A pair of Amazona vittata. the puertorican amazon calling from a tree near their nest

It has been an unusually rainy 24 of February.  Normally this month is one of the driest ones of the year.  But the arrival of a cold front ushered non stop rain and drizzle that has lasted the whole day.  In some parts of the island the rain has set records that had stood since the 1940's.  It has been a rainy and cloudy afternoon.  Every afternoon, I do a round to check the captive breeding pairs.  I do this every day during the breeding season, at a specific time.  The captive parrots become habituated to my presence and are not alarmed when I go by.   Some wild birds have territories inside the aviary and they also become habituated to my presence.   This pair is perching in a tree near to where their nest is located.  You can hear their calls and also the calls of other parrots who are near.  Their calls serve to mark their territory and to warn other birds away.   There was another pair who had a territory close to that of this pair.  The male of that pair died.  In an unusual turn of events, this pair tolerates the female in their territory rather than chasing her away as they do with other birds.  You can see the widowed female arrive after second 18 of the video.  The male is a captive bird that was released a few years back, you can see the antena of his radio transmitter.  The is lacking a few feathers from the top of his head, probably he lost them in a territorial fight.

A baby puertorican boa startles and delights

This baby Puertorican boa surprised, startled and delighted the personnel of the Puertorican Parrot project by spending the day wrapped around the rails of one of the paths in the aviary.  It was quite festy and would try to bite if someone got too close.  It provided me with a rare occasion to use my 100mm macro lens on an animal.  After I took a number of photos gently but firmly, I coaxed the snake to leave the rail and to move to the vegetation.  The little snake eventually slithered down the rail and moved away.  I did this at night fall so that it would not fall prey to daytime predators.

Puertorrican parrot goes bananas about its bathtime

This is a male of the species Amazona vittata vittata, the Puerto Rican parrot.  These birds greatly enjoy getting baths.  In the wild when it rains after a spell of dry weather the parrots become very excited and vocalize powerfully as they get wet under the rain.  In captivity the cages are designed so that the  birds can take baths whenever it rains, however a few will also eagerly seek getting wet under the water we use to clean cages.  From time to time we indulge them and allow them to frolick under the water stream.  As you can see in the video the bird is unabashedly enjoying the water.  These parrots are highly intelligent and we try, as much as it is possible in captivity, to enrich their enviroment with things they like. 

I want to make clear that this animal trusts me a great deal, birds that don't have a trusting relationship with their owners or keepers will not behave this way, some may even feel threatened when their cage is cleaned.  If you want to give your birds a bath like these make sure that the bird doesn't feels threatened, is in a familiar enviroment and that it can get away from the water stream at any time if it chooses to do so.

This particular male has been particularly fecund and a number of his offspring have been released into the wild as part of a program to reintroduce the species to parts of it former habitat where it has beene extinct since the early twenty century.

Amazona vittata, The Puertorican parrot, roosting behavior in the wild

Branch used by several parrots to roost, note the way the leaves and smaller branches have been stripped away

There are seventeen parrots in this photo, it was taken just after dawn, at the moment the first sun rays were stricking the tops of the trees

A branch used by a single pair, see how they have stripped the branch of leaves for a considerable lenght.  They sleep together at the very tip of the branch.

Part of one of the largest flocks of this species since the 1950's, there are twenty two birds in the photo, the flock was composed of thirty two birds.

The birds continue circling and calling and sometimes fly around almost until it is too dark to see

In this unique photo you can see a pair at night

The birds have excellent hearing, and probably have a small degree of night vision.

The Rio Abajo wild flock spends the day foraging in the forest, usually in small flocks of a few birds, but during the months of July to December in the evening they tend to form a large flock that sleeps in a single roosting area.  This is related to their breeding cycle, during the breeding season, which lasts from January to July in the RA forest, the birds become more aggressive, territorial and less likely to form large groups.  Once the chicks fledge the parents aggression toward other birds lessens to a considerable degree and they become much more social.

The roosting flock assembles in the evening and the way they choose which tree they will roost is very noisy and interesting.  First the birds start arriving at an area where several trees are used to sleep.  As the birds arrive they start calling and interacting with the other birds.  Then they start flying back and forth between the different trees singly and in small groups.

