Pelvicachromis taeniatus 'moliwe'

[ste12000]

After a large wild import from Cameroon last month several aquarists picked up several pairs each of these beautiful fish.

I picked up 3 different morphs. The 'Lobe' pair are doing well although the female hides behind the filter a lot and is rarely seen. The 'Wouri' are lovely fish, the males so tame that he would eat out of my hands, the females still shy but putting on a bit of size, these fish are still seperated and will be placed together when i think the females ready to withstand the attention of the male!

The 'Moliwe' are in a prominant position in the fishroom and are within easy viewing.. They have just spawned for me so ive got my fingers crossed for fry in a few days, unlike most other pelvicachromis ive spawned this female spends almost as much time outside the cave than in it, its interesting behaviour..

Here are a couple of pics..

 

[tjudy]

My favorite P. taeniatus... nice pair!

 

[wethumbs]

Is safe to say that 'Moliwe' is the most popular taeniatus in US. My WC pair lived for 3 years as batch size increased to over 150 each during the last year.

 

[ste12000]

Thanks guys.. ive always loved these fish, i went for quite a while with non in my fishroom due to lack of decent(reliable) stock..Luckily we had this wild import with 6 different morphs. I had to get the 'moliwe' as it was one id never kept or bred.

Luckily this was rectified today when they brought out their first batch of fry..

The Lobe, have come out of hiding and are swimming together, im still to scared to risk the wouri together as i got just about the last female in the country and have heard reports of serious aggression!! any tips guys, i use 24x12x12 tanks holding 45 litres and the fish are still seperated. The male is one of the friendly fish i have ever owned, he's been imported for only 6 weeks and already he swims between my hands at waterchange time and will eat from my fingers!!

'Lobe'

'wouri'

 

[wethumbs]

Male 'Wouri' can be aggressive toward female that are not ready to spawn, my WC 'Wouri' are actually very peaceful fish as compare to 'Moliwe'. I had a 5" 'Wouri' male that would tolerate other smaller males in the same tank as long as he was not ready to spawn with another female.