West African Cichlids

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At last! I don't know if anybody has been waiting for this page, but I decided I wanted to start writing it now. Not all at once, I will add new information when I have the time to sit down and write.

I did not specify in the heading which cichlids this page would be dedicated to, but it will be the small cichlids, like Pelvicachromis, Nanochromis, Tilapia, Steatocranus, Thysochromis ansorgii and other small west-Africans.

You will probably miss some fish here, but I will only present fish I have had, or still have in my tanks. So, I think I will start with the one you all know, and some of the different color morphs I have had, namely Pelvicachromis pulcher.

 

 
 

 

Limbochromis Greenwood, 1987

 

Limbochromis robertsi

....

UOIU U UYG UYGU YG 7YG

Limbochromis
Limbochromis2

IUHIOG IUY ITY GFIYT GFUYT F

lk uo ygiu yg

Limbochromis3

 
 

 

 

Pelvicachromis, Thys van den Audenaerde, 1968

 

Pelvicachromis pulcher, (Thys van den Audenaerde, 1968)

Many of you know the fish as the "krib" or "kribensis, but the correct name today is Pelvicachromis pulcher. These fish are all very colorful, do not grow big and nasty, can be kept in smaller aquariums and do not harm any plants.

The fish is perfect don't you think? But, everything is not perfect! The fish needs to be treated nice. They must have good water quality (that means changing water), different kinds of food, including live food, and a tank properly decorated for the fish. What is a proper tank for the fish might vary, but I can give you a hint, and tell you what my tanks for most of the West African cichlids look like.

My tanks for West Africans are mostly around 100 liters, to be exact my tanks are 105 liters and they measure 40x40x70 cm. The bottom layer is fine sand and I decorate with live plants, rocks and pieces of wood. I don't think the fish really care if I use plants or not, but it looks nice. I make caves for the fish since they are cave spawners. To make these caves, I use half coconut shells and drill a hole in the top just big enough so the fish can get in. If the hole is too big, the fish feel insecure, as it is more difficult to defend.

So why don't we start with the first fish I promised you.

female krib krib

ABOVE: Pelvicachromis pulcher, male.


LEFT: Female Pelvicachromis pulcher.

© Photos by Alf Stalsberg.

It was described as Pelmatochromis pulcher by Boulenger in 1901, and the type locality was "mouth of Ethiops River in the Niger delta".

After that, many others have described the fish later, so let me just mention a few of them. First of all, Boulenger described the fish himself several times. After the first time he described the fish again in 1904a, 1905c, 1915c, 1916a, and for the last time in 1919a. After that Pellegrin in 1922-1923, Arnold & Ahl 1936 and Sterba in 1959.

There were several others, but I don't think you would be interested to read about all of them. But, you can say the fish have been interesting for several years. I will mention one more, and that is the person who described it in 1954, namely Ladiges, who gave it the name Pelmatochromis kribensis. It was under this name I first "met" the fish. Actually, this was the fish that made me start with cichlids again.

As a kid in the mid-50s I had a Thorichthys meeki, and he turned my tank up-side-down. I promised myself, never cichlids again. But, I'm sure you understand why I broke my promise when I saw a really nice pair of Pelvicachromis pulcher in 1970. You can understand that? When I saw the pair in an importer's tank in Sweden, I really had problems. I still remembered what the T. meeki had done with my tank, but you can all guess how this went. When I left the importer, the pair was in a plastic bag on its way to Norway.

If you have had the Pelvicachromis pulcher you also know how this went; after a week the fish spawned and I was hooked on cichlids. So here is the result.

Female Pelvicachromis pulcher with fry.
female with fry

There is no problem to raise the fry from the Pelvicachromis pulcher, so suddenly I had enough. But, I still keep P. pulcher today.

There is maybe one thing more I shall mention, and that is the sex of the fry can vary. Too-alkaline water will give you lots of males; acid water gives you mostly females, or was it the opposite? But, if you keep it neutral or slightly acid it's a better composition, and the differences in sex will be more equal.

