Zapins

As the title says I just got a pair of these interesting fish on friday and I have them in a 5g bucket until i can set up a 10g for them on sunday. These fish are F0's so they still aren't used to flake food yet.

Very interesting behaviors, I got worried today when I looked in the bucket as the female was just under the surface. I thought something was wrong with the water as I don't have a filter set up to circulate the water yet.

So I changed 65% of the water and came back an hour or so later. The female was still under the surface. I decided to feed them, they didn't eat the food but it looked like they were tasting it, sucking it in and spitting it out again.

Then I realized that the female must be "fishing" for little bugs that are coming though the broken screen. Never seen this behavior before but it all makes sense now Just thought I'd share.

fredyk

they are detritus feeders. not a high protein diet, unless, like you have lot of it. I feed mine high protein. but whatever. also it will be good to have some 'dithers' It will help cement the bond, and they won't pick on each other, but pick on the 'dithers'. Give a cave for breeding, plants and rocks for territories.
Edit: the female, at the surface, may be getting picked on by the male. just a thought.

Zapins

Yep, good advice, just got to get them to start eating flake.

I've bred some kribs before so I'm assuming they need the same sort of conditions to breed?

Not sure what you mean by dithers exactly but I assume its other fish of that species. I don't think I can get more of these at the moment, the petstore only had these two.

I got them for 40$ for the pair (not sure if its a good price or not), what did you get yours for?

Just looked at them today and the female is back at the bottom in the pot I have there. The male seems very gentle from what I have seen, although I will probably need to observe them more

By the by, have you had success breeding them?

fredyk

I actually have kribs, a close cousin. for much less$ lol

JanS

Hi Zapins.

Dithers are usually fish of other species that are tough enough to stand up to the fish you're putting them in with as a distraction to spread the aggression around. Of course they shouldn't be so tough that they are going to beat up on the fish you're putting them in with, and they should have similar requirements when it comes to water conditions.

Do you have any pics of your new fish?

Zapins

Ahh I see, b/c dither has to do with computer modeling/technical things so I was a bit confused

I set them up in a 10g with some old floura base substrate and 2 different sized clay pots with some different moss species. They are both happily traveling around the bottom of the tank sucking up the dust/clay and spitting it out. I assume they are eating bits and pieces of old organic stuff that was left over from the last setup.

I might try adding some blanched zucchini to see if they like it. Maybe i'll try some boiled rice and other veggies. Maybe I'll feed them a bit of chicken too.... hmmmmm the possibilities are endless!!

I can post some pics later tonight They are both beautiful fish, much more colorful than kribs xD

Zapins

Hmm, thought I'd update on this thread.

The female is in brilliant coloration and spends all day eating (I can see her stomach is bigger now so I suspect eggs are on the way). The male just sits in his little cave and seems to dig sometimes (there is a pile of substrate outside the cave). He is really odd, he doesn't venture out of the cave much at all I'm not really sure why. He seems sort of antisocial and she is very social, lol.

I recently added a pair of veijita apistos to the same tank to act as "dithers." The female pelvicachromis is the one that defends the cave territory she chases the intruders around the tank while the male just sits in his cave all day. Haha.

I got a good picture of the female and I'll post it later, the male is hard to photograph since he hardly ever leaves his cave.

Zapins

Ok finally updated w/ pics of the pair! Enjoy!

http://www.freewebs.com/zapins/fishpictures.htm

Just scroll down under the angel fish pics.

I couldn't get a better picture of the male since he tends to be very shy and just digs in his cave all day while the female roots around her territory. She is very pretty IMO And pretty aggressive towards the veijita apisto pair that I added after the pelvachromis pair.

gheitman

A pair of apistos aren't necessarily the best dither fish for your new Pelvicachromis taeniatus. Your dither fish should be the focus of aggression and not potential aggressors themselves. Apistos also occupy the same space as your P. taeniatus (near the bottom of your tank) which means they'll be competing for food, living space, breeding spots, etc. I recommend that you consider returning the apistos, or putting them in another tank, and getting some Congo tetras instead. Congo tetras are the perfect dither fish in this case because they stay in the middle levels of the tank and are good looking fish besides. I used to keep Congo tetras in a tank with kribs and this worked out perfectly.

Zapins

Yep, I plan to remove the apistos on thursday (when I have my free day), just temporarily storing them in the 10g, they don't seem to be causing too much trouble, the female pelvicachromis generally chases the veijita around the tank showing them who's who in the zoo.

I have tried feeding them several food items and they don't seem to eat any one of them with any particular relish. I have tried egg yolk with some success, but they don't seem to eat frozen pees, blanched zucchini, beetroot, boiled carrots, flake food, algae wafers (for plecos), white part of the egg, cooked fish, or chicken. Any ideas what they might like to eat?

I mostly see the female picking at unseen things on the bottom and in the moss, so I assume shes eating diatoms/algae, but I would like to supplement their diet to help induce spawning. I have been changing the water every few days to help stimulate breeding conditions, I raised the water temp to just under 80F, and have been adding less calcium/magnesium each water change.

The female keeps looking into the many clay pots I have set up for them, but the male stays in 1 pot and just digs all day. Soo... hmmm...