The impression I get is that they are going through a process of ascertaining where is the larger concentration of parrots, sort of a popularity vote between the different roosting spots.    As nightfall starts the groups in flight become bigger and bigger until at times the whole flock is in the air at the same time.  Just as it is getting too dark to see the flock finally settles in a single spot with all, or nearly all the birds in a fairly small part of the tree.

The parrots keep calling and squabbling for some time after it is dark but eventually they fall silent.  The parrots are not passive users of the roosting trees, they modify favorite sleeping branches by removing leaves for at times a considerable length of the branch.  Then they sleep near or at the very tip of the denuded branch.  MY guess is that this is an anti-predator measure but this is just speculation as any place where the parrots spend a considerable amount of time eventually becomes denuded of leaves and quite wretched looking due to their proclivity to chew with their powerful bills anything that is at hand nearby when they are perched in a spot.

The flock wakes up early but generally doesn’t leave their roost until the rays of the sun start striking the top of the tallest trees.  Then they might take flight in a single large and very noisy group that lands again after circling over the roost a few times.  After this the birds start slowly going their own way in small groups away from the roosting area.

If you happen to run into one of these roosting areas during a hike in the forest I would ask that you please don’t disturb the birds.  If the parrots are disturbed they will flee the area and abandon the roosting tree.  In the nineties the whole PR parrot population that used to live around the area of the old aviary high near El Yunque peak relocated to the west part of the forest near el Verde.   The suspicion of the project scientists is that the birds fled the area they formerly used because they were alarmed and disturbed when military exercises were staged on the forest.  I can’t blame them, I would have moved too.

Working on an artificial nest used by a wild pair of Amazona vittata, the Puerto Rican parrot

Ivan Llerandi Roman the leader of the wild release project, note all the equipment hanging from Ivan's utility belt

Gustavo Olivieri

An artificial nest high up in a tree

A wild female turning the eggs, they turn the eggs over every fifteen minutes on average

A baby that has just hatched is gently cupped under the wing by the female, you can see the part of the egg shell under the head of the female.  You can see the head of the newly hatched baby near the center of the photo.

Eddie Velez

The top part of the cage in the photo is about twenty feet all.

One of the more secretive aspects of the parrot project is the work that is done with the wild nests.  The reason for the secrecy is to protect the nests from unwanted human intervention which can, sad to say, include the theft of the nestlings for sale.  Unfortunately even well meaning people can cause a nest to fail if they try to approach it when the parrots are nesting.    Therefore the work of the people that manage the nests in the wild is practically unknown by the general public.  Another problem that affects the recognition of the achievements of the field workers in the area of nest management is that most of this work takes place deep in forested areas where the conditions generally are not conductive for good photography.  As a result this work is rarely documented and even more rarely described on print.  The need for artificial nests in the wild is due to the fact that for centuries and all the way up to the middle of the twenty century the main fuel for the island was wood.  As a result there was severe deforestation on many parts of the island and even on places where the forest now appears in a reasonably good health old trees are few and far between.  Also at the start of the twenty century there was a forestry theory that deemed old, hole ridden, mature trees less desirable than young trees which were still growing vigorously.  As a result in some forest areas old trees were cut down to encourage new growth. 

But in 2009 and 2010 we had the unexpected opportunity to document the work in a nest in a tree inside the aviary.  It has to be noted that the wild release staff pretty unhappy with the location of this nest.  Its location inside the aviary grounds raised all sort of issues about unintended disturbance of the breeders during our daily work at the aviary.  But they had to submit to the will of the parrot pair that signaled they wanted to nest in this particular area, and that was that.  The pair that chose this nest is the one whose male is known by the nickname “Scarface”.   The “Scarface” pair had been haunting the area around the aviary for a couple of years and had rejected or ignored all the nests that were offered in other areas.  For some reason known only to them, the pair decided that they wanted to nest inside the aviary.  Those that are old hands at the PR parrot project know that this is a startling, unheard of situation as wild nests in the east part of the island in the Luquillo mountains are in rugged, hard to get locations, well away from human habitation and the possibility of human disturbance.    But the silver lining in this particular case is that secrecy is not needed as the nest is closely, and jealously,  guarded by the staff.  The way we adapted to the presence of the breeding pair and the tolerance they showed for our rhythm of work helped bring a collective sigh of relief from everybody as from historical reports we know that Puertorican parrots nests have been abandoned over disturbances that other bird species would have ignored.

