Pelvicachromis taeniatus 'Moliwe'

[Emokidz]

About four months ago, I had the opportunity of obtaining a pair of west african cichlids, Pelvicachromis taeniatus 'Moliwe'.

Two months into their keeping and after they made the tank their home (moving almost half the substrate around), they spawned in one of the many caves I had put into the tank. The parental behaviour of this species, as well as mostother pelvicachromis variants, is simply amazing! The parents herd the young from place to place as they graze on food and algae. The fry don't seem to school as tightly now though, now that they are older... Teenagers, I guess...

Here are some pictures (some quite badly taken though):

The pair


Male


Female


Fry (2 weeks)


Fry (1 month)


Fry (2 months; now)




Thanks for viewing!

[mobile2007]

Very nice pair of w.africa cichlid you got, they have very nice color. Also, the photos of the fries are well taken, can see the whole bunch of fries swimming together.

[apisto31]

Congats bro. This is indeed a very nice fish. Looks like you've got good numbers of male and female in your fries. Cheers

[stormhawk]

Nice fish Bernard. I saw these in a cramped tank at C328, but the pair I saw, was in fright coloration and stressed by the cramped conditions in that puny Betta tank. Are the parents aggressive towards other fish outside of the breeding period?

On a side note, this locality also has one very beautiful killifish.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...opleure-Moliwe

In the thread, the male does not show his full potential. I believe there's a few other highly colorful Pelvicachromis sp. in the market too.

[Emokidz]

Thanks Jianyang. Outside the breeding period, they coexist peacefully with their tank mates. In my case, 6 Parosphromenus. During the breeding period though, the female is very aggressive to anything other than her fry. Killed 5 Paros and the male. And that was in one night alone. Woke up to see a war zone in my tank. Zzzz.

Those killifish are nice by the way

[Shi Xuan]

Hi Bernard,

Nice to see some interesting fish breeding projects you have going there. Cichlids are highly devoted parents & territorial fishes in nature, so I guess the best bet to avoid a blood bath is to separate the pair from the rest of the fishes as soon as possible.

I've been looking for this species for some time, patiently of course nonetheless, I didn't manage to find any during my trip to C328 yesterday BUT I was definitely delighted to find Centromochlus perugiae.

[Emokidz]

Hi Shi Xuan, thanks for the compliments. They are indeed fascinating fish to watch. I haven't seen 328 carrying them in my recent visits though.

Yup, I should have separated the male. Well I guess we lear new things everyday.. Haha.

[Emokidz]

Congats bro. This is indeed a very nice fish. Looks like you've got good numbers of male and female in your fries. Cheers

Thanks! Upon digging up some old threads, I realised that you've kept them too previously. My knowledge on cichlids is still quite limited, so do help me out on this point. How are you able to distinguish the genders of the fry? Is it the head profile?

[stormhawk]

Probably the dorsal spot pattern.

[Emokidz]

That was what I was kind of wondering about. Because all their dorsals look the same. Black rim, orange tinge, spot at the end.

[bernie]

I saw them being sold as "dwarf cichlid" at Aqua Empire and another farm at Pasir Ris last month. Not too sure if they are the same species, but its very cheap. The color of those fish at the shop were not asvibrant, maybe due to the tank condition or they are not of the same species.

[Emokidz]

They could be the similar looking common krib, pelvicachromis pulcher. Also wonderful fish to keep.

[ahhian]

Thanks Jianyang. Outside the breeding period, they coexist peacefully with their tank mates. In my case, 6 Parosphromenus. During the breeding period though, the female is very aggressive to anything other than her fry. Killed 5 Paros and the male. And that was in one night alone. Woke up to see a war zone in my tank. Zzzz.

the same thing happens when my kribensis pair spawn as well. The female almost kill the male, except that mine is luckier and managed to survive with tattered tail.

[Shi Xuan]

I got the opportunity to see a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus cramped in a small betta tank on the shelf at C328 today, besides the ones I saw at your house. The pair even comes with a type locality but I couldn't figure it out because it was badly scribbled. Definitely not the Moliwe nor the Nigerian red but some other locality that I'm not aware of.

I believe it's rare for the pair to be tagged with a population name, considering that most fishes seen at LFS, are commercial imports, as I find.

I would have tried my luck with the pair, but dropped the idea as I'm running out of space.

[stormhawk]

The locality is Bandiwouri, at least for the pair at C328.

[Emokidz]

I got the opportunity to see a pair of Pelvicachromis taeniatus cramped in a small betta tank on the shelf at C328 today, besides the ones I saw at your house. The pair even comes with a type locality but I couldn't figure it out because it was badly scribbled. Definitely not the Moliwe nor the Nigerian red but some other locality that I'm not aware of.

I believe it's rare for the pair to be tagged with a population name, considering that most fishes seen at LFS, are commercial imports, as I find.

I would have tried my luck with the pair, but dropped the idea as I'm running out of space.

I think all types of kribs are really nice fish to have. AMong my favourites are Kienke, Moliwe, Dehane and Nigerian Red.

[Emokidz]

Popped by c328 today and happened to see the bandi wouri pair. The current conditions and lack of proper feeding are starting to show with them slimming down. Nice colors though, and still healthy! I'm guessing that they would colour up nicely in a well maintained tank. That's if someone manages to pick them up before they start wasting away. But at the current price tag, I'm guessing that won't be easy.

[stormhawk]

The tank doesn't show their true looks so it's a pity. Did you see the 5 shellies crammed in one small tank?

[Emokidz]

Yes. I think you're very right. Judging from that pair of pelvicachromis's fins, though faint in colour, I'd reckon their colours would be stunning once conditioned. Would have gotten them if I had the capital and tank space. In the end, the only thing I got was half a bag of bbs, shared the other half with a friend. Haha. On the other hand, I did see the few ocellatus shellies on the betta rack too - concentration camp style. Quite poor thing. Micropoecilla picta still there too, but all males. Sad. Dropped by GC after that to browse too.

[stormhawk]

Other day I was there, the BBS was already dead floating in the bag. Yeah the shellies were poor things. So the Bandi Wouri at C328 are a proper pair? I thought both were males.