I thought I'd do a little piece about these fish as they tend to be seriously under-rated in my opinion. They arn't the prettiest of the dwarf South American cichlids but they are probably one of the most easy going.
Some photo's of mine when they first arrived
They have a tendency to be a very shy cichlid and very non-aggressive. Even in full breeding mode I've found them to be very laid back - sure they guard their babies but not as viciously as some other cichlid types. They also colour up to a dark purple/blue when in breeding mode - the female in particular.
The female will be stockier and slightly smaller than the male and will often have 2 spots on her dorsal fin. The male is sleeker, slightly larger with slightly longer fins and will often display one spot on his dorsal fin
And just who can resist that happy smiley face! I certainly couldn't
The female will lay around 100-200 eggs. A flat stone is recommended for this process but I found mine would lay anywhere they felt safest
In this case a rock in a corner under a lump of wood and surrounded by plants
The eggs will be cream in colour and any solid white one's are infertile. Both parents will take turns to fan the eggs and eggs will hatch in around 3-4 days.
Once hatched the fry will spend around 2 days absorbing the yolk sack and at this stage all you can see is wriggling tails
http
/vid1127.photobucket.com/albums/l634/akasha3472/003-8_zps10b254f9.mp4
Once this stage is done the fry will slowly become 'free swimming' and the parents will start to take the fry around plants and decor looking for tiny area's of infusoria to eat
Any fry straying too far from the parents will be caught in a parents mouth and 'spat' back within the group
http/vid1127.photobucket.com/albums/l634/akasha3472/Rekord%20800/laetacara%20curvicpes%20photos/006-10_zps8ae3e3cc.mp4
Unfortunately mine failed to keep the fry on several occasions - every morning I'd find there were fewer fry remaining and they were getting picked off by other fish in the night and so I made the decision to go in with my turkey baster and remove some fry and raise them myself
I added them to a bare bottomed 30 litre tank with a sponge filter and lots of java moss tied to rocks
For the first month of life I added liquifry several times a day and changed their water daily (using water from the parents tank). This process meant I had to remove the fry from their tank and then add fresh water as they were too weak to deal with any kind of flow. After the first month I reduced the water changes to 3 days a week, gradually reducing as time went on and eventually using clean, dechlorinated tap water. I also started to wean them off liquifry by adding small amounts of TetraMin baby to the liquifry in a pot, mixing well with a pipette before adding slowly to their tank.
I manged to raise 8 from the first batch and 18 from the second
Sadly I found that no-one wanted these fry and I ended up giving them away. Any subsequent spawns after the 18 I just left to be food for the community tank.
I still have my male and female and from research I understand they can live to be around 8 years of age. My female has become even shier with age and now lives hidden in the plants. I now have to seek her out when I'm feeding and put food right in front of her mouth as she refuses to come out and fight for it. The male is much more confident but he still likes to live in peace. I havn't had a spawn from them though in around 18 months and so I think they are now beyond spawning age.
So, to sum up. If you are looking for an easy going cichlid with a non-aggressive personality that is still full of character don't rule these guys out just because they arn't as pretty as the other smaller cichlids. I've really enjoyed keeping these fish to point of dreading the day they die as I know finding some more will be difficult.
These fish really are under rated and because of that they seem to be very very rare. I even have them in two published fish dictionaries which also state them to be 'rare'
One last photo - my male 'posing'
Some photo's of mine when they first arrived
They have a tendency to be a very shy cichlid and very non-aggressive. Even in full breeding mode I've found them to be very laid back - sure they guard their babies but not as viciously as some other cichlid types. They also colour up to a dark purple/blue when in breeding mode - the female in particular.
The female will be stockier and slightly smaller than the male and will often have 2 spots on her dorsal fin. The male is sleeker, slightly larger with slightly longer fins and will often display one spot on his dorsal fin
And just who can resist that happy smiley face! I certainly couldn't
The female will lay around 100-200 eggs. A flat stone is recommended for this process but I found mine would lay anywhere they felt safest
In this case a rock in a corner under a lump of wood and surrounded by plants
The eggs will be cream in colour and any solid white one's are infertile. Both parents will take turns to fan the eggs and eggs will hatch in around 3-4 days.
Once hatched the fry will spend around 2 days absorbing the yolk sack and at this stage all you can see is wriggling tails
http
/vid1127.photobucket.com/albums/l634/akasha3472/003-8_zps10b254f9.mp4Once this stage is done the fry will slowly become 'free swimming' and the parents will start to take the fry around plants and decor looking for tiny area's of infusoria to eat
Any fry straying too far from the parents will be caught in a parents mouth and 'spat' back within the group
http
/vid1127.photobucket.com/albums/l634/akasha3472/Rekord%20800/laetacara%20curvicpes%20photos/006-10_zps8ae3e3cc.mp4Unfortunately mine failed to keep the fry on several occasions - every morning I'd find there were fewer fry remaining and they were getting picked off by other fish in the night and so I made the decision to go in with my turkey baster and remove some fry and raise them myself
I added them to a bare bottomed 30 litre tank with a sponge filter and lots of java moss tied to rocks
For the first month of life I added liquifry several times a day and changed their water daily (using water from the parents tank). This process meant I had to remove the fry from their tank and then add fresh water as they were too weak to deal with any kind of flow. After the first month I reduced the water changes to 3 days a week, gradually reducing as time went on and eventually using clean, dechlorinated tap water. I also started to wean them off liquifry by adding small amounts of TetraMin baby to the liquifry in a pot, mixing well with a pipette before adding slowly to their tank.
I manged to raise 8 from the first batch and 18 from the second
Sadly I found that no-one wanted these fry and I ended up giving them away. Any subsequent spawns after the 18 I just left to be food for the community tank.
I still have my male and female and from research I understand they can live to be around 8 years of age. My female has become even shier with age and now lives hidden in the plants. I now have to seek her out when I'm feeding and put food right in front of her mouth as she refuses to come out and fight for it. The male is much more confident but he still likes to live in peace. I havn't had a spawn from them though in around 18 months and so I think they are now beyond spawning age.
So, to sum up. If you are looking for an easy going cichlid with a non-aggressive personality that is still full of character don't rule these guys out just because they arn't as pretty as the other smaller cichlids. I've really enjoyed keeping these fish to point of dreading the day they die as I know finding some more will be difficult.
These fish really are under rated and because of that they seem to be very very rare. I even have them in two published fish dictionaries which also state them to be 'rare'
One last photo - my male 'posing'
