Volume 2, Issue 42 November, 2009

Transcription

1 THE LATERAL LINE Volume 2, Issue 42 November, 2009 Inside this Issue: What Do You really Know About the Edwards Aquifer New to the Hobby Haplochromines BAP Year End Report The C.A.R.E.S Preservation Program and You Lamprologus calliurus Magara

2 Index Editorial 2 What Do You Really Know About the Edwards Aquifer - Walter Wooton Jr. 3 New to the Hobby Haplochromines - Greg Steeves 7 BAP Year End Report 13 C.A.R.E.S Report 15 Lamprologus calliurus Magara - Allen M. Abrahams 20 Cover Steatocranus irvinei by Dave Hansen Editor s ramblings course. JB has become a wonderful leader in the HCCC and is one of my snorkel buddies. It will definitely seem weird without him here but he has threatened to return in four years. I hope he brings a little of the HCCC to the east coast. Good luck in your relocation guys. I m happy to see the CARES program expanding within our club. Look for some online additions concerning this in the near future. The project at the Mountain Valley Middle School is doing great. Coordinator Debbie Bumgardner is doing a fantastic job. The kids are enthusiastic and her tanks look incredible. One would think she s been an avid aquarist for many years. I love this time of year! Finally after suffering through the hottest summer on record, we get some relief. I never thought I would see the day where I would consider a temperature in 80 s to be cool! The fish are all inside where they will stay until April 15th. Next weekend is the last HCCC auction of the year. I m looking forward to seeing the gang once again. After that is the HCCC event of the year, the annual Christmas party. This is where all the awards for the past year are presented, and there s always a fun surprise or two. Ted Judy is coming down from Madison Wisconsin to speak on his trip to Cameroon earlier in the year. There will be a small auction that was first tried last year and went over very well. The best part for me is the food! There is always ample to choose from. I hope Joanna makes those cheesecake cupcakes again this year. She can leave the tray with me again. Speaking of Joanna, as you may know the Edmundson s are relocating to Virginia. It s kind of a bitter sweet deal as we are losing Joanna (who we will all miss) but she s taking JB with her (bonus!). I m kidding of This issue of the Lateral Line is really diverse. Allen gives a great breeding account of Lamprologus calliurus Magara. Since we ve been snorkeling and exploring local waterway, my buddy Walt takes a closer look at the Edwards Aquifer. I contribute my monthly babble with a look at some of the new to us haplochromine species. Troy gives us a CARES update with an account of his experiences with Haplochromis sp. ruby, and Dan wraps up the BAP year. I want to make sure to thank Nick Andreola, Dave Hansen and Lee Ann Steeves all of who I snagged photos from and neglected to cite credit. All in all, a pretty descent issue. I hope you all enjoy! 2

3 One of the many outflows of the Edwards Aquifer System are the springs at Panther Canyon, the source of the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas. What Do You Really Know About the Edwards Aquifer? Walter Wooton Jr. How many of us actually ever really thought about the Edwards Aquifer? I know I never did. To me it was just a name and if it became to low I couldn't water my lawn. This all changed while doing some research on the Comal and San Marcos rivers. I found that both of these rivers are fed by the Edwards Aquifer. I was discussing the "finds" with Greg Steeves who suggested I put some of this down for all to see. The formation of the Edwards Aquifer started back in the Paleozoic era around million years ago. During this time the area we now call home was part of a sea and the Gulf of Mexico was a mountain range. It was then that the limestone foundation was laid for our little aquifer. Approximately 200 million years ago during the Mesozoic era, there was a rather dramatic shift where the Gulf of Mexico began to sink and become covered by the sea. What we now call Texas started to become dry land. This was a time of great fluctuations where our local area was under a shallow sea at times and other times we were dry. The dry periods were times of extensive erosion of the Edwards limestone layer that was laid during the Paleozoic era. Sometime after this towards the Cenozoic era around 700 million years ago, the eroded limestone began to cover with varying materials but mainly what we now know as "Del Rio Clay". This earthen clay is comprised mainly of wind driven ash from volcanoes on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The clay was then overlaid with newer or younger limestone 3