So, let us go back to the name. I guess you have seen that I use Pelvicachromis pulcher, but you might wonder when did this change in name happen? Well, I have to go a little back in time to fill you in. In 1895 Steindachner made the name for the genus Pelmatochromis as a subgenus of Paratilapia buettikoferi, Steindachner, 1895. It was elevated to full generic rank by Boulenger in 1898. Then in 1968 Thys van den Audenaerde, the Belgian icthyologist made the name Pelvicachromis as a subgenus of Pelmatochromis. Type species: Pelmatochromis pulcher, Boulenger, 1901. And the genus was elevated to full generic rank by Meinken 1971b, and Paul Loiselle & Welcomme, 1972. So this is where we are today. If you want to study this further you must dig into the books yourself, I have just skimmed the top of it. If I cite more history many of you might find it boring. You might find some of the up-coming materials to be boring too, it is up to you if you will read it or not.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis pulcher "Red"

So let me show another color morph of Pelvicachromis pulcher.

I call this the red Pelvicachromis pulcher and you might agree when you see the photo of the male. No other males of P. pulcher I have had, have shown such a red belly. Well what do you think? The male is really nice?

male red
A male (left) and a pair (below) of Pelvicachromis pulcher "Red".
red pair

The male does not have the ocellus in the caudal fin, but still ...! To keep this fish is no different from the first. I keep all my West African cichlids in the same type of water. If this does not work, I try to make the water more acid, never alkaline. So far has this has been working well for me. But I have good water, so this makes everything much easier. I know that some of you have water you must treat with all kinds of stuff before you can use it for your fish. I use my water straight from the tap.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis sacrimontis, J. Paulo, 1977

sacrimontis sacrimontis pair
sacri male

In the beginning this fish was sold as Pelvicachromis pulcher sp. aff., but was later described as Pelvicachromis sacrimontis by J. Paulo in 1977. The fish is not so easy to spawn as Pelvicachromis pulcher, but if you give them good care and good water they will spawn.

As for many of the Pelvichromis, it is the female who is colorful. When she is in a good mood, she gets a very dark body color with nearly silver stripes along the body, and blue cheeks. There are several color morphs of this fish, this is the red one. There are also green and yellow morphs.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis subocellatus, (Guenther, 1871)

This fish was as you can see, described very early and has been in the hobby for a while too. When I got hold of the fish in the beginning of the 1970s it was sold as Pelvicachromis klugii, and also as Pelvicachromis taeniatus, but in the end I found out that it was Pelvicachromis subocellatus.

Some years ago, a "new" Pelvicachromis subocellatus popped up on the aquarium scene and that was P. subocellatus "Matadi" and "Moanda". The first time I had the fish it took a long time before I got some fry. They were spawning and spawning and if I remember right, it was 13 or 14 times before they came out with fry. I thought I should take the eggs, but something always happened and they ate up the eggs.

The pH is important when it comes to the sex-distribution ratio. When the pH came down to 5, most of the fry were females. Between 6-7 seem to give the best percentage distribution.

male sub

A male Pelvicachromis subocellatus.

sub pair

A pair of Pelvicachromis subocellatus in front of the coconut shell. The male is checking if this is good enough.


 
 

 

Pelvicachromis subocellatus "Matadi"

matadi

RIGHT: The male is not very colorful here, he does not show much color and they did not like this coconut shell. The opening was to big so I had to change it out with a coconut shell with a smaller hole.

LEFT: Two females impress each other.

 

matadi fem


 
 

 

Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus, Lamboj 2004

The fish I will tell you about now was new to me, I bought it as a Pelvicachromis sp. humilis "Guinea", so I keep referring to it as a humilis. It was only pure luck that I got hold of these fish. A fish friend sent me a mail and ask me if I had visited this shop. They were selling a fish as Pelvicachromis roloffi and another as Pelvicachromis taeniatus. But he was not sure if it was the right fish.

So I got curious and drove to this shop after work. Looking into the tanks I found out rather quickly that this was certainly not Pelvicachromis roloffi. I had never seen it before and being more than interested in West African cichlids, I bought what I thought was three pairs.

A female Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus, Guinea.
rubro

I was lucky, it was three pairs, but how long was Adam in Paradise? I had not kept the fish for long before I saw that some of the fish were developing "hole in the head" disease, and I thought "hell" the fun is over. They died, one after the other. Then there was a nice pair left, and the female was willing, but the male was holding back.

rubro pair The female is trying to get the male into the cave.
ouch I use a very little hole in the coconut shell, the fish prefer that. It is almost difficult to get in and out of the coconut shell.

Then I saw that the male was developing hole in the head too, and I thought this was it. Fishes that I might not see again for many years! Then a shortly after I found the male dead. One female left, what was that! So I lost interest for the tank, feeding the female but nothing more. Then suddenly I saw fry in the tank, I thought "Holy sh.." (sorry), I was quick, getting the fry out of the tank, trying to save them from the "hole in head" disease. I found 16 fry and put them into a small tank.

