Parananochromis gabonicus spawn

[tjudy]

One of the pairs of P. gabonicus I brought back from Gabon has free-swimming fry today. Looks like there are about a dozen or so. I am going to let her keep them for a week or so in order to cement the pair bond.

pH - 5.5
TDS - about 300
KH 2
temp 76

The TDS is so high because the only way I could get the pH to stay under 6 was to use Kent Marine pH Minus.

 

[ed seeley]

Well done Ted. Did you end up needing the extra deep leaf litter or have they spawned in a more traditional set up?

 

[tjudy]

No deep litter. I have not been able to procure enough leaves yet. The cave is stuffed with long fiber sphagnum moss.

 

[mudskipper]

Congrats!

Are the pair alone in the tank, or do you keep something else in there for aggression redirection? I've has good luck wit
h baby bushy noses in my tanks. They get chased a lot, but not hurt, and they don't try to eat the fry.

 

[tjudy]

I posted a video of this fish on my blog: www.tedsfishroom.com

 

[Cichlid Junkie]

Nice video and sweet setup Ted.

 

[freshwaterfishfan]

Spawning other Parananochromis?

Ted,

Very nice. Do you know anyone with Parananochromis ornatus? Did you ever have luck with P. longistratus? I tried and tried and went through 5 or so pairs w/o luck. Do you think they need the "leaf litter", too?
Steve

 

[tjudy]

I think P. longirostris is a 'big water' cichlid. We found them only in the main channel of the larger river at Makokou, where we also found P. axelrodi. They are much larger than other Parananochromis too. We found P. ornatus at one site, but not many and I did not bring any home. I do nto know anyone who has any, expect maybe Ariel B., who might hve found them in 2006.

 

[tjudy]

Update... I removed the fry too early and lost them. Lesson learned. This pair are about ready to spawn again, and a second pair in a different tank are acting like they want to go soon too.