It has been over a year since I posted anything to this site. In that time the Neolamprologus nigriventris featured in the last post did indeed spawn again. It was a small batch of seven fry. I kept them in the hopes of raising them up to become the next generation of breeders as I don't believe I am going to see much more activity from their aging parents. The juveniles are now between 2 and 3 inches long and quite healthy. I just recently moved them from a heavily planted 40 gallon breeder aquarium to a 75 gallon that is also housing some recently acquired Lepidiolamprologus nkambae of similar size as the nigriventris, a few haps, around fifteen yellow Labidochromis caeruleus, and a couple of medium sized L128 plecos. Most of the occupants are temporary residents. I will try to post some photos soon.
 There have been many changes in my tank inhabitants recently. Take a look at the updated Currently Keeping page. The newbies came from two events, the December swap meet held by the Greater Chicago Cichlid Association and the Ohio Cichlid Association's Extravaganza. This is second consecutive year I have attended the annual convention held in Strongsville, OH. It is a great event that I would recommend to any cichlid or catfish enthusiast, and most any other aquarium enthusiast as well. They have a slate of intelligent, well informed speakers, a fish show displaying a variety of beautiful adult catfish and cichlids, a packed vendor room, an evening hospitality suite featuring some grub for attendees, and a huge Sunday auction. On top of all that, attendees set up elaborate mini pet stores in their rooms from which can be purchased all manner of interesting fish, inverts, plants and dry goods. That alone makes a one-time trip worthwhile.
 Allow me to mention that the auction is one of the best I have seen for a few reasons. First, despite an entire weekend of fish trading hands in hotel rooms and at local fish shops, the content of the auction - and this is true for both of the auctions I attended - was comprised of a lot of quality stock. Yes, there were some unsightly entries, that is to be expected at any auction, but the majority of the fish were desirable, healthy specimens. I picked up some nice adult Neolamprologus cylindricus breeders, some uncommon Victorian Enterochromis paropius, and a few others. The second reason I like this auction is that there are a large number of buyers to compete for the available fish. And these buyers are all largely insane by normal standards - most of them having double digit aquariums in their home, some triple digit. These wackos - and I include myself in this group - are willing to spend for what they want. That leads to good prices for the sellers, in general, which in turn encourages sellers to enter better stock into the next auction. As I said, it is a very good example of a fish auction. Mind you there are always deals to be had, you just have to be patient, attentive and decisive. There were many bags of fish that I wanted, but ultimately lost out on in the bidding war. Still I went home very happy with my purchases.
 I will attempt to post some photos and videos of the fish in upcoming weeks. I also really want to add to the species articles located within the Cichlids of Africa tab too. We'll see.
 Stay tuned to see some info about the Parathelphusa pantherina, panther crabs, that I recently purchased.

 The video below is a mashup of footage of my breeding pair of Neolamprologus nigriventris. I say breeding pair, but they have not spawned in some time. I just put them back together after a two month separation due to over-the-top aggression from the male, the Black Ghost.
 I hope to have some near-future success from them again. Time will tell.

 The Black Ghost has returned to form. He is once again a rich velvety black color. He and one of the female Neolamprologus nigriventris spawned recently. You can see a young one in the video below.

 I understand that this will come as bad news for some of you, but I am no longer attempting to fulfill the waiting list for Neolamprologus nigriventris fry. I still have the adult fish, but they have been extremely fickle spawners. Those few of you who managed to get some of the fry, rejoice. The last four or five spawns have had very minimal hatch out rates - and that for what are already small batches of eggs. Several of the spawns disappeared days after the eggs appeared. I suspect the adults ate them, though I cannot say why.
 To make matters worse, one of the males gave his female partner a terrible beating following a water change in the tank. She nearly bit it, but managed to revive in a solo tank. She is now with the Black Ghost (pictured above) in a 75 gallon aquarium. Hopefully I will get some more activity out of them, but I can't say. If I do manage to raise some additional fry, I will post them when available. My apologies to those of you waiting patiently on fry. Sometimes things just don't work out. Unfortunately, this is one of those times.

 I am admittedly confused by the current taxonomical definition of the species Neolamprologus brichardi and Neolamprologus pulcher. I was mistakenly under the impression that the two had been clumped together under N. pulcher. After reading a species profile on Cichlidae.com for N. pulcher, I am of the understanding that they are still considered two distinct species. My apologies to anyone confused by any of my previous posts that may have indicated otherwise.
 So to clarify, I do not have any N. pulcher. I currently have some albino brichardi.
 The most easily recognized difference between the two species is the pattern on the cheek of the fish. N. brichardi have perpendicular marks, while N. pulcher have two parallel, near-vertical marks. This is not so easy to determine in the albino form.

  I took a few photos today and had little success in getting the shots I intended. I did manage a few reasonable shots that were not what I was looking for. Above is a juvenile Neolamprologus nigriventris from the second batch of fry I have managed to coax from my breeders. These guys have a mixed bloodline - always a plus - and are the first offspring from the Black Ghost in quite some time.
  Below is a shot of a rock covered in hydra. I don't know a great deal about these invertebrates. They are micro-predators, feeding on small live prey. That can include fry if they are unfortunate, though I haven't noticed any problems and this shot is from a tank housing breeding exLamprologus similis. The hydra thrive in tanks that get live baby brine shrimp feedings. I found an informative blog post on them that was very interesting.

  I also updated the Currently Keeping page. At the last two swap meets I attended I moved some of my adult fish, including a breeding pair of Lepidiolamprologus nkambae and a breeding trio of albino Neolamprologus brichardi. Now I have a lot of young fish growing out. That seems to be pretty common for me. I enjoy watching young fish grow. They are rarely as beautiful as healthy adults, but there is always excitement in their activity. In contrast, some of the adult fish get very boring and complacent. Plus I can usually keep more fish when they are young than when they are full-sized adults. Makes sense.

  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.

  Here is some video footage of my 75 gallon aquarium. It houses several Tanganyikan species, namely Lepidiolamprologus nkambae, Neolamprologus buescheri Kachese, and Synodontis multipunctatus. There is also a lone Neolamprologus leleupi female in the video. She has since moved on to another home elsewhere. Enjoy.

  Its a new year and the Black Ghost, a male Neolamprologus nigriventris, was on display with a new color combination I hadn't yet seen from him. It is a dark gray with the yellow highlights in his eyes and the fringe of his dorsal and caudal fins showing up brightly. I took a few photos. Try to ignore the scratches in the glass.

  For those of you who were disappointed by the loss of my female breeder Neolamprologus nigriventris - I imagine some of you were, but God only knows - rejoice! I have acquired some new stock. The fish were sold to me as a trio (1M, 2F), but I suspect after initial visual inspection - I did not vent them yet - that it is in fact two males and a single female. I also received a juvenile fish that had survived in the tank with the parents. I am disappointed because I had intended to pair one of the females with my remaining male and therefor have two pairs of breeders. Instead I will likely end up with one pair and two extra males. Of course, I could be wrong. Despite my best efforts to the contrary, I am often wrong about things.
  These fish are slightly smaller than my male, he being between five and six inches long whereas the two larger newcomers are four inches plus and the likely female is about half an inch shorter.
  In any case, I took a few pictures of the new fish. They were quite skittish, having just moved to their new temporary homes. Initially all three fish refused to show more than their snouts, hiding inside of clay flower pots. You can see that the largest of the three built a large sand pile in front of his entrance. I love cichlid personality. Eventually I managed to get a full body photo of the likely female and one of the suspected males.