SEPTEMBER 2005 SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT - BIGHEAD

Hi everybody. I'm doing this as a spotlight because I feel that most of you will appreciate it. Please take a moment and read this, even though it is long. For me, this is the part of fishkeeping that we all sometimes forget and probably shouldn't.

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Back in 1992 I was 23 years old. I had just returned from Washington DC - my career in politics cut short by a dose of reality and a primer in corruption - and came home to live for a while in order to get myself together. I brought my 3 tanks of fish with me. When I returned home, I had a lot of time on my hands, since I was looking for work full time and the state job market was particularly bad, so I set up 3 other tanks from my high school days. I had breeding pairs going of 3 species of Julidochromis, severums, a pair of red devils and some really cool Texas cichlids. Because of the time I had to do water changes and maintenance, they all flourished and I was covering expenses and actually turning a small profit from sales to local fish stores.

Then, just as Spring was on the horizon, disaster struck. A Noreaster ripped up the coast and dumped 3 feet of snow on my small Connecticut town. Since the blizzard of '78 my town had not seen a great deal of snow - the occasional foot here or there, but nothing like we were buried in that week. The power went out the first day and stayed out. After two straight days of snow, the temperature dropped into the teens and stayed there. Despite a roaring fire in the fireplace, the temperature in the house dropped below 50 degrees.

Despite all precautions, tank temperatures dropped just as fast. By the end of day three, all of my fish were floating, except my Texas Cichlids, and they were gone by day four. I was devastated. One by one watching my fish die was a particularly cruel torture, one I vowed never to face again. (I kept my word to myself and to this day have always had a backup generator to keep the chill of winter away.)

Eventually the power came back on and I began removing the bodies and cleaning my tanks. I had $120 in my wallet and that’s all I had to restart my hobby. On April 3rd, the first day the roads were passable I broke open my best cichlid books, took some notes and drove 45 minutes to The Puppy Center in West Hartford. (They are still there to this day, and though the place is quite a bit less clean and professional than back in the 90s, it’s the one place in Connecticut I can always find something new, interesting and exciting when it comes to tropical fish.) I wasn’t sure what I was going to buy, but I was determined to try something new and restock my tanks with fish I had never owned before.

They have no fewer than 200 tanks in operation at The Puppy Center and I started in the front. I quickly skimmed over aquarium standards and some great quality typical cichlids. I had my eye on some newly imported shell dwellers – I have always liked them and felt they would be unique enough to sell to other local shops when I managed to breed them. I looked over some mbuna, which were fresh on the scene and very exciting at the time. Then I spotted a tank with six plain looking silver fish with a black horizontal stripe. I immediately knew what I was looking at – a handful of young Cichlasoma nicaraguense (Well, they were in the Genus Cichlasoma at the time…)!

I had always wanted to try my hand at this species. I had seen a pair in the 80’s back when they were first on the scene and the colors were incredible. Blues, yellows, the great tangerine belly of the female, reds, greens and purples. The problem was that they were absolutely impossible to find. I had called everyone in the area and no shop ever had them or even the connections to import them. I HAD to have these fish.

The drawback was that in 1992 I was looking at $19.99 a fish – very costly for me at the time, but worth it, certainly. All 6 would eat up my entire budget. I begged the manager for a break and he agreed to give me a discount of $3.00 a fish if I bought all 6. That left me $18.00 or so to buy a pair of cool Julidochromis marlieri that I was certain were a pair. (They were…)

Soon I was home with my Nicaraguans and set them up in a 45 gallon tank in my bedroom. They were eating brine shrimp about an hour later and everyone settled in nicely. I started a regimen of brine shrimp, flake, raw peas, chopped spinach, chopped earthworms and chopped krill. I did weekly water changes of 30-50%, which was considered a lot at the time.

After only a few weeks the amazing colors slowly began to emerge. One big guy was orange and green and flashed yellow when excited. One female was turning a blazing tangerine. And they were growing, too. The 1½ inch fish were over 3 inches by the middle of May and growing quickly. The aggression was growing as well – I noticed a lot of chasing and posturing among the males. Amazingly my six fish ended up being three males and three females.

By the end of May I had my first casualty. The smallest male, harassed by the others, leaped up the outtake of the filter and ended up mummified on the floor. I began to watch carefully and sealed off all other escape routes.

