I have had very little luck raising Altolamprologus calvus fry, but I seem to have a lot of luck getting them to spawn. Here are a few shots of my yellow calvus spawning. The female is enticing the male to the cave (shell). This is the second pair of yellow calvus I have. The first pair has been spawning on and off for a few months. I have not done well raising their offspring. I do, however, have about thirty or so fry nearing .75". I think my problem is in not feeding them frequently enough with live food. They, like most fish, are more inclined to eat food that is wriggling about in front of their faces than flakes that are resting on the sand.
I have updated the Currently Keeping page. You will notice that I have acquired a number of young Malawi cichlids recently. I slowly sold off all of my Malawians only to find myself with a desire to keep some again. And so I shall.
Also, I have some fry from my Altolamprologus calvus "Yellow". The dominant male is pictured above and below is a shot of some of the girls. The last photo is one of the Cyathopharynx furcifer Ruziba juveniles I purchased at the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association's February rare fish auction. It was a great event made possible by the laudable efforts of several club members to whom I am grateful. There was a nice mix of cichlids from Tanganyika, Malawi, west Africa, Madagascar and South America. I am usually trigger happy at auctions, but I tempered my impulses and only came away with the one group of furcifer. They look great and I couldn't be happier about the purchase. Perhaps the future will see some photos of a nice beautiful male posted here. I took a few new pictures. Take a look at the Photo Gallery to see more of what came out of the camera.
I have four Altolamprologus calvus "White Chaitika" in a 30 gallon mixed tank that includes two species of rainbows (Melanotaenia kamaka & Bedotia geayi), a redtail shark (Epalzeorhynchus bicolor), a small group of Copadichromis trewavasae "Lupingu", and a single blue phantom pleco (Hemiancistrus sp. 'L-128'). I have noticed a couple of them acting suspicious. One large individual - roughly 3" - and a smaller one - roughly 2" - have holed themselves up in a crevice formed of several pieces of slate. The male is visible guarding the area and the female rarely leaves the cave. I suspect they have spawned and am very excited about it. I have kept this species only once before and the experience was less than positive. The male of the pair continually abused the small female until she eventually passed away. The male lived to be a beautiful adult specimen only to then be knocked off by a female Sciaenochromis fryeri recuperating after having held a batch of eggs for nearly three weeks. This time the prospects are more promising. I haven't noticed any aggression between the four fish, and I suspect there are two males and two females. That suspicion is based on the size of the fishes and the behavior exhibited. I look forward to taking a stab at raising some of these slow-growing fry. Below is a video containing glimpses of the two males: |
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