Enigmatochromis lucanusi

[bassic]

Hello everyone,

I've been trying to do a bit of research on this fish but have found extremely limited information on them. I also saw a few posts off of this board as well but I thought I'd post here in hopes of getting feedback from folks.

I obtained a group of six (three males/three females) in October 2010 and they're housed in a 55 gallon. Only recently have I noticed that there's one male that appears to have selected a female; however, she doesn't pay him any attention at all. I know he's picked her since she's the only one he won't chase away. I just think it's interesting that I'll be feeding them and she can go wherever she wants but when he comes along, he chases everyone else off quite adamantly. I feed mine frozen brine, spirulina and cichlid flakes and occasionally will throw in peas which they love. Have any of you experienced this? She will at times get that pretty pink body color with the neon green dorsal but the male normally has the horizontal barring.

It would be awesome if I could get mine to spawn but it's extremely challenging for me to get my pH levels below 7.0. Right now, it's hovering around 7.5 (according to my last reading 20 mins ago). Additionally, I live in Texas and so the water here tends to be on the alkaline side.

I hope to hear back from folks. If anything, sharing your experiences would be extremely helpful. Thank you for reading my post.

Best regards,
-duc nguyen.

 

[tjudy]

Hi Duc,

You do not need ot get the pH below 7.0. THey like neutral water, but prefer it soft. You can help trigger a spawn by using at least 1/2 RO water if possible. They also like it cool, so go ahead and take out the heater... or at least turn it down to its lowest setting.

My experience with this species is that it is a seasonal spawner. At least the wild fish are. Mine would only spawn from late September through December (on average). I never had a spawn after February (none after December were successful), and they would not even court until the room temps drop under 76F.

Great fish! Good luck.

 

[phil wood]

Hi Duc

I have had success with these fish. But i had success by accident they where originally bought as two Female Rollofi and i was'nt there when they where put into the tank with the two previosly previously purchased male Rollofi.
But they soon coloured up thou, The male Rollofi's where a bit confused at the time but seemed to like the attention but did nothing in return to trigger spawning, It just left the female Enigmatochromis lucanusi very frustrated.
Then after two more weeks i bought two male's and added the two female's into each tank, One pair soon spawned while unfortunatly the other male died.
I now have had three batches of fry out of the pair.

They may be seasonal spawner's in the wild but over in the uk thats not the case cos for the past two years all we have had is one long season and that is RAIN RAIN AND EVEN MORE RAIN.

 

[westafrica]

Hi!

For once, I beg to differ with Ted : the water softness and pH do matter in egg hatching => if the water is too hard and / or the pH too high, the eggs just won't hatch (I have a tank with medium hard & pH 7 tapwater for the pairs I don't have space for, and these pairs spawn frequently in this tank without any success, whereas when I put them in a tank with soft, slightly acidic water, they succeed in breeding! This was observed with 4 different pairs which lived in both tanks). Nonetheless, a high pH doesn't prevent the spawn itself, in which Ted is damn right ; Apart from that, just like in GB, its seasonal breeding behaviour isn't replicated in aquarium here in France, for instance I have a fry batch growing at the moment.

Using an automatic translator, I'm sure you will find much useful information on that thread (in French) :

http://www.cichlidsforum.fr/enigmatochromis-lucanusi-vt24055.html

Good choice anyway, it is a really great species to keep and observ, especially due to the minor differences with Pelvicachromis spp. I've been keeping them for 4 years & breeding them (many pairs) for 3 years, and I'm not getting the least bit tired of them.

 

[tjudy]

with soft, slightly acidic water, they succeed in breeding!

How were the sex ratios in the offspring? The data from the type locality is soft and neutral. I do not think a pH of 6.5 or higher will make much of a difference, but anythign lower than that may result in a poor ratio... but I have not heard about that problem with this species yet.

 

[westafrica]

Hi Ted,

The parameters of the Foto river in the description of the species show a pH below 6 if my memories are correct.

I indeed had some sex ratio balance & hatching rates problems - many females in proportion and little fry - with too extreme parameters (pH 4 and t°c around 28°c), however when maintaining the pH around 6 and the t°c around 24°c (increasing also slightly the hardness by addition of tapwater), the sex ratio was quite balanced. With a wild x F2 pair, the eggs just won't hatch if the water is too alkaline & hard.

Hatching seems to occur up to pH 6,5 - 7 (with a F3 x F2 pair), with a high number of juvies, showing that as generations pass the species may become more tolerant, while wild individuals may be a little more demanding.

I hope it helped answering your questions Ted

If you want I can send you the article I wrote on the species (I think you read french?) for the AFC journal?

 

[tjudy]

Thanks... that is helpful.

Thanks for the article offer, but I do not read French well. I would liek to say that I am working on learning to do so, but that project has not gotten started yet.