My wild caught 'kribs' have finally appeared with young. I'm finding this really interesting, as I haven't bred pulcher since they were the first Cichlid I ever raised. I had a shot at some wilds from the Niger Delta (a large region so the location doesn't help a lot) and was able to get a female large enough she'd probably raised young in the wild, and a male who was probably not big enough to hold a territory yet. He took months to catch up, so today's discovery was a good one. He's there.
Wilds are not much different in looks from the many domestic strains. The broodcare has been radically different though. Is it because they are wilds, and the female probably has protected young in Nigeria? Or is it that my tank set up is better? It is the largest pulcher brood I've ever seen, so she has skills and my water's right.
To begin, even though I provided half coconut caves that every other pulcher/krib I've kept has loved, they ignored them. Instead, they dug out a Nanochromis type cave under a flat rock I had in there to deflect water being poured in. You can see the opening here.
That was a strange choice to me. As well, while every other Pelvicachromis I have bred (almost all of the group) has had the female wall herself into the cave until the young could swim freely, this one was all around the tank. She really doesn't trust me and I think they both were leading my eye away from the cave. I expected them to be in the nearby coconut house, because I could see the digging that had happened. I knew something was up. Rookie fish will lose a spawn or two, but she was too big to be a rookie. She knows what she's doing now. Out in the whichever river, she had learned to hide her spawning site.
Here, she's calling them out of the cave. I did what I always do when I suspect someone's hiding a spawn. I fed them live brine shrimp nauplii anyway, just in case, and today when it hit the water, the larvae had begun freeswimming and were ready for a good meal. For photo purposes, the fact the rock provides excellent camouflage is not great. But I'm going to have some prime fishwatching as I expect the usual excellent broodcare from these fish. They'll look like they're eating their young as they roll the babies through their mouths to clean them. They'll lead the fry away from low oxygen areas, or away from ammonia hotspots. They'll take them to food. They'll defend them with their lives if they have to.
And then, because they aren't hard to breed, no one will want them. Such is the life of a dwarf Cichlid breeder and his fish...
Wilds are not much different in looks from the many domestic strains. The broodcare has been radically different though. Is it because they are wilds, and the female probably has protected young in Nigeria? Or is it that my tank set up is better? It is the largest pulcher brood I've ever seen, so she has skills and my water's right.
To begin, even though I provided half coconut caves that every other pulcher/krib I've kept has loved, they ignored them. Instead, they dug out a Nanochromis type cave under a flat rock I had in there to deflect water being poured in. You can see the opening here.
That was a strange choice to me. As well, while every other Pelvicachromis I have bred (almost all of the group) has had the female wall herself into the cave until the young could swim freely, this one was all around the tank. She really doesn't trust me and I think they both were leading my eye away from the cave. I expected them to be in the nearby coconut house, because I could see the digging that had happened. I knew something was up. Rookie fish will lose a spawn or two, but she was too big to be a rookie. She knows what she's doing now. Out in the whichever river, she had learned to hide her spawning site.
Here, she's calling them out of the cave. I did what I always do when I suspect someone's hiding a spawn. I fed them live brine shrimp nauplii anyway, just in case, and today when it hit the water, the larvae had begun freeswimming and were ready for a good meal. For photo purposes, the fact the rock provides excellent camouflage is not great. But I'm going to have some prime fishwatching as I expect the usual excellent broodcare from these fish. They'll look like they're eating their young as they roll the babies through their mouths to clean them. They'll lead the fry away from low oxygen areas, or away from ammonia hotspots. They'll take them to food. They'll defend them with their lives if they have to.
And then, because they aren't hard to breed, no one will want them. Such is the life of a dwarf Cichlid breeder and his fish...
