New additions

[Discus-n00b]

I'm stepping outside of Discus with these, I picked them up from a local club member who unfortunately had to thin some stock. These are Wild Crenicichla regani! Don't find these all that often so I jumped at the chance. I was told its a male and female, but I'm no expert at that....we'll see what happens. They haven't shown to much color yet but you can slowly see it coming. And they seem to be much more active after lights out. SUPER fast fish, like an arrow...really cool to see them dart from cave to cave around the tank.

Heres some bad pictures of them, sorry about the dirty tank....these are a really messy fish and it was water change day anyway. And yes, i've found a new use for Barb's cones. ;)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike6.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike7.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike8.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike4.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike3.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike2.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike11.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike10.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike13.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike12.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike9.jpg

I had the intention of putting them in my 100gal display once its going to substitute for some of the larger pikes normally found in discus habitats, but I kind of want to keep them as a side project now....we'll see.

[hedut]

As usually Matt nice picture, how big the could grow?

[vera]

nice fish and shots Matt !, but u already know that :)
this shot is precious !! at home LOL

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike10.jpg

[Jennie]

neat fish... are you putting wild discus in with pikes?

[wadewc]

Mat, You sure take nice pics. Nice fish! I too was wondering how big do they get?

Wade

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks all! This species will not get larger then 6". 4" is the usual. Its one of the dwarf species.

I want to put them in with the wilds once the tank is setup, but i'm still unsure. Kind of want to breed them in a separate tank too. We'll see!

[DiscusKev]

nice picture as always, they look great.

[pcsb23]

Great photos as always :) Nice fish, I'm not too familiar with these so will follow with interest.

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks all.

Again sorry for the dirty tank and pictures. For some reason they always want to pose and interact in a dirty tank rather then clean one. The female has put on more color recently.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike16.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike15.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c172/clemmatt/Pike14.jpg

[DiscusKev]

their fins remind me of the sailfin molly.

[Discus-n00b]

Yeah Kev, when they really extend them they are quite the site. Really cool fish.

[DiscusKev]

What are the difficulty in keeping these fish?

[Discus-n00b]

This is the first time i've kept them. I've heard the care is similar to Geos or eartheaters. They are especially prone to HITH. I'm having a problem with them hiding a lot and being shy. Could be a combo of them being wilds and its a bare tank. I'm gonna put some substrate in probably this weekend and see how they react.

[DiscusKev]

have you seen any improvement in the colour now? Or you soley believe that it is like that because of the bb tank

[Discus-n00b]

I've seen improvements in color, but could probably get more without a bare tank.

[Disgirl]

Excellent pictures Matt! Have they been in or spawned inside the cone yet? A new use for my cones!
Barb

[Discus-n00b]

Thanks Barb, they love going inside and hanging out in the cone. Its a great cave for them. Still waiting on a spawn, they are not exactly paired up yet.

[Ryan]

Matt,

I love those pikes! They look great. Female C. regani have black spots in the dorsal fin but males do not. It does look like you have a male and female.

I've been working with pikes for the first time as well. I got some small, undescribed Lugubris-type pikes (possibly a variety of C. johanna) from John (snookn21) a while ago. Things were going well until they started tearing up the fins of fish three times their size. :D They will soon be leaving! But I may replace them with C. regani because John has some available.

Mine were a bit shy in a bare-bottom quarantine tank but they are very social and active in my 210g community with larger cichlids. Give them some tankmates and they'll probably come out more. Mine did hide for about 3 weeks when I first moved them into the tank, but then one day they just decided they were comfortable and now they're always on the prowl.

I was never drawn to pikes based on pictures before, but I've really changed my mind since owning them for a while. They are quite intelligent and funny to watch. I love when they extend their fins and swim around each other in circles, trying to establish dominance.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/a735ea13.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/05383197.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/1ef6a83c.jpg

[brewmaster15]

Matt,

I love those pikes! They look great. Female C. regani have black spots in the dorsal fin but males do not. It does look like you have a male and female.

I've been working with pikes for the first time as well. I got some small, undescribed Lugubris-type pikes (possibly a variety of C. johanna) from John (snookn21) a while ago. Things were going well until they started tearing up the fins of fish three times their size. :D They will soon be leaving! But I may replace them with C. regani because John has some available.

Mine were a bit shy in a bare-bottom quarantine tank but they are very social and active in my 210g community with larger cichlids. Give them some tankmates and they'll probably come out more. Mine did hide for about 3 weeks when I first moved them into the tank, but then one day they just decided they were comfortable and now they're always on the prowl.

I was never drawn to pikes based on pictures before, but I've really changed my mind since owning them for a while. They are quite intelligent and funny to watch. I love when they extend their fins and swim around each other in circles, trying to establish dominance.

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/a735ea13.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/05383197.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j49/ryansmith83/1ef6a83c.jpg

Lol, I saw these Pics Matt posted and said to my," Ryan's going to be drooling over them" :) Guess I was right. They are really neat looking fish. I've never kept them, but they are definetly something thats different and interesting... Matt, its good to step outside the Discus Box from time to time , I think it makes us better fish keepers.

and as always killer photos Bud!:)

-al

[Discus-n00b]

Those look great Ryan!

Al you should try the pikes sometime, I'm like Ryan never really was into them until I got some now I love them. They are so fun and interesting to watch. I wish I had some room for some of the bigger species.

[Ryan]

Matt, any updates on your regani? Have you seen any spawning activity? I have some but they're still a bit young and the male has been very aggressive toward the female, probably because she isn't mature enough to spawn yet. For now I have them growing out in separate tanks and she's finally packing on some size. I'll reintroduce them in a few more months.

[Discus-n00b]

Hey Ryan, I just posted in your Pike thread but I'll post here too! 0 Updates, I don't know whats going on with these two. They don't get along at all and the male is always chasing the female, both have pretty drab colors and they just aren't pairing up at all. The female hides most of the day because the male is always on the prowl. I wish they would pair up but its looking like its not happening between these two. Perhaps I need to separate them, however I didn't think they could really grow anymore.

[Ryan]

From what I've read, pike pairings are really difficult. If they are not compatible, chances are one will just harass the other. Maybe if you could find them, you could buy a few more females and see if the male chooses one. Then you could re-home the spare females or keep them in your other tanks.

I was told by someone on MonsterFishKeepers that the female may not be interested in breeding because she's not sexually mature. I decided to separate the two and let them mature a bit more before trying to reintroduce them. They got along fine for the first couple of months, but then the male turned aggressive and wouldn't let my female eat or swim around the tank.