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My thanks to Mary Bailey for permission to reproduce this article from "Cichlidae" written by the late Brian Wilson. Brian was a founder member of the North West Cichlid Group, a member of the B.C.A. and a keen member of the Catfish Study Group U.K. I personally met Brian at the group meetings,at auctions and also bumped into him at "Aqualife" where he was always on the look out for any cichlids that caught his eye. I always found Brian to be the same - very friendly and very easy to chat to with a real enthusiasm for his hobby. Triglachromis otostigma is a single species genus endemic to Lake Tanganyika. This fish has a beauty all its own,reportedly reaching 10 cms. Even today very few people have successfully bred this cichlid. I first saw 6 of these fish on a trader's stand at the 1982 British Aquarists Festival and obtained three at a slightly higher cost than I can usually afford, but these were different in every way. I installed the 2 males and 1 female in a 24x15x12" tank furnished with only three upturned plantpots,plastic plants, a corner filter and no gravel. All three were about 3" long and I made the following observations;- they have an overall bluish body with a wide, slightly upturned mouth. The white ventral fins are long, reaching almost halfway down the body. The pointed pectoral fins are longer than most other Rift Valley cichlids giving the impression that they could be "jumpers". The "rounded" square tail has a black edge at the rear. There is a black cheek spot with a splash of silver forward of the spot. The body has oblique, alternating lines of blue, silver and copper best seen from a front light. Both the males darkened when they had settled down and were identified by slightly longer dorsal and ventral fins, and a darker tail edge. They were fed with the usual live food,flake, granulated and Purina cat food,all of which they took eagerly. They did not accept any form of vegetable food.  After 3 weeks, one of the males died. I could see no damage to the fish, or any disease and I had not observed any signs of aggression. On checking the fish after a short break away from home at Xmas, I noticed the female's buccal cavity was bulging. She obligingly opened her mouth at the front of the glass and I could see a number of whitish eggs. The darker male accepted flake food but the female made no attempt to feed. I decided to leave them together for the time being. Usually I remove one or other of the parents of Rifts which are mouthbrooding but only after the female has "established" herself with the eggs. Later in the day I found the female no longer had a bulging cavity, perhaps she had swallowed the eggs? Then I saw that the male had the eggs in his mouth or was it the female, or had I made a mistake when first noticing the eggs? Over the next few days I took note of the parents and found that they took turns, one incubating the eggs (and subsequently the fry) whilst the other fish ate. The water conditions were PH of 7.5 and GH of 15 and temp around 78F. Early in January about 90-100 fry, 1/8" long, were released. Their first foods were micro eels, brine shrimp, fine Promin and flake fry food. I removed both parents to a similar 24" tank after one week but after discussion with another cichlid-nut I placed 10 fry with the parents a week later and watched them carefully. There was no aggression or cannibalism so I added more fry until, after 3 weeks, a third of the fry were back with the parents. The fry were now about 3/16" long, still taking the same foods plus some shrimp tablets. They were a dull brown colour, a silver abdomen with a dark vertical bar behind it and smaller less dark vertical bars behind that. Also a dark spot in the centre of the tail. After 4 weeks I culled 20 fry leaving about the same number in both tanks. The fry with the parents were noticeably longer at 1/2" while the others were 3/8". Weekly mulm removal and 1/5 water changes were now introduced. At 6 weeks the parent's fry were averaging 5/8" and some were showing some colour in the dorsal fin and the long pectoral fins were beginning to show. The other tank of fry were developing more slowly. The average size at 8 weeks was 3/4" and the larger fry had a dull yellow dorsal with a black edge ending in a black blotch at the rear. The tail spot was disappearing and the edge of the tail bescoming black. The adult body shape was beginning with diagonal lines although faint. The ventral and anal fins were now white and the black cheek spot was now prominent. There were no signs of aggression between fry or parents and fry. Indeed, after 8 weeks while I was syphoning the male attacked my immersed hand three times! Shortly after this attack I removed both parents to a 36" tank containing two Pseudotropheus fuscoides(2.5"), a pair of Iodotropheus sprengerae (2") and three Neolamprologus leleupi(1.5"). Only the fuscoides showed any aggression to the newcomers but the otostigma took evasive action and did not take up the challenge. After a few days,they settled in and kept to open water away from the plant pot caves and had only occasional skirmishes. Incidentally, after the fry were released the male had spells of chasing his tail to such an extent that 1/4" of his otherwise perfect tail disappeared. This behaviour decreased as the fry developed until the parents' removal to the bigger tank. After 4 weeks the tail began to grow again. Meanwhile I had segregated 12 of the smaller fry into a 24" tank furnished with plantpots and rocks and containing 8 sprengerae (1.25") which were two months older. Neither species showed any real aggression although the otostigma were chased from the sprengerae caves. The other fry in the larger,unfurnished tanks had a habit of swimming backwards through the mulm with their ventral fins pointed downwards at 45 degrees. I understand from literature that this is one way of searching out their food. I have not seen the adults do this, but both adults and young have a jerky movement when swimming downwards after taking floating food. If suddenly disturbed some of the fry take fright and "fly" around the top of the tank with their heads out of the water. It is therefore adviseable to use cover glasses. Now at 12 weeks the fry are around 1.25" and are almost like their parents apart from finnage extensions and they still have the large black blotch at the rear of the dorsal fin. These interesting fish should prove popular with Rift Valley cichlid fanatics should they become more readily available. Copyright for this article; British Cichlid Association. Copyright for photo; Michael Persson.(Many thanks for kindly sending me a choice of 3 photos) More excellent photos by Michael can be seen at www.riftlakes.com/ |
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