The tree where the artificial nest is located has to be prepared to receive the nest and fitted with the necessary infrastructure that allows maintenance and checking of the nest.  This particular nest has a close circuit camera that operates in the infrared region of the spectrum, this allows us to check the birds without disturbing their nesting activities.

The photos posted shows work done is 2009 and 2010.  Working with wild nests demands stamina, impressive upper level strength and the ability to work while hanging from ropes in leg and butt numbing positions.  Obviously a lack of fear of height is a must in this kind of work, you will notice that there is a large vanilla orchid on top of the nest, I have never climbed there to check that orchid out.

The nest needs to be fitted with wooden entrances to allow the birds to gnaw on the wood of the entrance, an important part of their nest choosing/preparing procedure.   The nest is also checked periodically during the breeding season to see the condition of the eggs and chicks and to band the chicks.

 To our great happiness the clutch in the nest was incubated flawlessly by the female.  The pair raised two healthy babies than on due time fledged from the nest.  I had the opportunity to observe closely and in unparalleled comfort (in relation to the experience of watching  other nests wild nests both in El Yunque and Rio Abajo) the whole breeding cycle.

I hope these photos give you an idea of the strenuous nature of this little known aspect of our work that is as crucial for the survival of the population at the Rio Abajo forest as the more widely publicized aspects of iur operation.  I would ask of all of you that if you come across a parrot nest in the wild, please do not, under any condition, try to climb the tree or disturb the parrots in any way, this will only make our work much, much harder and may make the parrots abandon the area altogether.   Another reason not to climb up to the nest is the very real possibility of falling from the tree.  Finding someone with its neck broken from a fall who has died sloooowly while being eaten alive by fire ants, centipedes and eyeball and brain gouging beetles would probably leave us inconsolable for about ten seconds after which we would have to make arrangements to drag the body out of the forest, notify the next of kin and present a nomination for a Darwin award on behalf of the dumb-as-a-doorknob deceased.

I want to add that if we notice anyone disturbing the parrots on their nesting areas we will call the local police, notify the federal government, the vigilantes of the DNER and I will personally call their mothers to tell them in no uncertain terms what horribly inconsiderate children they have.   So far we have had absolutely no problems with anyone bothering the parrots or their nests and we hope it stays this way.

An amusing story about a Boa that lives around my house

For some mysterious reason I haven't been visited by salespeople or religious proselytist for years

Basking in the sun

Another view

My work requires that I cultivate a sense of serenity and non aggression when I am around the animals I manage, I try to send a "vibe" that I am not a threat. The forest animals around my house have noted this and have decided I am mostly harmless. Because of this they take great liberties when I am around. This six feet plus female puertorican boa comes to bask on the rail of my terrace during the summer and stays for a few months, then she disappears until next summer. One of my guilty pleasures is luring unwary visitors as close to the boa as I can without them noticing. When they see the boa, even the most frail have engaged in sudden and astonishing feats of athleticism, its like a miracle. Others have emitted a rich array of fervently pronounced vocalizations which sometimes include mighty colorful maledictions of all sorts. Generally they calm down quickly, and come to admire the animal, but some have traveled great distances in an amazingly short time. The puertorican boa is an endangered species that few in the island of Puerto Rico ever see in the flesh. The snake that lives at my home is one of the very few that can be seen reliably and the only one that shows itself in broad daylight in a place frequented by people every day. Sadly after it was tagged with a RIFD tag and it stopped basking on places where she could be easily caught. A Secretary of PR's Department of Natural and Enviromental Resources,  came to see this snake and had the opportunity to see some unwary members of his entourage engage in vigorous and sudden activity much to everyone mirth.

Puerto Rican parrot twilight behavior, sleeping clumped in a bunch.

