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(Mouthbrooder) |
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The second time I had the chance to obtain these unusual fish was through Dr Uwe Romer from Germany in exchange for my Ivancara (Nannacara) Adoketa. He sent over 2 pairs;- a pair for me and a pair for my friend Mark Breeze, along with some other Apistogrammas, but that’s another story. Instead of describing these fish, I have posted pictures for you to judge for yourselves. * Update as at 2010. This fish is now Apistogramma barlowi  The set up for these fish was a 18"x10"x10" with boxed peat filter, ph 5.5 dh2 & temp. 80F, with silica sand bottom. After introducing the fish into this setup they settled down quickly, feeding on whiteworm and bloodworm (frozen and live) with leftover brineshrimp. Water changes were carried out and after about two weeks the female was showing herself to the male but he wasn't interested, so started chasing her away and around the tank. Everytime she showed herself the same procedure happened. With work commitments I was not at home all the time, but noticed after a couple of days the female starting to change colour to a yellowish tan. She then started to excavate in one of the pots (an amazing site to watch!) as the sand would pile up outside the pot (see later photo). Her colour had gone a brighter yellow and she started to attack the male to the extent I had to remove him before she killed him. By this time I had surmised she had spawned, and after a few more days she came out of the pot with her mouthful of fry. I knew this by her turned up bottom lip (just like if you had a pout on). Putting in a few whiteworms, she would spit the fry into a pre-made pit or back inside a pot, feed, then pick up the fry again. After about a week the fry disappeared and I could only surmise that she had eaten them, so I just started feeding her up again. Since then Mark’s pair had spawned and his female was a good mother. He has free swimming fry;— well done Mark. Second spawning.. So back to the drawing board;- same set up and one week later I introduced the male back into the tank. There was a little conflict by way of jaw locking, then they settled down. One week later the female is "battering" the male again, and once again the excavating started, also the colour change to bright yellow. Yet again I removed the male, lifted the pot very carefully and saw the eggs laid at the top of the pot. They were red in colour.  Straight away she started to re-pile the sand around the pot and after a few days she reappeared with a protruding lip, holding fry. Then the same procedure as before;- she would disappear into the pot, come back out, eat, go back in, come out with the fry in her mouth. This process went on for eight days, then to my delight she brought out the free swimming fry, herding them around the tank—an experience and wonderful sight to see!  The female continued her excellent care of the fry as they continued to develop well..  Conclusion For my first attempt I think I perhaps I jumped to the wrong assumption;—most probably she had the fry hidden. The main point to emphasise is that the female, after spawning, picks the fry up after hatching to mouthbrood, making this a "delayed" mouthbrooder, not like the West African which take in the eggs to hatch. Copyright Text and photos; Ray Blackburn, ("Scouse Ray"). (My thanks to Ray for this excellent article, more so for me , as it is a species which interests me very much) Thanks also for their help to Stephanie Dillon, (who produces the NWCG Newsletter) and Bill Jones (who produces the Preston and District A.S. Newsletter) where this article first appeared in both those editions. |
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