S. Casuarius and S. tinanti

[Simon Morgan]

My African Blockhead Cichlids (Steatocranus casuarius) and Slender Lionhead Cichlids (Steatocranus tinanti) both spawned on the same day! (Saturday 1st December).
How random, must be something in the water
Fingers crossed I can get some fry, they are great little fishes.

Not a bad result after buying the tinanti as recently as September.

S. casuarius

S. tinanti

 

[freshwaterfishfan]

Water parameters?

Hi, what pH and hardness do you have them in? Congrats.
Steve

 

[bassic]

awesome!

Wow...that's awesome! Congratulations!

I've had casuarius spawn before but wasn't able to keep the fry alive.

Please keep us posted on your progress

Best regards,
-duc nguyen.

 

[Simon Morgan]

pH is 7 at the moment, but because the water is soft, I use rainwater, it does tend to drop down to 6, but I test regularly and use buffers to keep it stable.
The main thing with Steatocranus is to make sure you have plenty of oxygen. I use powerheads to keep the surface water moving, but the lower levels are fairly still.

 

[Simon Morgan]

Update:

I now have a lovely group of 6 week old S. casuarius still with their parents.
The S. tinanti fry didn't make it as I left them in a tank with too many fish including catfish.
Fortunately, the tinanti pair spawned again today and a second pair look like they might spawn soon as well

 

[Andre]

Awesome fish!

Did you perhaps have a rainstorm just before/after the fish spawned? I Cape Town our rainy season has a number of low pressure systems which cause cold fronts to come in from the atlantic sea. I have noticed that these low pressure systems seem to trigger my fish to spawn. There are regularly a number of spawns on the same day

How are you filtering the tank with the S. casuarius?

 

[ste12000]

Congratulations..Can i assume some of these will end up at the BCA auction in April?? Are you going?
I wouldnt mind a few of them myself but at the minute i am completely full and cannot fit anymore cichlids into my fishroom..time to breed what i have and then clear a few tanks i think!!!!

 

[Simon Morgan]

Andre,
Yes the spawnings coincided with a big drop in atmospheric pressure, I was able to check it on the web for the dates I had spawnings with both the Casuaris and the tinanti.
I use two UG with powerheads to filter the tank.

ste12000,
I am going to the BCA auction in april but I'm not sure if I will take any fish as I will have to stay over the night before. I may take them to the Midlands fish auction in June, or sell them privately.