Those of you who long to keep this species already know the answer to the title question. This is a male Neolamprologus nigriventris of Lake Tanganyika. He is one of two males I have and the father of the fry in the video below. I am happy to say that I now have two pair of N. nigriventris breeding simultaneously in side-by-side tanks. That means that I will begin reaching out to the people on my waiting list for fry. Of course, they produce small spawns and the fry take a little time to grow to salable size, so be patient if you are on the list. I will eventually get to everyone, God willing.
  For now, enjoy a short video of the first batch feeding away on live baby brine shrimp. They have yet to attain their adult color and currently resemble N. leleupi, though much less intensely colored.
  As a bonus for those livebearer enthusiasts out there, there are some Girardinus metallicus swimming around in the tank as well. I just love that species.

  I haven't passed on to the next life just yet. A lot has happened since my last post regarding my fish. If you take a look at what I am Currently Keeping you will notice that I have fewer fish than in my previous updates. I have sold off a significant chunk of what I had in order to make my hobby more enjoyable and less stressful. My dream is to be a writer of fiction and part of writing is sacrificing other time consuming activities, of which I have many. One of those is my addiction to fish keeping. I will be attending a swap meet of the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association this coming Sunday (Nov. 15th) and plan to move a handful of other fish as well.
  For those of you who have contacted me about the species Neolamprologus nigriventris (and this is by far the species I get the most questions about), I have some sad news. I have long kept my male and female breeders separate in abeyance, waiting for a time when I could put them back together again in an appropriately-sized aquarium. Unfortunately, the female, Dainty Lady, died in August. I am now counted among the many who are searching for this species. I still have the Black Ghost, though he is more of a grey ghost without his lady around to spur him to greater beauty.
  I intentionally eliminated the majority of livebearers from what I am keeping. I only kept three species: Limia perugiae, Limia melanogaster, and Girardinus metallicus. The perugiae and metallicus are probably my two favorite wild-type livebearers at this point in time.
  My plan for the future - and I have no idea how near or far down the road this will be - is to put in a rack of six 40 gallon breeder aquariums which will serve as housing for my breeders. That means I will be limiting myself to between six and twelve different species of cichlid. I have to make some hard choices about what I want to focus on, but I know that I can't keep operating in the fashion I had been, which consisted of constantly buying more fry of species I like and forcing them in, somewhere, only to run out of space as they grew. That is a fool's way. I don't want to be a fool. It isn't fair to the fish. God did not intend them to live the way I have forced them to, all crammed together. Granted, everything about life in an aquarium is unnatural, but appropriate maintenance makes a world of difference. My plan is to keep fewer fish in better environments and spawn them for years. That way the fish I like will be around for awhile.

  I make a new commitment today: I will post once every day from this day forward. Said posts may not be overly long, but I will get something up every day, be it a photo or quick tidbit of information.
  Please enjoy these few pictures I took today using my newly acquired Canon close-up lens 5ooD. The fish in the photos are Girardinus metallicus, a beautiful little livebearer.