Taeniacara candidi.. A close shave!

[ste12000]

Taeniacara candidi is a very rare little cichlid which does not pop up on a regular basis, i first started looking for this species around 7-8 years ago and got lucky around 2008 when Mark Breeze went to Holland on a fish shopping trip and bought some back, i bought a pair and have had them in the fishroom ever since, once or twice a year wild or unrelated stock does become available and i have crossed my lines out to keep them strong and viable..

Its been a enjoyable 4 years keeping and maintaining this fish and at any one time ive always made sure i had at least 4 pairs available to myself..

Recently i have lost a few fish due to old age and didnt have any youngsters left in the fishroom, i was down to my last pair 3 weeks ago and decided i had to get them into a breeding tank to secure the line, the pair spawned last week and straight away the female killed the male in defense of the spawn!! I was now down to the very last fish in the fishroom plus a few eggs clearly visable on the ceiling of the spawning cave!! She finally brought out a smallish spawn of around 30 fry at the beginning of the week so im pleased to secure a few more fish to be spread around dedicated breeders in the future.

Heres the female in aggressive broodcare pose!

 

[Matt2609]

Hey, sad to here you've lost 3 of your pairs and a male, But congrats with the new spawn!
Keeping Taenicara Candidi myself, and have 2 males and a female. It was suppose to be a regular trio with 1 male and 2 females, but first time keeping the fish, so had a hard time sexing. Very few of the fish I had to choose from had developed their elongated fins, and barely showed any coloration.
Anyway.. I'm also trying to get mine to spawn. And I'm trying to figure out what water parameters I should be aiming for. So was wondering what your water parameters are?
Also, I've noticed in some pictures and videos on youtube that T. Candidi shows a lot of red coloration in the fins, and in some of the videos the female has turnes almost completly yellow when she has spawned? Is it a matter of location or..? Still not 100% familiar with them, but trying to read as much as I can get my hands on.

 

[Matt2609]

Should probably add that mine are captive bred and my parameters are 6.1 and slowly dropping as I've finally gotten my RO filter up and going. kH is 0-1 and GH is about 6. TDS is 200 (also dropping as I slowly add more RO water)

 

[animalmgc]

I have a fascination for this fish also hopefully this is the yr I gather up the courage to buy a lot of 6 and see what comes out of them