Volume 2, Issue 25. August 2007

Transcription

1 Volume 2, Issue 25 August 2007

2 The Lateral Line Page 2 BAP Report A record will be set for the rainiest and coolest 6 months of this year here locally in Texas. Our Breeders Program has been dry and hot and also set a record (that I know of). There have been 11 entries for the month of July and 5 of which have been submitted by Greg (GAS). The Vic-man has is fish working overtime. August 23, 2007 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Scheduled Speakers 4 Event Schedule 6 Show Classes/Sponsors 7 Parachromis managuensis 8 Gobiocichla wonderi 12 Greg started off the month with the entry of Ptyochromis sp. "salmon". Next was a 1st of species entry Haplochromis sp. "fine bar scraper". Another 1st of species entry was the Paralabidochromis sp. "red fin piebald". Shortly two more 1st of species followed, the Xystichromis sp "dayglow" and Ctentochromis polli. Of his five entries this month, four were 1st of species and one was listed in the ESP. Congratulations Greg and this shows why you are a Master Breeder. Diane (Gryhouse) submitted two entries this month and the first was the Xystichromis phytophagus (Christmas fulu). This entry supported two of our programs, the BAP and ESP. Another entry is the Ophthalmotilapia heterodonta, a 1st of species and a class "C". Congratulations Diane on your entries and thanks for participating in both programs. Congratulations to Kenneth (Shelload) on his entries of Protomelas steveni "Taiwan Reef" and Pseudotropheus crabro. Congrats again, Kenneth and your just one entry away from the next level in the BAP. Congratulations on two entries from Dave (Mullet); Neolamprologus multifasciatus and Gobiocichla wonderi. The Multis are one of Dave's favorite "shell dweller". The wonderi is a 1st of species and a "C" class entry, congrats Dave. Cover Art: By Jennifer Prince The fish have cooperated with us to make July a great month for our BAP, not only with 1st of species and "C" class fish but helping with our Endangered Species Program. Congratulations again, guys and gal, great job! Jim Beck

3 The Lateral Line Page 3 HCCC Monthly Photo Contest First Place Diane Tennison Lamprologus multifasciatus Second Place Tie Yvonne Beever Scobinancistrus aureatus "Goldie Pleco" L014 Second Place Tie Dave Hansen Pseudotropheus pulpican

4 The Lateral Line Page 4 F.O.T.A.S 2007: Scheduled Speakers Juan Miguel Artigas Azas Juan Miguel is an aquarist in San Luis Potosí, México (the very center of it). He has loved fish since he can remember and has kept them steadily in home aquariums for over 25 years now. His main interest are Central American Cichlids and Mexican fishes, but he is also very interested in any other type of fish. Although he mainly maintains Mexican Cichlids, Poeciilids, Goodeids and Cyprinodontids. Juan Miguel is the creator and editor of the Cichlid Room Companion. His love for computers and nature, together with the revolutionary development of Internet was too much for him to let the opportunity to create this page pass along. He has found that the maintenance of a real good home page is a life time enterprise, and he is ready to cope to that. Juan Miguel enjoys traveling to the natural habitats of the fish he enjoys, where he obtains underwater pictures of them. He likes to observe them, trying to understand their natural Dave s Rare Aquarium Fish a proud supporter of the HCCC 5121 Crestway Drive Suite 300 San Antonio, TX (210) Member discounts history and relationships. He has managed to obtain a great knowledge on the biology and geographical distribution of the fishes in Mexico. This gives to his conferences an originality and special interest. Juan Miguel has written several articles on Mexican and Central American Freshwater fish, mainly on cichlids, for several club and aquarium publications. He has also been honored with the invitation as lecturer in fish oriented conventions in several countries, including México, United States, Belgium, Canada, England, Netherlands, Norway, France, Italy and Germany. Juan Miguel is part of the American Cichlid Association - Marineland speakers program. Anton Lamboj Anton Lamboj was born 1956 and has been an aquarist since the age of ten. Around 1980, he began to take a special interest in the cichlids of West and Central Africa. This interest eventually led, in 1988, to the beginning of his academic education at the University of Vienna, an undertaking made while continuing to work full-time. He was awarded his Master's degree in 1993 and his Ph.D. in 1997; both works were focused on the systematics of West African cichlids. In addition to his "day" job, Anton Lamboj has worked as a lecturer at the University of Vienna since He teaches

