Zapins

ed seeley - There was a bit of a mix up at the pet store when I bought them. The label on the tank was Moliwe, but the computer at the front desk said they were nigerian. In either case they were sold to me as wild caught. After looking at other youtube videos of Nigerians and Moliwes I think whoever wrote Moliwe on the tank must have been confused and made a mistake.

ed seeley

I agree they cannot be Moliwe as they show the strip on the edge of the lower half of the caudal fin that is seen in most Nigerian strains. However my point was that unless the shop was only selling Nigerian Red and Moliwe and you can be sure that they are that morph you would be best just saying they were an aquarium strain. Otherwise, were you to breed them and sell the offspring, someone else may buy them and cross them with 'real' Nigerian Reds and then end up with hybrids between the morphs. There is also the chance that P.taeniatus as a species may be restricted to the Nigerian morphs and those from Cameroon may be reclassified into one, two or three separate species. Any crosses between these populations would then be interspecific hybrids!

I'd also be surprised if they were actually Wild caught I'm afraid. The Nigerian Red strain has been sold for years and was allegedly first established by an importer sorting through a batch of fish from Nigeria, selecting the reddest ones and then breeding and selecting them to form what is now called 'Nigeria Red'. Collecting sites are known for Green, Yellow and Red Cheek forms of P.taeniatus from Nigeria but AFAIK no site for the Red morph has ever been found. Basically all the ones found for sale over here are bred in the Czech Republic and yours may even have come from there too.

They are very nice fish though and perfect for any aquarium IMHO.

Zapins

Hmm. Good points, I will call them P. taeniatus then. Out of curiosity I will also ask the LFS if they have any additional info on the pair they sold me. A long shot but maybe they will.

Anyway, I have been doing water changes on the tank daily and feeding them lots of frozen brine/red mosquito larvae/bloodworms/flakes and the female seems to have chosen a cave. She is camping out there most of the time chasing other fish away. Hopefully this is the pot she will choose to lay eggs in.

I found some disturbing info on taeniatus. Apparently they only live about 4 years. I have had my pair for at least a year, and they were full grown when I got them, so they must be at least 2 years old. Only two years left on them Hopefully I can get them to breed a few times before they go...

ed seeley

You don't need to worry Zapins. They can be fully grown in about 6 months if fed and kept well so your pair probably aren't 2 years old yet. And Pelvicachromis can live a lot longer than 4 years. I have a pair of P.suboccellatus 'Matadi' that must be 6 now and they are still breeding (though the spawns are a lot smaller than they were)!

Once they start breeding you'll get brood after brood out of them too. Averaging about 60 fry each time! So don't be in a rush to remove them from the parents as they will look after them for 3 months or longer!

BryceM

Yeah, that's a disturbing thing with most of the more brightly colored FW fish. The little drab corries & tetras can live a decade or more. The killies barely get started before they're done.

Zapins

Wonderful! I really like the little buggers. They have such odd personalities.

I have been doing 50% water changes and feeding them bloodworms. Their colors are amazing! Interestingly the agassizi pair are also showing breeding signs. Tensions are definitely rising between the two pairs especially between the female pelvichromis and the male agassizi. I noticed some biting today. Fortunately there are no scales missing or other marks.

I started setting up my 90 gallon tank to put them in, but I have run into a few problems. The tank is drilled, and reef ready but I still have to renovate certain things. For example, I need to remove the overflow and seal the hole at the bottom somehow. I also need to get a replacement plastic rim on the bottom of the tank (since it was painted with an ugly white latex paint by the previous owner). Annnd.... remove the calcium build up on the glass before filling it. Suffice to say I have a lot of work ahead of me and the upcoming snow storm won't help me get the supplies I need...