That Fish Blog – Aquarium Advice and Information

Also known as the Tailbar Cichlid, this particular species hails from the rivers of Central America. It frequents areas of still or slow moving waters , hiding amongst root tangles.  An uncommon fish in the hobby, we have been carrying 2″ juveniles for a little while now, along with a beautiful 6″ male in a separate aquarium that also arrived.

An omnivore, Hartwegi feeds on anything from plants to small fish and shrimp. In the home aquarium, I would recommend feeding a varied diet with the staple being greens as it will help to brighten and maintain their coloration.  Males and females both grow to close to 12″, particularly in the wild.  The males are more robust in build, and develop a much denser spangling of red throughout the body than females have.

As for aquarium size, I would recommend a 55 gallon (minimum) for growing out a group, and at least a 65 gallon for a pair of adults.  In regards to temperament, they are mildly aggressive towards other fish, but when it comes to their own they are very aggressive, and it gets worse when they are defending a spawning site.   Have a divider ready if you suspect you have a pair ready to spawn, or there will be a strong possibility you’ll end up with battered or dead fish. Broods can number from 100 to 1000 eggs, and water conditions should be kept stable, with temperature being 76 to 78 degrees, ph 7.5 to 7.8 and moderate to hard water. Provide hiding places for others in the tank to help in minimizing the brunt of the abuse that a dominant male can and will exert on tankmates.

I have read that they are very intelligent fish, and can “play games” with their owner. With the male we have here I can see some truth to that statement, as he is very anxious for interaction. I would highly recommend this species for someone looking to keep a very personable first cichlid.

Until next time,

Jose

Hey folks Jose here, we are going to talk about one of my favorite bad boys (and girls), the Dovii, also known lovingly as the Wolf Cichlid. The Dovii  hails from Central America in Honduras, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Males can reach sizes up to 28 inches, while females are much smaller at 15 inches. In the wild, the species is an opportunistic piscivore, feeding on smaller fish. This is an easy fish to keep, as long as you have the space and get a compatible pair.

In juveniles, sexing is tough but can be done.  When I picked out my pair at 2 inches, the male was a little larger and he had black dots below the lateral line where as the female had none. In the store’s aquarium, the male was tough on the female, but a week after they went into my 40 breeder, the roles were reversed. They were shy at first, hiding under the caves that I provided for spawns.

Feedings are a blast. They eat everything! The main diet I feed consists of a marine pellet food made by Pretty Bird called Color Up, Prime Reef flakes, and the occasional (once a week) feeding of live crayfish. Now let me tell you how fast they can grow.  The male was 2 inches long and about an inch and a half high when I got him. I have had him for about seven or eight months, and feed them 2 to 3 times a week, and now the male is about 6 inches in length and close to 3 inches in height! They can really fill out fast!

So now they’re spawning. The spawning was not as bad as I thought it would be. The female was almost gold-yellow with dark barring, and close to her vent she started to take on a black coloration. The male’s coloration became a lot more vivid, but the most striking feature setting him apart from the female (wow) was that his lips and fins turned blue!  The Wolf Cichlid’s courting and mating dances consisted of a lot of gill flaring, head shaking and jaw locking.

I provided caves and PVC pipe for them to spawn on, but the female decided  that she was going to lay the eggs on bare glass. OK with me, because they’re easy to spy on there.  I think I’m on batch number 7, and in each batch (laid like clockwork around the end of the month) she numbered close to 200 fry. Not bad for a 3 inch female, though adult females can produce up to 1000+ eggs at a time. The parents are very protective over the fry, even attacking my hands when I’m working on the tank. Oh, did I mention the Dovii live with two Synodontis catfish that happen love the taste of fry? I have not saved any of the prior batches because of space limitations, but my roommate let me borrow his 10 gallon planted aquarium this time, so I was able to net out 30 fry to grow out. The fry are fed crushed flakes, crushed freeze dried brine and crushed freeze dried mysis shrimp. As of right now, it looks like another batch of eggs is on the way!

Until next time,

Jose

Jose here. Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, about the size of Texas or France, and has been isolated from the African mainland for over 160 million years. Madagascar is home to more than 250,000 species of which 70 percent are found nowhere else on the globe.

The first time I came across anything from that country was when I first saw a day gecko and thought wow the colors were amazing. And it wasnt until I came across my first Bleekeri at a cichlid show that my eyes were opened to the livestock of that great country. The fish was pushing maybe 11 inches in a 29 gallon and trying to attack anyone that stepped up to the tank. I needed one!!! I eventually got my hands on one, yay fun times. Spartacus ( yes i named him, later found out it was a her.. oops) in 1 year grew to 8 inches and was a pure terror to me, attacking my hand every time it was in the aquarium.

