Wild Cuipeua Crew

[Second Hand Pat]

I finally combine the two groups of Cuipeua's I received from Mark. One group from Hudson and one from Victor. The crew is residing in the 100 gallon in the living room. This tank was my first discus tank and is an old oceanic with dual overflows with a black background. I removed the background but think I will add it back in. The fish appear dusky against the black which doesn't do they justice. Also considing removing the red head tapajos. They are way too busy for the discus. As you can see this tank needs a redo.


http://youtu.be/MKl2kQDzs7k

[Cosgrovb]

I love the ones with blue striations

[Bill63SG]

Got someone around here selling red-head fry.Thought about it,but after seeing the vid,I'll think I'll pass.Just a little too active.

[Second Hand Pat]

Got someone around here selling red-head fry.Thought about it,but after seeing the vid,I'll think I'll pass.Just a little too active.

Like a pack of hyenas tormenting the lions.

[Second Hand Pat]

I love the ones with blue striations

Those are the royals. ;)

[Discus-n00b]

And here I was wanting some red head geos LOL. Still do!

Nice fish Pat, they all look great.

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Matt, the tank is too small for the red heads and the discus. It would quite different in a larger tank I believe.

[CajunAg]

Beautiful group Pat!

[DiscusBR]

Gorgeous discus. The ones with a strong center bar are amazing. I look forwarg following how the tank develops.

[chaoslite]

Pat,

Those are just gorgeous. What if you just did less red heads? Maybe they would fight less with more territory? As you can see I know nothing about them, but I like them in the tank.

Mishka

[illumnae]

Lovely tank. The red heads didn't look like they were bothering the discus much though. They seemed more concerned with infighting - I even saw one pair of them doing a face-off :)

I love eartheaters with discus. I had G. winemilleri and some Satanopercas with my Heckels, and now have Biotodoma cupido with my Curuai xlg

[Larry Bugg]

Looking great Pat. I love the halos.

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Pat, I am in AWWWWW over your wilds. You have been having such success and I wish you the very best for all your discus. Keep in mind that I want to be on the list for juvies!

Keep up the good work. Thank you for sharing your kids!

[Discus Origins]

The whole family together, beautiful sight :) looking great Pat!

[Second Hand Pat]

And here I was wanting some red head geos LOL. Still do!

Nice fish Pat, they all look great.

Thanks Matt, your tank printfoot is a little better then this tank, 60x17x24. If you want some I would say go for it. One note is that the red head really compete for food and being faster they tend to win. I have to be careful to ensure the discus get their share.

[dadecountyalan]

why dont you plop those into that showtank you have pat?

[Second Hand Pat]

Beautiful group Pat!

Thanks Luke :)


Gorgeous discus. The ones with a strong center bar are amazing. I look forwarg following how the tank develops.

Thanks Mauro, I am looking forward to when these guys look as settled as your group.


Pat,

Those are just gorgeous. What if you just did less red heads? Maybe they would fight less with more territory? As you can see I know nothing about them, but I like them in the tank.

Mishka

Aw thanks Mishka, I may try that :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Lovely tank. The red heads didn't look like they were bothering the discus much though. They seemed more concerned with infighting - I even saw one pair of them doing a face-off :)

I love eartheaters with discus. I had G. winemilleri and some Satanopercas with my Heckels, and now have Biotodoma cupido with my Curuai xlg

Illumnae, it's with constant activity and competition for food that concerns me. Maybe it's more about me then the fish :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Looking great Pat. I love the halos.

Me too Larry :)


Pat, I am in AWWWWW over your wilds. You have been having such success and I wish you the very best for all your discus. Keep in mind that I want to be on the list for juvies!

Keep up the good work. Thank you for sharing your kids!

More then welcome Jeff, we will see on the juvie thing but definitely a goal. :grin:

[Second Hand Pat]

The whole family together, beautiful sight :) looking great Pat!

Thanks Mark, awesome group for sure and just wait until the F1s join the group. 14 strong and will be going in the 230 then.

[Second Hand Pat]

why dont you plop those into that showtank you have pat?

Alan, I will once when the F1s are mature enough. Then the group will be 14 strong. That will be an amazing sight.

[illumnae]

Hi Pat, I've kept various eartheaters in my biotope tanks over the past couple of years, and I can say that the discus definitely hold their own against the eartheaters. I've had the pleasure of keeping Tapajos Red Heads as well, and they're really a playful bunch! More so than the other Geophagus, Satanoperca and Biotodoma species I've kept. Heiko Bleher also recommends eartheaters to be kept with wild discus, as they are found naturally with discus back at the "Source" :)

However, your mileage may definitely vary and if you're not comfortable with them, then the best course of action would of course be to replace them with something that you're more comfortable with. Perhaps if you have a source of Biotodoma cupido or wavrini you could give those a shot? They're milder in temperament I find, having kept both. Ultimately, I like to keep eartheaters with discus, because their constant sifting keeps the find sand clean. I get frustrated if I don't have eartheaters, because the sand I use is otherwise too fine to vacuum, and I hate a dirty substrate!

