Breeding the Herichthys labridens
Written by Sunday, 12 September 2010 22:37
Years ago I had a habit: rather than buying my fish from an LFS I used to collect them from the wild when I visited particular biotopes. My Hericthys labridens are F1 fish, descendents of some fish we collected with some friends from the AIC when we visited Mexico. The wild caught fish were collected at the Media Luna channel (Huasteca region, State of San Luis Potosi) when they were roughly about two centimeters TL (slightly less than one inch). They were carefully bagged one by one and travelled to Bologna, Italy. My current colony originated in the tank of one of those trip mates.
Once in Italy the fish were quarantined and subsequently placed in a 800 lit tank (built on purpose) to grow. They eventually grew to be large, healthy fish; the colony, luckily, had a good sex ratio. Yet the fish proved to be a bit stubborn when it came to spawning, as it sometimes happens with wild cichlids. To make a long story short I had almost forgotten about this colony when one day, out of the blue, I got a phone call informing me that fry of the “Yellow labridens” – at 1 cm (half an inch) – where available. At the annual AIC meeting in September in Faenza I got 15 of them, together with 5 Torichthys maculipinnis.
As my newly acquired fish were growing it became apparent that they needed more space. Though, regrettably, three specimens of the original group did not make it and despite the clever aquascaping - including an abudance of plants - territorial fights were breaking out too often. It was time to move to move the colony to their 'final destination'.
While I was planning the aquascaping of the new tank to house this colony I took into account some observations I made while these fish were growing up. In particular I noticed that:
When the fish were averaging 10cm TL:
- they were still not particularly aggressive neither did they show extreme territorial behaviours (the T. maculipinnis were happily swimming with them, two of them can be seen in the photo above),
- they still had a grayish, dull colour. To see them through this stage and into the large, colourful cichlid they will eventually become is a long, tiring, sometimes annoying, task. You have to be patient.
- the plants (Vallisneria gigantea and Anubia barteri) were still unharmed and doing well. In the long run it turned out that only the Anubia would make it.
The substrate of the 300 lit tank was fine gravel, on which I planted plants and placed branches and a stone. For the new tank I chose a different substrate, a larger gravel size, as these fish tend to dig a lot thus lifting a lot of sand and debris which gets in the water column and destroying the plants. The larger gravel limited the debris getting in the water column which made filtration easier. The downside was that the tank looked less 'natural' - at least to me.
For the colony's final quarters I chose my 750 lit tank, which at home we call the “Mammaluccone”: it is roman slang that, roughly, can be translated as the “Old Fat Dude”. This tank has been my partner in almost all of my main aquarium projects. Initially it has been set up to host the wild Malawians collected during my second trip to the lake (1999). Subsequently it was turned into a 'Malagasy Den' hosting P. polleni and two different kinds of Paretroplines while for the last couple of years it is the home of my Yellow labridens.
This tank is simple and reliable. It has not got any heating at all (in winter the lower registered temperature is 18° C). It is serviced by two internal filters (100 lit/ h total capacity) plus two power-heads, so the water flow is 4.000 lit/h). Finally it has four 30 watt lamps, two white and two blue, each operated by its own timer to allow for different time settings.
Once the 'Mexico set-up' was finished it looked like this:
At this point it is worth making some observations about the new setup:
- I have still put a lot of plants in the tank given the fish I was planning to accommodate there. There was a lesson still to be learnt as, eventually, only a few – badly beaten – Anubias barteri managed to survive in the tank for a limited period of time,
- The size of the gravel was bigger, as indicated, by comparison to what I previously used for these fish,
- The huge Malawian Tilapia (Nyaslapia sp.?) is still in the tank but I plan to relocate it,
- The small pale branch at the front is the 'path' used by the resident catfish to safely, from their point of view, move from one end of the tank to the other.
The spawning took place under the large piece of bogwood on the right. Needless to say the Anubias did not appreciated the event. Different points of view I suppose …
When the fish grow up it is not difficult to take good care of them. The important thing to remember is that these cuties are potentially aggressive fishes, mostly towards other species. I have had my bad times with them while learning my lesson so be careful when you chose tank mates for them: it is always better to be safe than sorry.
Once settled in the new tank the colony split the territories. Regrettably I have not had the chance to witness much of their courting. I did notice that the female(s) begun to take breeding colours while the male(s) were still showing their usual colours. It is worth noting that a number of females appeared to change colours at the same time. It almost seemed that there was a 'trigger' but I have not been able to identify it. This phase ended when spawning mates chose each other. It is important to note that at this stage none of the pairs had yet the actual breeding colours, which they did assume at a later stage.
Once a pair was established the male assumed his breeding colour (see photo below); his chosen female did the same. All the other females in the group maintained their interim colouration (neither normal nor quite as intense as the breeding one) while the subordinate males maintained their normal colours.
The pair now started to look for an appropriate spawning site. My pair checked carefully many times the whole tank before laying eggs. They initially chose a site which they defended for weeks but suddently they appeared to change their mind and chose a large piece of bogwood on the opposite site of the tank. They dug a pit under this piece of bogwood and they spawned there. As a result I was unable to see the pair digging the pit, the actual spawning or the eggs after they have been laid; I am unsure about how many eggs were laid and what the hatching rate was. I can report, however, that the search for the spawning site went on for a considerable period of time and involved the pair in messy activities such as lots of intensive digging as well as in fights and confrontations with the other members of the colony. Watching them searching for a suitable site was stretching my patience to the limit. I admit I am not a very patient person but since there was nothing else I could do I relaxed, sat back and waited!!!
The second photo above was taken shortly after the eggs hatched since the fry were hidden and fiercely guarded by their parents. Indeed the father was quite aggressive the first time I approached the tank post hatching. He was wildly attacking me, banging himself on the glass in the process, in order to force me to move back. I decided I would rather lose the opportunity to shoot the event than risking to further upset the male (and possibly get him hurt while he was attacking me) and possibly losing the fry. So I stepped back and gave the pair time to tend to their offspring. With time they got more and more used to my presence near the tank and I was eventually able to take some photos.
When the fry became free swimming I was able to see roughly how many they were for the first time. I was surprised at the low number - I would say there were less than a hundred of them - but I suppose this is due possibly to the fact that this was the first spawn of the pair. It was interesting to see that both parents were taking good care of their young: they were protecting them and were actively stirring the substrate to raise tiny food particles which were immediately and eagerly eaten by the fry.
Two weeks after the fry became free swimming - following an exchange of emails with Juan Miguel Artigas Azas - I removed a small group of fry and placed them in a separate tank just in case something went wrong in the main tank. I felt confident that at that stage the fry had enough 'information' from their parents which, coupled with their natural instincts, would allow them to reach adulthood successfully. To date both groups are growing well though it appears that the group I removed from the parents are having a slower growth rate. This could be due to the fact that food availability for this group is lower; while the parents stir the bottom of the tank and feed the fry almost on demand the group that was removed rely on my feeding routine. There have been no losses in the experimental group which means their routine is sound; the food I use for them is the best fry food I have been able to find. Nevertheless the difference in growth / size was noticeable in days. This is an issue worth considering.
I will conclude with a shot of the breeding male wearing his best dress: enjoy!
Photos by the author.
Read Herichthys labridens Profile.
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