Pelvicachromis taeniatus fry

[dhm325]

My pair of P. ten. (kineke) spawned last week and the fry were free swimming on Saturday morning. This is the second spawn for this pair, they ate the first spawn just after the fry became free swimming. This time the parents seem to be less stressed out. Its hard to tell exactly how many fry there are, but 100 seems a reasonable approximation.

The fry seem smaller that the p. pulcher fry I have seen. Is this observation correct?
I am feeding them a mixture of liquid fry #1, extremley fine powdered flake, decapsulated brine shimp eggs and frozen bbs. I feed them 3 or 4 times a day. They seem to be eating something because their bellies are noticibly full a few minutes after feeding. I suppose that in a few days they will be able to eat the frozen bbs and decapsulated eggs if they are not able to do so now. In any case, I was wondering if there are any other important differences between P. ten. fry and P. pulcher fry that I should be aware of.

One other point. My tank space is getting limited and I was considering raising the P. ten. fry with some of the p. pulcher fry that I currently have. Can someone tell whether p. ten. kineke will mate with p. pulcher?

 

[Randall]

Pelv. taen. Fry

Dear dhm,

What is your name, please?

Your Kienke fry should be able to take decapsulated brine shrimp eggs straight away. The food mix that you posted sounds good to me, though. It might not be a good idea to continue with the liquid fry food for more than the first few days, however, due to its tendancy to foul water quickly.

So long as you can tell them apart, the Keinke and pulcher fry should be able to be grown out together. The two forms are supposedly different enough that hybridization should not be an issue, but in aquaria, who can be positively certain?

Congrats and good luck with your fry.

Randall Kohn

 

[dhm325]

My name is David.

Thanks for your answer to my previous question.

By the way is there more than one form of P. ten. kienke? My fish don't look like the fish in pictures I have seen. All of the P. ten. kienke in the pictures I have seen resemble those in the Staeck and Linke book. The male is a yellowish green with a noticible large red patch on its belly. He also has a black line on the dorsal fin and redish spots on its tale. The markings on his gill covers are a light bronze color. The female has the body shape of many of the P. ten. I have seen but has coloration that remind me of P. pulcher. However, her belly is not redish/purple, its a lighter shade of redish/pink. She is not as full bodied as any of the mature female P. pulchures I have seen. Her body is yellow with a dark brown line running from her eye all the way through the back of her tail. I am worried that these fish are hybrids but I purchased them from a lfs with a reallly solid reputation (located in Greenwhich CT). The lfs told me that they were p. ten. kienke and that they were imported from a breeder in the Czech Republic.

 

[Neil]

dhm325,
Congratulations on your spawn. But don't put taeniatus with pulcher fry. You won't be seperating them for a very long time, if ever. When they are adults you may see easy enough difference while looking at the tank, but as soon as you get in there to fish them out - forget it. These are just too similar to seperate later. You will be sorry, I think.
Neil

 

[Randall]

Pelv. taen. "Kienke"

Dear David,

It's difficult to tell which taeniatus form you may have from your description. Do you have a photo or two that you can share with us, please?

Thanks!

Randall Kohn

 

[dhm325]

I am having trouble with my digital camera. As soon as its fixed I will post a photo. Thanks.