How curious to watch the life of small swimming creatures in aquariums! Small flocks or alone, small fish swim in it. Some of them move very quickly, while others freeze for a long time in place. The aquarium with extraordinary flamingo cichlazoma fish looks original. They are distinguished by a delicate light pink color and small size. With these benthic inhabitants, the aquarium landscape takes on a romantic touch.
Attractive appearance
Flamingo cichlazoma fish is the most attractive and mysterious representative of the water world. It has not yet been established how an aquatic inhabitant with such a pale pink color appeared. Is this the result of a mutation, selection, or just a manifestation of albinism? Many try to get this mysterious pale beauty in their aquarium. White and slightly pink shades of her body resemble a graceful flamingo, therefore the name is appropriate.
Aquarium pink flamingo fish have a typical body shape for cichlids. These small fishes are directly related to the percussion order. They are characterized by a high forehead, posteriorly displaced by the upper and lower fins, which are slightly pressed.
The tail fin of a flamingo fish is neat and small. Eyes, like black beads, stand out on a slightly pink torso. The fins are more pink in color than the body. Males are slightly larger. But the females stand out with a more saturated color of the scales.
Flamingo fish belong to the cichlid family, able to live not only in aquariums, but also in streams, lakes. Some individuals adapt to life in brackish water. In nature, they are found in water bodies of Central America, the African continent, in Florida, Indonesia. An adult can reach a length of up to 8 cm. This is a very peaceful cichlid, which behaves unpretentiously.
Content Requirements
It’s easy to take care of these aquarium inhabitants. The content of flamingo fish is not very demanding:
- Choose an aquarium with a volume of 50 liters or more. Small tanks are not suitable for cichlids because they are quickly contaminated.
- Continue aeration and filtering.
- Choose the optimal lighting: not too bright and dark. Best diffused light.
- Pink cichlazomas love to dig in silt, eat up roots, young shoots of plants, so do not choose sandy soil for them.
- Pick plants that have a developed root system. They can be planted in separate pots and put them on the bottom of the aquarium.
- Create a peculiar atmosphere in the pond, many moves, clusters of stones, artificial labyrinths. Perhaps the use of fine gravel, small pebbles.
Feeding process
There are no problems with feeding flamingos. In nature, they feed on small crustaceans, insects, and algae. They can be fed with dry, frozen and live food. A real delicacy for them is live food. For a piece of goodies, youngsters can arrange a real fight.
What species does it get along with?
Calm and balanced cichlazoma allows most fish of its size. But during spawning, the female shows character. At this time, she does not want to be near the small fish that irritate her. Flamingo drives away guppies and neons. A spacious aquarium allows you to put the following roommates to the cichlases:
- anti-citrus;
- zebrafish
- small apistograms;
- Akaru Kurviceps.
You can watch the behavior of the fish in the aquarium in the video above.
Flamingo aquarium fish disease
There are no specific specific diseases in the pinkish fish. Like all cichlids, it can be affected by a hole disease called hexamitosis. It manifests itself as small lesions on the skin of pets. The development of such a disease can be affected by poor-quality food, poor nutrition, and the content of parasites in the pond. Fish begin to feel bad at a temperature of +29 ° C. In such conditions, their immunity decreases.
The peculiarity of reproduction
Flamingo fish breed in spring and summer. For some time, females lay eggs several times. To stimulate spawning of these fish, you need to increase the temperature of the water in the aquarium by 2 ° C. It is also important to change it to one third for freshness. When females are ready for breeding, they become more saturated pink. Males begin to show their partners all their charm, circling around the chosen ones. The resulting pairs are faithful to each other throughout life. It is easy to recognize a male in an aquarium by a peculiar “bump” on his forehead.
We continue to consider the breeding of female flamingo fish. As soon as the couple forms, she begins to prepare a secluded place for herself. You can put the fish in a separate container. After the mating games, the female throws eggs, about 300 pieces. They are immediately fertilized by the male. The father patrols and guards the area around the future offspring. He becomes so aggressive that at that moment all the fish, including his mother, are afraid of him. Such a "robber" is immediately planted, shifting all worries about future offspring to the female.
Baby Care
A few days later, fry appear from the caviar. In the first two days of their life, infusoria, rotifers, daphnia, then artemia nauplii are suitable for food. If you do not feed the hatching larvae on time, then they can die. You can use liquid branded feed, cooked chopped yolk.
The growth of the kids is rapid. Soon they are already eating larger, live food, such as chopped bloodworms. The size of the feed should be equal to the eye of the fry.
Over time, the fish can be transplanted into a convenient age aquarium. For them, it is enough to choose a capacity of 20-30 liters. Kids should be spacious enough. It is desirable to filter the water.
At the age of 8-9 months, young growth reaches puberty. Soon they will form pairs themselves.
Flamingo fish content reviews
Many aquarium fish lovers leave positive feedback about flamingos. From them it is clear that these pale pink creatures are unpretentious. They are quite active, constantly moving in the aquarium. The white-pink body of these little fishes attracts the eye. Flamingos have no particular taste claims. Some owners say that sometimes they prove to be real brawlers.
Even non-professionals can handle flamingo fish. Some note that the fishes like to build their own houses in the corners of the aquarium. Later they lay eggs in it. There are times when the parents themselves eat their offspring. In their corner fish do not let anyone in.
Owners also note that flamingos are fastidious to food. They especially like the tetra granule feed. A day you can fill up 1/3 tablespoon twice. It is also advised to feed cichloma with oatmeal, spinach, carrots, seaweed, cabbage. From live food, it is advised to use a tubifex, earthworms, shrimp, small crustaceans.
From the reviews it can be concluded that even beginner aquarists can start white-pink fish. This is a fairly large and attractive fish that looks good in an aquarium. Its grace, beauty and natural charm, it is not inferior to a bright golden fish. By popularity of all cichlases, flamingos are in second place after the black-striped representatives of the species.