Charlutz
Members
Cyathopharynx have always been a wish list fish for me. I saw pictures in a book 25 years ago and was intrigued. I saw Jewel of the Rift and I was in love. I finally got some fry from club member Artee 2.5 years ago, but had some hurdles getting them acclimated. I had a good sized tank (7 footer) and sand, and defined territories, but the fish weren't happy. They wouldn't grow, they got bloat, some died. It took me a while to figure out their diet. They are natural vegetarians, algae grazers. But in the aquarium, a veggie diet doesn't allow them to grow well or get into breeding condition. They look exceptionally thin. But, if you give them too much protein, they will bloat up and die. It took me more than a year to figure out that a mixed diet of spirulina flake, brine or cichlid flake, pellets and mysis shrimp (only once or maybe twice a week) was the way to go. (This is my experience anyway). Fed this way, the fish are happy and healthy, but aren't overfed. They still wouldn't breed, so I tried to change other things.
First, even though they grow to 8 or 9 inches, they are big wimps. I had them in a tank with a school of cyprichromis, a pair of gobies, and then pairs or small groups of neolamp buescheri, alto compressiceps, neo leleupi, and tretocephalus. The lamps would occasionally nip off the lappets on their ventral fins. At Sarah's suggestion, I pulled out all the lamps and left just a single goby and the cyps with the featherfins. There was some flashing by the males, and they claimed small territories, but they remained largely silver and dug no spawning pits.
The next move was to change the environment. Here is a picture of the tank before. One large rockpile dividing two flat sand spots. The two outlets in the center of the tank are my sump return which pumps about 1200 gph. The two powerheads on either side of the tank each pump about 400 gph. I was doing water changes of about 25% each week.
I decided to change a lot and it triggered the two most dominant males into having much darker spawning colors and digging pits. Even the ventral fin lappets grew back. Unfortunately, this is a private fish. If they know I am in the room, they turn their colors off instantly. Getting them with a camera without a long lens is impossible. Anyway, I rescaped the tank to make much longer flat areas with natural divisions, even if they don't completely obscure the sightlines. I started doing 50% water changes every two weeks. I took out the powerheads and reduced the sump return to maybe 700-800 gph. I don't know if it was anything in particular that got them started of it was just change for the sake of change that shocked them into breeding. Here's the new tank scape. The male in the picture below is visible on the far right cruising above the pit he dug in the V between the two rock outcroppings.
One of my males. Looking better but doesn't come close to doing him justice.
The female holding. I think the eggs hatched as what I could see through the throat was dark. She held for about a week. I debated stripping her as I was very excited to get fry, but I figured for the long term that I'd rather hope she learned to become a better parent. The morning after I took these pictures, the fry/eggs were gone. I'm disappointed, but hopeful they'll breed again soon. Thanks for listening to my story!
First, even though they grow to 8 or 9 inches, they are big wimps. I had them in a tank with a school of cyprichromis, a pair of gobies, and then pairs or small groups of neolamp buescheri, alto compressiceps, neo leleupi, and tretocephalus. The lamps would occasionally nip off the lappets on their ventral fins. At Sarah's suggestion, I pulled out all the lamps and left just a single goby and the cyps with the featherfins. There was some flashing by the males, and they claimed small territories, but they remained largely silver and dug no spawning pits.
The next move was to change the environment. Here is a picture of the tank before. One large rockpile dividing two flat sand spots. The two outlets in the center of the tank are my sump return which pumps about 1200 gph. The two powerheads on either side of the tank each pump about 400 gph. I was doing water changes of about 25% each week.
I decided to change a lot and it triggered the two most dominant males into having much darker spawning colors and digging pits. Even the ventral fin lappets grew back. Unfortunately, this is a private fish. If they know I am in the room, they turn their colors off instantly. Getting them with a camera without a long lens is impossible. Anyway, I rescaped the tank to make much longer flat areas with natural divisions, even if they don't completely obscure the sightlines. I started doing 50% water changes every two weeks. I took out the powerheads and reduced the sump return to maybe 700-800 gph. I don't know if it was anything in particular that got them started of it was just change for the sake of change that shocked them into breeding. Here's the new tank scape. The male in the picture below is visible on the far right cruising above the pit he dug in the V between the two rock outcroppings.
One of my males. Looking better but doesn't come close to doing him justice.
The female holding. I think the eggs hatched as what I could see through the throat was dark. She held for about a week. I debated stripping her as I was very excited to get fry, but I figured for the long term that I'd rather hope she learned to become a better parent. The morning after I took these pictures, the fry/eggs were gone. I'm disappointed, but hopeful they'll breed again soon. Thanks for listening to my story!