5 The Lateral Line Page 5 general biology of fishes, with the biology of perciform fishes as a more specialized goal, as well as instructing on didactics. Additionally, he works on the systematics and evolutionary biology of chromidotilapiine cichlids using morphological and anatomical methods, coupled with ethological studies and molecular methods. Over the years, Anton Lamboj has made 13 field/collecting trips to Africa. In his works he has collaborated with several leading scientific institutions (e.g., the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Musée Royal de l'afrique Central in Tervuren). He has authored over 100 papers (both academic and hobbyist) in six languages, including two books. The above accomplishments, coupled with the numerous presentations he has made in various countries, are indications of his scientific and aquaristic competence when discussing western African cichlids. Spencer Jack Spencer has been active within the aquaria hobby since the age of five. A true "cichlidiot", he has been working exclusively with cichlids over the last twenty years. Spencer has been an active hobbyist within Winnipeg for a number of years. Some of his roles within the fish hobbyist community include; Co-founder of the Aquarium Society of Winnipeg (1989), Founder and President of the Canadian Cichlid Association (2000). Spencer's ever-expanding fishroom is currently home to Rift Lake and Central American cichlids. Spencer is currently a student at the University of Manitoba. All of Spencer's lectures are full multimedia presentations through use of PowerPoint featuring almost entirely original pictures taken by Spencer through his years in the hobby and travels across North America. Spencer is a part of the American Cichlid Association - Marineland speakers program. Dave Hansen Dave has lived throughout the US and abroad and currently resides in San Antonio Texas with his wife Melinda and their two boys. An avid aquarist for many years, Dave s interest is almost exclusively the family cichlidae. Among his favorites animals are the cichlid fish of West Africa. Dave mixes the aquarium hobby with his other passion, photography. His work has appeared in many hobby related books and magazines. He is a contributing photographer and author on the Cichlid Room Companion as well as Cichlid-Forum. He is currently working on a lexicon of haplochromine cichlids; part of an international project. Dave brings his knowledge of aquarium photography to us in a lecture entitled Photography 101. This talk includes the basics of aquarium photography and photo finishing. His speech is aimed at the novice with either point and shoot' or DSLR equipment. Profiles courtesy of The Cichlid Room Companion.

6 The Lateral Line Page 6 F.O.T.A.S 2007: Event Schedule Friday Sept 7th 4:00 P.M. Registration opens Showroom opens for show entries 7:00 P.M. Lecture - Photography Dave Hansen 9:00 P.M. Lecture - Herichthys, the northern cichlids - Juan Miguel Artigas Azas Saturday Sept 8th 9:00 A.M. Lecture - Spencer Jack Sunday Sept 9th 8:00 A.M. Auction Registration Opens 11:00 A.M. All show fish must be vacated from showroom Auction Begins This is a terrific group of speakers. Even if the lecture topic may not appeal to you, the experience and knowledge of each speaker will broaden your understanding and interests in cichlids. 10:30 A.M. Lecture - Anton Lamboj Noon Lunch break F.O.T.A.S. Officers Meeting 2:00 P.M. Lecture - Central American Rheophilus Cichlids - Juan Miguel Artigas Azas 4:00 P.M. Lecture - Spencer Jack 7:00 P.M. Banquet with speaker - Anton Lamboj 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)

