Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / June 2006

Was tubing today in New Braunfels Texas, on the Comal river.  A little too
crowded for my taste, but kind of a fund experinece.  The water is blue-ish
and very clear, even with all the turbidity from the hundreds of tubers.
Fairly typically for me, I was scanning likely shady areas along the river
bank to see if there were any fish.  We hit a shady spot with some
overhanging rock and I soon saw some sunfish of an unknown type, a few small
bass, and what I thought might have been some cichlids of some kind, but
unfortunately we were moving too fast to really tell.

My interest was really peaked though and excited, I slowed myself down by
getting closer to the bank and getting some purchase with my feet.

We were passing a kind of shelf which was maybe 12" deep, with a steep drop
off going down to about 4-5' or more, when right in front of me not a foot
from my nose were the prettiest pair of Texas Blues you ever saw.  The male
was about 6", the female a little shorter maybe 4".  Both were in dazzling
bright colored breeding dress, but the female had the traditional dark
battern that these Herycthis seem to often get, dark on her back and dorsal
area but bright and light on her head.  We were moving very slow and I was
able to point the fish out to my girflriend, who after years of going with
me catching specimens and living with all my aquariums knows what a cichlid
looks like.  They were almost totally fearless too, my hand was just inches
away from them, and they didn't seem in the least bothered.  I was also
impressed that they were hanging in there in a pretty swift current.  They
must have had a nest with some eggs or fry in down in the rocks there but I
couldn't spot it before we were finally swept out of range.

I was initially very surprised to see Texas cichlids this far north (between
Austin and San Antonio) where I know it freezes every winter, but reading
about the Comal it is apparently spring fed and maintains a year round
temperature of 72 degrees.

This was a lifelong dream of mine now fulfilled.  I always wanted to swim
with Cichlids.  I have captured wild specimens in Florida and New Orleans
but you wouldn't want to swim in that water in either case.

It was a magical moment in an otherwise mundane day.

BD