Uaru
Contents:
- [sacsg] new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
by "sophie-fan" <ryans/sodiumfire.com> (Fri, 01 Feb 2002)
- [sacsg] Re: new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
by "peter" <midas_cichlid/optusnet.com.au> (Sat, 2 Feb 2002)
- [sacsg] More on Uaru
by "terry_perth" <pisces/git.com.au> (Sat, 02 Feb 2002)
- [sacsg] new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
by Mary Bailey <106326.3671/compuserve.com> (Sat, 2 Feb 2002)
- RE: [sacsg] new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
by "Steve Hatfield or Kim Rogers-Hatfield" <stevekim/indy.net> (Sat, 2 Feb 2002)
by "sophie-fan" <ryans/sodiumfire.com>
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002
To: sacsg/yahoogroups.com
Hello everyone,
I'm new to the group. I thought I'd post about the new Uaru I got
yesterday. This is my first time owning the fish, but I've been
looking for it for a long time :-)
01/31/2002- My first journal entry is quite long. Please bear with
me. I tried to include everything I could think of to give everyone
a better understanding of my introduction to this wonderful cichlid.
My Uaru arrived this afternoon after spending nearly 24 hours in the
hands of FedEx. Although their arrival was several hours later than
I expected, the fish were alive and swimming around their bag when I
opened the shipping box. I added some AmQuel to their bag water
while I found a net, then moved them each individually from the
shipping bag into a 10-gallon "holding" tank. I did not acclimate
the fish, as they'd spent more time than necessary in their shipping
water. The tank is bare-bottom with a small heater and a sponge
filter, and the outside back, sides, and bottom are painted pale
blue. Three small angelfish were already in the tank as a welcoming
party, as Uaru are shy cichlids and dither fish suit them well. The
only light in the tank was from the room, as I do not have a strip-
light on my 10-gallon.
The five Uaru ranged in size from two inches to nearly four inches.
The smallest of the bunch still shows juvenile coloring--it is an
overall brown color with dark grey/black mottling. When stressed, it
shows broken bars that are similar to that of discus, angelfish, and
severums. The other fish look more like adult Uaru with a brown base
and a large black marking near their tail. However, these fish also
show cream-colored dots all over their body. This is a color change
that young Uaru go through before reaching adulthood. The larger
four fish also show pale blue irridescent markings on their faces,
similar to that of blue acaras and discus. One of the most
attractive features of these fish are their huge, red eyes.
Within four hours, all but one of the fish (the largest) were eating
frozen bloodworms. In fact, they were attacking the chunks of
bloodworms vigorously. They quarreled and picked at one another,
fighting for shelter behind the heater or under the sponge filter.
The smallest is definitely the most adventurous, exploring its new
home and showing a curious interest in my young angelfish. So far,
there have been no attacks. In fact, the Uaru act as if the angels
aren't in the tank, and vice versa.
So far the Uaru, although shy, seem to be acclimating much better
than I thought they would. These fish are believed to be wild-
caught, and were quarantined and raised for several months by the
person I acquired them from. He tells me they do best in acidic to
neutral water, but my pH is well over 7.4 with a TDS reading of
140ppm, and they seem fine. They also like warm water. My tank is
set at a constant 85° Fahrenheit. Their hardy nature is typical;
they are cichlids, after all.
The largest of the fish still acts differently than the other four,
laying motionless under the sponge filter and only swimming after
food without actually eating it. I've noticed white feces, so I'm
considering a treatment with Hex-a-mit.
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by "peter" <midas_cichlid/optusnet.com.au>
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002
To: <sacsg/yahoogroups.com>
G'day again, may I suggest in the decorative tank add some driftwood to the
scene as this will make them more at home.
They come from the same territory as Discus in amongst the fallen timber and
tree roots. You will find they will thank you for it.
The driftwood will also help with your water conditions and leach into the
water creating a black water effect.
Cichlid Power,
Peter Robinson
-------Original Message-------
From: sacsg@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, 02 February 2002 09:08:14 AM
To: sacsg@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sacsg] Re: new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
Thanks everyone for the replies. I guess I should have found this
group before I got the fish! I've been searching for information on
these fish for a few years now, and I've found very little. Even
online you rarely run across a page with more than a picture or two.
There have only been a handful of websites that go into detail about
Uaru water parameters, behavior, etc.
