Mixed bag of Westies

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Yesterday I received some very nice Westies from Tony Orso (http://www.webraretropicalfish.com/): Pelvicachromis humilis Liberienses (Dinkaya), P. subocellatus Matadi, Benitochromis nigrodorsalis, and P. pulcher Isokpo (the latter actually came from Ariel Bornstein and were brokered by Tony). The fish are looking great! Are there any pieces of wisdom you guys want to share with me regarding breeding, dither fish, feeding etc etc?

 

[Randall]

Pelvicachromis humilis

Hello Nebraska,

The Pelvicachromis humilis need larger aquaria than the other species of the genus. I wonder where the "Liberiensis" designation comes from? Your fish are from Guinea not Liberia.

Good luck with your new acquisitions.

Randall Kohn

 

[tjudy]

The humilis and the subocellatus (possibly others) that you got from Tony were likely bred in Czech Republic. I saw some of those in Tony's tanks at the NEC last week. They were stressed, so I cannot say for sure what the humilis were, but it is very possible that they are the descendants of the same fish that were designated Liberia Red in the Linke/Staeck and Lamboj books (Lamboj used Linke's images that appeared in the earlier texts). Nothing has come of Liberia in a long time, however. I have had a humilis called 'Liberia red' that I got from Neil. I think that he got them from Mike Yamamoto. Images of my 'liberia red' are in the west african gallery of my web site:
www.tedsfishroom.com/westafrican.html

Mine did not look like Linke's... It is very possible that the 'Liberia red' is a captive strain with significantly more red than the current Guinean forms we see coming into the hobby. There are a few differences between the 'liberia red' and the dinkaya males, specifically there look sto be more blue in teh face of the 'liberia red' and brown dots in the upper portion of the caudal fin of the dinkaya... but caudal markings Pelvicachromis are highly variable. My 'liberia red' male looked a lot more like the Dinkaya. Linke's image of a female 'liberia red' is impressive. If that is an 'average' 'liberia red' female then they are far more colorful that any of the humilis types I have had (dinkaya, friya, kasewe and boffa). I suspect that image is a a particularly colorful individual, or a picture taken at just the right moment in the right light to produce a darker red and more blue in the face.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Ted & Randall:

I checked with Tony about the true identity of what he refers to as "Liberiensis" before making the purchase. Tony claims they are Dinkaya. Sounds reasonable, given that my fish (in particular the females) look very much like the Dinkaya depicted in Lamboj's book. They colored up very nicely within 24 h of receipt.

The subocellatus Matadi also colored up very nicely, but these guys appear to be very shy and hide in caves or under rocks most of the time. This high level of shyness agrees with what I read in another thread. (Ted, I believe that was one of yours?!)

The nigrodrosalis are also doing very well, but their nice coloration comes and goes. I think the pulcher Isokpo will turn out very pretty, but they are juveniles and it's a little too early to tell. (There's lots of blueish coloration all over their bodies.)

Randall, I followed your advice and brought home a group of juvenile Hemichromis sp. Moanda (and some P. signatus) from my trip to San Francisco ("Ocean Aquarium"). Not much coloration yet, but the fish are still tiny. (They were store-bred by Justin.) Even at their young age they seem relatively aggressive. (I'll hold you accountable for your "they are pretty peaceful" comment ).

Best,

Janos