Then the day after, one fry was dead, the next day two more were dead, and another and another. I was getting rather fed up, so then there were only four left and nothing more happened. I had probably been too quick putting the fry into a new tank and fresh water.

Then some days later I saw more fry in the tank with the female, and I found four more. I was more careful when I put these fry together with the others and everything went well. The fry are growing and I have only lost one fry since that. The fish have been moved to a bigger tank and everything looks good, not one has so far started to develop the "hole in head". And from eight fry I could see that it would be four pairs. Now, since I lost one, there are three pairs and one female left.

young male Here is a young male, but you can already see that this will be a nice fish.

I can't give you any details about the biotope, the river, or water chemistry, but I keep the fish like I do with the other Pelvicachromis. This is because the fish have been through several importers/exporters before they ended up in the shop where I bought them. So I use the name Pelvicachromis sp. humilis "Guinea" until I know more.

Here is some additional info about the fish — it's not a humilis. It was described by Dr Anton Lamboj in 2004 as Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus from the Kolente region in Guinea in the Bandi River. It belongs to the Pelvicachromis humilis group, so we were not that far away.

Aquarists have also called the fish Bandi 2. So, I hope I will be able to establish the fish in the hobby, and be able to breed more of them so friends can be able to keep the fish too. If you, by pure luck, find the fish in your local shop, then don't hesitate to buy them, because I will not promise I will be able to get more than I need for myself.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis signatus, Anton Lamboj 2004

males

ABOVE: Pelvicachromis signatus males.

RIGHT: Pelvicachromis signatus, a male (top)
and a female (bottom).
© Photos by Alf Stalsberg

male

Pelvicachromis signatus is one of the newer Pelvicachromis described by Dr Anton Lamboj in 2004. The fish is like all the other Pelvichromis, very nice. They are quite easy to keep and their demands are like for the rest of the Pelvicachromis types. So I don't have to write a lot about the fish. Feeding is normal, and feed the fry with Artemia. Provide a half coconut shell with a hole so they can hide and lay eggs.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis roloffi, Thys van den Audenaerde 1968

RIGHT: Two male Pelvicachromis roloffi, the female is in the coconut shell.

LEFT: Pelvicachromis roloffi male.

Pelvicachromis roloffi was collected by E. Roloff in Sierra Leone in a nearly dried-up stream at the end of the dry season, and Arend van den Audenaerde described it in 1968. But Roloff had problems in breeding the fish. Wild-caught fish did breed but offspring would not breed and when he got a scientific institute to examine a number of the fish. The fish were healthy but had not developed any gonads, so they could not spawn.

Mine have never spawned either, and I don't know if this is the reason, because my fish should be wild-caught. So I hope they will spawn, I just have to be patient.

Water temperature around 26°C, pH around 6.5 - dh not important and a varied diet. The fish looks good, but so far nothing has happened.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Wouri"

Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Wouri" male.

There are quite a few Pelvicachromis taeniatus types, and to keep them apart we use the name of the collecting site. Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Wouri" comes from Cameroon. This fish is easy to recognise from other P. taeniatus, markings on the caudal fin are special so you should not have any problem identifying this fish.

I have kept the fish around neutral pH, temperature around 26°C and dH in my water is around 2, but no problem if it is a little bit higher.

Some Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Wouri" in non-sexually active colors (right) and a female in nice colors (above).

The female Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Wouri is also easy to recognise; note the orange color above the black longitudinal band.

Nothing special to keep them, they eat almost anything you feed them with, but they are very fond of live food. If you feed regulary with live food, you improve the fish's health and willingness to spawn. And I guess this is one of the reasons to keep such nice fish.

 
 

 

Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Muyuka"

There are many color morphs among the Pelvicachromis taeniatus, and I will try to fill in photos and information about the fish as soon as I can take photos of the fish. Some of the fish are small, so I have to wait until they get bigger.

This taeniatus type is beautiful, and so are the rest of them, so I can't understand why these fish are not so popular, or it's better to say that people have not opened their eyes to these beautiful fishes.

They are rather small, do not harm the plants, dig very little and they are also easy to keep. So what more can you demand of these fish.

At least I can start with photos of the female and the male. The fish is a cave spawner and I use half coconuts shell. I like them better than orange plastic flowerpots, the coconut shell looks more natural among bogwood and rocks.

ABOVE: Male Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Myuka".

