Dicrossus Maculatus breeding notes

[CaveGoblin]

Hey everyone! I’m CaveGoblin, a lover of dwarf cichlids, and I have been keeping them since I was a pupil over 10 years ago. My first dwarf cichlids were Apistogramma cacatuoides, followed by Apistogramma agassizii! Both of them bred successfully, which made me very happy because I have always been very interested in the breeding behavior of dwarf cichlids! Currently, I am keeping a trio of Dicrossus maculatus, and one batch of eggs hatched on this Monday morning (November 3, 2025). I would like to share more information about keeping and breeding Dicrossus maculatus with all of you to help this underestimated species can be known by more people!

In this note, I would like to share:

1. The water parameters and my unsuccessful experience.

2. Information about eggs and the aggression of mother fish, both intraspecific and interspecific.

3. Ongoing notes about the fry.

One thing worth noting is that there are two females spawning in my 40-gallon breeder, which will be fun to watch in terms of their interaction in the future!

 

[Ayazad]

I'm looking forward to the continuation

 

[CaveGoblin]

1. The Water Parameters and My Unsuccessful Experience

(a) As I know, Dicrossus maculatus are clear water species that need very soft and acidic water without high tannin levels. Therefore, I use RO water, API pH Down, and perform weekly water changes to maintain the water quality for them. Here’s the list of my water parameters:
Iron (Fe): 0 ppm
Copper (Cu): 0 ppm
NO3: 0-10 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
Cl2: 0 ppm
GH: 25-75 ppm (I don’t know why it’s so high, but this hardness is okay for both adults and egg growth)
TAL: 0 ppm
KH: 0 ppm
pH: 5-5.5
NH3/NH4+: 0 ppm

 

[CaveGoblin]

(b) My Past Unsuccessful Experience:

I have had 2 unsuccessful experiences before, which resulted in the failure of a total of 4 batches of eggs, as I had 2 females spawn together almost at the same time in my aquarium. When the females reached around 1.5 inches, the females’ ventral fins turned yellow and their anal fins turned red when they were ready to breed. They spawned in the open areas of their own territories, protected their eggs diligently, and slept on top of their eggs at night. Everything went fine until around 3 days later, when the moms ate all of the eggs. Before this successful hatch, I had some guesses as to why I failed. I considered that the age of my fish, the unsuitable water parameters, the food, and the presence of tank mates could be factors contributing to my failures.

I know my fish are very young, as they were juveniles just about 2 months ago, so that is likely to be the main factor in my previous failures.

I was also thinking about changing my water parameters a bit because, from my research, eggs can even hatch in a pH of 4, but my previous pH was near 7. I lowered the pH slightly every time I did a water change. I made the pH from 6.6 to 6.4 at the beginning, then from 6.4 to 6.2 a few days later. Everything went fine, and my fish were living happily and healthily! I stopped lowering the pH until it was between 5 and 5.5. When I was doing the water changes, the GH did not seem to change much and still remained at 25-75, which concerned me a lot until I finally had a successful batch.
The temperature is always 78°F.

The food I provided them was live blackworms and frozen baby brine shrimp. I changed their diet a bit by providing them frozen normal brine shrimp, rotifers, cyclops, and daphnia. Even though their favorites are still live blackworms, they also enjoy the other foods I provide. They don’t like pellets at all, so I don’t provide them with pellets because I don’t have time to train them to eat pellets.

The presence of tank mates, including another female, the male, Nannostomus eques, and the zebra otos, does not seem to be a problem. My 2 females occupy different areas in my tank. Even though sometimes they will flare up and fight each other when someone crosses the border, one fun thing about their conflict is that when no one has eggs and the male can swim freely in the entire aquarium, he serves as a negotiator, interfering and preventing aggression between his 2 wives by placing his body horizontally in the center. The male is very scared of his wives after they spawn. He tries to avoid them as much as possible by staying in the corner, so he’s not a problem.
Nannostomus eques, a very peaceful species, always stays at the top areas of the tank, so they’re not a problem at all. Otos are always chased if they get too close to the eggs. They are very peaceful and vegan.

Therefore, learning from my past failures, I think the age of the fish, the water parameters, and the food can contribute to the success of the batch. When you have a mature pair of fish, very acidic water, and multiple food sources for them, Dicrossus maculatus will not be very challenging to breed.

 

[CaveGoblin]

I'm looking forward to the continuation

I have already posted ‘The Water Parameters and My Unsuccessful Experience’! I will update something new tomorrow!

 

[rasmusW]

This is a great read. Thanks for taking the time to write all this and welcome to the forum.

-r

 

[CaveGoblin]

This is a great read. Thanks for taking the time to write all this and welcome to the forum.

-r

Thank you!

 

[CaveGoblin]

2. Information about eggs and the aggression of mother fish, both infraspecific and interspecific.

(a) Eggs and the Newborn

Unlike apistogramma, Dicrossus maculatus spawns on an open platform in the aquarium. The eggs are dull and transparent instead of being colorful. Before the eggs hatched, my female always chased other fish away from her eggs and slept on them at night. When the eggs were close to hatching, two black spots would appear on the eggs, which I thought might be the eye spots of the fry. Mom started to move her fry to another spot: in the morning, my female moved her fry to the front of the tank, and at night, she moved them to the back of the tank. The newborns couldn’t move but could only stick to the platform they were placed on, but their tails would swing when their mother stayed on top of them during the daytime.

 

[SpotOn88]

I bred some wild D.Foirni years ago and I recall having to get the pH down to something crazy like 5 - 5.2 for the eggs to even hatch and get fry.

The Mum in particular was a great parent. She managed to raise fry in a community tank with many predators (dither fish such as Nannostomus etc).

I eventually ended up with 10- 12 juveniles.

Hope you had some luck with your Maculatus.