Lake Tanganyika Species • Xenotilapia rotundiventralis

[Multi]

Then there is another fish that is mouthbrooding! I think that must be the male, which has taken over for the female, because she does not seem to be incubating anymore. Interesting! I discovered it yesterday, when the eggs was held for 10 days, so it fits very well with the timing that they had to switch over now ...
I can clearly see the larvae / fry in the male's mouth now. Sometimes, I can also see a little eye, I think. )

[24Tropheus]

Thats realy . I dunno what I would do now. I dunno if the male protects the young after holding or (like some gobie cichlids) becomes a predator of his own young after spitting. I guess I would try a holding/brooding tank, letting em spit and stripping a male (if you have three males holding) and see what works best. That is unless you can find someone else who has bred and raised them and knows for sure.

All the best James

[Multi]

In this thread, there is someone who have hold this species : http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopi ... b8ba8f6719

After their experience, the adults shouldn't eat the fry, so I just think, that I will let the male spit out the fry by himself, and let them grow up in the aquarium with the rest of the fish. I don't have other species in this aquarium, so that should work well.

In addition, I don't have a brooding tank. Actually, I probably wouldn't be allowed to put up one, because my parents thinks, that 3 aquariums, with a combined volume of 600 litre, is enough!

[Vamze]

In this thread, there is someone who have hold this species : http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopi ... b8ba8f6719

After their experience, the adults shouldn't eat the fry, so I just think, that I will let the male spit out the fry by himself, and let them grow up in the aquarium with the rest of the fish. I don't have other species in this aquarium, so that should work well.

In addition, I don't have a brooding tank. Actually, I probably wouldn't be allowed to put up one, because my parents thinks, that 3 aquariums, with a combined volume of 600 litre, is enough!

Parents are the worst.

I remember only being in a similar situation; I were only allowed to have three tanks at one time, and I thought it was so unfair. Haha.

[Multi]

Haha, yes they can be!

But I have more good news today! Let's hope it continues!
Beacause I just saw that another fish appears to be holding! Great!
I have read of several, who have experienced, that with this species it's not only the mother and the father who broods the youngs, but also others from the flock. I wonder if that might be the case here, I must go down and stare at them tomorrow! Unfortunately, I can not reach it today.

[Shaky]

Wow! Very interesting. Please keep the updates going here.

[Multi]

Here's some pictures:







The last two pictures are of the fish, which is holding eggs.

[Vamze]

Looks good! Keep us posted with (hopefully) the upcoming fry!

[reflections]

Very attractive design, and fish. Very nicely done. Fish look incredibly well.

Very nice don't you think:-)


Gorgeous group!

[Multi]

Yes, I am very glad for this aquarium.

Well, now it is some time ago, I've wrote in this thread, so you'll just get an update!

Unfortunately I lost the fry. One day, the fish wasn't holding any more, and I couldn't see any fry in the aquarium. Next time I have to find a way to "isolate" the fish that is holding the fry, the last few days.

But otherwise everything is going well. All 18 fish thrives (but still one is behind the background), and they are started to eat the algae and search for food among the stones and in the sand, so it's fun to watch.

I just took some new pictures of them:

[Shaky]

They are looking very healthy.
What size are they?

[Multi]

They are 7-8 centimeters.

[Multi]

After 4 weeks of vacation, I came home yesterday, and it looks like that two of the fish is holding eggs again. So now I just hope that they will keep them this time.

[Multi]

Since the last update things have gone downhill with the cichlids: (: (

I decided some time ago only to make water change 1 time every 2 week, when I heard that many had had success with it, and in the beginning it went fine too. Some time ago, one of the fish became ill - one of the deformed fish. After some time it died, but I thought that something had been wrong with it from the beginning. Then, the other deformed fish died, and now, one more fish is ill. Now, I only have 14 fish left. The one, who is ill now, has the same symptoms as the other fish had before they died - I am afraid that it’s caused by poor water quality, and will begin to make water change 1 time every week as before. : (

The symptom of the ill fish is as follows: The fish swims in a big group a little bit above the bottom of the aquarium all the time - all together. Suddenly one fish begins to breathe more rapidly and it swims more and more in the back of the group over a period of time. It begins to breathe much faster. There is no sight of sticking dandruff (Is that was it’s called?), mold, or wounds; the fish have normal color, perhaps a bit brighter. At one point, the fish begins to stay in the back of the aquarium, lying on the bottom (with the stomach down, just resting on the bottom). The belly never turns upwards! The fish is now gasping quickly and it stops eating. After some days, the colors are brighter and brighter. And then, the fish dies.

It makes me really, really sad that my fish is dying, because before, everything was so well! I hate to see the fish-group shrink - these fish means a lot to me, and I have no idea what is happening! I'm afraid it is a form of water-intoxication - can that be the reason why my fish are dying? The weird thing is, that this only happens for one fish at a time ...

I hope that there are some who know what this is, and how to cure! : (

[triscuit]

Hmm. What are your water quality paramters? Filtration, temperature? How much water are you changing?

I recommend delousing the group- meaning do a broad spectrum anti-parasitic treatment. You don't want to stress them, though- so I suggest doing a 5-day metro dosing schedule. I have used this with all my fish, including xenos, paracyps, even holding fish and young fry don't appear stressed from metronidazole. But, at higher pH, metro settles out, so you'll need to dose every day, and I recommend a water change every day while dosing.

I'm not seeing you describe the classic signs of internal parasites, but at least this is one thing we can rule out.

The next would be something in your tap water- can you get the technical analysis from the utility company?