4 when the seas once again covered the area. As sea waters receded to the current shoreline, the sediment deposits became thicker and heavier causing some of the voids to collapse. This collapsed area or faults, created the pockets that are now part of our aquifer. The Edwards Aquifer has always been used by humans since they first arrived in the area. First by the natives, using the natural artisan springs, then as Europeans settled the area the technology of well drilling began. At first these wells were powered by the positive pressure within the aquifer that causes the natural artisan wells to flow. As time went on the drain on the aquifer became greater and this positive pressure has diminished to the point that only 2 natural springs now flow and we must now pump the water up out of the aquifer for our daily use. Q : What is an aquifer? A: An aquifer is defined as "An underground bed or layer of permeable rock, sediment, or soil that yields water." Q: What material makes up the Edwards Aquifer and how does it store water? A: The Edwards Aquifer consists of faulted and fractured carbonate limestone. There are Fish Hobby Supply a proud supporter of the HCCC 10% off web orders Foods, Plants, Invertebrates & Supplies vast networks of holey rock and lace rock (just like we use in our tanks) that hold water like the pores of a sponge. This network along with larger caverns pass water from one to another is where the water is stored. Q: How big and where is it? A: This is a loaded question. The easiest answer is it is about 180 miles long and 5-30 miles wide depending on location or approximately 3,600 square miles running southwest to northeast starting in Kinney county running through Uvalde, Medina, Bexar, Comal, and Hays counties to Travis county containing about 175 million acre feet of water along its length. This does not tell the whole story though. Along the 180 mile stretch there are vertical fractures that cut off the supply of water from one "pool" to the next. The 175 million figure is also misleading since most of the water is trapped in unusable pockets leaving a estimate of million acre feet of "usable" water, but if we use more than 10% of this water the springs that feed the Comal and San Marcos rivers will dry up which leaves us by my math million acre feet of true usable water. Q: What is the recharge zone and how does it work? A: That is another complex question. The obvious answer is a recharge zone is an area that refills or recharges the aquifer, but the way it is done is not so obvious. Most of the aquifer is what they call "confined" which means that the overlaying material is ether non-permeable or only semi-permeable. To get around this there are a couple of natural methods. We get about 10% of our recharge from natural seepage from the nearby Travis Aquifer, but the other ways are very interesting. What we call the recharge zone is actually two different areas; the contributing zone and the actual recharge zone. The contributing zone collects the run off and funnels it 4

5 The beautiful Comal River is a direct outflow of the Edwards Aquifer. down to the recharge zone. When the water collected in the contributing zone flows down the streams and creeks across the recharge zone it not only flows down steam, but it also flows across and consequently down fissures in the limestone beds. If you have ever seen a creek that is flowing great then just seems to peter out and then goes dry (Cibolo creek is a good example) and wondered why, this is what has happened. Sink holes are also use to recharge the aquifer by filling with rain water which then percolates down into the aquifer. There are also millions of fissures all across the recharge zone most we would never notice. These fissures act very similar to the ones in the stream beds but the collect rain water feeding it directly down into the aquifer or into an underground cavity that then percolates down into it. Now we have covered some of the very basics, allow me to share my thoughts with you. We are truly blessed to have such a simple yet complex and highly productive water source. It gives us its own barometer of its health even if we didn't have the J-17 well measurements. When she is healthy and at or near capacity, water flows from the San Antonio and San Pedro springs (sadly not in years) and when she is being over used we see diminished flows at San Marcos and Comal springs. She gives us some of the cleanest water of any municipality in the world only getting chlorine added instead of going through a long and expensive purifying process. The trace mineral content and KH and ph are absolutely awesome for the fish and plants that we keep. It supports a diverse and very unique set of species that we can call 5