This is the only photo of this behavior ever taken, you can see a parrot ready to fly away at the bottom

As the leader of the captive propagation program of the Puerto Rican parrot I spend time, probably than anyone on its right mind should, observing parrot behavior. I also read the notes of previous aviculturists about the parrot’s behavior in captivity to look for context for my observations. But there is a gap in the information about this parrot’s behavior, there’s an absolute absence of writings on what the parrots do after dark. In fact most people seem to assume that as soon as night falls the parrots go to sleep and that’s that. To say the truth this inference is largely true, however in the period of twilight before complete darkness the parrots do things that have been missed, as far as I can tell, by other observers.


The reason for missing these behaviors is very simple, after the daily work shift ends the personnel goes to their houses, to do errands, to take a nap, to eat, and hanging around the parrot cages is the last thing in (including me) anyone’s mind. But one day I noted that the period of twilight was marked by an inordinate amount of calls coming from a relatively small area in the cage, the calls denoted intense socialization at a time that I had always assumed the birds were setting down to sleep. This piqued my curiosity and I decided to see what was happening.

What I found is that sometimes, instead of sitting on the many perches on the cage, the parrots will cluster together to sleep in the wire forming a mass that resembles a grape bunch. I have never read this reported, and it doesn’t seem like they sleep in this way in the wild. The birds arrange themselves in a very tight bunch, literally side by side in a degree of intimate contact that I would have thought inconceivable between adult parrots that are not pair bonded. The forming of the bunch is accompanied by much squawking and I suspect this is caused by birds jostling each other for position on the bunch. I have never set out to watch the formation of the bunch since this would probably disrupt its formation but I have on rare occasions witnessed its dissolution. Also most of our flight cages have, by design but this is a matter for another post, odd asymmetrical shapes that limit line-of –sight viewing.  What I found most interesting about this clumping behavior is that the PR parrots, which can be quite picky with who they associate during the day, seem to lose their selectivity as night falls and join together in relative amicability and closeness that they don't show during the day.

I suspect the birds clump as a form of protection from predators. I make this inference because of what happens when the clump is disturbed. When the birds are startled the clump explodes like a grenade with birds flying in all directions. I have just a single photo of this clumping, it was taken when I had to feed the flock very early before dawn because we were doing some special work with the wild birds and I wanted the captive birds to be all fed by first light in the morning. In the photo you can see only part of the clump as a number of the birds had flown away the moment they detected movement near the cage. Nevertheless the photo shows the way the birds arrange themselves on the wire. Previously I always thought that only mated pairs slept this way.

It is unclear what triggers this behavior as some birds are quite content to sleep in perches.  For the moment being this behavior remains a curiosity observed from time to time.

Information about the Puerto Rican Parrot in the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) aviary

One of the bird of thr Rio Abajo Forest wild flock, raised in captivy.  You can see the antena and the radio transmiter that allow us  to keep track of them

Agency – Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
Division of Wildlife
Endangered Species Section
Project – Program for the propagation in captivity and release into the wild the Puerto Rican parrot
Email address – el.cotorro.electrico@gmail.com, illerandi@drna.gobierno.pr
Project leaders – Ricardo Valentín, Ivan Llerandi
Biologists and Technicians – Brian Ramos, Jong Piel Banch Plaza, Tomás Medina, Eddie Velez, Milagros Cartagena, Gustavo Olivieri, Alberto Alvarez
Location – Rio Abajo State Forest
Jurisdiction – Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Residents – The Vivaldi aviary has 3 permanent residents that assure that there is always someone watching
the aviary and a number of workers that stay overnight when there is the need.

Visits – The Vivaldi aviary is not open to the public
Protected Species – Amazona vittata – the Puerto Rican Parrot

The Aviary also has some pairs of the Hispaniolan Parrot (Amazona ventralis). These pairs are used as foster parents for Puerto Rican parrot chicks when necessary.


Wild Population Estimate – From 30 to 40 individuals in the Rio Abajo Forest, 20-30 in the Caribbean National Forest.

Location of Wild Population – Restricted to the Caribbean National Forest, El Yunque and to the Rio Abajo forest.
Total Population, including parrots in captivity – A total of 269 in captivity, 60 to 70 in the wild.

Captive Groups of the Puerto Rican Parrot

Iguaca Aviary – 133
Agency – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Rio Abajo Aviary – 136 birds
Agency - Department of Natural and Enviromental Resources of Puerto Rico

Wild populations of the Puerto Rican parrot

El Yunque, Caribbean National Forest – 20 – 30
This is the original population that survived the near extinction event

Rio Abajo Forest population 30-40
This is a new population which was started with birds released from captivity. Rio Abajo used to be a stronghold of the PR.

