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Elassoma Gilberti

Started by Guest_Okiimiru_* , Aug 22 2010 01:19 PM

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1023 replies to this topic

#61 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 10 September 2010 - 12:18 AM

Update on the fish: I saw one of the females today. She was striped dark brown on sand brown, kind of like the dinosaurs on the Jurassic Park movie. And it looked like someone had given her a black eye.

I couldn't take a photo because they still hate people too much. These fish are starting to annoy me, with how little I see them and how shy they are. 99% of the time, it's as if the tank is empty.

Well if you get too annoyed I'd be glad to take them off of your hands! he. he.
Just don't use them for bait as one former NANFA did with the fish he was going to send me until someone said something that offended him. No joke.(that individual) does not represent most nanfa members)
Anyway I think I may have mentioned before after several months they become less shy. Also it is fun for a super geek like me to check in on them with a flashlight, Kind of cool to see what is going on at night. Try it, maybe you can be a hardcore fish geek too!

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#62 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 10 September 2010 - 04:20 PM

One more thing you might try....... Patience. They will eventually learn to like the big head peering at them. This might be hard to swallow, but try starving them, no lets call it fasting. Fast them for a day or two then add feed. Repeat. Hunger often overpowers fear. Once you condition them, you are set.

Ah, but there are juveniles in the tank. That's something I might not have mentioned in earlier posts; the person who sent me the adults also sent some juveniles.
I saw one yesterday when I was cleaning the tank. I pushed the ceratophyllum aside and there it was, this cute little baby Elassoma gilberti, not afraid of me, just chilling and wondering why it was suddenly exposed. Awww.
I wouldn't want to starve the tank for fear that it would negatively affect the babies.

Edited by Okiimiru, 10 September 2010 - 04:28 PM.

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#63 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 10 September 2010 - 04:21 PM

Try it, maybe you can be a hardcore fish geek too!

Ha, I am so already a fish geek.
Also, the flashlight trick does indeed work really well. I tried it right after you first mentioned it, a couple pages back in the topic. Thanks for the tip. ^_^

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#64 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 10 September 2010 - 04:27 PM

Really? You can have some of mine. Do you mind if I send you a bunch of the adults so you can culture your own?

Ew. Please don't send me mosquitos. They might get out and bite me/my roommates. Also, they're probably not on the "approved pets" list for the dormitory.

Update: I just called RMS Aquaculture (this really cool fish store in the Cleveland area) and they sell black worms for $1.25. Niiice. I'll research how to culture them and pick some up this weekend.

Edited by Okiimiru, 10 September 2010 - 04:33 PM.

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#65 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 10 September 2010 - 04:36 PM

These fish are starting to annoy me, with how little I see them and how shy they are. 99% of the time, it's as if the tank is empty.

I never thought of this as an annoyance... to me it is one of the benefits of small native fish... I mean, who wants to look over in the empty bare bowl and see mr. betta just hanging out in the same old spot... (interesting that I don't see an emoticon for "yawn")... I love the fact that I never know what I am going to see when I look into one of my native tanks... well, I mean I will almost always see the plants... but which fish will show up and which ones will not?

I think of aquariums as bringing a piece of nature into my world... and nature is never predictable... you go out into the river and see all kinds of fish... next time a few months later, nothing... you go snorkeling different times of year and see different looking fish (and even some of those are really the same fish, just dressed up better for certain parts of the year). It is part of what makes native fish such a grand adventure... heck, if it was easy, everyone would be doin' it!

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#66 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 11 September 2010 - 10:15 AM

Update: I researched how to culture blackworms. It says online that you've got to do water changes twice a week and that they smell. That is not my cup of tea. Also, they look too big for the Elassoma gilberti to eat. Maybe my darters would like them, but I doubt they'd fit in the gilberti's mouths. Conclusion: Because they only cost $1.25, I'm going to buy two batches, drop worms one at a time into the water of my two tanks, and see who eats 'em.

Also, about the seeing the fish thing: I like my fish fearless. When I show up at the tank, I want their response to be "yay! The food bringer is here! Hi, Hi, give me food!" not "Omg what is that big giant head? RUN AWAY!"
I feel more comfortable keeping the first kind of fish in captivity; they don't mind that I have removed them from their natural environment. If anything, they're happier because they won't get eaten by a predator and the food comes regularly. The second type of fish is just horribly traumatized that I have messed with it, and would be far happier if left alone in its natural habitat.

Edited by Okiimiru, 11 September 2010 - 10:29 AM.