BELOW: Female Pelvicachromis taeniatus "Myuka".


 
 

 

Pelvicachromis taeniatus, "Moliwe"

I think this is the one you find most regularly in shops. Maybe because it's easy to breed, but it is also a very nice fish (sorry to repeat myself) but look at the photo, and I'm sure you will agree with me.
Look at this colorful female! There is not much to tell you, I've already said what there is to say with the other. Not fussy with food, but likes a good water quality and of course live food. But all fish like live food.

 
 

 

Thysochromis

 

Thysochromis ansorgii, (Boulenger, 1901)

BELOW: Thysochromis ansorgii male.

ABOVE: Thysochromis ansorgii pair. Already when they are small, you can pick out female by the silver spot she has at the anal opening

The fish is not difficult to keep, pH around neutral, dH does not seem to matter at all. They eat what you give them and they are not aggressive. Nice fish. But, with my experience this is one of the few fish that does not like fresh water.

Maybe I did not change that much water when I had the fish many years ago, because after a good water change the fish would lay on the bottom and did not seem to feel well. If I did not do anything, it took about two days before they were up and swimming. If I added salt to the water, then they seem to come around much quicker.

I don't seem to to have this problem today. The fish seem to do well with regular water changes and do okay in every way.

A male Thysochromis ansorgii guarding eggs.

 
 

 

Pelmatochromis

 

Pelmatochromis nigrofasciatus, (Pellegrin, 1900)

ABOVE: Pelmatochromis nigrofasciatus female.

RIGHT: Pelmatochromis nigrofasciatus male.

This fish is rather new to me, it was my good friend in Germany, Uwe Werner who asked me if I was interested in it. I asked him what name the fish had been known as. He said Pelmatochromis nigrofasciatus was only known under this name. I had to start digging for more information about the fish.

The fish was originally described as Paratilapia nigrofasciata by Pellgrini (1900). There have been several synonyms too, but I use today's correct name. Who knows what it will be if the scientists get new information and dates about this fish, but at least this name is correct today.

The fish is a substrate spawner and they clean a flat piece of rock or maybe a bogwood. The eggs are laid in a perfect circle. They hatch after about two days, but with a lower temperature it might take a little longer. When the eggs hatch, the wrigglers will be moved to a pit in the sand. You can feed the fry with newley hatched Artemia nauplii.

They grow to around 13-15 cm for the male, and my female is around 10 cm. There is no problem with other fishes.

 
 

 

Nanochromis

 

Nanochromis parilus, Roberts & Stewart, 1976

ABOVE: Female Nanochromis parilus.

RIGHT: Female and male impress each other.

So here we start with the boring (?) stuff again.

The fish was described by Boulenger in 1899 as Pseudoplesiops nudiceps, then came Pellegrin in 1904 with the name Nanochromis as a substitute for the name Pseudoplesiops because the name was already occupied by Bleeker, 1858. I leave it here so it will not be too boring for you.

We have thought that the fish was Nanochromis nudiceps. It comes from the lower part of the Zaire River. But in 1976 Roberts & Stewart described the fish as Nanochromis parilus. Not Nannochromis with double-"n", nor N. parilius with an extra "i". The type locality was Zaire River at Inga.

You have to make caves for this fish too, in the same manner as for the Pelvicachromis pulcher. The photo I have used is of a female and she has a very round belly, but this is typical for the females in good condition ready for some fun!

The fish is also found near Wombe in Kongo, and in the small tributaries to the big river. The female is like the female Pelvicachromis pulcher at first, and she tries to lead the male to the chosen cave, often by showing her swollen belly by bending her body nearly double. Sometimes it looks like the male feels the female is nagging him and he tries to chase her off, but she comes back time after time.

Finally he follows her to the cave and she lays her eggs in the roof of the cave. The eggs are yellow and dull in the color, so you can't look into the eggs.

The temperature is best kept between 26-28°C, then the female will come out with the fry on their first swimming trip around the block. Then you can feed them with newly hatched Artemia salina, don't forget to do water changes.

 
 

 

Nanochromis transvestitus, Roberts & Stewart, 1984

The next one is also a Nanochromis and that is Nanochromis transvestitus, Stewart & Roberts, 1984. The type locality was Mai-ndombe lake, near Ipeke, formerly this was Lake Leopold II in the Zaire system.

 

RIGHT: A male Nanochromis transvestitus.

LEFT: A pair of Nanochromis transvestitus, with the female in the front.

