Just bought a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus - Page 3 - Fish for the Planted Aquarium

ed seeley · 10-26-2007, 12:49 AM

The whole Chromidotilapiini Tribe (which includes Pelvicachromis, Nanochromis, Benitochromis, Chromidotilapia and a few others) have females who are generally more colourful and take the lead in courtship. IME the colouration of the female accentuates the roundness of the belly which seems to moderate the males aggression. Don't know whether that was a factor in the colouration.

In South American dwarfs, such as Apistogramma, part of the reason that the males are more colourful is probably that they are relatively uninvolved in brood care and control harems. They need to show the females they are genetically fit and producing colour shows you have extra energy to devote to making pigments rather than just growth.

BTW the stream 'Moliwe' comes from has 4dGH, 3dKH, pH 7.6, Conductivity 130 microsiemens and 26oC!

Zapins · 10-26-2007, 08:32 PM

Wow, thats really interesting!!! Good to know I'm not seeing things w/ the female courting the male xD

By the way, did you mean that in your experience the closer the female is to laying eggs the more her belly enlarges and in turn this makes the male more aggressive?

Also, what does 26 oC mean? Is oC dissolved oxygen or temperature or?? And thanks for those parameters I have been finding it difficult to get any really good info on these guys on the net.

ed seeley · 10-27-2007, 01:49 AM

Sorry, by oC I meant Temperature in Degrees Centigrade. I just couldn't find the superscript button!
BTW I forgot to say that the habitat info was from Linke and Staeck's book, Cichlids from West Africa.

I meant the rounder her belly the less aggressive the male is towards the female, therefore it is an advantage for a female to look more ripe than she is to keep the male off her back!
In my experience though in Pelvicachromis, male aggression isn't too much of a problem, certainly not with the smaller speices I have kept. However in Nanochromis it has been for me.
Apparently, in the wild a male will hold a territory and when a females is ready to breed, i.e. she has a ripe belly full of eggs, she will pair with a male and they will spawn fairly quickly. In Pelvicachromis they then usually stay bonded and go on to raise many successful broods.
However in our tanks they get shoved together before the female's ready, but the male is 'thinking', well she's in my territory, she must be ready to spawn. Therefore if the female looks more like she's ready to spawn then male's mood seems to relax and he is less agggressive towards the female.

Interestingly in P.taeniatus it seems that sometimes the male isn't that interested in breeding with the female! It can be like he isn't bothered (Obviously got a headache...) Apparently in the wild large groups of adolescents often congregate and it's thought by some that the competition between males and females spurs on the breeding instinct, that's why, if you have space, it can be best to buy a small group and let pairs form naturally.

Zapins · 10-27-2007, 02:26 PM

Hmm yes, the male doesn't seem to be terribly interested in my tank. The female is constantly shimmying in front of him and he usually pays no mind. I'm not sure if I can get another pair of these guys as they were the only ones in the store. Any idea how to get the male interested?

The female's belly is practically bulging with eggs and she is constantly eating algae around the tank. Her colors are amazing!!

ed seeley · 10-28-2007, 04:19 AM

Try a mirror! If the male sees another male in his territory it might spark him into action!
Otherwise a few 'target' fish in there temporarily, that won't come to too much harm - maybe common kribs as they are close enough to provoke a respnse. Do you have any other cichlids in another tank you could transfer across for a few weeks?

Zapins · 10-28-2007, 10:33 AM

Well, just the apisto veijitas that I have in there already. But he doesn't bother them too too much, its mostly the female that chases the apistos around.

ed seeley · 10-28-2007, 10:44 AM

I'd try a mirror. Can't hurt to give it a go!

Six · 10-29-2007, 07:40 AM

If you recently bought the fish, I wouldn't "pressure" them into spawning just yet. A good adjustment period to their new tank should be a semi- hands-off approach. Sometimes too much attention is a bad thing, IME. Let them settle in, do your water changes of course, but I wouldn't put that much effort into getting them to spawn just yet.

Those red kribbies is have pictured in the thread are actually pretty nasty fish. The male recently killed on of the two females we had left of that morph. There's one female left, and they look to be courting, but man, they are the hardest of my Pelvics to breed/obtain compatability. The female does her dance for him, but it doesnt always work. Hmm..

Zapins · 10-29-2007, 01:15 PM

lol, I just can't get over the fact that the female fish is the colorful one that does a dance for the male. Its just like people where the females dress up (and gets all her make-up on) and looks attractive for the males.

I think I bought these guys a few weeks ago, maybe 3-4 weeks back? I'd have to check the receipt, how long do you think it will take them to acclimatize? I have had apisto cacatuoides that spawned about a week after I bought them so comparatively these taeniatus are taking their sweet time!! haha

Zapins · 11-08-2007, 08:48 PM

Hmm, bad news of sorts.

The male doesn't seem to like the female. He has started chasing her around the tank, she doesn't seem to be getting beaten up or anything, just being chased.

The female hasn't gotten the picture yet though, and tries to shimmy for the male even when he chases her.

Maybe the male is missing his sweetheart back in Africa? :P