well, not really a hobby per-se, but the missus wanted a dining table. The only way to make room for that, was to sell the gym. So a comprmise was drawn between us where i would sell the gym and she could have the table, and i would get myself a big fish tank with piranha's!
i ended up with a 4x2x2 tank which came complete with external filter, cabinet and some fish. The fish werent part of my plan, but i figured i'd do something with them.
Onto the fish! i was told it had a couple of goldfish, and a pleco. On my arrival to collect the tank, one of the goldies was 9-10" big, and the pleco around 14"!!!
Long story shortened, i had to find a new home for the goldies and they went to a local lady with a pond. Then i considered the option of putting Red Bellied Piranha's in with the big plec. Mixed views from experts... 50% saying they would be fine, the rest saying they wouldnt.
In the meantime, Barry was proving to be very entertaining and we decided we didnt want to risk it.
So, on saturday 22nd August, we collected 6 Convict Cichlids from the local fish shop. A mixed bag (literally) of males and females, all around 1.5" long. These were then put into the tank to have a look around!
anyways... the convicts starting forming pairs on the sunday, and by sunday evening, territories were being fought for.
On monday, the territories were as such:
The ornament in the above video has one pair housed inside the ball at the top. They seem adamant not to relinquish this patch to the second pair, by refusing to come out. i suspect they plan on laying eggs inside there.
The second pair are clearly the dominant pair. They have holed up under a piece of planted bogwood next to the ornament, but keep trying to push the first pair out from the ornament as they clearly consider it as theirs. im expecting eggs to be attached to the bogwood and when they hatch, for the fry to be moved into the pit they've dug under the bogwood.
the final 2 fish arent pairing up. one is definitely a female but the other is hard to tell. They just keep getting chased out of the established territory by the alpha fish, but havent realised that they could team up and be stronger. It's a shame as the female is a nice looking fish (as far as fish go...) but these 2 i suspect will be found floating at some point. However, nature's a funny thing so we'll see what happens!