RIGHT: Two females are trying to impress the male.
They bend their bodies, swimming on the side, they do everything to impress the male.

LEFT: The female outside the cave between the rocks.

 

This is a beautiful fish, when the female is in the right mood, the color she has is very contrasting. Deep-black and white vertical bands in the caudal fin and a beautiful red belly. The male is not so colorful, I would say that he is duller in color, but still a nice fish. When I first got this fish, I was standing by the tank and watching them for hours, they were so beautiful.

After a while, the female started to show off in front of the male. I had put some half coconut shells in the tank, but these nut shells were obviously not good enough for this "Lady". She started to dig between two small rocks, and when she swam down into the hole I used a flashlight to light down the hole to take a look. But, I could not see anything, because she had also made a small cave under one of the rocks, so I could not see her. I just had to wait and be patient.

After about a week I suddenly saw a small fry outside the opening. I started to feed with Artemia nauplii down the "tunnel" and suddenly one day, there they were and I could count the fry. Can you guess how many it was? It was five fry. Not much to brag about, but ... still I've got some fry.

I got a better result when I lowered the pH to about 6 and lower. But, it was fun though and later there have been more fry.

 
 

 

Nanochromis squamiceps, Boulenger, 1902

So, let me show you another small, beautiful Nanochromis.

RIGHT: A male Nanochromis squamiceps in normal coloration.

LEFT: A male starting to get his breeding colors.

 

In the beginning, I got this fish as Nanochromis sp. Kisangani and the British called it "Silverbelly". But in Dr Lamboj's book The Cichlids Fishes of Western Africa, Lamboj called the fish Nanochromis squamiceps. Germans have been calling the fish Nanochromis sp. "Silberbauch".

 

Male in the cave.

 

Here you can see the eggs hanging from the roof of the cave.

© Photos by Alf Stalsberg

Female Nanochromis squamiceps.

 

 

Female coming out of her cave.

 

You can see it on the small photo too, but, if you click on the photo and look at the hi-res, you can easily see why the fish is called "Silverbelly". But, this does not tell you anything about the fish. The fish first came to Europe in 1986, just a few specimens collected by Heiko Bleher. I got mine from Holland, but I don't remember when.

I decorated the tank precisely as I' have done with the other small West Africans. The only different thing I did this time was, I made the caves with pieces of plastic tubes. I pressed the tubes down in the sand so the fish had to dig, to make the opening big enough. This suited the fish very well. The reason for using plastic tubes is that the fish are so small, male about 6-7 cm and the female about 5 cm, so even half coconut shells were too big.

It did not take long before the fish spawned in the tube. I had also placed the tube rather close to the front glass so I could take photos of the fish.

The fry were very small but could take newly hatched Artemia nauplii, so feeding was not any problem. With good water quality, everything went smoothly. I have used the name Nanochromis sp. "Kisangani", because this was the name used when I bought the fish. Since the fish is still undescribed, I'll use this name, but I have seen the name used for some other Nanochromis species, so I'm not certain about the name.

Anyhow, no matter which one of the fish you find, they are all very nice fish. So if you find them in your local shop, don't hesitate to buy them, you won't be disappointed.

 
 

 

Tilapia, Smith, 1840

 

Tilapia joka, Thys van den Audenaerde, 1969

The next fish I would like to share with you is a small Tilapia. If you know the Tilapias you will think: "What is a Tilapia doing amongst all these small fishes?" Well the answer is very simple; the fish is small and very well suited to a tank decorated with live plants and small fish. The fish is Tilapia joka, Thys, 1969.

ABOVE: A young Tilapia joka female.

RIGHT: A male Tilapia joka.

The fish comes from the southern part of Sierra Leone and grows to about 10 cm total length. As I said, you can keep the fish in a tank decorated with plants, and also together with small fish. It's appearance is nice, the rounded head reminds me of my favorites, the Aequidens. The vertical bands might remind you of a large Tilapia, namely Tilapia buttikoferi, which grows to the double of the size of Tilapia joka, and its behavior is different.

My Tilapia joka used to spawn under the piece of wood in the photo. The eggs were yellow/whitish. The pH was around 6 and water temperature about 26°C. The fry were fed with artemia, and later cyclops and Daphnia.There is only a small minus with the fish! And that is, it's rarely seen in your local shop.

 
 

 

Tilapia snyderae, Stiassny et al, 1992

snyderae5 snydera

 

 

 
 

 

Benitochromis, Lamboj, 2001

 

Benitochromis nigrodorsalis, Lamboj 2001

Among the genus Benitochromis there are many beautiful fish, and I will start with one I think is very beautiful. Of course there are differences in taste, but I think you will agree with me, looking at the photos.

