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My latest video

GaryE

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I do freelance work making videos for the Fluval site, so here is my most recent mix of wild and fishroom clips of a fish I really like. I think forum members may find watching these fish with their young interesting. I hope so. This was only a week after surgery that should improve my voice, so maybe I'll sing on the next one. Probably not.

 
Just found this! Have much to say, but tired brain says I will have a better grasp on the English language after some sleep, so I shall return to this, in due time!
But for now, your voice sounded great, and normal to me, but you know the sound of your own voice much better, this is the first time I've heard it! But it's a good, deep voice.

You said they're not the most colourful fish - but wow, the endless variety of colours through those fins? Constantly flickering as they move their fins, is stunning! The shots at 1:36 onward especially show what I mean. Very like light through a prism, and is also giving me echoes of the amount of shades of colour in parrot feathers, like a Scarlet Macaws tail feather. Makes me want to draw and paint them, but how do you paint it when it's constantly shifting and changing? So the beauty of the colours is only really captured when it's alive and in motion.

Not even mentioning the neon highlighted cheek patches (have no idea the sciency anatomical name for that bit, but those bits), they're gorgeous. Making me think of the 80s too, but that might be down to the playlist I was listening to earlier... If these were my fish though, I wouldn't be able to resist naming them "Cindy & Lauper".

I love that you also love the shared brood care! What I know about cichlids could be written on a postage stamp - if the pen was very small. But I do know they're fantastic parents. I'm sure many people outside the hobby would be shocked at the idea of some fish species being caring parents. That myth about Goldfish only having three second memories, the one that justified keeping them in tiny tabletop bowls, hasn't done a lot of good for the hobby, sadly.

Going on a jealous, living vicariously dive into these trips to see specimens in their natural habitat. Byron was also so passionate about replicating natural environments, and allowing fish to practice their natural behaviours as much as possible when in home aquaria. Changed the way I thought about my own hobby completely. Especially once I learned I was keeping my beloved otos in the wrong GH, and likely shortening their lifespans. Biotope type set ups are very appealing, especially for that dream of mine to successfully breed otos in captivity myself. Might have to move to a softwater area! Or just collect more rainwater, that works too.

Speaking of, last moment of the video that I'll comment on, with affection! But I like that you show how there's little in the way of aquatic plants in their wild habitat, perhaps zero, apologise to planted tank nuts, but that it's not the only natural way - immediately cuts back to your own tank with... what's that I see? Live plants? ;) :lol:
 
And today, I noticed a young Chromidotilapia nana, the fish from the video, with a mouthful of eggs. I find a lot of mouthbrooders fail the first time around, but this is the first spawning from my F-1 generation, a year and a week since I returned from Gabon.

I'm afraid to be hopeful, but maybe, just maybe I can get an F-2 generation started, and have enough of them to get them into the hobby. The hopeful parents were in the video, as little babies being cared for by their wild-caught Mom and Dad. Fingers crossed...
 
And today, I noticed a young Chromidotilapia nana, the fish from the video, with a mouthful of eggs. I find a lot of mouthbrooders fail the first time around, but this is the first spawning from my F-1 generation, a year and a week since I returned from Gabon.

I'm afraid to be hopeful, but maybe, just maybe I can get an F-2 generation started, and have enough of them to get them into the hobby. The hopeful parents were in the video, as little babies being cared for by their wild-caught Mom and Dad. Fingers crossed...
This is fantastic! 🥰

So was the F1 generation the first spawning of this species in captivity? 😀 And now you might have an F2 generation on the way! They're really beautiful. I would love it if they breed well enough to make it into the hobby. I'd want some. Please update!

How long did it take the eggs to hatch for the wild adults in the first breeding? 😬
 
I didn't see the spawning, so it's hard to put a time on it. And they don't release the fry from their mouths til they've gone through the egg and larvae stage.

In this story, the ending is sad as the first lot got swallowed. I jinxed it by writing it!

It's a learning curve for them, and they make mistakes. The remnants of Hurricane Ernesto are passing by out to sea, and I could hear the very start of the surf when I took the dog out this morning. So hopefully, with a big change in the air pressure, something will happen. I have four pairs formed, and radical weather changes trigger spawning, as they like to breed at the start of the rainy seasons. More food becomes available for the fry as the flooding proceeds.
The rains came this week last year. When our flight reached Cameroon, it was pelting rain. So if there is a natural rhythm to their spawning, a timing thing like with many tetras, the timing should be good for another attempt.
 

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