7 The Lateral Line Page 7 F.O.T.A.S 2007: Show Classes and Sponsors Best of Show Daves Rare Aquarium Fish Best of Show Catfish Cichlid Shopper of Texas People Choice Award Texas Cichlid Association Class A - Central and South American Cichlids Cichlid Room Companion 1 - Cichlids under 4" NY Cichlids 2 - Cichlids over 4" M&M Specialties 3 - Discus* Texas Cichlid Association Class B - Lake Tanganyikan Cichlids Texotic fish 4 - Tropheus, Petrochromis, Gobies, Frontosa NY Cichlids 5 - Cyprichromis, Paracyprichromis, Featherfins, Xenotilapia, Callochromis Rob Teague 6 - Neolamps, Julies, Telmatochromis, Altolamprologus Petfrontier Class C - Lake Malawian Cichlids Texas Cichlid Association 7 - Mbuna NY Cichlids 8 - Aulonocara Cichlid Shopper of Texas 9 - Protomeleus, Otopharynyx, Nimbochromis, Placidochromis Texotic Fish Class D - Other African and Asian Cichlids Other East African Lake Cichlids Furu Fanatics 11 -Riverine haplochromines: Pseudocrenilabrus, Thoracochromis Pelvicachromis, Hemichromis, Orthochromis, Steatocranus C.A.F.E. (Columbus Area Fish Enthusiasts) 13 - All Others - Tilapia, Barombi Mbo cichlids, Asian cichlids, Madagascarian Texas Cichlid Association Class E - Catfish Cichlid Shopper of Texas 14 -Synodontis Kathy and Marvin England 15 -All other catfish Adornments De Leon Class F - Art Adornments De Leon 16 - Photography Lateral Line Photography 17 - Crafts Alishan Aquarium Society *Hybrids and non-natural strains not eligible for best in show Speaker Sponsors: Juan Miguel Furu Fanatics Spencer Jack Diane Tennison Anton Lamboj Texotic Fish Dave Hansen FOTAS Pet Frontier a proud supporter of the HCCC 15% off total purchase excluding specials, package deals and sale items Wetmore Rd. San Antonio, TX (210)

8 The Lateral Line Page 8 Species Profile: Parachromis managuensis I had always wanted some sort of big, mean fish. My LFS had some small black belts (Vieja maculicauda) and one was purchased for a recently acquired 125 gallon tank. He grew into a beautiful specimen of 8 or 9 inches and I was looking forward to seeing him develop into a full size fish. Unfortunately I woke one morning to find him on the floor, under the tank, dead as a doornail. He had somehow managed to jump out of the back of the tank through a 2 inch gap! I was heartbroken.until I realized that this freed up a large tank for me to fill with whatever I wanted. I quickly decided on Parachromis managuensis. I was not really looking to grow out some young fish again. I wanted something big enough to be seen immediately. The first place I thought to look was Jeff Rapp's site. After talking a bit with him about it I decided on a wild caught pair of about 8-10" that had already spawned in Jeff's tank. Perfect! They arrived in great shape and I dropped them into their new home. There was some aggression between them at first so I put a divider in to be on the safe side. After a couple days they were eating pellets with gusto. Once the weekend rolled around I removed the divider and all was well. Two weeks later there were about 1000 eggs on a piece of holy rock. I didn't even notice them at first because they completely covered the rock and were close to the same color. These are amazing fish. Beautiful and absolutely full of attitude! If you ever find yourself with an empty, large tank, try some jags. You won't be disappointed. As stated previously, these fish are fairly large. Most sources state the max size at about 22 inches for the males, with the females remaining smaller. This may be true in the wild, but I have never seen or heard of any jags larger than 16 inches in the hobby. They will reach sexual maturity at about 4 inches and the female will lay around 500 eggs. The Photo by Kevin Simms number of eggs will go up as the fish mature and they will be able to produce easily. When not in spawning dress the male is covered with leopard like markings on a gold to purple background, depending on mood. The female is more of a gold color with the same sort of markings as the male, along with a prominent row of large black markings from the eye to the tail. This row of markings becomes more apparent during spawning, but

