# "Fleck", My 7" Solitary Cariba



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Fleck has been on a strict diet of homemade gelatin food and an occasional earthworm as a treat since he was critiqued in this thread: Click Here!

As you can see, he was fat and colorless in those old pictures. Now he doesn't have the stored fat above his head, and he has grown about an 1", so now he is around 7" in length. I am very happy with the results of the gelatin food. He has a nice red patch on his belly that seems to be getting bigger, and his fins are bright red. Fat Fleck is getting pretty sexy if I may say so myself.









Any comments/suggestions are always welcome!












































~Taylor~


----------



## pyrokingbrand (Nov 30, 2004)

Your caribe looks extremely healthy taylor! Good Job !


----------



## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Nice looking Cariba there Taylor. But why keep it by itself?

Hater


----------



## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

nice fish man


----------



## grounded jay (Jan 9, 2006)

nice looks better


----------



## JustinRice (Feb 24, 2005)

Is it possible to restore color in fish? I have a new Caribe myself he has a much more distict black humeral spot but his belly has very little orange kind of like your fish. will his belly turn more orange as i get him on a better diet do you know?

I would like for him to look like the one in your avatar taylor!









Justin


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Hater said:


> Is it possible to restore color in fish? I have a new Caribe myself he has a much more distict dot but his belly has very little orange kind of like your fish. will his belly turn more orange as i get him on a better diet?
> 
> I would like for him to look like the one in your avatar taylor!
> 
> ...


Well, mine is living proof that you can indeed restore the color in a cariba or any other piranha. When I had the shoal I fed them a lot of whitefish, because it was cheap, but that is really what bleached them out. They never had very good color. Now that I have the single one and feed him a 1-1.5" gelatin cube of my homemade concoction about 3 times a week, he has had much improvement. I knew it was working after about 2 or 3 weeks, because I could see a little orange patch starting on his belly. Since then it has gradually been growing larger. I'm thinking that the orange patch will just keep spreading out and deepening in color as time goes on. Remember, he has been on this diet for about 3 months, so you will have to have patience.

Thanks for the compliments everybody. It makes me feel like I succeeded in raising him.








~Taylor~


----------



## Pilsnah (Mar 19, 2005)

Yo Taylor, got your Pm! The fish is looking a whole lot better. What size tank is he in right now?

Goodluck with Fleck


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Pilsnah said:


> Yo Taylor, got your Pm! The fish is looking a whole lot better. What size tank is he in right now?
> 
> Goodluck with Fleck


He's in a 29 gallon with weekly waterchanges. I thought you'd agree he looks much better.


----------



## ChilDawg (Apr 30, 2006)

The homemade concoction looks like it's working wonders on Fleck (nice-looking fish!)...but inquiring minds want to know: "Is it a proprietary blend or are you willing to share the recipe?"


----------



## robert b (Nov 1, 2005)

awesome looking cariba


----------



## toanluu77 (Jan 3, 2006)

NICE P


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

ChilDawg said:


> The homemade concoction looks like it's working wonders on Fleck (nice-looking fish!)...but inquiring minds want to know: "Is it a proprietary blend or are you willing to share the recipe?"


I used this recipe as a guideline. It is so fast, cheap and lasts forever! In my own concoction I used pollock whitefish fillets, freeze dried bloodworms, raw lean steak (for taste and smell purposes), peas, carrots, Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets, color promoting beta food, pleco algae wafers.....and maybe more. You get the point--basically go to the fish store and pick out foods that look healthy, nutritious, and color promoting and blend them all together. Then add gelatin. It's all in the recipe link I included. I recommend Knox brand gelatin. I used Sure-Jell brand the first time, and it did not make the food firm enough. I'd also like to make a sidenote that I have never had any trouble with it dissolving in my tank, as my fish gobble it up as soon as it hits the water.
~Taylor~


----------



## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

He is looking much beter now that he is on your gelatin food. Good work.

Trystan


----------



## black_piranha (Jan 12, 2006)

did he lose weight?


----------



## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Very nice improvement and his colors look amazing!


----------



## mr_b401 (Jul 6, 2005)

He looks great. Good job


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

black_piranha said:


> did he lose weight?


Yes. He has lost about 80% or so of the stored fat in his dorsum area. I tried to get a frontal view to show the thickness, but he just wouldn't hold still long enough. Maybe I will try working on it again.









Thanks again for the nice comments everyone.