6 The pristine waters of the Edwards Aquifer support a diverse assemblage of plant and animal life. our own. I am left wondering about the future of such a great and wonderful treasure. We are the 7th largest city in the U.S. With that comes many opportunities and challenges in managing this vital resource. We must all do our part in protecting it and not through over reaction but through our own responsible actions. Think of it this way, thanks to the wonderful hydraulics of our aquifer the next glass of water you drink may be more then 200 years old. Gabe's Fish and Exotic Pets a proud supporter of the HCCC 15% off Livestock and most supplies 5418 Glen Ridge San Antonio, TX (210) Upcoming Events November 14th OKAA Tulsa Chapter Meeting November 15th HCCC Fall Auction November 21st OKAA Stillwater Chapter Meeting December 5th HCCC Christmas Party Amazonia International a proud supporter of the HCCC Member discounts: 20% off Fish & Live Plants 10% off Tanks, Stands, Eheims & Eclipses 25% off Filters & Powerheads 4631 Airport #116 Austin, TX (512) December 12th TCA Christmas Party January 16th TCA Monthly Meeting Lisa s Lair Bookstore Online Books Various Discounts for HCCC Members 6

7 Astatotilapia callipterus, Astsatotilapi bloyeti and Astatotilpia burtoni were among the first haplochromine cichlids imported to the North American hobby. New to the Hobby Haplochromines Greg Steeves In recent years, a sector of the cichlid hobby has rocketed in popularity. There is a growing awareness of a group of fish we refer to as haplochromines. This moniker has its basis in the 1888 description of Haplochromis obliquidens by evolutionary scientist Frans Hilgendorf. Although there are many different lineages of cichlid fish, primarily from East Africa, the term haplochromis has become a generic term used to depict a group of quickly evolving mouth brooding cichlid fish that share common ancestry. Whether the interest stems from the smaller size of the brightly colored fish and their ability to so easily adapt to life in our aquariums, or from the growing knowledge that many of these fish no longer exist in the wild and with each passing day, those remaining lose more and more of their habitat, one thing is certain, cichlid hobbyists want these fish in their aquariums! Haplochromines are not new fish. Forty years ago Astatotilapia bloyeti, A. callipterus, and A. burtoni were available. In the 1950 s, Astatotilapia sp. thick skin (then erroneously named Haplochromis obliquidens) found their way to the US. In the mid 1980 s exportation of Lake Victoria haplochromines was well underway. A pioneer in this operation was the Swedish collector Bo Selbrink. Ultimately, many of the fish found by Selbrink in Lake Victoria, soon after fell victim to the Nile perch (Lates niloticus). Among the fish he incidentally saved from extinction is Prognathochromis perrieri. This charming little piscivore exists only in captivity today. Sadly, many fish collected during this time are now gone forever. Similar stories can be told of the Whitehead s in the Kyoga Basin, Les Kaufman and the Lake Victoria Species Survival Plan (LV-SSP) in Lake Victoria s Ugandan waters, Paul Loiselle in Kenya s Yala Swamp, and the fish studied in the Southern regions of Lake Victoria by the Haplochromis Ecological Study Team (HEST) and individuals such as Ole Seehausen and Yves Fermon. There have been no frequent cichlid exports from the Lake Victoria region since the 1990 s. 7

8 entire diverse group of fish from certain extinction. a proud supporter of the HCCC 15% off total purchase excluding specials, package deals, and sale items Wetmore Rd. San Antonio, TX (210) Astatotilapia sp. thick skin was among the first fish exported from the Lake Victoria region. Ironically, the lack of new wild stock into the aquatic hobby has had a positive impact on the haplochromine cichlid fish that are maintained in captivity. Many of us realize that there is no going back to the well for more. What we have is what there is. There has been a concretive effort by the hobbyist to learn all that is available, to propagate these fish and establish as many colonies with as many people that is possible. The success of programs such as C.A.R.E.S lies in the recognition that the hobbyist holds the last chance at survival for many species. This is a task that is not taken lightly. There have been many recent success stories showing that the average hobbyist has what it takes to save an Prognathochromis perrieri, originally collected in the 1980 s from Lake Victoria, is now considered extinct in the wild. Now that we have an international network in place to exchange information and cichlid species, haplochromines kept on one side of the Atlantic but not available on the other, moving fish is now an inconvenience, not impossibility. Anton Lamboj has been responsible for establishing transportation networks and he himself has introduced many fish species both from the wild and between continents, to respective aquarists. His efforts have been a huge boost to the hobby as well as to saving dwindling wild populations Lipochromis melanopterus from Makobe Island Lake Victoria is a recent import from American and European exchanges. 8

