Pungu F1?

[freshwaterfishfan]

I just saw Pungu F1 for sale on Jeff Michaels site. I was not aware these had ever been spawned in captivity. Are you holding out on us, Jeff? Details, please. I have a group of 7 wild Pungu with some S. pindu and a very dominanting S. mariae pair. I was thinking about giving them there own tank if that might help.
Steve

 

[aquaticclarity]

Steve,

It sounds like I'm the 3rd person to spawn them. I believe Paul Louseille and Mary Baily are the other two.

They had spawned this summer while I was out of town seeing you and Janos. My wife told me when I got back that 2 of the spotty fish in the tank hadn't been coming up for food. About 2 months later they spawned again. 2 fish weren't coming up to eat. Turns out the fish are a bi-parental mouthbrooder! Anton was suprised to learn this as well. The female had 5 wigglers and the male had 19. I stripped them on the early side just to be sure I was seeing things correctly. In the end I got 8 little guys to survive.

I have 14 Pungu in a 210 gallon tank with 12-13 wild Stomatepia pindu. The pindu are not really spawning but at least the Pungu are giving it a go.

Now to get the S. mungo to do more then go through the motions!

Jeff

 

[aquaticclarity]

Here's a picture of one of them holding:

The other is in the background.

Jeff

 

[Pelvicachromis]

Hi Jeff,

Can you tell us more about your setup and breeding activity?

thanks,
Keith

 

[aquaticclarity]

Sure Keith,

Start here: http://www.tedsfishroom.com/wp/visits/fishroom-tours/jeff-michels-fishroom The last 2 pictures are of the tank that the Pungu went into. The only changes at this point are the addition of a few red lotus around the driftwood on the right side of the tank. I'm still looking for some nice Val to plant on the left side.

The tank gets 30-40% water changes about once a month with my well water- 7.4pH 280-320ppm The fish are feed O.S.I. Tropical flake 1-2 times a day. In addtion the Pungu cleared the tank on any and all algae incluiding a heavy amount of diatom and a little cyanobacteria. The Pungu are active grazers and are always scarping the Malaysian driftwood and glass for something to eat.

I have not witnessed the actual spawning yet. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to see it one day! The holding pair spend most of the time swimming around together just below the rest of the group and are most noticable at feeding time when the rest of the swimming pigs are at the surface making a mess.

The first ime they spawned I was out of town so I don't have any details from that round. The second time they spawned I cut back on the frequincey of feeding-I even stopped feeding the tank for 3-4 days at first so the brooding fish wouldn't be tempted to eat the eggs. After about 12 days I stripped the pair. The greenish eggs, very much like Stomatepia pindu, had heads and tails. I put the wigglers into an egg tmbler in a 5 1/2 gallon tank in my fishroom and treated them just like any other mouthbrooder fry. After a little over 2 weeks the fry came out of the tumbler and I started to feed them fresh bbs 2 times a day.

The really cool thing about the golden colored fry now, about 60 days old, is that they school. It isn't a "oh what's that fish doing" schooling behavior, but a true moving as one unit schooling. And they're still in the 5 1/2 gallon.

Jeff

 

[aquaticclarity]

I should also add:

2 Eheim canister filters (2026 and 2028) with both returns at the right end of the tank.

Hydor ETH heater keeping the tank right around 78 degrees.

Jeff

 

[Pelvicachromis]

Thanks Jeff! Very well written too!


Keith

 

[westafrica]

Hi!

This reminds me of this thread on cichlidsforum.fr :

http://www.cichlidsforum.fr/pungu-maclareni-vt4851.html

To sum it up : Michael Negrini bred that sp. and noticed an important variability regarding breeding behavior of Pungu maclareni :

1st spawn : both parents hold
2nd spawn : only the female holds
3rd spawn : both hold

This whereas Paul Loiselle seem to have observed that it was a rather mono parental (male) mouthbreeding sp. , with the female helping sometimes when there are too many eggs. I.e. the contrary of what Michael could observe.

In case you think it's interesting, I can either translate part of it for you, or ask directly Michael if he will come and discuss it with you !

Anyway Jeff sincere congrats on that breeding! I hope all the youngsters survive!

Jerome

 

[Andre]

Hi Jeff

Congratulations on the spawn!

These fish are more and more difficult to find in Lake Barombi. I went there with a local man who catches fish for Oliver and before our visit he had been there 4 times without catching even one.

I looked at your tank and must admit that it closely resembles the lake. Although your substrate is a little lighter than what I saw there. The Stomatepia parents with fry did prefer hanging out in the shallower water where I could see them pecking on the branches.

Hopefully this and other spawns is the first step to ensuring the future of this rare fish.