9 The Lateral Line Page 9 the male will lose them as he gets older. It is fairly easy to differentiate the sexes once the fish have matured a bit. Females will be smaller and thicker bodied and the males will take on a purple-like hue. Christi tap water is just fine for these guys. According to my latest water quality report, our tap water has an average ph of 7.6 with a TDS of 494. I can't remember the last time I tested my water but it's probably pretty close to the report. Water temperature is kept at around degrees. I perform weekly water changes of about 50% and vacuum the gravel as well. This is always Parachromis managuensis was originally described by Albert Günther in 1859 as Heros managuensis. It has also been seen as Cichlasoma managuense and Nandopsis managuensis and is a synonym of Parachromis gulosus. The type locality for this species is Lake Nicaragua. It can be found in Central America from the Ulua River in Honduras to the Matina River in Costa Rica. Mexico and El Salvador are two other areas jags can be found, although they were introduced here by humans and do not occur naturally. P. managuensis often inhabit turbid lakes that are lacking in oxygen due to highly eutrophic conditions. The substrate can be anything from mud bottom to sandy and covered with debris. Jaguar cichlids are a valuable food fish for locals. I haven't tried any yet The parents are housed in a 6 ft 125 gallon tank with a wooden stand. The tank is in my den and they can watch me watch TV and try to attack me through the glass. Filtration is accomplished via two canister filters. One 2217 and one XP3 do a good job of keeping the water clear. The sand in this tank came with it when the tank was purchased. I'm not sure what it is but I do like that it is dark in color. The tank is decorated with a couple of large pieces of PVC pipe and some holey rock. I added a piece of slate for a spawning surface. Good ol' Corpus Photo by Kevin Simms River City Aquatics a proud supporter of the HCCC Member discounts: 20% off livestock 10% off dry goods / 10% off aquariums Roxie Dr., Suite D Austin, TX (512)

10 The Lateral Line Page 10 a challenge as these fish are not afraid to attack the python or my hands. It's even worse if fry are present! I am forced to fend them off with a net in my left hand and work the python with my right. It really adds a new aspect to weekly maintenance. In the wild P. managuensis eats small fish and macro invertebrates, but my pair Photo by Kevin Simms has adjusted well to prepared foods. In fact, they will eat anything that hits the water. I like to feed a variety of foods. Their diet right now consists of Cichlid Sticks, Omega One cichlid pellets, Dainichi Primary Krill, Dainichi Ultima, and Hikari Gold. From time to time they are also given live Endler's, crickets, mealworms and grasshoppers. They will even take mealworms right from your fingers. When there are no fry present I feed them twice a day, and either skip feedings on Saturday and Sunday or just feed once a day. If there are fry in the tank I usually will feed the adults once per day. The adults will choose a rock to be the spawning site and will clean it with their mouths, all the while displaying to one another and making dry runs. This will go on for a few days and if the female is ready she begins to lay the eggs with the male waiting his turn to fertilize. They will continue on taking turns laying and fertilizing until they are finished. I have never been able to time an entire spawning so I'm not sure how long it all takes. From here on out the female usually takes over fanning the eggs with fresh water while the male tries to kill anything that comes into the room. They become extremely aggressive when they have eggs and do not like even being looked at from across the room. They both will still eat occasionally but they are extremely devoted to the eggs and won't leave them unattended for more than a second or two. After approximately 3 days the eggs will hatch into wrigglers. Once they have all hatched the parents will move them to a previously dug pit where they will remain until they become free swimming in about 5 more days. The mother will then begin to lead the cloud of tiny fry about the tank, getting further from the pit each day while the male continues his guard duty. Overall this pair has been exceptional parents and each subsequent spawn has resulted in viable fry. Once the fry become free swimming I will begin feeding them with crushed Tetra Micro- Crabs (cyclop-eeze granules) and crushed flake. They will also forage food all about the tank and some will even feed on the slime coat of the parents, mostly that of the male. I left the first batch in with the parents while

11 The Lateral Line Page 11 culling heavily to reduce the numbers to something more manageable. The culled fry were fed to other fish. A little more than one month later the pair spawned again. I wasn't ready to dedicate another tank for grow out just yet so I decided to leave the original spawn in with the parents and the new batch. This worked out okay for a day or so, and then the parents started chasing away the original fry. I put an egg crate divider in place to give the fry somewhere to escape. Soon they were feeding on the second batch of fry and growing like crazy. I decided it was time to move them to a 75 gallon grow out tank. I caught all the fry with a net and a few days later found even more hiding among the rocks. I'm down to 13 grow outs at this point and they are all doing great and growing quickly. I use the same maintenance routine on the grow out tank that I use for the parents. The fry are now eating frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, NLS pellets and Tetra MicroCrabs. There is one in AquaTek Tropical Fish a proud supporter of the HCCC 10% off Fish 8023 Burnet Rd. # 1 Austin, TX (512) particular who is larger than all the rest and I am curious to see if he will continue to be the largest or if the others will catch up. I'm hoping for my very own "Jumbo." My experience with P. Managuensis has been truly rewarding. These fish are very interactive and make for a great display and their Photo by Kevin Simms parenting is second to none. I can't wait to see them reach their full size potential. Everyone should try some big cichlids at some time or another, and if it doesn't work out you can always fire up the grill and enjoy some smoked filets! Kevin Simms

