon pond and put the fish in the 600gal temporarily. Poor kois are almost two foot long in a six foot long pond... but that wont be for long. Got the liner up and will get some fill sand in there to make it 3ft deep all the way through. Will be a lot easier to keep clean rather than the 6ft deep that it was. We lost all but 8 of our bluegills. started the summer last year with 16, lost 3 than i found 5 dead this spring. We decided to give them to a friend that has a 3 acre lake on his property. Who knows maybe we will see them again fishing sometime  
 
Well I better get back to work. lunch is almost over!

 

[greenmumma141]

Mine are officially two boys, and they get along fine. They only squabble if one enters the other's spot, but are fine in all the neutral space  It's pretty awesome you have two girls, bc you can always add a male now. 
 
I tihnk 6 little angels would be fine together in the 20 gal, as long as they all come from the same tank in the store. Weird that it makes a difference but it does  6 angels, that's exciting! It's going to change your tank completely, can't wait to see it!
 
My loaches are doing fantastic!!!! They're growing fast, probably bc they're such piggies they always have fat bellies now, it's pretty funny. I've been thinking of picking one more up bc they get too big, but all the ones in petsmart were really faded and about half of them were not even angelicus lol. I'll get a vid of them soon, I've been meaning to, I would like to have a good one of them while they're still small so when they're big I can watch it and cry hehe, but I've been busy will all the cory fry video making  (which now have pectoral AND dorsal fins) so crazy to see them when the lights come on and be like, holy cow, you grew fins last night lol
 
I am so jealous, I have always wanted a koi pond!! That's so cool... we did a lot of outdoor stuff this weekend too, it was beautiful here. 
 
Well, I've started to slowly dose with liquid carbon EEK!  I've been getting some algae, and my swords are constantly losing leaves, so I thought it was time to turn things up a notch and I'm too much of a weenie to do an actual co2 setup so liquid it is lol.  I'm starting at 1/3 of the dosage just to be on the safe side, then next week 2/3, and so on. And I was advised to find a "micro macro" fertilizer too, so I have to research that one haha.  
 
No ammonia or nitrite problems at all.  My filter is continuing to be a pain in the patookus though, I think for Christmas I'll be upgrading to an external, I've got my eye on the fluval 306  I also picked up a black background, FINALLY, and it looks pretty killer My gourami is extra sparkly lookin hehe.

 

[Essjay]

I had some bolivians a few years ago. Although I chose the two most different fish in the tank, they turned out to be 2 males. They lived quite happily together while they were the only bolivians in the tank. A few months later, I found a shop with some home bred bolivians in stock with their breeding tubes quite visible, so I got 2 females. Once they were in the tank with the males, the males attacked each other now that they had something to fight over. I had to move one male into the quarantine tank. The remaining male divided his attention between the two females for a few days, then he and one female started attacking the second. A week after the females went in the tank, I took a male and female back to the shop (I checked they would when I bought the females) and I got home to find the pair I had kept had spawned while I was out.
 
So yes, 2 males will be OK together as they'll have nothing to fight over. But add a female and watch out........

 

[greenmumma141]

yikes......

 

[BigFish01]

Wow.. Been a VERY busy week

I have been super busy for a couple weeks getting the pond going, pool opened... yard work... ya know. We made our big pond shallower, its now 3ft deep vs the 6ft it was last year. Had to take the poor koi out and put them in the 600gal pond.. they are almost 2 ft long now

Heres a short video of them after we got water in

 
 http/youtu.be/Gumh0DUx4uc
 
Hope everyone is doing well. My clowns never fail me. Ate up all my wisteria.. Oh well. Guess it will be the anubias from now on... 


This is what it looked like last year
 
Just to show the depth of it

 

 

 
and the little pond they had to be in for a week. (last year photo)

 

[greenmumma141]

MAN, sorry for taking so long   LOVE the koi ponds pics, so cool. At some point in my life, I need to get one going. I need a new house first though  
 
Well, I've gone, gulp, high tech . I've been dosing daily with seachem excel and also ordered some dry ferts and made some solutions. Still in the first week, but I'm hoping by the end of this week the algae will be gone, and I'll see some growth.  I really want to be able to grow stem plants. Red ones too!!!!!!  
 
How's the tank going?? Are the clowns still munching on your plants?? Everyday I find new little holes in my swords 

. Naughty, naughty loaches.

 

[BigFish01]

Yeah I have been dosing liquid carbon daily too. 14ml/day for the big tank and 3ml/day for the little tank. The clowns are pretty happy with my current plants i guess.. lol They wont let me plant my water wisteria. Oh well.. It looks pretty dang good now. Will have to do some pics for ya. The pond is coming along good. Added a 30ft stream to it and a new filter system. Just waiting on some replacement piping so it dont look so bad. Will give ya some updated pics on that soon too. 
 
I have been thinking about going full high tech but i'm not sure exactly what else i will need. I will be getting a bottle of gas that will last me for like 10 years... will cost me 185. just need to learn how to diffuse it and all that. So some more studying for me! Will be wayyyy cheaper that way. We will see what happens. 
 
Glad to hear that yours is doing good. Little loaches munching on your leaves? they are leaving my swords alone surprisingly!!!  


and after working 16 hrs a day between work and pond my poor fish tank needs some maintenance. Need to do a big water change and clean the filter. But it still looks surprisingly good

 

[BigFish01]

Well went to lfs today to get a light for the 20gal. They had what i think is a male bolivian so i got it. i also picked up an otto too. hope it turns out that im right on the bolivian. They had three baby angels too. But im waiting on them. Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend!!!

 

[BigFish01]

Ok three days and no sight of my little otto. If nothing by tomorrow gonna start moving rocks. Oh man!

 

[greenmumma141]

They're so hard to find, it takes me forever to get a head count on my otos, good luck! 

 

[snazy]

He's lonely so he may be hiding. He should come out of it eventually or just get him another friend at least to boost his confidence.

 

[BigFish01]

Ok i picked up three more today. They finally got a bunch of baby angels too I'm still waiting on them. I have a baby turtle in my qt tank at the moment waiting to go into my pond. Hey greenmumma where did you get your dry ferts from?

 

[BigFish01]

Ok i took some pretty good pics for you guys!! Maybe you can tell if my new one is male or not! First a comparison.
 
confirmed? girl

 
and the suspected boy (hopefully)

 
and some just for fun

New MTS enjoying a algae wafer.. lol 
 
20gal long that house my bolivian rams and ottos

 
Plants seem to be doing best in there. At 1.8wpg, dosing carbon every day and seachem flourish comprehensive.