Has anyone kept Orinoco dwarf pike cichlids?

[Mazan]

I have been trying to find out as much as possible about these but information is limited and at times contradictory. My local shop has some of these: https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/crenicichla_cf_regani_orinoco_en/
Apparently though they are now considered closer to notophthalmus than to regani. The fish collector has said that they don't get much bigger than they are now (biggest are around 8cm). But both regani and nothopthalmus are said to reach up to 15cm in aquaria.

What I really want to know is would it be safe to keep some (how many??) in a well planted aquarium that measures 160 x 60 x 60 cm. In particular I would like to know if my beckford's pencilfish and Otocinclus would be safe or liable to be eaten. The other tetras in the tank are bigger (emperor tetras and a Hyphessobrycon species similar to serpae. There are also Laetacaras and angelfish in the tank but I know these have been kept together with dwarf pikes.

 

[Mazan]

It seems that no one has been keeping these recently. I checked a lot of older posts on this forum and one in particular that interested me was by Apistomaster in 2013 - he apparently kept C. notophthalmus with Apistogrammas and says "Other fish present included adult Green Neons, Black Phantom Tetras and some Amano Shrimp".

Questions on Dwarf Pike Cichlids?

Hi everyone, I've been looking online for some general information about dwarf pikes, I like them. The problem is most of the ones I see get too big for me to house with my Apisto's. Are there any really small pikes around? I couldn't find any info, but im sure there is. The smallest I've...

apistogramma.com

I would be very interested to know how long the green neons and shrimp lasted...

 

[Apistoguy52]

It’s been years since I dabbled with dwarf pike….both WC regani and notopthalamus reached 12-13cm for me. Both were kept in 30 gallon long species only tanks, so no first hand predation experience from me. Neat fish

 

[Cichlacat]

I’ve a couple of pair of C. compressiceps and regani. I liked both. But I’d really likeThey are nice

 

[Cichlacat]

Sorry. I was interrupted and couldn’t finish. I liked both the above species. I really want to try the Orinoco dwarf pikes. Some time ago I was visiting a pet store selling maybe lepidota pikes. But there was one that wasn’t. It was a very cool looking dwarf pike that I’ve never seen again or any photos of. I believe it was a “regani” type pike but it had more colors and while not an aggressive pike and he didn’t challenge other cichlids in the tank (some quite large) was never intimidated or picked on.
And it ate any food offered from a custom frozen food I make to pellets, flakes and any type of frozen foods.
I now believe it was very similar to the Orinoco Dwarf pikes. I wish I had a photo but there were no cell phones then.

I want to setup a tank that features the pikes, some geophagus, and tetras too large to be meals.

 

[Mazan]

I did get some in the end, and ended up with 3, a male and two females. I actually got 5, but they were very tiny and skinny and two didn't make it, I think I waited too long to decide (about a month after I last posted), and they had probably not been fed well at the shop. They were so small that at first I put them in a 240l tank with some Copella and cardinal tetras. At first they only ate live or frozen food, but soon they would eat anything and are now very greedy, always begging for food. I now have them in my large cichlid tank where they are doing well and are probably full sized. Two seem to have formed a pair, they go around together and display, especially after a water change, and the female looks fat, but no spawning yet. They chase the other female when they see her, but as the tank is large (200cm long) and they don't persist in hunting her down, it is not a problem. They pretty much ignore the other cichlids (Mesonauta, Uaru, Heros) and the diamond and bentosi tetras and the other cichlids ignore them so its working out well. But one day would like to get them in a separate tank and try breeding them. I find them very attractive, confident, not at all shy and not aggressive to other fish.

 

[Cichlacat]

Yes. Those are the ones. Where did you find them? If they spawn I’ll buy some.

 

[Mazan]

Yes. Those are the ones. Where did you find them? If they spawn I’ll buy some.

I am in Ecuador! They came in a shipment from Colombia.

 

[Cichlacat]

Aha. That explains a lot. I new they were from Columbia. I’ve been told they came from Columbia.

 

[rasmusW]

Pretty fish for sure. Its the male in the second picture, right?
Sorry, i can’t help with any useful info.

-r

 

[Mazan]

Pretty fish for sure. Its the male in the second picture, right?
Sorry, i can’t help with any useful info.

-r

Yes, that is correct, in that photo looking pretty plain, but when he displays or gets excited he gets the dark stripes and looks quite impressive. Note that the male does not have the extended dorsal fin rays typical of C. nothopthalmus, but that is the species it is apparently most closely related to.

 

[rasmusW]

Hey mazan!

You probably have seen this video before but if not, there is some great shots at what looks like your fish, in the beginning of the video.

-r

 

[Mazan]

Very nice footage of those dwarf pikes! I like those Below Water videos, and was surprised as I had not found that one before. They do look similar to mine, though my females only have 2 dorsal ocelli, not sure if this is variable.

Having read this article https://peerj.com/articles/12283/, and from advice on another forum, as well as taking into account the probable capture location and the other fish that came with them, I had decided mine were what this paper calls Crenicichla cf nothopthalmus inirida, previously known as C. cf regani sp. orinoco. So many species that are similar but not quite the same! But I am pretty sure they are from the Orinoco drainage.

And now by the way Crenicichla has been split and all dwarf pike cichlids have been placed in a new genus, Wallaciia, some other new genera have also been proposed:

Revision of the generic classification of pike cichlids using an integrative phylogenetic approach (Cichlidae: tribe Geophagini: subtribe Crenicichlina)

Abstract. Pike cichlids form the largest clade of Neotropical cichlids, with over 100 species presently classified in two genera: Crenicichla (93 species widesp

academic.oup.com