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Why Uaru fernandezyepezi? One of my all-time favourite South American cichlids has got to be Uaru amphiacanthoides. It’s not the easiest cichlid to keep, and at about 12 inches at full adult size, does take up quite a lot of room, especially since they like to be kept in groups. I first came across them in a local aquarium store in Liverpool about 12 years ago, they had two fishes about 3.5 inches in size and I was instantly taken with their apparent peaceful and graceful nature. I asked all the questions I could think of about them, paid a deposit and rushed home to rearrange the new 48” tank I had recently purchased. I returned to collect them about a week later – at the time, they were the most expensive fish I had bought – about £25 for two. I grew the Uaru on to full size, and had them breeding within about nine months. In those days I only had two tanks and didn’t really know anything about breeding. Inevitably the fry got eaten within a couple of days of hatching, but that was it, after observing the parents laying eggs, defending the area and watching the eggs hatch I was hooked on cichlids. After a few house moves and raising a couple of kids, I got back into fishkeeping about four years ago, and was excited to hear about a newly described species known as the ‘Panda Uaru’. Sourcing Uaru fernandezyepezi I was on a quest to find some of these mythical fish which almost reached frenzy point after Matt Clarke’s article in the November 2004 issue of Practical Fishkeeping (p.67) under “Interesting imports”. Up until late last year, there were only a couple of known shipments into England, and only one reported breeding success in Germany (Stawikowski). Information like this does not fill you with hope for obtaining a small group, and at £100 for a juvenile does not go down well with the wallet! After hours scouring the internet, asking specialist importers and other club members, I managed to locate some for sale in the States, and placed my order with an importer in March 2005. I ordered a small group of four fishes at 2 inches (nose to tail) and started to prepare their new home and obtain as much information about these fishes as possible. Background and aquarium details;- Not a lot has appeared in print about Uaru fernandezyepezi, apart from the fact that they come from the Rio Atabapo system in the Rio Orinoco drainage between Venezuela and Colombia – with the political situation in South America, its not a place often visited by collectors, and in fact there’s little infrastructure for shipping fish hence the high price demanded. They don’t appear to be rare in the wild, it’s due to the remote location that they are not more widely available in the hobby, and in fact the shipment I had ordered from numbered a few hundred at various sizes from 1 inch up to near adult size of 7 inches. I got in touch with Brian Scott from TFH magazine in America, and Eelke van der Zwaag in Holland, who have both kept Uaru fernandezyepezi (I’ve since discovered that Pete Liptrot also had a small group during 2004) and was informed that they like very acidic soft water with a pH of 5.5 and a hardness of 2-3 GH. Plus that like Uaru amphiacanthoides they prefer the higher temperatures of 82 – 85 °F and they also like to be kept in groups. Uaru fernandezyepezi is named after the Venezuelan ichthyologist Agustin Fernandez Yepez. They reach an adult size of about 8 inches, and, like Uaru amphiacanthoides, undergo a dramatic colour change from juvenile to adult. The juvenile coloration is mainly dark brown with small white diamond shaped ‘squares’. The adult coloration is a beautiful cream background with two black bands (one just before the tail, the other about 25% of body length from the tail), and a variable black ‘thumb print’ half way across the flank just below the dorsal fin. The eyes also turn a piercing bright red. There is no known sexual dimorphism, so if breeding is to be attempted a group of youngsters to grow out is required. They are herbivores like their cousins, although they will accept all live/frozen foods and can be moved onto flakes and pellets after a settling-in period. The care of Uaru fernandezyepezi in the aquarium is still in its infancy, like the care of discus in the 1960s, with rumoured spawns in Germany, and fellow aquarists sharing their experiences with each other in the hope of getting the species established in the hobby. Personal observations;- 
Finally, in mid March 2005 my shipment was due in and I prepared for the five hour round trip to collect them. I had taken the precaution of finding out the water parameters that they were kept in prior to shipping, and had to adjust the tank I had prepared to a pH of 7 with a hardness of 6 GH.
I had set up a dedicated three foot tank with a sand substrate with some bogwood, silk plants (real ones would be shredded), and a couple of rocks for hiding. I also put in an air stone for extra aeration (needed at 85 °F), and a Fluval 3 internal filter with mature sponges. The water mix was 70% reverse osmosis (RO) water and 30% de-chlorinated tap water (this is the mix I use for discus quite successfully).I got home about midnight and started to settle the group of four in for the night – they were about 1.5 inches in length and appeared in good health after their trip across “The Pond”. The fins were a little ragged, but this is to be expected with wild fish. I treated the tank with Melafix to be on the safe side and offered frozen bloodworm the next day. Although a little nervous, once they had tried the food they ate vigorously and seemed to approve of their new home. Feeding;- I used the little-but-often feeding method of up to six times a day, and started to bring the water parameters down to the 5.5 pH with 3 GH that had been advised on the Uaru-Forum. This was achieved after three weeks of 20% water changes using 80% RO and 20% tap every two days. I had been warned about an abnormal, visible mucus coat developing after a short period, and sure enough this started after about three days – I’m not completely sure what causes this, but it is probably the change in water conditions. It cleared up after about a week, but does look like a white film that starts to peel just like sunburn. During this period the Uaru were putting on weight and were ‘begging’ at the front of the tank whenever they saw me approach. I started introducing a more varied diet of new foods (flake and Spirulina), together with frozen Artemia and krill, but they still seemed to prefer the bloodworm. I also tried romaine lettuce, but it went untouched – I guess they don’t see too much of this in the wild! I also noticed that once the food hit the substrate the Uaru lost interest so I decided to introduce some Corydoras as a clean-up crew – this proved to work successfully. The Uaru had settled in well and were starting to eat out of my hand. They all swam together as a group, and rarely did you see one without the other three close behind. After about four weeks I noticed that one of them was not coming out for food, and was hiding behind the rocks at the back. It had gone quite thin and started doing head spins, which lasted for a couple of hours. It died shortly after settling on the bottom, and close examination did not indicate anything abnormal, apart from it being quite thin in the stomach region.  