Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi info

[Woody]

Hi All

I managed to track down a pair of Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi, I would have prefered to find a couple of more females, but to no avail.
There doesn't seem to be too much information on the web on them. Basically they are aggressive, require medium hard water, eats anything, breeds readily. Provided hiding spaces as dominant male can become a bully.
Anyone have any experince with these fish, and are the brood sizes listed on the net are small 10 maybe 15 babies.

Any information would be appreciated.

Woody

 

[aquaticclarity]

Hi Woody,
I've been working with P. nicholsi for several generations now. The males are VERY aggressive toward each other but don't seem to bother the females as long as there are several of them in the tank. I've been unable to keep more then one large adult male in a 20 high (24"x12"x17") without the subdominant males being killed. I haven't had this problem with the juvinals in grow-out tanks though.
My current group consists of one 3" male and four 2 1/4" females. The group lives in a 20 high with a sponge filter, several 1/2" diameter 3" long PVC tubes, and a mass of floating Naja Grass. I started out using a small amount of D.I. water mixed with my well water but have now switched to using just the well water. The pH is around 7.4, temp 80 degrees, the total hardness is about 80ppm, and the total alkalinity is about 120ppm.
When the females were smaller (1 1/4"-1 1/2") the broods numbered around 12-15 fry. Now that the females have grown and bulked up I get over 25 fry to a spawn.
I feed the adults O.S.I. Tropical Flake Food and occasionally give them live black worms. The fry and juvinals get newly hatched baby brine shrimp until they are about 3/4"-1" long, then I start to give them flake food as the main meal and baby brine shrimp as a supplement.
The young start to mature at a small size, around 1 1/4", and dominant males begin to emerge, showing lots of color. I've even had spawning occur with females just over 1" long and only 5 months old!
I hope this helps,
Jeff

 

[Woody]

Thanks

That is just fantastic information, and it is well appreciated. I am trying to acquire a couple of more females, but to no avail so far. I have the pair in a 20 gallon with lots of rocks, caves and half the aquarium blanketed with java moss.
Once again thanks for the info and welcome to this forum, you'll find a lot of great people and valuable information here.

Woody