Just a real quick update. Late last week I had a holding tank crash out on me, and in the process, one of the spare “PNG” Maroons, the only single one, was killed. I’ve been battling the cold here in this new basement setup – ich has been running rampant as heaters are either failing to keep up, or failing outright. Ambient air temps in the basement tonight are 58F, and every heater in the place is ON!
Meanwhile, another semi-large Maroon was donated to the project by “Damsel Debbie” from down in the Twin Cities area. Lucy is a White Stripe Maroon, maybe 3.5″ long…definitely a fish that will go female if it’s not already. The thought here *might* be to pair Lucy up with the PNG Maroon that’s currently paired with the Jonica’s Gold Stripe….that frees up the Gold Stripe to be mated with a male Gold Stripe (preferable in my book) and will keep the PNG male a male.
I’m heading down the path of trying to pair up the other two PNG Maroons. One is given free reign of the 10 gallon reef and is fed 3 times per day. “Her” potential mate is only fed once per day and is housed in a breeder basket….(these are the Maroons that I showed being introduced a couple months back, where the one in the tank instantly attacked the other one upon introduction). The theory here is that even if I could never find another WC PNG Maroon, I could “create” a female through the pairing. I could also allow the Lightning to go female, pairing it with the small male, which is a safe route to go and keeps the PNG bloodlines clean. It only sacrifices the Lightning being a male, which as I’ve mentioned some people are in full support of making the Lightning the female in the pair.
And so the project goes…slow as always.