12 The Lateral Line Page 12 Species Profile: Gobiocichla wonderi If you haven't had a chance to keep a West African cichlid, then let me introduce a perfect candidate for your first species. Gobiocichla wonderi may appear to be a very subtle looking fish, but they have tons of personality and are quite attractive in their own right. Photo by Dave Hansen To begin, let's take a top level look at the genus Gobiocichla. Currently there are two members of the genus, ethelwynnae and the type species wonderi. They are a rheophilic (preferring a rapid current) fish that inhabit the fast moving waters of the upper and middle Niger River Delta, and also occur in the Cross River system in western Cameroon. This is very obvious upon first glance; they are very elongated with a compressed body. These bottom dwellers have a reduced swim bladder which is apparent as soon as they stop moving their fins, they sink like a rock. Their mouth is situated very low on the head and is not very large at all. Literature also indicates they have a very long intestine, which is common in many fish whose diet consist of primarily algae. They also dine on microorganisms. Their is very limited information that is easily available on this genus. I would highly recommend Anton Lamboj's book, "The Cichlid Fishes of Western Africa", for more information on this and many other cichlids. In lieu of the lack of published information, I really want to focus on my personal observations and experience with this wonderful cichlid. Let's start with the appearance of Gobiocichla wonderi. This cichlid has a very distinctive look. You could almost call them bizarre. They are a very elongated fish that reach a length of 4-5". Females are a little shorter not as stout as the males. By less stout I mean they are not only shorter but seem to lack the girth and height of the males. When a pair is resting next to each other, sexual dimorphism is easily distinguishable. I find the head of this creature to be the most Leslie s Pool Supply a proud supporter of the HCCC 20% off Pool Supplies 5-20% off selected items All Locations Test kits and Pond Supplies

13 The Lateral Line Page 13 entertaining feature to observe. The cranial region is definitely as compressed as the rest of their body, which makes it look much longer than it is tall. The eyes are large and are a lovely gold and black coloration. In addition the mouth is very small. The upper lip is much more distinct than the lower. Topping it off is a mouthful of obviously visible red teeth. The rounded pectoral fins are positioned immediately behind the gill plates. The pelvic fins are extended constantly and the majority of the times are being used to prop the fish up on the substrate. The dorsal fin is not a prominent feature of this animal and has a very low profile. The overall coloration of the fish is a yellow-brown. There is also a black stripe that runs the entire length of the body (mid laterally) from the caudal region to the lips. There is another broken stripe that runs below the dorsal and into the head. Color intensity can be quite dramatic. I have found that when comfortable, the fish is very lightly colored. When its mood is elevated from either a desire to breed or aggressiveness, they darken up considerably where the black stripes can barely be distinguished. I prefer this coloration, but unfortunately this also usually means trouble and I have to watch the tank a little closer. Feeding has been simplistic. I acquired four small wild caught specimens and I have had no trouble enticing them to eat. They greedily consume algae flakes. I also supplement their feeding with New Life Spectrum pellets as well as frozen mysis and brine shrimp. They have been slow growing but I really don't feed very heavily. I have also observed them scraping algae from the surface of rocks as well. I would like to discuss the tank setup next. I have them housed in a 30 gallon long tank. The substrate is fine sand, which I use for all my tanks. I have quite a bit of rock work in Photo by Dave Hansen the tank and lots of artificial plants. I have heard from others that they are highly aggressive with each other. With this in mind I arranged the tank with as many limited sight lines as possible. The tank is filtered with a medium size Aquaclear filter. This species requires highly oxygenated water. I find that for many riverine type cichlids, one should attempt to recreate the fish's natural environment. My tank resembles a whirlpool with filters and powerhead going full blast. An important consideration to realize is that their bodies are designed to stay OUT of all the fast