About three months later, the fish were between 4 and 5 inches long and a distinct pair had formed - the smaller remaining male and the best, super tangerine female. Excited, I took that pair and put them in my 55 gallon in the basement. But the real action was back in the bedroom. The largest male, who by now had a gold body color, brightening to orange-red along the belly and a bright blue-green head, was most pleased to discover himself alone amongst two hot babes. His colors only intensified as he displayed to the females.

Over the next few months, his displays grew more impressive and the colors of the females became equally brilliant. Of course that’s just when the females decided that there was room for only one of them and began fighting. In two days things worked out, as the smaller female battered her larger competitor to death. I was away for the weekend and when I returned, the carnage was most impressive. But the male and surviving female seemed most happy and were digging a large pit in the gravel.

A spawn, I felt, was close at hand.

Three months later, with the fish digging and re-digging pit after pit, I was not so sure. They seemed very happy and flashed mating colors, but no eggs. It was very frustrating. Especially since the pair in the 55 gallon in the basement had decided they hated each other and were fighting daily.

Then, in an old book I picked up in a used bookstore, I read that the Nicaraguan Cichlid had a peculiar and unique trait. Their eggs are non adhesive. In the tank as I had it set up, there was a good deal of gravel and a fair amount of current. I had always had best success with Central American cichlids with lots of oxygenation and good current. They fish seemed livelier and had always spawned more effectively. But with this lake dwelling fish, the gravel was making it hard for them to lay their eggs as the pits kept filling in and the current was probably blowing the eggs away. So I reduced the current and decreased the gravel to just a shallow layer.

The next Friday I got home late after a date and didn’t manage a water change. I then procrastinated over the weekend. It wasn’t until Wednesday when I got my hose and bucket and went to clean the tank. The first thing I noticed was that there was a pit in the back corner and it had a lot of gunk in it. The second thing I noticed was that it wasn’t gunk – it was about 250 little Nicaraguan cichlids! They were great parents and soon I had 4 tanks filled with little guys in various stages of development. I sold a bunch of the little guys to pet stores and got very little in return, because, as I mentioned, the young Nicaraguense are very plain. I then got wise and began growing them up to the 3 inch range and sold them once they were coloring up. For a while I was getting $10.00 a fish…

This happy scene went on for about two years before two things happened. First, my male fish grew a huge, fleshy nuchal hump on his head. Second, my heater malfunctioned and my happy pair had their love nest turned into a sauna. I caught it in time and both survived, but they never spawned again.

This was when my Nicaraguans turned from being part of my hobby to being pets – looking at the bulbous, knobby dome on my male fish I remember thinking, ‘I am going to call you Bighead from now on.’ Definitely NOT imaginative, but certainly apropos.

And Bighead and his female – who was then forever named ‘Bighead’s Woman’ – really became like pets – him in particular. He would sit in the corner of his tank and watch for me to wake up in the morning, then he would begin the wiggle-dance, looking for food. He could tell the difference between worms and peas (his favorites) and krill (NOT his favorite). He inspected my tank cleanings and played in the water intakes during refills. He played tag with me when I held a shiny quarter up to the tank and buried quarters in gravel if I dropped them in the tank.

As the years passed he became less interested in his mate, though he would still get excited in the Spring and chase her around looking to spawn, and more interested in playing with me when I fed him. If I went away for a few days he’d sulk and ignore me when I came back and at times he refused to eat if anyone else fed him.

Eventually I met my wife, Sandra, and as we were dating, I spent much less time with him, but tried to keep his tank clean and made sure he ate regularly. After Sandra and I married, we moved to an apartment and Bighead made the move as well. By then he really could get abusive toward his woman, but I built her a nice cave that she could easily fit in but that he could not, so she could torment him and then hide. I also added an old gold Severum that had suffered some neglect as a target fish. (This worked too well as Bighead liked his target so much he beat him to death.) Adding rainbowfish was a better idea, as he liked to chase them but couldn’t catch them.

In the apartment Bighead had a lot of fun, as he was right next to the desk and my computer and would watch me work on the computer. He loved ‘threatening” my wedding ring and would become very aggressive if I showed it to him. (My theory is that since Nicaraguan cichlids have bright yellow eyes, as he became senile he thought the ring was another fish and wanted to fight it…) Bighead was there when I discovered Simply Discus and got the discus bug. He was there the day I waited eagerly for my first discus shipment from Cary Strong. He was there when I set up the discus in a tank next to his. He thought they were great and loved to threaten them and scare them away from his territory through the glass.