Now I wanted to breed these fish and as luck would have it she had passed away while I was on vacation. So back to Africans I went. Wasn’t maybe a year later that we got in some Paratilapia
Polleni: the small spot. I purchased 3, 2.5 inch fish for my 40 breeder – 1 dominant male, 1 female and a
younger male. The water conditions were ph 7.6, general hardness of 12 degrees and a carbonate hardness of 8 degrees, with a temperature of 78 degrees. They acclimated very well eating that same night. Their diet consisted of nightcrawlers, marine flakes, krill and marine pellets. The less dominant male was found dead 3 days later and the young pair had started hanging out in an ornamental tree trunk. After about a month and a half the male started becoming very aggressive: not so much with the female but with me. After some time of watching him attack my hands, the female caught on and joined in on the fun: sometimes attacking him, who was double her size.

Now here is where my hate relationship begins. At 6 months the male was a little over 7 inches and the female was close to 4 inches. Then came the day I was waiting for: their breeding tubes were displayed and they were both cleaning the top of a rock. Three days later they had laid what looked like about 200 to 300 eggs. The eggs were not laid on the rock like normal Central or South American egg laying cichlids, these eggs were pinkish orange in color and hung on a string which resembled mini grapes in a clump. The male and female’s aggression stepped up to a new level. And now begins the hate. I tried to take pictures of the parents and eggs and each time I did the male would look at me once and turn around and start eating the eggs. I thought nothing of it as it was their first spawn and I was just happy they bred. The second and third times both happened as I was heading to cichlid shows, and while I was away my girlfriend at the time kept an eye on them. They never once bothered the eggs while I was away, but when I got back and I looked in the tank there went the male eating the eggs again, a slap in the face. They never bred again after that. We shortly moved then and in the move I lost both fish. Temperature change was the culprit as it was 2 or 3 in the morning in October. It will be a while before I keep them again but I know I will. In closing they are fun and anyone who have kept Centrals will enjoy Madagascars.

Until then have fun with Cichlids!

 Jose

Please welcome back our “Cichlid Guy” Jose with an article on his experiences with Copadichromis species.

In Lake Malawi, there is a group of zooplankton feeding cichlids known to the natives as “Utaka”. They are the most important and most successful group in the lake. As where most cichlids are bottom dwellers, they have developed into an open water species. Utaka have developed several breeding techniques. Some breed in the rocky habitat and some construct sand bowers in the intermediate habitat, while others breed on the open sand. A fourth strategy is employed by Copadichromis chrysonotus. It is the only known Utaka that spawns in the open water.  In the hobby, young chrysonotus have been confused with young Copadichromis azureus. I have had the pleasure of working with both species, and they are different in size, color, mouth structure and breeding behavior. While the azureus bred under a cave (where he would lure the female with figure eight motions), the chrysonotus bred six inches above the rocks. As much as I enjoyed working with this fish, I have always wanted to breed a species that utilized bowers. The species I came across is Copadichromis eucinostomus. It is found in Lake Malawi, and was previously known as Haplochromis eucinostomus and Nyassachromis eucinostomus. It is found throughout the lake where it feeds on plankton, and its habitat consists of sandy areas in shallow water where males construct “sand castle nests”.

Spawning takes place in the early morning hours. After the eggs have hatched, mouth brooding females congregate into nursery schools and release their fry simultaneously in very shallow water.

After acquiring a wild pair from work, I put them into one of my 75 gallon aquariums. The tank was decorated with caves and a fine Aragamax sand substrate. The water conditions were as follows: Ph 8.8, a hardness of 200 ppm, and a temperature of 82 degrees. Their diet consisted of different flake foods supplemented by occasional feedings of frozen brine and mysis shrimp.

After about one month, the male started piling sand into a mound in a corner of the tank. His color then began to intensify. He went from silver with a light blue face to a light blue with yellow dorsal and caudal fins. From the lower jaw to the anal fin he was black. He then started courting the female to his nest, where she deposited at least two dozen eggs in the normal mouth brooder fashion. At about 27 days I noticed some fry hiding in the rocks. I then removed the rocks in order to catch the fry. I captured 17 fry less than 1/4” in length. The fry then went into a breeder net that was hung in the same tank. They were fed crushed flake and baby brine soaked in Selcon. They ate very well and never turned down food. After three weeks, I transferred them into a 10 gallon tank for growth. This species is generally peaceful at 4.5”. Their max length is 6”, although in the aquarium they can probably get larger. It is definitely worth keeping along with Aulonocara and certain Malawi haps. They are not common along the East coast, but you might be able to find them through forums or specialized clubs dealing with cichlids if we are not able to get them for you. Copadichromis are great looking fish with interesting breeding behaviors. I would recommend if you keep African cichlids to give this family a try, you won’t regret it.

Thanks Jose, as always we look forward to future tales of your experiences.