This afternoon I moved the Uaru into a cycled 55-gallon bare tank.
They seem to be swimming around a lot more, but they still hide when
they see me come into a room. I'm in the process of cycling
a "decorative" tank with gravel and some big rocks/caves as hiding
places, and a couple fake plants... but until that time, they'll
have to be treated like discus *wink*.. I'm doing daily water
changes (pretty big ones considering how much waste these guys are
putting off!) with aged RO/tap mix, feeding them a variety of stuff,
and hoping they'll all be adjusted real soon.
For now, the water is not what I would consider soft and acidic, but
unless I see problems I don't plan on changing it in the near
future. I've kept and bred a lot of S.A. cichlids in this water, so
if it's not broke, don't fix it :-) However, once they're older and
showing interest in one another as mates, I'll lower the hardness/pH
and hopefully persuade them to spawn for me.
I'll try to get some pictures soon, but I wanted to wait until they
were a little more calm when I was around. Four of the five show
almost adult coloration, except when they're eating or excited, then
they break out in those little cream-colored spots *grin*
Ryan
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---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
by "terry_perth" <pisces/git.com.au>
Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002
To: sacsg/yahoogroups.com
I have been keeping Uaru for about 6 months now, I got 3 adults and 5
juveniles from Tim in Sydney. I managed to wipe out 2 adults and 4 of
the young ones with a disease brought into my fish room by wild
caught P.altums.The surviving youngster is now 5 inches and the older
one is 8 inches and both have typical U.amphiacanthoides colouring.
2 months ago I managed to get 9 more juveniles from Melbourne their
colouring was different to the other juveniles, all of them are doing
well and their colour has changed but they are diferent to the older
2 fish. The base colour is grey and they have 4 large patches
toewards their tails instead of the one large black patch on the
amphiacanthoides they also have one or two spots in the dorsal fin.
The older fish are kept with discus and the younger ones on their own
all are very aggresive feeders, they love bloodworms, Sera flake,King
British catfish pellets and anything green especially blanket weed
(string algae) vallisinaria and azolla which I grow in a pond.
Terry
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by Mary Bailey <106326.3671/compuserve.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002
To: "INTERNET:sacsg/yahoogroups.com" <sacsg/yahoogroups.com>
I agree with most of the advice you received so far - larger tank a must,
greens likewise - these are primarily vegetarian fishes. They are briliant
for getting rid of unwanted duckweed and soft plant prunings! When I had
them I fed them greens, Tetra pond pellets (largely veggie), and
earthworms, which they love. My ex once gave them part of a chocolate
biscuit he was eating, as they came soliciting while he was munchign in
front of the tank - and they ate it - but I nearly killed him when he told
me!!!
Driftwood is also essential - they gnaw at this, and it is probably needed
by their digestive systems. The downside is that they produce powdery
brown faecal residue, so you need efficient filtration. And substrate -
they will be nervous with a bare tank bottom.
I would drop the temperature to 80, as 85 is rather high for normal
year-round maintenance, and takes away the option of raising the
temperature to promote spawning - and I have found raised temperatre is an
efficient trigger. Most of my spawnings were when the rare English Summer
materialised and bumped the
fish-house ambient - and hence the tanks - up by a few degrees.
Yes, they will live and maybe breed in hard alkaline water, but as they
come from the Rio Negro, soft and acid is far better and likely to lead to
long-term health. Especially if they are wild specimens.
I have found that the older they are, the more sensitive they can be to
being moved - which may be the reason for the largest reacting badly to the
transfer. I must admit they are not a fish I would send by mail order,
except maybe small fry of an inch or so. If you find they shed much of
their body mucus, don't worry, this seems to be a natural reaction to
change/being moved. Just leave them be and siphon off the mess once
detached. But this is usually something seen only in larger specimens of
3" or more.
Shy? Well, that seems to be variable. Mine certainly weren't - cf
chocolate biscuit above! They can, however, react in utter terror to
anything strange, especially when adult. In an emergency I had to put a
pair of kribs in with mine. They were terrified. I put in a divider
(opaque) to conceal the West African monsters, and all was well. The kribs
promptly spawned, and, as the divider wasn't fry proof, after a while some
fry strayed - and I found my 12" Uaru cowering in terror at the far end of
the tank....... Again, a pair I had in a tank at floor level were quite
accustomed to passing gumboots and the occasional cat, or me lying on the
floor with a camera. When I moved them up to waist level they became very
timid for a while, hiding when I went near. If really scared they can
pancake like discus, and lift a remarkably heavy cover glass. After one
unfortunate incident, which involved my having to rescue a large Uaru from
the spidery floor behind the tank (I am terrified of spiders) I weighed my
1/4" plate covers down with bricks to prevent further escapes!