[Second Hand Pat]

llumnae, the red heads are definitely a playful bunch and always busy. Plus they keep the sand bed very clean and I do find that very useful. So I am considering splitting the group up between my tanks once the tefe's spawning in the 230 quit.

[Pardal]

I agree with both of you .

[Second Hand Pat]

Learning to eat from a cone

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010003.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010005.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010008.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010009.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010010.jpg

First bite
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010011.jpg

Some single shots
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010002.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010007.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010004.jpg

[strawberryblonde]

Awwww, so good to catch up on your fish and how they're all doing Pat!

So have they gotten the hang of the cone feedings? Mine are so addicted to the cone now that when I remove it to clean it they all dash madly to the side of the tank closest to the kitchen and watch me...then dash right back to the "cone spot" on the tank wall when they see me returning with it in my hands. LOL

They are all SO brightly colored and so beautiful...good job raising them! You know I'd love to try wilds but my water out here wouldn't be good for them and I'd end up going 100% RO...blech.

[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks Toni, these guys are the wild Cuipeau adults I received from Mark (Discus Origins). I have not added the F1 Cuipeua I am currently raising. BUT yes it was fun watching them figure out how to eat from the cone. The discus were actually trying different things while the red head tapajos were just swarming beneath the cone.

Love your description of your guys, must be fun to watch that. :)

[strawberryblonde]

ROFL, you know Fred...always teaching the rest of them new tricks.

I now have THREE who do the "flip flop" of death in order to get me to feed them. All those little fins splashing around on top of the water while they lay on their sides and look near death, it's hilarious.

The mad dash to watch me clean the cone was also instituted by Fred. It was bad enough when it was just him dashing over and staring at me, but within days all the rest of them started doing it too. 18 red eyeballs and 18 flapping fins pressed up against the glass....geesh!

And then there's the pot tipping trick. Fred started out sneaking up behind the smallest potted plant and nudging it gently till one day it tipped over and all the gravel spilled out, leaving him with a nice new "cave" to explore. Only problem was that the cave was too small to fit his overgrown body. Soooo, two days go by and suddenly there's Fred, nudging the 8" pot over and over again till yep, it tipped on it's side.

That one didn't make him happy though because too much gravel stayed inside it and there still wasn't room for his body. But, by then he'd figured out that pot tipping was fun and that sometimes you could actually stuff half your body inside a tipped pot and the bad habit was begun.

Can't tell you how many times Tim and I have been watching tv at night and then hear a loud thump in the tank. It's Fred, going pot-tipping again.

[Second Hand Pat]

That is hilarious Toni and annoying too I'm sure. So fish do have a sense of humor :)

[strawberryblonde]

Most of what Fred does just makes us both laugh. I mean really, who woulda thought a fish could be a prankster, huh?

On the other hand, the pot-tipping was only cute the first few times he did it. Now it's just plain annoying. I have gravel all mixed in with my nice sandy substrate and plants that struggle to survive all the upending and general mayhem.

I actually found a cure though Pat! I moved Fred and his new lady friend into their own tank on Sunday! They have NO plants in there, just one upside down flower pot for little Bo Peep to lay her eggs on. Fred has adjusted well so far and has surprised me by not really going too much off his feed, but he does keep finding things to disturb. This morning I found the thermometer nudged all the way to the back corner of the tank. <sigh>

[Second Hand Pat]

Toni, when horses get bored you can get them a ball with a handle which allows the horse to carry the ball and basically "play" with it. Maybe Fred "needs" something he can safely push around...silly fish.

[Second Hand Pat]

This guys are in my 100 gallon which needs a redo. I need to put the slimline background back in. The blackground the tank has normally make these guys look darker then they should.

The striations on this little fish keep getting brighter. The amber eye is pretty in person but does not show up in the picture.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010077.jpg

Mark, this is the new guy.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010084.jpg

Center lines
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010079-1.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010078.jpg

Solids
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010080.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010085.jpg

Larger royal, guessing a male
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/P1010086.jpg

[DiscusBR]

Very nice!! As I said before, and these new pics confirm, the center bar ones are my favorites. The big royal in the last pic is also looking great. No pairing activitiy yet? What do your greens have that your Cuipeuas don't? :)

[Second Hand Pat]

Very nice!! As I said before, and these new pics confirm, the center bar ones are my favorites. The big royal in the last pic is also looking great. No pairing activitiy yet? What do your greens have that your Cuipeuas don't? :)

Thanks Mauro, a large tank and no red head tapajas to contend with. :) The red head tapajas are busy, busy fish and really compete for the food. Plus the tank is a bit overcrowded. Nandi (NanDiscus) feels a low bio-load in the tank is important with getting wilds to breed. The Cuipeua's tank is a 100 gallon with a good sized sump but the tank has nine fish plus the red head tapajas so a bit overstocked.

I want to move/rehome the red heads and split the Cuipeua into two groups to reduce the group to about six in the 100 gallon.

