This is Schroeder's tank. He runs it. Nothing happens in this tank without Schroeder's being ok with it. He regularly runs raids on the smaller castle at the other end of the tank, just to make sure no one has decided to do something without his knowledge. He just really likes all his ducks... whoops, I mean fish are in a row and behaving.
Here's a close up of him. He is our oldest fish, one of the original African assorted cichlids we started with. He is a Red Zebra from Lake Malawi (probably born in the US though), and when we first got him he had three buddies. These four were going to be buddies for Charlie, who promptly died two days later. We were so happy, because they lived in a 10 gallon tank which we felt would be easy to take care of.
Ok, that is NOT a 10 gallon tank. His tank is now a 35 gallon that lives in my living room. How did that happen? Just like kids who can't live in a crib all their life, Schroeder grew up and needed a bigger tank. Then we discovered something else, while buying more buddies to replace the ones that disappeared.
This might come as a surprise to some of you, some fish don't get along with other fish, and you can only put so many fish into one tank. Oh, I have a GREAT idea! Lets buy another tank, this time a 25 gallon tall tank. Then we can put the less aggressive fish in there, and let the bullies battle it out.
Right now Schroeder's tank has: Camo the catfish, a pair of Convicts,
Plus Schroeder's Harem: 1 blue zebra female, 3 other females
Plus Shcroeder's babies, to many to count. Which leads to more fish tanks......
Oh, almost forgot, started last summer with a total of 9 algae eaters in my 6 tanks. I now only have two left. My fish are really hard on them!
So, Schroeder thinks that he is the most beautiful fish that exists and loves his girls. I'm not sure they really love him, but they regularly have kids. I think it's because when they carry kids (raise them in their mouths) he leaves them alone, so maybe they just give up and figure that is the ONLY way to get him to go away!
The convicts are the grey with black striped ones above. They regularly lay eggs and raise what looks like a thousand kids. It takes only 3 days from laying the eggs to hatching babies. They look like a bunch of fleas swimming around and their parents protect them and nurture them. No one can go near them, at least while the lights are on. Something happens after dark though, and the next morning we wake up and ALL the babies are gone. I suspect the cute little kitty fish, and am happy that I don't have a zillion little convicts running around.
Momma convict is the small one, but don't let that fool you into thinking she can't control her man. She regularly decides she doesn't like the cave or log or castle she's living in. Then she runs around the tank and finds an occupied cave or log or castle. She then proceeds to harass her man till he goes and fights with whoever is in that new home until he chases them out. Then she moves in, and creates a home. She is NEVER happy.
Schroeder of course never gives up his castle to anyone, but once in a while he will go beat up the boy convict just to prove a point I think.
The cave/log on the far right of his castle belongs to Camo the Catfish.
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