9 of cichlid species. We owe the recent establishment of Astatotilapia desfontainii and Astatotilapia flaviijosephi to Anton. He has also mentored people such as Ted Judy and Eric Bodrock in the art of transporting fish internationally. Through these avenues we now have Lipochromis melanopterus, Haplochromis cyaneus, Harpagochromis sp. orange rock hunter and Haplochromis thereuterion. Paralabidochromis sauvagei from Mwanza Gulf Lake Victoria is a 2007 addition to the hobby. Haplochromis thereuterion is beautiful and unusual cichlid from Lake Victoria. Another modern day aquatic explorer is a gentleman named Lawrence Kent. Lawrence has been able to reintroduce Psammochromis riponianus into the hobby. Together with Cory Koch, an incredible cichlid breeder from St. Louis, these two men have been able to establish multiple colonies throughout the US. There will quite possible be more to come from this team in the near future. Mbipia mbipi is another Mwanza Gulf import. Psammochromis riponianus from Entebbe Uganda. Lithochromis rufus from Mwanza is always in high demand within the hobby. Most haplochromine fish are extremely colorful. 9

10 AquaTek Tropical Fish a proud supporter of the HCCC 10% off Fish 8023 Burnet Rd. # 1 fish collected for scientific purposes that, although captivity maintained for many years, have never been introduced to the hobby. Through the efforts of people such as Paul Loiselle, the aquarist will see new fish from these enterprises in the future. In 2007 a glimmer of hope occurred when Laif Demason brought a good sized shipment of fish in from the Mwanza Bay Lake Victoria. We were able to establish stable groups of Mbipia mbipi, Paralabidochromis sauvagei, and Pundamilia nyererei from this. Hopefully we will see another sizeable wild importation to come. In Germany Erwin Schraml has been able to bring back fish from his travels to Africa. Much as Lawrence has done in the US, Erwin has done in Europe. Eventually, his discoveries usually make it to the North American hobby. Lipochromis sp. two stripe white lip is currently maintained by AZA s Lake Victoria Species Survival Plan. Perhaps hobbyists will soon get to work with this rare paedophage. Pundamilia nyererei from Mwanza gulf was an instant sensation with aquarists when first imported in Institutions and organizations such as HEST and the LVSSP sometimes, through unusually complicated avenues, release excess stock from their reserves. These are often Astatotilapia desfontainii is another recent addition to the cichlid hobby. Although there are hundreds of haplochromine cichlids that do not exist in the aquarium hobby, there is an attitude of urgency in some cases to be able to save these fish from extinction in the wild by maintaining them in captivity. Perhaps is it better to have new species trickle in. Maybe a massive introduction of new cichlids would 10

11 ANNOUNCING THE HCCC Astatotilapia flaviijosephi is a recent species to be added to the assemblage of beautiful haplochromines now being bred by aquarium hobbyists. subdue the excitement of being able to work with and display these new fish to others. Either way, it is more and more relevant that the responsibility of survival for many haplochromine fish lies with the cichlid hobbyist. Based on recent awareness and successes, I have a good feeling for the long term survival of this entire assemblage of creatures. EVENT OF THE YEAR 3636 Northwest Loop 410 San Antonio, TX Potluck Dinner RSVP only. See Members Section of HCCC Discussion Forum for details. Leslie s Pool Supply a proud supporter of the HCCC 20% off Pool Supplies 5-20% off selected items All Locations Guest Speaker Ted Judy Awards presentation and Christmas auction Members and their families only! 11

