Pelvicachromis Subocellatus'matadi' With Fry

[Fats]

Hi,my P.Suboccelatus'Matadi' brought there fry out of there cave for the first time today in search of there first meal,so i thought id share a few pics with you. Im quite surprised at the size of the brood considering this is her first spawn,i recon there is around 100 babies. The parents are an F1 female and a wild male and are both excellent parents as you would expect from this species.

Ian

 

[Rubyuk]

Awesome pics and beautiful fish

I have my eyes on some Matadi's in my LFS and am toying with the idea of adding them to my community tank that includes a pair of taenatus.

Some suggest its not a good idea but I've had several people tell me they've had two pairs of kribs in the same tank with no/little issues.

In your experience are the habits of these any different to the pulcher and taenatus varieties?

 

[Fats]

Hi Rubyuk,finally some interest..lol. This pair was originally in my community tank 160L with another pair i had with no problems whatsoever and there is some south american dwarfs in there aswell. To be honest i saw no aggression at all from these even when they came into breeding condition. I removed this pair to there own tank because i wanted them to raise some fry which there doing a great job of,they have been swimming about 2 weeks now and are growing fast. In all id highly recommend these fish i found them much more peaceful than the common kribs. If your aquarium has plenty of hiding places and heavily planted like mine is im sure they will be fine. I would like to try some more West African Cichlids,but there not easy to get hold of round here. If i was you i would go for it. I will post some more pics of the fry tomorrow. Let me know what you decide.

Regards

Ian

 

[Rubyuk]

Thanks Ian

I think you;ve probably tilted me in favour of doing it!!

The Matadis are some of the nicest Kribs I;ve seen.That purple and metallic like Gold....truely stunning

 

[Fats]

If i was you i would go for it. They are a truly stunning fish especially the female in her brood dress,looks like a completely different fish,i wish id kept the other wild pair i had aswell now,but i sold them

Im sure you wont regret it if you decide to go with it.

Ian

 

[Rubyuk]

Ian

What type were the other kribs that you had in the community with them.Were they Matadi as well?

Was there any fighting whilst one pair was guarding their eggs etc?

Did you remove the fry straight away? If not would the other kribs have been attacked by the protective Matadi parents?

 

[Fats]

Hi,yes they were another adult wild pair of Matadi's i had in there with them. When the other pair spawned they were very protective parents the other fish knew not to go anywhere near,there were never any fatalities. The parents herd them round in a nice tight bunch underneath them looking for food. I left the fry in there for a week but there were no where near as many as started out,not sure what happened to them they were probably picked off by one of the other tank mates,but i just couldnt stand the thought of them all being ate so i removed what was left after a week which was probably about 25 of them. I dont think many species of fish would be able to defend her fry for long in a community tank to much temptation for the other fish.

Regards
Ian

 

[Rubyuk]

Ian

How was the other pair of your matadi with the breeding pair during spawning/egg laying/egg guarding/fry swimming lessons.

Were the breeding pair just like they would be when warning off other fish or was there some proper squabbles.

 

[Fats]

Hi,the other pair of Matadi's were fine. There were never any serious squabbles they pretty much just chased them off,and they stayed away.

Ian

 

[kiriyama]

Hi congratulations on the fry, your fish look nice, 4th pic. down is really cool, "the proud parents", be cool watching them wriggle about on the sand, well done

 

[Fats]

Hi,thanks Kiriyama they didnt wriggle on the sand for long,there everywhere now

Here is some more pics of them they have now been free swimming for 2 weeks,and growing really wel.

Regards
Isn

 

[fshinggrl]

Awesome new pictures!!!

 

[england]

Excellent pictures mate, those fish are beautiful, i nearly brought a pair of wildcaughts a while back from a fish show i went to with helterskelter, they are stunners,congrats on the succsessful spawning mate

 

[Fats]

Awesome new pictures!!!

Thanks Fshinggrl it helps that these babies aint camera shy like some of my other fish.

 

[Fats]

Excellent pictures mate, those fish are beautiful, i nearly brought a pair of wildcaughts a while back from a fish show i went to with helterskelter, they are stunners,congrats on the succsessful spawning mate

Thanks Nelly,you should have got them id highly recommend these to anybody community or breeding project. I keep a few Dwarf Cichlids and these are one of my favorite at the moment,i will be hanging on to this pair for a good while yet,just hope i will be able to shift the babies once there old enough as i dont have the room to keep them....yet!!!

Regards
Ian