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#67 Guest_Uland_*

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Posted 11 September 2010 - 11:21 AM

You don't need to culture if you can buy them in small portions locally. They will smell no matter what you do (either culture or just keep alive in the refrigerator). They are not too large for your Elassoma (on rare occasion you'll find a really huge worm that is too large). If you have very small Elassoma, you'll probably want to chop up live blackworms if they aren't getting proper feeds. It's alright to drop in whole live blackworms and allow them to find their way into the substrate. The fish will enjoy hunting them down at times of low light. A form of enrichment if you will. For care, I'd suggest placing them in an open-top/breathable container within the refrigerator. Perform 100% water changes daily, with water of the exact same temp as the fridge. I put a second container of dechlorinated water in the fridge and pour vigorously to suspend junk in the water column and pour off junk. In short, every fish I've ever owned has preferred blackworms over all other food and in some cases it's the only food they eat once exposed to them. In the case of Elassoma IME, they have done very well (many successful spawns) with blackworms as their only food source.

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#68 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 11 September 2010 - 05:42 PM

I went and bought blackworms. As soon as they hit the water, the gilberti swam forward eagerly. The blackworms are very large when compared to the size of the gilberti, and it's quite a task for the fish to eat even one worm. The worm ends barely fit in their mouths, and the worm lengths are longer than the gilberti lengths.

I say meh about the whole thing. The reaction when the blackworms hit the pygmy sunfish water was so much less intense than the reaction when the blackworms hit the main 55's water. The darters and bettas were in on those worms right away, and the batch didn't last a whole five minutes. Versus the Elassoma tank, where the worms are all still there except for the three that are being eaten and digested. I wouldn't be surprised if enough blackworms survive to breed and make a stable population.

Edited by Okiimiru, 11 September 2010 - 05:45 PM.

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#69 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 12 September 2010 - 08:48 AM

Photo of the worms one day later. They're here to stay.

resize.jpg 143.26KB 0 downloads

*headdesk* Now my room mates are asking why I have a tank full of worms with no fish in it. They think I'm really weird. lol.

Maybe because the blackworms are all in the front of the tank, the gilberti will have to swim forward to eat them. I would have just dunked one in at a time and trained them to come forward and eat, but the worms that were left over were definitely not going in my fridge (it's communal. ... ) or becoming a stinky culture that I'd have to do maintenance on every day. So I settled for adding them to the front of the tank and hoping that would be enough to coerce the gilberti to hang out in the visible region. *shrugs*

Edited by Okiimiru, 12 September 2010 - 08:52 AM.

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#70 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 12 September 2010 - 10:22 AM

Blackworms in an Elassoma tank are just like earthworms in a garden. They will eat leftover fishfood and decaying plant bits, and breed in the sand if they don't get eaten. If you chop them for juvie Elassoma, the chopped bits will live for several days and larger pieces will regrow into new worms. And whenever you're getting "man, she's weird" vibes from roomies, just log in here and feel perfectly normal.

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#71 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 12 September 2010 - 12:49 PM

Yeah, perfectly normal. He. He.
The one mistake I made a while back was adding too many blackworms to my tank and probably did not rinse them well enough. They can carry some funky bacteria. Anyway I keep blackworms in all of my Elassoma tanks. Once in a while I add some more to restore the dwindling population. Thing is, you gotta do the flashlight check in the dark to actually get a clear idea of how many blackworms are in there. At night they are all over the tanks twisting around plants, etc...- when the lights are off.

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#72 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 13 September 2010 - 01:34 AM

Thing is, you gotta do the flashlight check in the dark to actually get a clear idea of how many blackworms are in there. At night they are all over the tanks twisting around plants, etc...- when the lights are off.

That... is mildly creepy.

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#73 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 13 September 2010 - 11:25 PM

That... is mildly creepy.

Yeah, they are squiggling all over the place if you have a bunch. I sometimes wonder if it creeps the fish out, but I think only humans get creeped out. I do see them bump into the Elassoma sometimes and the fish will take off really fast.

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#74 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 06:50 AM

Update: One of the juveniles (it's so tiny! Less than half an inch) has become slate gray on its body with blue edged fins. I think it's a male.

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#75 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 12:10 PM

Update: The female that used to be a little bit skinny now has a giant bulging belly. I really like these bloodworms. I think I'm going to buy a whole bunch of them, fully populate the tank, and stop feeding the fish crushed flake food. I'll still add microworms every day because it's so easy and the juveniles definitely eat them. (the juvenile male I saw earlier today was eating microworms).

So, I understand now why nobody feeds Elassoma flake foods. It's so much easier to stock the tank with bloodworms. The Elassoma fail so badly at hunting them down that the bloodworm population is sustainable, and a permanent food source. I like it. ^_^

Edited by Okiimiru, 14 September 2010 - 12:11 PM.

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#76 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 12:14 PM

You mean "blackworms", right? Bloodworms usually refer to a midge larvae.

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#77 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 14 September 2010 - 12:30 PM

Good! Since your roomies think you're weird anyway, make the most of it!
Hey everybody, let's turn off the lights and watch my pet worms!

That... is mildly creepy.

Dusky gray fins is definitely a male; you can tell even before the blue starts appearing.
Female gilberti (and I think all other Elassoma) have clear or speckled fins, but never dusky gray all over.

Edited by gerald, 14 September 2010 - 12:34 PM.