Eventually, in 2003, Bighead’s Woman died. He really didn’t know what happened and kept looking for her in her cave for a while – then he decided to take it out on the rainbowfish. He discovered how to corner them and one by one picked them off until he was alone – Undisputed King of the Tank. He then decided that he would stay in his cave all day. And only came out for food and to hang out with me when I got on the computer.

When we had a birthday party for him in April of 2004, he came out and celebrated with family and friends, but not until after I let him see the can of Tetrabits that I bought him as a present.

In July of 2004 my wife and I bought a home and moved. Bighead was actually the first one to live permanently in the house, as I moved him in before we did on August 20th. He even had his own room – which, obviously, became known as ‘Bighead’s Room.’

But it wasn’t in view of the computer and he sulked. He stayed in his cave and refused to eat. Not even worms or peas. I thought he was done for.

But I had the bright idea of buying some rainbow fish to liven up his world. I picked up 6 small red rainbows and added them to his tank. I was right. One by one the rainbows disappeared. Gone. It seems ol’ Bighead decided that if he wasn’t eating food, he’d make up for it in rainbows… My father in law, who found this hysterical, named him ‘Mangeung’ (sp.) which apparently means something equivalent to ‘Big Pig’ or ‘Eater’ in Italian. And Bighead came out of his funk and started eating again.

Last Friday night (9/23/05) I went in to his room and said goodnight, dropping in a few pellets. Bighead swam over, ate the pellets and went back into his cave. On Saturday morning, I couldn’t find him. There was no way this huge fish squeezed out of the tank!

I looked again and saw him, on his side, dead. In his cave.

I buried Bighead yesterday and planted a hydrangea plant over his grave. People who aren’t into fish don’t understand, but I know you all will.

Goodbye old friend.

PS. On Saturday, after discovering Bighead had died, I found myself in West Hartford and stopped at the Puppy Center.

There, in a back tank, I spotted a dozen little Nicaraguan Cichlids. The clerk mentioned that they were from a local hobbyist who had been bringing in fish for some time.

Could these have been decendants of the many little Bigheads that I sold there over the years?

That evening I added 5 little Bigheads to the tank... Just in case.

John

That was a very touching story John, honestly that makes a great september spotlight and I am real happy you did it. It would be nice to see a pic of BIGHEAD to go with it, if you have one that is.

Thank you John

Jason

Jason,

I know I have posted them here and on the SimplyCichlids board, WAY back in the day.

I also should have some on my computer at home. I'll definitely try to track one down.

John

Thanks John !!!!

I think we all have stories like this to share.

Jack

John,
I Knew where this was going when I saw the title...I am very sorry you lost that fish. I know what he meant to you from all my trips there. He lived a good long life!!!

Good luck with the new ones, may they bring you as much joy as Big head did! :)

-al

Rest in Peace Bighead. Truly the coolest fish I've ever known. You were a part of the family buddy.

John, thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing that with us, now I know you better and I've got the box of kleenex at hand! So sad.... I'm sorry you lost 'Bighead'... it sound like he was very spirited and very attached to you. The bad and good news is.... you'll miss him forever... good good news is, you had him and will never ever forget him. I personally 'need' to believe there is a 'fish heaven'.:angel: There has to be, they're too special.


THIS IS REALLY WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!!! Not spots, not double spots, not shape, not eyes, not the reddest, or the bluest, or how much $$ they're worth........ it is about our relationship with them and theirs with us. That is truly where the beauty in the fishkeeping hobby lies, thanks for the reminder.

Barb :)

John, I'm so very sorry about your loss... Bighead sounded as much a friend as he did a pet, and I know how hard it can be when they've been with you for awhile :( Take solice in the times and experiences you shared, and know he lived a good life ... Nice that you found some of his descendants to keep you company and keep his memory alive :)

Jim

Barb,

You couldn't be more right..

Jim

very sad..but he could never of had a better owner..how many people keep a fish that long..and care for him that well. thanks for the story. i remember hearing you talk of your bighead. good luck with the new ones..
thanks for the spotlight on bighead . : )

That is a great story John!
I can relate to that and I am happy you shared that story. Sorry you lost your friend, but glad you found some "descendants". Hope they are doing well.

thanks

Ardan