12 HCCC Leadership Group Robert De Leon Dave Hansen JB Edmundson Diane Tennison Dan Irwin Evan Bowers Greg Steeves HCCC Webmaster Robert DeLeon HCCC Database guru Evan Bowers HCCC Treasurer Dave Hansen Barbara Wooton Troy Veltrop Greg Steeves HCCC Auction Coordinator Dan Irwin Box Exchange Committee Dave Schumacher Greg Steeves HCCC Honorary Life Members Spencer Jack 2004 Robert De Leon 2006 Anton Lamboj 2007 Dave Hansen 2007 HCCC Membership Diane Tennison HCCC Meeting Coordinator Dan Irwin HCCC Librarian Takeru Garcia HCCC Lateral Line Editor Greg Steeves HCCC BAP Chairman Dan Schacht HCCC CARES Chairman Troy Veltrop HCCC CARES Coordinator Barbara Wooton HCCC CARES/International CARES Committee Claudia Dickinson Dave Hansen A special thank you to the following club supporters. Please keep these fine manufacturers in mind when visiting a club supporting store. Koller Craft Eco System Aquarium Cichlid News Magazine Hydor USA Zoo Med Labs. San Francisco Bay Brand Red Sea Drs. Foster & Smith Tetra Ginger Inc. Omega Sea Cichlid Press Central Aquatics 12

13 BAP Report Dan Schacht The BAP program was a great success and asset to the club this year. Club members came out and donated more than 100 different items into the club ranging from fry donations to parent donations and the greatest of all, articles! The fish spawned this year in the club have a geographic range from Africa to the American continents. All in all, almost 2000 points were earned this year by different members of the club! Thank you everyone who donated of your time and fish. The hobby is a better place with you than without! There are some changes to the BAP rules to help clarify certain aspects of the point award system. Only one rule modification actually affects the amount of points you can earn. Starting November 1 st, all articles that are submitted and published in the Lateral Line will be awarded 10 points, regardless whether or not the fish spawned was a first of species or not. For the exact wording and rules, please visit the Hill Country Cichlid Club website under the BAP section. BAP Year Standings 310 Nick 240 Greg 230 JB 185 Evan 170 Dan S. 125 Barbara 125 Dan I. 115 Ben 70 Tony 65 Jim 50 Matt 45 Allen 45 Mike 40 Dave S. 35 Dave H. 30 Tony B. 25 Robert D. 25 Brenda 15 Tak 15 Robert T. 15 Jim (petfrontier) 15 Ken 5 Jennifer Thanks everyone for the great year and let s Do it again in 2010! 13

14 Is The Hill Country Cichlid Club pleased to promote our relationship with Zoo Med Laboratories Inc. We are all fortunate to benefit by Zoo Med s outstanding contribution to the aquarium hobby Zoo Med products can be found at the following HCCC supporters: Amazonia International, Austin TX Gabe s Fish and Exotic Pets, San Antonio TX Darby s Tropicals, New Braunfels TX Pet Frontier, San Antonio TX Aquatek, Austin TX Dave s Rare Aquarium Fish, San Antonio TX 14

15 What is the C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program and What Can You do to Help Make a Difference? Troy Veltrop A CARES species only aquarium specifically created to house H. sp. ruby. The C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program is the vision of Claudia Dickinson and was founded in The "parent organization" to all C.A.R.E.S. member clubs, it offers to fish clubs across the US and Canada, a chance to implement the C.A.R.E.S. program into their clubs. The C.A.R.E.S. Preservation Program not only includes cichlids but also includes anabantids, catfish, cichlids, killifish, livebearers, loaches, rainbowfish, and other freshwater fish. Not to mention quite a few seahorses so both freshwater and marine clubs can implement the program. Today, many people are volunteers in the C.A.R.E.S. effort and without their contributions, past, present, and future, none of this would be possible. Please visit for more information. Even before we started HCCC CARES, several of our members have been hard at work for the C.A.R.E.S. effort. You all know Greg Steeves, with his passionate talks about C.A.R.E.S. and his informative articles and forum posts highlighting rare victorians and 15