A Short History of the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) Aviary

Starting date – In 1989 30 Hispaniolan parrots were transferred from the Luquillo aviary to the Rio Abajo aviary to serve as sentinels to detect the presence of infections diseases, to put operational logistics to test, and to evaluate the capacity of the technical staff.

Chronology of Important Events for the Vivaldi Aviary at Rio Abajo Forest

1993 – first group of Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary
1994 – first breeding season in Rio Abajo; 2 Puerto Rican (PR) parrot fledglings produced
1995 – second group of 13 Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary, 10 PR fledglings produced
1996 – third season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1997 – fourth season; 5 PR fledglings produced
1998 – fifth season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1999 – sixth season; 13 PR fledglings produced
2000 – seventh season; 16 PR fledglings produced; 1 chick received from Luquillo, 9 parrots sent to Luquillo for the release project in El Yunque
2001 – eighth season; 17 PR fledglings produced (3 died after fledging); 3 chicks received from Luquillo; 10
parrots sent to Luquillo for release.
2002 – ninth season; 16 PR fledglings produced
2003 – tenth season; 11 PR fledglings produced
2004 – 11 PR fledglings produced
2005 – 12 chicks
2006 – The best year ever in the Vivaldi aviary until that date, a staggering 29 fledglings are produced in a single season.
2007 - 31 fledglings produced at the aviary
2008 – 30 fledgelings
2009 - 30 fledglings
2010 - 33 fledglings

Total production so far – 271 Puerto Rican fledglings

Captive management Philosophy:


The Rio Abajo aviary is a captive breeding facility that is not open to the public. The principal purpose of the aviary is to be a bank of genetic material representative of the species to provide parrots for future reintroductions into the wild. The facility is equipped with everything necessary to perform many procedures without having to remove the birds from the property. We use a management method that is minimally invasive to the birds’ territories, which are composed of different areas of breeding cages. We use large sized flight cages, of 60 feet in length and 14 feet in height, to socialize the young parrots and so that they can form pairs in a free and natural manner so as to produce pairs of the best quality. We try to maintain an environment that is positively stimulating to the majority of the reproductive pairs and results in less stress.

In the Rio Abajo aviary we have a deep respect for the Puerto Rican parrot as an animal with a large cognitive capacity that needs to be provided not just with the basic necessities of food and water, but also of an environment adequate for exercising the full realm of behavior that they possess. To be able to fill their mental needs we provide spacious cages, fruit, branches, leaves, and toys made of wood, coconut, and rope.  The adult breeding cages are separated from one another by barriers of vegetation and dark screen. We severely limit the access of humans in the areas of breeding cages. We try to reduce to as little as possible the amount of contact the parrots have with humans to avoid the parrots’ becoming accustomed to human contact.  We carefully study the behavior of the young adults and reproductive pairs to look for what might help us to stimulate reproduction in captivity.  We maintain a complete database of our activities with the parrots to be able to evaluate the results of our actions.  We use the Hispaniolan parrot, Amazona ventralis, as foster parents to incubate eggs and raise PR parrot chicks. The eggs and chicks of the Hispaniolan parrots are used to provide practical experience to PR parrot pairs that are new and inexperienced in incubating eggs and rearing chicks

