cricha's Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Moliwe"

[cricha]

I decided to try my hand at aquarium photography, after being inspired by some of the beautiful pics of fish on this site.

Here's a couple of pics of my pair of 'Moliwe'. All tips & comments are welcome.

[trident]

Chris,
The couple ia very beautiful. One thing I like about these pelvicachromis is that the female is so colorful. Shots are nice too. What camera are you using?
Maybe next time can try putting a mirror in the tank, shoot them when they
are flaring.

[illumnae]

haha you and richard are tempting me into the world of west african dwarf cichlids!

[luenny]

Ok, nice fishes. What I want to say is pictures are a bit soft but a good attempt nevertheless. Seems like white balance is a bit off to me. Somehow pics 2 and 3 have a yellowish tinge. You can try changing white balance and exposure to correct that if you want to - sometimes a tinge is good to achieve certain effect. I don't know if that's what you're trying to achieve or not.

And about the mirror, I really hate to do that. I mean it's your fish, you got all the time in the world to wait for it to flare before taking pictures. If you do use a mirror, make sure the mirror is not part of the photo because it looks really artificial. And you also have to make sure your mirror does not reflect your flash back to your camera.

[illumnae]

haha luenny, a mirror is usually what apisto photographers use to induce their fish to flare for phototaking purposes. it's hard to get the fish in a good spot and flaring otherwise.

further, some species of apistos exhibit different types of flare when flaring at females and flaring at rival males (the image in the mirror)...for example my bitaeniata's tail will only turn red when flaring at the mirror, but not at the otos or the female...if one wants to capture that in a photo, no choice but to use a mirror ma...only 1 pair inside the tank, no rival male to flare at

i think mirror shots can be very tastefully and artistically done as well, like this shot genes took of the Apisto sp "Rio Mamore" that i used to own:

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/galle.../riomamore.jpg


looks stunning to me =)

[cricha]

Thanks for the replies.

I didn't and haven't used a mirror yet as I'm still trying to grasp the fundamentals. So just taking them as they swim around.

I'm having a great difficulty getting rid of the yellow colour cast. Even though I shoot in raw and try to adjust accordingly, it just never turns out quite right. The tank is lit with PL lights and I also use flash. Any tips on WB adjustments?

Eugene's shots are great and I hope to get close someday. Currently though I'm using a D70 with 18-70 kit lens & SB600. Can't afford a macro lens as I'm spending too much on fish

[Cacatuoides]

Hi Chris,

Your moliwe pairs looks good, are they bonded? Feed them well and supplement with vitamins, they will grow up very nice!! Very interesting cichlid to keep and observe
How's your apistos doing?

[Camandcalsmom]

Heya,

Absolutely beautiful fish!!! I hope to get some of the Moliwe soon

Thanks for sharing!!

Ang

[Cacatuoides]

Moliwe and Dehane variants are considered the most colorful variants of the P. Taeniatus

[SCOPE]

I decided to try my hand at aquarium photography, after being inspired by some of the beautiful pics of fish on this site.

Here's a couple of pics of my pair of 'Moliwe'. All tips & comments are welcome.

nice pair....good coloration