16 of course Dave Hansen, whose photos regularly adorn the pages of the ACA's Buntbarsche Bulletin, our own Lateral Line and the HCCC forum. Both bring a lot of attention to the C.A.R.E.S. program. Please visit laterallinephotography.com for more of Dave's gorgeous photos. There is also our unsung group of CARES heros, our HCCC breeders. These folks not only dedicate space in their fishrooms for rare and endangered species but also give freely of their fry to be used as base stock for getting other C.A.R.E.S. clubs and schools up and running. Species like Pyxichromis orthostoma have been spread throughout the US, Canada, and Europe due to efforts of breeders like Dan Schacht, who has committed to the long term maintenance of this species. Way to go Dan! Nick Andreola, JB Edmundson, Dave Hansen, Mike Kaaki, and Greg Steeves, are just some of the other fine breeders we have who have been donating fry and equipment for the CARES effort. The illusive Haplochrmis sp. ruby. In February of 2009 the HCCC implemented the C.A.R.E.S. program. Since then just over twenty-five percent of our membership have registered fish in the program. Maintaining over 75 individual colonies, encompassing 40 different species, you have all shown how much the HCCC truly CARES. Great Job everyone. As Claudia says, "Because of you, we are making a difference!" A little research goes a long way towards success with cichlids. But how can you help? The guy or gal with just one tank? How can your one little tank make a difference? You'll be glad to know you can make a difference with as little as 40 gallons! Add a 10 gallon to that setup and you can begin saving those precious fry and sharing them with your friends. Although the small setup may limit species selection and how many fry you can grow out, HCCC CA- RES is not about how much you do but the fact that you take the time to care for even one species that may disappear without your tank. You can make a difference. Here's how: The first decision you should probably make is whether or not to keep a species only tank or a community tank. Personally, I'm a species tank sort of guy. Although HCCC CA- RES does not require you to maintain your fish in species only tanks, I highly recommend it if you are going to be breeding fish. It is very important that you do not allow any hybridization to occur in your tank. A community tank can be successful, but you must choose species that are likely not to cross with each other and, most importantly, provide proper male to female ratios for all species in a community tank. A species tank will eliminate these worries. 16

17 Next you need to look at what size of tank you can maintain. A 20 gallon long is perfect for the small species such as Enigmatochromis lucanusi, or Pelvicachromis sacrimontis but for most species on the CARES Conservation Priority List, I'd recommend a 40 gallon breeder as a minimum. There are some that will require much larger tanks, as large as 180 or 220 gallons, so researching your chosen species is very important. You will also need to be performing a routine maintenance such as water changes, filter cleaning, and tank cleaning. You should be available to feed every day or every other day. After figuring out how large of a tank you can maintain and if you want to maintain a species or community tank, you can begin your species selection by looking over the CARES Conservation Priority List and researching species that are in your target aquarium size range. I'll use my search to fill a 50 gallon breeder with a CARES species as an example. Lush plant growth mimics the marginal mangrove and papyrus groves where Haplochromis sp. ruby is found. A good starter species, and one of my favorite, is Haplochromis sp. 'ruby' from the drainage system of Lake Kyoga. A peaceful and most beautiful herbivore that dines by scraping algae off the dense vegetation in the lakes. Growing to a maximum size of 3.5" to 4", and being very peaceful, they are perfect for a 50 gallon breeder. Although found mainly in Lake Gigati, they are also found in Lake Nawampasa. A heavily planted tank would be suitable if you are looking to recreate a natural environment. Both Ceratophyllum sp. (hornwort) and Nymphaea sp. can be found in the lakes and are very easy to acquire. Driftwood would also be an appropriate addition to your H. sp. 'ruby' tank. I house my colony of Haplochromis sp. 'ruby', 2 males and 4 females, in a 50 gallon breeder that is heavily planted and choked with driftwood. The tank is also home to six Synodontis flavitaeniata. The tank is choked with plants. Included are Ceratophyllum demersum (hornwort), Nymphaea zenkeri (both red and green), Nymphaea stellata, as well as some unknown species that grew from "wonder bulbs". There are also Nymphaea stellata bulbs and Nymphaea zenkeri bulbs that are beginning to poke up. All plants came from Greg at and I highly recommend him. When I told him I was trying to recreate a marginal region of a Kyoga finger-lake area, he was quick to find just what I needed. After getting the plants and driftwood in, the dominant male immediately staked out his territory under a piece of driftwood. The sub dominat male and females all hide in the plant cover and will usually argue with the Synodontis flavitaeniata over who gets to occupy the next best piece of real estate; an overturned piece of driftwood that makes a nice cave. At times, all of the H. sp. 'ruby' can be seen scraping the algae off the leave of the plants or the walls of the aquarium. The plants show evidence of their feeding as they are constantly being torn as they scrape 17

