Chili red update

[frozen-fire]

Hey guys...

It's been a long time since I've posted photos of my fish. Some of you may recall that I had a community going on with my red and a black. Things were good for a year or so, but one day things went bad and I had no choice but to give up the black. I brought it to a LFS and had it sold off to someone with an adequate setup/space.

Now my chili resides in a 180 all alone with a couple of tigers, some polypterus, and a flagtail.

It's so frustrating taking pics of this fish because they never turn out right. All the other fish, I can photograph fine and capture the right colours, but the pics I take of my red just doesn't do it justice... there's a lot more colour to the fish that I can't capture....any tips from the photo pros? Perhaps my lighting is too bright? I have double T5 HO.

 

[carcrazy]

The pictures look pretty nice to me, a lot better than the ones I take! I am also using quad Tec T5 lighting in my tank but it doesn't look as bright as yours with 2. I guess my cover glass must be dirtier than yours!

I also have an endli bichir and I have read that it not so good to have them in gravel as they can swallow a piece and die. Have you had your bichir with gravel for long? I was going to use the same kind of substrate as yours (size wise) and was wondering if I should switch to pool filter sand. And again, nice looking tank.

 

[glockner99]

I had sand in one of my tanks and it played havoc on my filters....The problem is if you have a fish that kicks up the substrate (ie CatFish) you'll be dealing with filter issues. Thats just my experience....

The pictures look pretty nice to me, a lot better than the ones I take! I am also using quad Tec T5 lighting in my tank but it doesn't look as bright as yours with 2. I guess my cover glass must be dirtier than yours!

I also have an endli bichir and I have read that it not so good to have them in gravel as they can swallow a piece and die. Have you had your bichir with gravel for long? I was going to use the same kind of substrate as yours (size wise) and was wondering if I should switch to pool filter sand. And again, nice looking tank.

 

[glockner99]

and ...oh yeah....Beautiful set-up Frozen Fire!

 

[frozen-fire]

Thanks guys...

The bichirs have been through everything... sand, pebbles, normal sized gravel, and now this smaller sized gravel.
I have never had any problems with them ingesting the substrate. Once in a while, I will see them inhale a whole bunch of gravel along with the food, but they know to spit out the hard stuff before swallowing .

I've never had any polypterus die on me.... (knocks on wood)

 

[frozen-fire]

Wait...
I just totally lied on that last statement.
I lost two polypterus ornatipinnis a few years back. Strange as I did not find the reason why they died and the other species were not affected. I'm sure it was not related to substrate ingestion though. They died a few days apart, and everyone else was fine.

 

[Yuppa]

really nice setup man, your aro looks great and I love the honest photography

 

[EKen]

Colors look a bit pale, but body size and proportions look very good with no defects. I also noticed that he is not really crossed yet. Personally, I rather have a less colorful piece with no defects. I guess that is the fun of keeping Reds... Just be patient and wait for the thing to bloom

You changed the tank? The Endie stripes look real good too.

 

[carcrazy]

Thanks guys...

The bichirs have been through everything... sand, pebbles, normal sized gravel, and now this smaller sized gravel.
I have never had any problems with them ingesting the substrate. Once in a while, I will see them inhale a whole bunch of gravel along with the food, but they know to spit out the hard stuff before swallowing .

I've never had any polypterus die on me.... (knocks on wood)

Thanks guys. I guess I'll keep the gravel after all.

 

[frozen-fire]

Yeah, the tank was changed. Moved from a 120 to the 180. This was about a month ago.
I agree that it is a pale looking red... and regarding proportions, I find that my fish looks like it's a little longer than most reds I see. As if it's been stretched a bit haha. Ah well.. just gotta wait and see what happens

 

[EKen]

"It's a little longer than most I see"... Yeah I think I heard my gf said that before also

 

[m_class2g]

nice looking red. how often do u feed the guy? im sure colour will come!