A male in the wild

Peristeria elata, the Holy Ghost Orchid

Peristeria elata is one of my favorite orchids because of its beauty and the tiny mimicry of a dove that is created by shape the column and the lip of the flower. I tried to grow Peristeria elata a number of times in the past and every time my plants would grow to a tremendous size, but then they would fail to bloom even after years of devoted care. I would eventually lose the plants mostly to neglect once it was clear they would not bloom ever. This was very frustrating for me since the culture of this plant is not that difficult. I Eventually found out why I never got flowers from my plants, the key was provided paradoxically by a plant that would not bloom for its previous owner.
I was at an orchid show a few years ago and in a vendor's stall I spied the largest Peristeria plant I had ever seen. The pseudobulbs were enormous, each significantly larger than my clenched fist. I asked the vendor for the plant and heard a familiar story, in spite of excellent care, the plant would not bloom. I asked for the price in a distant, not very interested way and the vendor told me that since he was tired of devoting bench space to a non blooming plant, I could have it for $20.00. In a second I had brought the plant.
But this time around I did things differently with the culture of the plant. When the dry season started I stopped watering it. Even though the pseudobuls became wrinkled I resisted the temptation to water. Also no fertilizer was given to the plant. In addition to these measures, now I was living at a higher elevation than when I had my previous plants and every night in the dry season the plant would experience a 10F to 15F degrees temperature drop.
Nothing happened with this plant and for months on end it showed no sign of blooming or growing.
Then in the summer of 2007, I saw two green tips coming out of the base of one of the bulbs. One was clearly a new growth but the other appeared to be an inflorescence. As the weeks went by I was delighted with the fact that the plant appeared to be on its way to produce a very large inflorescence. The inflorescence topped out at four feet and a half and produced the largest Peristeria flowers I had ever seen. Impressively large and opening more widely than any Peristeria flowers I had seen previously, the flowers were a delight to the eye. They were also powerfully fragrant. They were so fragrant that the fragrance started getting a but cloying. The plant bloomed several years in a row and then I had to repot and divide it because it had filled its pot. I expect the divisions to start blooming next year.
So what is what I learned about this plant? I learned that for this plants I need to emulate their natural seasonal cycle to trigger blooming. In my case giving the plant year round watering and fertilizer will produce amazing plants but no flowers.
This orchid is the national flower of Panama and it is sadly endangered in the wild from overcolletion. But it is easily available in the market. If you have the time,the space and the appropiate growing conditions this is a good plant to grow and on the plus side it is also a handsome foliage plant that when well grown resembles a seedling coconut palm.

Zoogoneticus tequila, English version

They come from central Mexico, the females are assertive, powerful and the males desire and fear them. The males are handsome, aggressive but cannot avoid being controlled by the females which henpeck them mercilessly. I'm not referring in these lines to the plot Mexico's latest soap, but the behavior of the viviparous Mexican fish Zoogoneticus tequila.

The Zoogoneticus tequila is known in English as the "Crescent Goodeid" due to the coloration of the tail fin of the male or the "Tequila splitfin" in recognition of the anatomy of the anal fin of fish in the Goodeidae family. I don't know if it has been awarded a common name in Spanish as it is not available locally in the commercial aquarium trade but in this article it will be called the Tequila. The Tequila nickname refers to a volcano in the vicinity of its natural habitat. Fish of the Goodeidae family are distinguished by a number of fascinating biological and anatomical adaptations that separate them from other livebearers, these make them an interesting subject for the aquarist. Their behavior is also of interest because unlike other viviparous fished Zoogoneticus interacts with other fish in the same way that Mike Tyson interacted with Evander Hollyfield's ear in that unforgetable fight.
We will start by detailing the reproductive adaptations of this species. The male fish of the family Goodeidae lack a gonopodium, this immediately distinguishes Zoogoneticus from other viviparous fish common in the market such as guppies, swordtails and mollies. Because they have no specialized structure such as the gonopodium, males use the first few anal fin spines to transfer sperm to the female. The females do not store sperm so they have to be fertilized every time they produce a litter, in this respect they are unlike the Poeciliae such as guppies and mollies. The young develop inside the female and produce a structure called trophotaenia which comes out of their bellies and allow them to absorb nutrients from the mother's body. The females produce relatively few offspring compared with other livebearers, 10 to 15, but the young are much larger than usual in viviparous fish. The attitude of adults towards the young is similar the way Herod treated his own children. Adults actively hunt the young, they should be separated from them so they can survive. It is reported that the female gives birth roughly every two months.

Some species of the genus Zoogoneticus seem to have very restricted geographic distributions. Tequila has not been collected in the wild since 1990 and it is suspected it might have become extinct in the wild. Tequila was recognized as a new species in 1998 even though specimens had been collected since 1955. The species Tequila is related very closely with Zoogoneticus quitzeoensis described in 1898 and Zoo. purhepechus a new species described in 2008. Its origin lie in the state of Jalisco, in the river Teuchitlan.