18 off the algae. They will also sift through the substrate, which is sand and pea gravel mixed. The tank is lit with a 4' shop fixture that has two 40 watt plant bulbs installed. The lights are left on about 12 to 14 hours a day to facilitate plant growth. This amount of light causes quite a bit of algae to grow on the tank sides and on the plant leaves themselves but that is the result I desired. Given the abundance of algae growing in the tank, and their willingness to graze, I do not feed them a large amount of flake. When I do, I use 100% spirulina flake and I feed sparingly. I do toss in the occasional treat of live or frozen food for even H. sp. ruby cannot pass up the opportunity to add a little meat to it s herbivorous diet. This was made painfully clear to me one day as I was trying to net a holding female who spit all her fry in the tank. Within a blink of an eye, the other rubys made short work of the fry in the fastest feeding frenzy I ve ever witnessed. Just because a fish is a herbivore, does not mean that they stick to that diet 100% of the time. You do not want to overdo the treats though, H. sp. ruby is designed for a vegetarian diet. Excessive amounts of animal proteins and fats will cause intestinal problems in herbivorous fish so limit quantities and frequency of feeding to a minimum. The ph of the water in the tank is around 8.2 and the KH and GH are around 250ppm (mg/l). I don t fiddle with my water, it comes from the well this way. The driftwood in the tank does cause it to yellow a bit due to the tannins but it doesn t seem to be affecting the water otherwise. Tank maintenance is pretty simple and quick. Once a week I do a 50% water change, vacuum the gravel, and clean the front glass. Filtration is accomplished with an AquaClear 70 that I clean once a week during this water change. I rinse the bio max media in some of the tank water that I have drained into a bucket and squeeze out the sponge. Unless there is an impeller blockage or one of the intake tubes is plugged up, I do not clean the filter any further. I do, however, keep the outside of the filter nice and squeaky clean. It is easy to wipe down the outside of the filter with a damp rag at each cleaning and it keeps all those hard water stains from building up on the exterior. Nymphaea species add to the allure of the aquarium. Breeding will most certainly happen if you keep up with tank maintenance and have a good male to female ratio, such as a couple of females to each male. My H. Sp. ruby spawns in front of his driftwood cave. When he is spawning, most all the others are kept in the upper right corner of the tank, despite the numerous hiding spots. He will circle the willing female, shaking violently, and dragging his anal across the sand. The female will circle also, depositing several eggs, and quickly turning to pick them up. The male continues to drag his anal fin along the sand and the female, seeing his eggspots and thinking she has forgotten some eggs, will try to pick them up. At which time the male will fertilize the eggs. This will continue until the 18

19 female has laid all her eggs and they have been fertilized by the male. She will carry the eggs for another 18 to 20 days as they develop. For most of this time, I will leave the female in the main tank and she will hide in plants or in a driftwood cave. Membership tidbits After day 15 or so, I will pull the female from the main tank and put her in a 10 gallon to release her young and regain strength. She will continue to care for the fry for a couple of weeks or so and it is very neat to watch her suck all the fry back into her mouth when I get too close. She will usually spit them out in the morning and also to feed. She will suck them all back into her buccal cavity overnight or when danger approaches. It is most interesting to watch. Keeping her separate for release will also increase the number of fry you can save. I keep the female in with the fry for a week or two, or until she stops to care for them. During this time I feed crushed spirulina flake but also place rocks with algae growing on them as a more natural food source. When the female starts to ignore the fry, I toss her back into the main tank. As the fry grow, they will eventually start to graze the algae covered rocks in the growout tank. It is very entertaining to watch the little ones explore the tank and start to claim their territories. I d highly recommend the addition of Haplochromis sp. ruby to any beginning CA- RES collection. They are peaceful, can be maintained in a relatively small aquarium, and will provide you many hours of entertainment. A perfect species for your first registration in HCCC CARES. Diane Tennison Looks like the automated membership renewal reminders are going out on schedule! Check your and our new system should let you know when your membership is due. Another thing - if you are renewing your membership - please go ahead and complete a new membership application. This will ensure that we always have your most current mailing address. I've been having a problem with mail return due to incorrect addresses. If you have not received your card this is more than likely the issue. 19