14 The Lateral Line Page 14 moving water. I ensure the water is well oxygenated and keep water movement to a minimum. I will usually place a rock under the flow of the filter and allow a small amount of water movement from the flow bouncing off the rock. I have used this method for all my riverine types and it works fine. I prefer that Photo by Dave Hansen the tank lighting be subdued. In this arrangement Gobiocichla wonderi seems much more at ease and will reward its keeper with enhanced coloration. I use a glass top on the tank and use a light strip placed right over the plastic that joins to the 2 pieces of the glass top together. This mutes a good portion of the luminosity. I am very particular on water changes and they get 20-25% water change weekly. Our water in South Texas has a ph of 8.2 and is very hard, and the G. wonderi are thriving. I had heard the horror stories of trying to maintain this species in the aquarium. They have a reputation for slaughtering each other. After setting up my tank as mentioned before, I placed four individuals into the tank. Three of the four were roughly the same size, while the last one was a little larger. I had a group of five Anomalochromis thomasi already established in the tank. My first notable observation was that the largest one staked out a rock on one side and was rarely ever seen, except for feeding. The remaining three interacted with other for awhile, but before too long a hierarchy was established. The dominant individual of the thre spent most of its time on the substrate in the open. The other two tended to perch themselves on the plants in the upper portion of the tank. Nobody was overly aggressive and all were eating fine. I am thinking at this point that their unruly and rough nature had been overblown. One day during a feeding they all emerged to eat. Within a minute the largest, a male, totally annihilated one of the smaller ones. I have seen some fish beatings before but nothing like this. It was over before I could even react to grab a net. Fins were shredded or missing all together. A portion of the lip had been removed and some smaller chunks of body were gone. The unfortunate fish died within minutes. The odd observation was that the other two never left the scene. Both remained close by and watched the entire incident with no fear at all. Of course now I am on constant tank watch for more of

15 The Lateral Line Page 15 this activity, but a couple of months elapsed with no further displays of aggression. I turned on the lights one afternoon and there is another body in the tank. It should be noted the thomasi were never bothered during any of this and looked fine. I am convinced I will be down to 1 wonderi before too long and might have to re-think my strategy for keeping this cichlid. It wasn't too long before the remaining two were hanging out together constantly. Though I understood they were very weak pair bonders, these two looked very bonded and constantly moved throughout the tank together. After awhile the male stopped coming out to feed and I started to get nervous. I started making sure that some food found its way to him in the corner and he would eat anything that floated by. He had himself a little cave in the rocks and didn't seem to want to leave. I was hopeful that he may be preparing to entice the female into breeding. A few weeks went by and nothing was happening. Of course, when you stop paying attention, something occurs. I went to turn on the tank lights one afternoon and I saw something scoot into the rocks real quick. The male had positioned himself in front of the rocks. I threw some food into the aquarium and sure enough three little fry scooted out to eat. They had a different pattern then the adults. They have vertical stripes and were not extremely elongated. I crushed up some algae flakes and they ate eagerly. I observed the tank closely and never saw more than the three young. I have no idea how big the broods usually are, but I was thrilled none the less. The parents guarded the little ones for about five weeks, and the female was much more involved in parental care than the male. Once they gained some size, I removed them from the tank and placed them in a 20 long. The fry are doing great and are growing slowly. The adult pair still hangs around constantly and I have not witnessed any signs that their status has or will change. Photo by Dave Hansen In conclusion, this is a great fish to consider if you are interested in West African cichlids. They spend most of their time out in the tank and are moving constantly form one perching spot to another. Their unique appearance always makes them a favorite when people come over to visit. I really enjoy keeping "Westies" and have a number of species, but these are among my favorites and really hope to see them make their way into more hobbyists' tanks!! Dave Hansen

16 The Lateral Line Official Publication of the Hill Country Cichlid Club