One important point to remember is that an isolated Uaru will usually pine
and die. If you ever need to isolate one, try to do it in-tank with a
clear divider, or else in a tank where it can still see the others.
If you do treat prophylactically against Hexamita, make sure you use
metronidazole or di-metronidazole. Otherwise you are wasting your time.
You have some wonderful cichlids, I hope you have as much fun with them as
I did with mine!
MB
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---------------------------------------------------------------------~->
by "Steve Hatfield or Kim Rogers-Hatfield" <stevekim/indy.net>
Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002
To: <sacsg/yahoogroups.com>
The uaru pair I used to have would fight from time to time and I would
separate them in two tanks across the fishroom from each other then they
would flair and wriggle at each other at the front of the glass it was
really unusual and neat to watch them communicating across the room.
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Bailey [mailto:106326.3671@compuserve.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 11:27 AM
To: INTERNET:sacsg@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sacsg] new arrivals -- Uaru amphiacanthoides
I agree with most of the advice you received so far - larger tank a
must,
greens likewise - these are primarily vegetarian fishes. They are
briliant
for getting rid of unwanted duckweed and soft plant prunings! When I
had
them I fed them greens, Tetra pond pellets (largely veggie), and
earthworms, which they love. My ex once gave them part of a chocolate
biscuit he was eating, as they came soliciting while he was munchign in
front of the tank - and they ate it - but I nearly killed him when he
told
me!!!
Driftwood is also essential - they gnaw at this, and it is probably
needed
by their digestive systems. The downside is that they produce powdery
brown faecal residue, so you need efficient filtration. And substrate -
they will be nervous with a bare tank bottom.
I would drop the temperature to 80, as 85 is rather high for normal
year-round maintenance, and takes away the option of raising the
temperature to promote spawning - and I have found raised temperatre is
an
efficient trigger. Most of my spawnings were when the rare English
Summer
materialised and bumped the
fish-house ambient - and hence the tanks - up by a few degrees.
Yes, they will live and maybe breed in hard alkaline water, but as they
come from the Rio Negro, soft and acid is far better and likely to lead
to
long-term health. Especially if they are wild specimens.
I have found that the older they are, the more sensitive they can be to
being moved - which may be the reason for the largest reacting badly to
the
transfer. I must admit they are not a fish I would send by mail order,
except maybe small fry of an inch or so. If you find they shed much of
their body mucus, don't worry, this seems to be a natural reaction to
change/being moved. Just leave them be and siphon off the mess once
detached. But this is usually something seen only in larger specimens
of
3" or more.
Shy? Well, that seems to be variable. Mine certainly weren't - cf
chocolate biscuit above! They can, however, react in utter terror to
anything strange, especially when adult. In an emergency I had to put a
pair of kribs in with mine. They were terrified. I put in a divider
(opaque) to conceal the West African monsters, and all was well. The
kribs
promptly spawned, and, as the divider wasn't fry proof, after a while
some
fry strayed - and I found my 12" Uaru cowering in terror at the far end
of
the tank....... Again, a pair I had in a tank at floor level were
quite
accustomed to passing gumboots and the occasional cat, or me lying on
the
floor with a camera. When I moved them up to waist level they became
very
timid for a while, hiding when I went near. If really scared they can
pancake like discus, and lift a remarkably heavy cover glass. After one
unfortunate incident, which involved my having to rescue a large Uaru
from
the spidery floor behind the tank (I am terrified of spiders) I weighed
my
1/4" plate covers down with bricks to prevent further escapes!
One important point to remember is that an isolated Uaru will usually
pine
and die. If you ever need to isolate one, try to do it in-tank with a
clear divider, or else in a tank where it can still see the others.
If you do treat prophylactically against Hexamita, make sure you use
metronidazole or di-metronidazole. Otherwise you are wasting your time.
You have some wonderful cichlids, I hope you have as much fun with them
as
I did with mine!
MB
The Krib
Fish/Animals
The Krib