20 Allen M. Abrahams Lamprologus calliurus Magara OG male and a bruised female the day I took them home from Doug s November Lamprologus calliurus Magara or calliurus Magara, is a shell spawning native to the snail shell beds of the Magara region on Lake Tanganyika, Africa. The climate is tropical with water temperatures in the mid 70's to 80 and native waters for this fish are ph of 8.6. I obtained a mature adult breeding group, 1 male and four females from Reserve Stock Cichlids (ProAqua) owner Doug Conklin. Males achieve a size of about 4 inches and their breeding dress is light brown with an orange dot above and slightly behind the eye; below it a light iridescent purple blue coloring that extends to the lip. Its jaw has a thick upturned mouth with fangs. Careful, they can bite and draw blood. The body fins and lyre caudal fin have long tendrils trailing from them. The male s fright coloration is dark checkerboard markings over the normal light brown and the other markings fade. Females achieve a size of two inches and are similar to the male but without the long fin tendrils. Few females may have a slight lyre tail. Breeding dress is checkerboard body with an iridescent blue cast under the checkering. The fish bred in a 20 gallon long tank which contained aragonite sand and was decorated with Haitian conch, turbo, whelk and vole shells. The tank was filtered by a Penguin Bio-Wheel 330, and a 3" hydro sponge. The water had a ph of 78 F. I performed weekly water changes equal to 40% to 50% of the tank volume. I used fluorescent lighting for 14 hours each day. They were fed NLS, spiralina, Cyclop-Eeze and frozen brine shrimp. When spawning, the male s body gets a slight iridescent blue. The blue below and orange 20

21 dots above the eyes intensify as he flairs his fins. Females change to a checkerboard body with an iridescent blue cast under the checkering. Calliurus Magara are mildly aggressive fish yet can be kept in a small tank. They are harem breeders that tolerate multiple generations in their tank. The female chooses a small shell that the male can not fully enter; she presents herself to the male and the male reciprocates by forcing her toward the shell by biting her side. I have seen similar behavior in Altolamprologus species. The female laid an unknown number of eggs. After spawning, the female tended to stay in the shell a few days. The male moved on to another female. It was difficult to tell how long it took for the eggs to hatch, as they are kind of secretive and tiny. I also had the 60 or so fry that came with the group in the tank. I think they had hatched many days before I saw free swimmers. As they are harem breeders, it was difficult to tell which female s fry was which. Approximately 80 or so eggs were viable and hatched. The fry were a light tan in color and microscopic in size. They swam freely and stuck close to the substrate. There were no yoke sacs. The previous generation stayed up higher in the water column. The females abandoned their shells eventually and swim above the fray. The fry didn't require any special care on my part. I left them in the 20 gallon tank with parents. Once the fry appeared, neither parent exhibited any tendency to care for the fry. I started the fry off on Cyclop-Eeze, and daphnia. After a month I started feeding NLS and frozen baby brine shrimp. The fry grew slowly. Lamprologus calliurus Magara live with several generations in a tank. As a young male comes of age, he will challenge the dominant male. If the dominant male loses, it goes to the furthest corner from the territory. Females present themselves to the dominant male and sometimes challenge the other females as they tempt the male. This was actually an easy fish to keep and breed. I became overwhelmed with fry quickly. Spawning stopped when the tank became too crowded. Overall a very good experience, I still keep them though I lost the original breeding group. This line of fish is great for a small tank setup and is surprisingly beautiful. I would recommend them to other keepers of Africans with limited space. Be prepared for a fairly long grow out period. They may reach an inch in nine months. Breeding started after a year. A large tank with more feedings and water changes may speed this up. A sampling of the cichlid species catalogued by Lawrence Kent October 2009 Nyegezi Bay Lake Victoria. 21

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