My Paratheraps fenestratus spawned

[johannes]

I bought this big pair (4-4.5 inches) from the recent US imports...
Since i don't have a very big tank, i partitioned the pair in a 2.5 by 1.5 ft tank.
The pair is doing well, and the female laid eggs a few times but after that were eaten as the eggs were not fertilized, i was suggested to remove the partition when i observed some signs that they were both ready, sometimes i could see that they were ready, but i was scared... haha...

Anyway, last wednesday, a friend of mind, came to my place to chat, coincidentally, the female just finished laying her 4th batch of eggs on a pvc pipe which she has turned upright, and we saw that the male was ready too (he kept on shaking his head, flaring etc)... Then my friend suggested me to place the pvc pipe on the male's side.. I was hesitant at first... but then since there is nothing to lose, i went ahead with it. I used a pair of big tweezer to place the pvc tube with the male.

Surprisingly, the male started to fertilize the eggs, it was amazing...
The next morning, i noticed the male started to look for food and did not bother the eggs, then i decided to place the pvc tube with the female and she seemed relieved to see her eggs again. She immediately assumed her maternal duty.

Anyway here are the picures (female loses her vibrant colour while laying eggs and taking care of her brood).


2nd day post fertilization, can see the embryo forming on some of the eggs and some fungused eggs, later on, some of them start to hatch.


On the 3rd day, saw the eggs slowly missing and realized the female actually placed the wrigglers inside the tube. The pic was showing her checking her babies.


Day 5 post hatching. Managed to take picture of the wrigglers inside


Day 6 post hatching. Fries are free swimming and are surrounding the female.

*Pardon my lousy pictures

Male is removed into another tank on his own.

[stormhawk]

Very nice pair Johannes. Congratulations on the spawn. I like Central American cichlids too, but just the tiny guys. Too bad there's no specialist stores for them.

[johannes]

Yah, they are colourful and have personalities.
Recently, a farm imported various Central American (CA) cichlids from the U.S. and supplied to some of our LFS. He is trying to revive the good ol' CA days... haha.. It was good for those CA fanatics and for us who would like to try new cichlids..
Anyway, the fries accepts daphnia the moment they free swim.. Today, a week later, they have grown quite a bit, will update soon...

[stormhawk]

When pumped with live foods they'll grow extra fast anyway.

Good luck and I hope you get a decent sex ratio from the fry.

[johannes]

Fry on day 6 (post free swimming)


Fry on day 15
We can see that the head shape start to form and body elongate, unlike on day 6

[johannes]

Anyway, trying my luck on a new young pair...

[johannes]

The young pair is rather small, female is only 2+ inch and male is around 3 inch.
The pair is living together in the same tank, occasionally they flare with each other. During feeding time then he will be aggressive to the female.... greedy fella.. haha

Here is the male for breeding on the left flaring with another male.

[stormhawk]

Pair is looking nice. At least it's not Luohan.

I'm thinking of getting a pair of Congochromis dimidiatus to attempt a spawning. No space for these CA tank bruisers so I will go with the smaller westies.

[johannes]

Congochromis dimidiatus looks good, and kinda new to me.
if you have the space, why not give it a try?

[stormhawk]

i gave up on the idea. They were still in the plastic bags. Very hard to sex them when they are showing stress coloration. I ended up buying a pair of Apistogramma trifasciata instead since they were sexable.

[caslando]

photo.JPG

Hi there, i am from singapore and i got the above from a LFS as the name given is veija bifasciatus. but i think is veija fenestratus. can someone identify for me the species (name) and the sex of the 2.5 inches fish for me? also fyi he is very aggressive towards all my fishes even he is 2.5 inches. thanks a lot!!

[johannes]

Hey bro, yes i agree that that should be P. fenestratus.
It looks like a male to me.

[caslando]

Thanks for the reply. On another look ... the caudal fin is not pointed. got to snap another clearer pictures.
I think this fish is quite rare in singapore. Have not seen it till now.

[johannes]

Hey, i have some fenestratus fries to give away if you are keen, if not i would be giving them to lfs this week as i am running out of space. You can check for my contact number in the marketplace.
Yes they are rarely imported to singapore as the demand for CA cichlids is not there but they are quite common in the US.

[caslando]

Thank for d offer johannes. I can't accept them as I have no space too. FYI my fish above has changed color to dirty patch grey n colour seems to have faded but he is still super healthy. Wondering is it a norm for them to change their colours? Also I used to have a big pair of whereby d male is about a foot long but their colour remains the same just like those on your pictures. Sometime how I wish that I can have a big tank and keep all different veija together. Already so hard to find them in singapore.

[caslando]

Hi there, look after keeping my fenestratus for 4 weeks from 2 inches to 3.5 inches, it has changed colour from the previous picture to this one. i am suprise to see this. Is it normal to have this morph??
I have append this link below... they are called pink fenestratus. Donno if is the same? Can someone advise on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzBEj...eature=related

[Phineasborg]

very cool.