After five weeks the Uaru had grown to a size of 2.5 inches, and two of them were starting to show signs of adult coloration. They were still feeding well, and a dominant one had started to lead the group. I lost a second one after six weeks. After the first one died the two that were changing colour were starting to form a stronger bond leaving the third one by himself. Once again he started to stay at the back of the tank, not coming up for food as often, and passed away during the night. Again on examination he was very thin. Although I had not experienced any signs of bullying I felt this must be the reason for his demise. The remaining two were starting to hide more than usual, and didn’t seem to be as curious as they once were, so I decided to introduce a group of four Geophagus sp “pindare” and a young pair of Satanoperca jurupari that I had recently obtained (all approximately 2 inches total length). This seemed to do the trick, as within days they were back at the front at feeding time and started to put on weight again. They were almost 3 inches at this stage, still the biggest fishes in the tank, although there was obviously a dominant one. The less dominant one started to stay at the back after about eight weeks, and sure enough, after a couple of days of not coming out for food passed away. I was obviously worried that I might be doing something wrong after losing three within the first two months, and started to get in touch with everybody I knew that had kept them. The story seemed to be the same - with the smaller ones, they appear to be doing well, then slowly waste away over a period of about a week and then die. The larger ones over 4 inches seem to be hardier and reports are starting to come through that they are a lot easier to keep. After talking to Pete Liptrot, he told me he had a group last year, and they started to die off slowly. He dissected one and found that the gallbladder was expanded, and in fact was the largest organ in the body. He indicated that this was a classic sign of starvation. The final one died after about three months, although it had appeared to be thriving, although the split fin never recovered. It has since been suggested by Bob Barnes that they maybe had some internal parasites, which is quite probable with them being wild fish. I was seriously thinking about obtaining another group of larger ones (4 – 5 inches) but at over £100 for the few that were available in a couple of shops in London, I would have to wait awhile!  Second Group Another pal (Andrew Wood) who imports fish from South America got in touch with me in April of this year (2006), quite exited that Uaru fernandezyepezi had appeared on one of his lists for a reasonable price, and would I be interested in ordering some. He managed to get some poor quality photographs e-mailed over (taken on a mobile phone) so we could ensure they were fernandezyepezi, and I ordered half a box (4 of them). They turned up a week later, but our joy turned to sadness, the box had been damaged during transport, and although the fish were still alive, things didn’t look good. We put them into a quarantine tank with plenty of air stones and unfortunately they all turned over before our eyes and all passed away within an hour. Third Group In September (2006) I got a phone call from Andrew saying that one of his customers has moving house, and dismantling his fishroom, and was I interested in his group of Uaru fernandezyepezi. I got in touch with him and set off for Leeds with a load of buckets. He had a group of 10 which he had collected in two batches during a 12 month period. Unfortunately because of outside commitments he had been unable to give them his full attention during the previous two months, and some of them had developed signs of Hole In The Head. He offered me a price based on taking the full ten (which was almost too good to be true), and we started catching them. I had serious concerns about two of them in particular, but I figured that even if I lost them, I would still have a great chance of getting a pair from the remaining eight. I got them home, set up a tank of my central system, and started acclimatising them. Again, after talking to a few people, and reading up on Hole In The Head in books and the internet, it seems to be that it could be caused by diet as well as water conditions. This group had been fed mainly Koi pellets with an occasional feeding of frozen food, and although they had been treated to great water conditions previously, had not had much of a water change for two months. I started to feed them a variety of foods including live White Worm, frozen Blood Worm, frozen Krill, Cichlid Pellets, Dried Flake and anything else I could think off. Most of them started putting on weight, although I lost one of the two I was worried about after about two weeks. I put the tank back onto the central system after about 3 weeks (the water parameters are 78 F, PH of 6.5 and approx 5 DH), and after an additional two weeks split the group of nine into two groups (one of 3 and one of 6), and mixed them in with some Geophagus sp Red-Heads, Wild Angels as well as a group of young Uaru amphiacanthoides. Interestingly, the group of 3 that are in with the Angels and amphiacanthoides are much bolder than the group of 6 with the Geophagus! I’m still worried about one of them, it has that ‘pinched’ forehead that you sometimes see on poor condition discus, but its eating well so I keep my fingers crossed. All I need now is for a pair or two to form and get down to breeding. Watch out for another article if and when….  Closing thoughts ..... Apart from the heartbreak in losing the first two groups of four, I have enjoyed keeping the Uaru fernandezyepezi and contributing to the pioneer days of keeping these fish. I have high expectations for the third group, and the remaining nine are doing well. I have also learned so much more about fish keeping in general, from the importance of correct water quality to acclimatising wild fish and introducing new foods, and feel that the exercise has been well worth it. I have also met and spoken to a lot of fellow fishkeepers along the way, and the advice and support cannot be underestimated. I hope that my observations and experiences don’t discourage fellow aquarists from trying Uaru fernandezyepezi, as that is not the intention of this article, but instead to encourage more people to try them, and get them established in the hobby with breeding success. After all, once you have seen an adult in full coloration, it’s difficult to imagine a more stunning cichlid. (As seen in the above photo!) Photos; Young fish (2) Bill Jones and Adult fish (2) Eelke van der Zwaag My thanks to Bill and Eelke and also to "Cichlidae" where the article was first published. Excellent information can be found at these 2 websites;- For further info visit the web forum at www.uaru-forum.com A new sister site is also worth a visit at www.uaru-project.com |
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