The fish grows to about 12 cm. This makes it a rather small cichlid, not among the dwarf cichlids, but a fish you can keep together with other fishes, except small ones that can be taken as food.

The Benitochromis were formerly put in the Genus Chromidotilapia before Dr Lamboj made the new genus Benitochromis for them in 2001 where they remain today. These fish are ovophiles, but both parents will incubate the eggs, after a couple of days.

I like to have the pH between 6-7, but my tap water is 8.4 and will fall down to around 7.5 after a while. Temperature around 26°C. They can take higher pH and higher temperature, but between 24-26°C is good.

In my experience the fish are not difficult to keep and with such nice colors all the time, should be winners.

ABOVE: Female Benitochromis nigrodorsalis.

RIGHT: Male Benitochromis nigrodorsalis.


 
 

 

Steatocranus Boulenger, 1899

 

Steatocranus casuarius Poll, 1939

I will say that this genus is not so well-known. If you mention Lionheads, most people would think about Steatocranus casuarius. But there are nine described species and at least one undescribed.

When you keep these fishes, they look funny. But after a while you will love the fish, in spite of their funny appearance. They are very curious, and they follow you with their eyes watching what you are doing.

They rest on the bottom, or in some favorite place they defend against the others. The fish has a reduced swim bladder, as have the others in the genus. They spawn in a cave and the eggs are rather large.

Here is a portrait of a male Steatocranus casuarius.
 
 

 

Steatocranus tinanti (Poll, 1939)

ABOVE: Female Steatocranus tinanti.

RIGHT: Portrait of a male Steatocranus tinanti.

Steatocranus tinanti is also a "nice" fish. My male found a favorite place in the aquarium to watch what is going on. He is a very slender fish, with a big head if you compare with the rest of the fish. This is one of the reasons why he looks so funny.

Easy to keep and breed, so if you find the fish in your local shop, I will urge you to buy some. It will be a very nice experience.

 
 

 

Steatocranus irvinei Trewavas, 1943

Here you can see how they choose a lookout place. Female above and the lower is the male. You can also see his lower blue lip.

 

 
 

 

Steatocranus glaber Roberts & Stewart, 1976

Male Steatocranus glaber. Nice fish?

Steatocranus glaber was described in 1976 and the distribution is the Congo River, near Inga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

So far I have not been able to breed this fish, but since they are now fully adult, I will cross my fingers that they will spawn. I gave a pair to my friend Anton Lamboj and hope he will be able to spawn them. At least the fish will be spread around more than just me. You never know when something will happen, and you lose all your fish.

I hope they will spawn, because I really like this fish. Look at its appearance!

I keep the fish at around 26°C and they will eat nearly anything you feed them with. So I'm sorry that I can't give you much more information for the moment.

 
 

 

Steatocranus gibbiceps Boulenger, 1899

A young Steatocranus gibbiceps male.

I was not certain which one of the Steatocranus I got, when I bought Steatocranus gibbiceps, I thought it looks like S. tinanti. It can remind you of the S. tinanti because of the slender body form. But as the fish grew I became more and more certain that this could not be S. tinanti. But you never know if there is differences between local forms of the fish.

Then I came across a photo of the fish, which was not the best, so I was not certain before I sent a photo to Dr Anton Lamboj and he confirmed my suspicion. Dr Lamboj was also very interested in this fish, so when we met I brought some to him.

When the fish grew up and started to be sexually adult, there was some fighting and I ended up with one pair. But this pair turned out to be a perfect pair, they started to lay eggs and watch the fry carefully. They spawned again and I thought I would remove the fry from the first spawn. But time went by and suddenly the fish were out with the second brood. I expected that the parents would chase the fry from the first brood. But no, they watched the fry from the first brood so they would not get too close, but after some days or a week they were all swimming together.

They were not finished with that; then they came out with the third batch of fry, and the same thing happened. They watched the last batch in the beginning, but again all were swimming together. So I think I have to remove some of the fish, because the fry from the first spawn are becoming adult and will soon be ready to spawn.

A very nice and interesting fish and I will only give you a portrait of a young male, before I add some more photos of the adult fish.

 
 

 

Steatocranus sp. Dverg

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Well this was the beginning. More information will be added, and I hope you like it so far.

 

Alf

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under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.