Crenuchus spilurus, ( sail fin tetras ) my journey...

[Magnum Man]

I was gone all day yesterday, from 1st light, until last light, so no fish observations yesterday...

but I fed at 1st light this morning, since they didn't get fed yesterday... ( Ultra Fresh micro pellets I linked in my food thread the other day )... 5 of them out eagerly eating this morning the others may still have been in their personal spots, but the ones in the mixed Tetra shoal, starting to hang in a sub group, in the mixed shoal... maybe the result of attention from the mature palmeri's... I see the sailfins this morning exploring around the nooks and crannies of the nice piece of driftwood in the center of the tank, after feeding...

 

[Magnum Man]

with as shaded as this tank is, these juveniles appear non descript and brown, the gravel is brown, and they may be trying to blend in... this picture with some additional light... one of the medium sized Crenuchus spilurus is right in the center...

 

[GaryE]

You've got fish stepping on each others' toes. Well, like if they had toes. I think that the palmeri are showing is their own territoriality. Males will temporarily own parts of the tank, as will Crenuchus. The palmeri were there first, so they are being assertive.

I wouldn't expect the conflict to get too serious. I think it would be interesting to see how they sort it out in time. THe process will be fun t watch - I'm jealous.

I tried to get some Crenuchus, but winter got a bit carried away and it's been cold and storms all the way.

 

[Magnum Man]

at one time, I was going to do a big school of the palmeri, and tried to order, and the seller's website let me order a bunch, but when it came time to shipping, they only had 2 males, so they were one of the 1st Tetras in this tank... I just saw one of the bigger spilurus, swimming around with the 2 mature palmeri this morning, so I'm sure they'll settle in...

 

[Magnum Man]

they also seem to like Bug Bites, so they are eating off the shelf foods well... today I mixed in some good quality flake food, that I ground up a little in the mortar, with the bug bites... in this tank, I lightly grind the foods to about half the size that a fresh jar of Bug Bites arrives at, I find it makes it easier to eat, for the Tetra sized fishes

 

[Magnum Man]

tubeflex cube slivers part of this mornings feeding, and they seem to like those as well... the Crenuchus spilurus seem to eat any of the foods I'm feeding... one of the larger ones, seems to want to swim around with the 2 mature palmeri now, but gets chased back to the shoal, after about the middle of the tank... they seem to be settling in, and are much more visible in the shoal, earlier on, mostly hanging just above the substrate, but today are actively swimming around more, and not just hang at the bottom... still have at least 6 of the original 8 of them... I'd try buying another group of them, but the weather has been cold, and they are out of stock again... so I guess it's an exercise in patience...
it does help to see them in this shadowed tank, now that they seem to be putting some weight on...

 

[Magnum Man]

3 of the group at breakfast this morning ( mixed granule size Bug Bites today ) their bellies much more filled out, so they are getting plenty to eat, and they are up higher in the water column, rather than stuck to the substrate...

 

[Magnum Man]

an interesting observation... the mixed Tetra shoal has been pretty tight for a while now... maybe since I added the spotted Silver Dollar to this tank, as a companion fish for my Blue Zebra Lace Angel... probably like 4 months ago... I've not seen any Tetra aggression from the Silver Dollar, or the Angel, but probably the larger size, and shape, has the Tetras wary... now that the Sail Fins have been settling in, the shoal has doubled in size, and I actually saw a Cardinal Tetra on the other side of the driftwood, that marks the center of the tank... it's nice to see all the Tetras more spread out... previously only the mature palmeri's swam in more that a soccer ball size space in the tank...

 

[Magnum Man]

a big day in this tank... the biggest green eyed female palmeri has left the shoal, and started to swim around with the mature blue eyed males
I have some coffeefola anubis coming soon, several are going in this tank, to replace a couple plastic plants hopefully that doesn't disturb their world too much, should be an improvement in the long run...

 

[Magnum Man]

setting into a routine... at breakfast time, they are all out in the group shoal, and by mid day, I can only find one or two, so they definitely like to find a hiding spot for most of the day

 

[Magnum Man]

I have a couple open bottom resin hollow logs, that I have stood up in the corners to hide the 2 lift tubes from a retained under gravel filter, in this tank... at 1st light, I saw several of the sailfins coming and going from that vertical hollow log, that is closest to where the mixed Tetra shoal spends most of it's time, so they apparently prefer that type of structure to the roots from the vines...

 

[Magnum Man]

not a particularly good picture, under a big piece of driftwood, in the center of the tank, away from the rest of the tetras, in a highly shaded tank, but his one is pretty adventuresome...

 

[Magnum Man]

a couple days on the road, so I didn't look at my tanks for a couple days... everyone was hungry this afternoon... sail fins as well... I counted at least 6 out eating a little bit ago, seemed confident, and looking good... no fin damage, and the mature Emperors seem to have accepted them into the community... next week, I'll be removing a couple plastic plants, and replacing them with several anubis coffeefolas

 

[Magnum Man]

been reading up on sexual differences... I'm not seeing any yet... all fish appear to be young adult sizes, but no differences seen yet... any guesses, as to how long, from their current size???

on my Crenuchus spilurus, also in this tank, sexing came easy, as the male has a dorsal twice as long as this one, but a fraction of the color yet...

hoping to see some sails soon, on the Crenuchus spilurus,

 

[Mr Limpet]

Young males can be distinguished by a white border on their dorsal fins. It takes some time for the sails to grow in.