[strawberryblonde]

Toni, when horses get bored you can get them a ball with a handle which allows the horse to carry the ball and basically "play" with it. Maybe Fred "needs" something he can safely push around...silly fish.

You'll love this one Pat. Tim tossed a ping pong ball into the tank on Monday after Fred had playfully shoved the thermometer into a corner again and then dislodged it so it fell to the bottom and broke.

Fred is now happily shoving the ball all around the tank and seems quite pleased with his new toy. LOL

[Second Hand Pat]

You'll love this one Pat. Tim tossed a ping pong ball into the tank on Monday after Fred had playfully shoved the thermometer into a corner again and then dislodged it so it fell to the bottom and broke.

Fred is now happily shoving the ball all around the tank and seems quite pleased with his new toy. LOL

Toni, love it when a plan comes together. Please post a video of that. :D

[strawberryblonde]

I'll post a vid just as soon as he lets me anywhere near the tank. Right now he's dark, slimy and hateful to me. LOL

[Second Hand Pat]

I'll post a vid just as soon as he lets me anywhere near the tank. Right now he's dark, slimy and hateful to me. LOL

Toni, still waiting for that video lol

[Second Hand Pat]

Some of these guys got in the way of the camera. Soon I hope to work with some of these from a breeding aspect.

Love this fish.
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010129.jpg

One of the centerlines
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010128.jpg

Couple of others
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010131.jpg
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010132.jpg

Another favorite
http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad95/Second_Hand_Pat/Cuipeua%20Adult/p1010135.jpg

[illumnae]

Hi Pat, how did your discus behaviour change after removing the Geophagus? My G. winemilleri have hit full size in the 240 gal Heckel tank and despite the large tank size and the fact that there are only 3 of them, they're getting really boisterous chasing each other around. I'm starting to wonder if they are too "loud" for the typically shy heckels and if I should remove them.

It would be a waste as they are really rare fish and beautiful too...and I don't have any other tanks to keep them in so they'd have to be sold.

[Second Hand Pat]

Illumnae, I still have these suckers in with the Cuipeua and yes, "loud" they are. I have to be very careful when I feed to ensure the Cuipeua get a fair amount to eat. I would like to see some "courtship" behavior at some point from the Cuipeua but with the red head tapajos in the tank I suspect it will not happen.

[illumnae]

Thanks for the update Pat! I'll leave the G. winemilleri in there for now I guess. The heckels are getting enough to eat (especially with the seafood mix - they get very aggressive and territorial with the mix, even attacking the Geophagus and Satanoperca to defend their share!) so my only concern is whether the boisterous neighbours would affect their behaviour and make them more skittish.

I agree that having loud tankmates will discourage courtship amongst discus. I set up my Curuai tank that way to discourage courtship actually, as I don't actually want to breed my fish at the moment. I have Xingu angelfish and G. neambi in that tank and the discus are more "group social" than "courtship" (well, prior to the septicimia outbreak anyway...now they're just all "stressed"). Contrast that with ROOT, who prefers a more peaceful setup with less tankmates. His Curuai bred so often! (Of course, he's a master breeder at almost everything he keeps anyway, so it's not surprising he succeeded with the discus too. I honestly think that ROOT can get heckels to spawn if he wanted to)

[Trier20]

Wow Pat what a group! Beautiful fish!


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[Second Hand Pat]

Thanks for the update Pat! I'll leave the G. winemilleri in there for now I guess. The heckels are getting enough to eat (especially with the seafood mix - they get very aggressive and territorial with the mix, even attacking the Geophagus and Satanoperca to defend their share!) so my only concern is whether the boisterous neighbours would affect their behaviour and make them more skittish.

I agree that having loud tankmates will discourage courtship amongst discus. I set up my Curuai tank that way to discourage courtship actually, as I don't actually want to breed my fish at the moment. I have Xingu angelfish and G. neambi in that tank and the discus are more "group social" than "courtship" (well, prior to the septicimia outbreak anyway...now they're just all "stressed"). Contrast that with ROOT, who prefers a more peaceful setup with less tankmates. His Curuai bred so often! (Of course, he's a master breeder at almost everything he keeps anyway, so it's not surprising he succeeded with the discus too. I honestly think that ROOT can get heckels to spawn if he wanted to)

ROOT's Curuai pair is gorgeous and he make such beautiful videos. I definitely need to upgrade my video taking capability. I have heard that Heckels can be quite brutal when it comes to food. I can not help feeling that once heckels settle their come into their own if you will. Hope your Curuai continue to improve.

[Second Hand Pat]

Wow Pat what a group! Beautiful fish!


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Thanks Brandon, definitely need to update the pictures. These fish have settled quite a bit since the last pictures.

[Trier20]

Something about wild is just mystical to me. Probably bc I don't have any lol


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[Second Hand Pat]

It has been that way for me since the beginning Brandon and I would have it no other way :)

[Trier20]

Maybe sometime I'll try my hand at them. Hopefully sooner than later :) most likely later I've about hit my alotted fish budget for this year already lol :)


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