~Taylor~


----------



## rocker (Aug 12, 2005)

sweet pics,

he has blue eyes
just wondering about the 3rd pic what holding him up? lol to mee it looks like hes floating above the water or somehitng.


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

rocker said:


> sweet pics,
> 
> he has blue eyes
> just wondering about the 3rd pic what holding him up? lol to mee it looks like hes floating above the water or somehitng.


No, he was just going to the top of the tank hoping to get some food as I was taking the pictures. I got on my knees and took a picture looking at him from below to show his red belly and fins.
~Taylor~


----------



## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Looking good...







!


----------



## yourhead (Jan 22, 2006)

Looking a lot better. When does he get a tank upgrade?

Regards,

B


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

lotsofish said:


> Looking a lot better. When does he get a tank upgrade?
> 
> Regards,
> 
> B


I might be getting rid of the 3 oscars, and be getting a new shoal of reds at the beginning of the year. So then maybe when they would get around 6" I could add the cariba back to the 130 gallon tank with them.









Thanks for all of the comments everyone.








~Taylor~


----------



## BLUEDIAMONDRHOM (Jul 19, 2006)

beutiful caribe


----------



## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

Fleck looks beautiful, what all did you put in for his gelatin food. I have been thinking about doing this since my reds will no longer eat cichlid pellets and I want them to, so they will continue to have good color. Cant wait to see Fleck in another month or so and see how much more color he has.
E


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

taylorhedrich said:


> Fleck looks beautiful, *what all did you put in for his gelatin food*. I have been thinking about doing this since my reds will no longer eat cichlid pellets and I want them to, so they will continue to have good color. Cant wait to see Fleck in another month or so and see how much more color he has.
> E












I am going to be making another batch soon which will include:
-Hikari Cichlid Gold Pellets
-tropical fish flakes
-freeze dried bloodworms
-freeze dried krill
-tubifex worms
-fresh earthworms
-whitefish fillet
-algae discs
-shrimp
-carrots
-spinach
-very small amount of lean, raw steak for smell and taste purposes
-peas
-...and maybe even more!

I may do another update on him, after this thread fades away again (BLUEDIAMONDRHOM bumped it up from 2 months ago). He basically has the same coloration, maybe a little more of a belly patch of orange. His humeral spot appears to be fading a little bit though....
~Taylor~


----------



## Dawgz (Aug 18, 2005)

no doubt about it, Fleck might ruin ur RBP shoal....why not get some baby caribe that are on sale rite now and grow those out? and have a huge Caribe shoal







...just a thought...

anyway, nice caribe! is he skittish being kept alone or no?


----------



## Dezboy (Apr 2, 2006)

he is a great specimen taylor, hats of to you...................


----------



## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

Dawgz said:


> no doubt about it, Fleck might ruin ur RBP shoal....why not get some baby caribe that are on sale rite now and grow those out? and have a huge Caribe shoal
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah, probably, especially since he was the alpha of all the caribas. Right now I don't want to try caribas again. I want to raise up my reds and perhaps try breeding them. There is a demand for fry in my area.

He isn't at all skittish alone unless you put your face up to the tank. Then he will get all weird and scoot back and forth.








~Taylor~


----------



## chomp chomp (Oct 28, 2003)

Taylor, very nice coloration on your Caribe!


----------



## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Taylor, he looks great. The diet you have him on is working wonders!! Fleck is definitely coming around very nicely. Well done, and keep up the good work.


----------



## Slim (Jan 9, 2005)

Very nice caribe. Fleck has some very nice coloring on him.


----------



## Tony P (May 15, 2006)

congrats, whatever you did worked great!!!!


----------



## lastgreengarden (Sep 13, 2006)

very very nice, A+


----------



## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

nice fish.


----------



## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

glad to see u got his color back, I was always a firm believer in good foods, good moods, and moods directly relates to color...


----------



## MONGO  (Feb 7, 2006)

post an update on Fleck if you can


----------



## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

Fleck looks fantastic, Taylor - awesome job!








Looking forward to more pics of him!


----------



## MONGO  (Feb 7, 2006)

any update on Fleck?


----------



## Mattones (Jul 9, 2006)

Looks like my 7'' past few days his bottle fin has gotten REALLY bright.


----------



## joefish219 (Feb 8, 2005)

very nice fish. i do see the color change homemade gelatine is hardcore but effective. i changed from sh*t rocks to black sands and got made color change.


----------



## bud......weiser (Feb 12, 2007)

your right ,he is a handsome fish


----------