Males are grayish, some scales of the sides of the body show a pink iridicensce. The females are generally gray but the ones I have show a fairly dark color probably because the level of illumination in their aquarium is low. My fish are still young so it is likely they will continue to change color as they mature.

I keep the fish in a tank 30 gallon long. The water in the tank has a pH of 7. The tank has no conventional ornaments. The bottom is covered with teak leaf litter, a soft mud that has resulted from the decomposition of the leaves and algae that has covered the remains of the leaves. Laying just below the water surface is a mass of plants, mainly Hygrophyla difformis. The temperature of the tank varies between 70F and 80F. I change about 80% of the tank water every two weeks.

The fish are fed three times a day, in the morning when I go to work, noon and in the evening just before sunset. If anything can be said of these fish is they eat everything I offer with a breathtaking lack of discriminating criteria. The cheapest flake food is eaten with the same zeal as the mosquito larvae,"bloodworms" and food pellets. I try to vary the diet a bit every day and while some days I give them bits of minced shrimp in others I give pellets. Different sources recommended that these fish should be fed with a vegetable-based food. But as the tank has a good growth of algae, I have not bothered to give any special vegetable based food.

In the beginning there were five Tequila in the tank, three females and two males. But the two largest females harassed the younger in a manner so barbarous I suspect it was killed or that it may have jumped from the tank as it disappeared a few days after they arrived at my home. This is illustrative of the character of this species. They are aggressive fish, truculent and lacking in subtlety. In short they have an horror of a personality. In this they are the veritable antithesis of the ideal fish we want in a community tank.

Tequila breeders recommended keeping this species in a species only aquarium. During a normal day the largest male harrases several times the smaller one. Males approach females with caution since unreceptive females can bite. Not a day has passed without seeing that a Tequila has lost a scale here or there or has a bite in one fin.

What role can play in our aquarium a fish with so abhorrent a personality?. It turns out that the inclination for discord and contention of this fish makes it perfect for aquariums with small cichlids of like personality. But its role is not simply to share the aquarium, the Tequila with their challenging personality can provide a distraction for the cichlids. By diverting the attention of the cichlids they can ameliorate in a small degree intraspecific aggression and when the reproduction of the cichlids occurs, the Tequila become a catalyst for the protective instincts of the cichlids toward their young.

My Tequila share a tank with five jewelfish juveniles, Hemichromis lifalili, a jewelfish from Congo or Zaire. The lifalili are famous for two reasons, one is that when breeding they develop one of the most spectacularly colorful nuptial dress of any freshwater fish. The other is their unfortunate tendency to murder, in a violent and bloody way, all the other fish when they have young to protect.

Even when they are young and small the lifalili are far from being like Mother Teresa and they spend a lot of time chasing and attacking each other. Sometimes they harass the Tequila in an absent minded sort of tokenish way, they reserve their worst venom for their own kind. So far as I can tell, I have not noticed that any lifalili has caused any apreciable harm to the Tequila, to the contrary, subdominant lifalili often spend much time hiding in the vegetation along with the long suffering Tequila males.

You should realize that in spite of what I recommend above, you can't drop the Tequila in a tank with cichlids and expect everything to be peaches and cream. Nothing can be further from the truth! There is no faster way to kill a Tequila that throwing it in a aquariun where some territorial cichlids are tending their fry. The Tequila should be housed with the cichlids when the cichlids are still young and in a aquarium large enough for them to escape the aggression of cichlids. But that is another theme and in the future I will dedicate an article to commenting it.

The Tequila are very alert of my presence near the tank and watch me intently when I sit down to look at them. They are less shy than the cichlids and are not intimidated when I approach with a camera. Every day I spend some time observing them and the fish have learned that when I arrive in the afternoon there will be a special treat. So when I sit next to the aquarium just before night fall they react with great excitement. They are so bold that I've seen the whisk away a piece of shrimp from a cichlid with such speed that the cichlid is left wondering what happened.

The Tequila eventually will be moved to their own tank as the adults lifalili reach a size of about six inches and even before reaching this size they become a mortal danger to the other fish when they have a school of young to protect.

As you have seen the fish Tequila are not for everyone. But they have a certain charm, in an horribly obnoxious way, that transcends the absence of bright colors and peaceful behavior