Keeping and Breeding the Gentle Giant, ex-Cichlasoma pearsei

Keeping and Breeding the Gentle Giant, ex-Cichlasoma pearsei

Written by Marina Parha and George J. Reclos Saturday, 29 November 2008 00:00

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We are quite clear in our fish preferences; I am primarily a cichlids man while Marina is enamoured with catfish. Thankfully our preferences are not water tight; we both slip into each other's territory, so to speak. Hence there are some species that become 'family' species in that we both get really attracted to them. ex-Cichlasoma pearsei is one of these.

The first time I saw this fish live was in the 13th cichlid show of the Belgian cichlid society and God was I impressed. They were housed in a 2000 litre tank with sand stones and bogwood, the water had a yellow – brown tint because of the tannins and they simply moved majestically, in perfect harmony with their tank decoration. I was still keeping Malawi cichlids at the time therefore those half grown ex C. pearsei seemed like giants to me. Although some Malawi haps do get large, they are usually torpedo shaped fish which do not impress you with their mass. In contrast, the ex C. pearsei is impressive. You know how these things work. You see a fish and you know that at some point in the future you are going to get it, no matter what. This was exactly the case with ex C. pearsei and me. It took me almost two years before this dream came true. It was during another cichlid meeting, this time the French one, in Vichy. I was there with John and we noticed there were some young ex C. pearsei available for sale. The fish were still tiny, no more than 3 cm long, but some of them had a little black spot in the lower part of their belly; this was to develop into the huge brown blotch which is characteristic for this species. This is one more thing about this species that I like a lot: you cannot mistake them for anything else. An ex C. pearsei is unique in every sense of the word. At the end of the AFC 2003 meeting, John secured a good position in the queue and we managed to get 10 of them.

The fish reached Athens in prime shape, despite the 10 hour trip and acclimatized on the spot. The water was moderately alkaline and hard (GH: 10-12; KH:8-9; pH:7.8-8.2) which suited them fine. They were fed a variety of dry foods, mostly vegetable based ones, three times daily. We kept 5 fish per 100 lit tank and did regular (weekly) 50% water changes. Provided their water is clean, the ex C. pearsei are not very demanding in that they can tolerate a very wide range of hardness and pH values. The water temperature ranged between 26^oC (winter) and 30^oC (summer); the fish were quite happy with temperatures in this range and later on spawned while the temperature was both at the lower and at the higher end of it. We ensured that tanks had a good filtration; this is of paramount importance because the fish eat a lot and produce a lot of waste. Compared to other juveniles the ex C. pearsei seemed to increase their size at a pace that we could not keep up with. A year later it was evident that only two of them could be housed in a 100 litre tank so we decided to keep four of them and donate the others. These four were placed in a 360 litre tank along with a Paratilapia sp. Andapa pair; it was a joy to see the six fish coexist in this tank.

The Paratiliapia male had the left side of the tank to itself and the four C. pearsei the right side of it. There was a white stone which was placed at the centre of the tank when we decorated it initially and, God knows why, no fish ever moved it. This stone was to become the boundary of two territories which were religiously inspected fairly regularly by all the males and which nobody ever dared to dispute. Feeding this tank was soon to become an attraction precisely because of this little stone. Naturally some of the pellets used to fall on it; only the catfish (three Platydoras costatus) had the right to eat these pellets. The male cichlids would stay as close to the stone (and the pellets) as their territory would allow them to and wait for their opponent to make the first move towards the pellets in order to pick a fight.  This never happened; somehow all three males adhered to the rule. Only the female Paratilapia was allowed to cross the invisible line set by this stone and she did that on the odd occasion her partner was getting aggressive. The ex C. pearsei and the male Paratilapia behaved as if there was a solid wall made of concrete there even  when the male Paratilapia was chasing his female away.

Housing the ex C. pearsei with the Paratilapia was temporary relief. We reduced feeding to one time daily but this did not help much; the fish kept on growing at an alarming rate. The size of the pearsei was such that soon required more space so we had to find them a new, considerably larger home. A 250 x 55 x 60 cm (825 liters) tank was built in the office to house them along with 5 Paretroplus menarambo and 3 Paretroplus nourissati. These Madagascan cichlids are clearly more aggressive than the ex C. pearsei but the size difference was a guarantee that aggression against the latter would be kept to a minimum. The fish were about 16-18 cm long at the time and the space in the tank looked like more than enough. The tank was serviced by an Eheim 2260 external filter but it was soon obvious that we needed more than that. An Eheim Professionel 3 filter was added at the opposite side from the Eheim 2260 and sorted things nicely. The fish were fed twice daily at that time and large water changes were performed weekly (50% during the winter, 70% or more during the summer). 

Things worked fine for about 8 months. The fish were growing nicely and they seemed quite settled in their new home.  One of the pairs developed the classic “yellow” colouration while the larger male had the “blue” one. Yet, it was soon apparent that the fish needed an even bigger home. Unlike the Paretroplines, the ex C. pearsei feeds on space too. Shortly after the 8 months period the tank looked crammed. The fish had difficulties moving and they seemed to be constantly too close for comfort. This period coincided with the time that the ex C. pearsei formed two pairs; each pair stayed together at all times. At the time the larger male was  25 cm long, 10 cm high and about 4 cm wide - a true monster; the second male and the females were only marginally smaller. 

We expected the larger male to form the nuptial hump first but we were proven wrong. Our second male was the first to develop it. In fact, our larger male, to-date, has not developed a clearly pronounced nuptial hump. Interestingly enough it is the second male who is the most prolific spawner of the two.

The next step was to move the fish to a 285 x 65 x 70 cm tank (1.296 litres) tank. Immediately after being transferred the fish started gaining size again very quickly. This meant that the “smaller” tank was not providing them with sufficient space, which could eventually result in malformations. It is in this tank that we saw some really interesting behaviour from them. They were housed with six Paretroplus maculatus (23 cm TL) and a pair of Hypostomus luteus (30 and 25 cm TL male and female respectively). They were never challenged by any other fish neither did they show any aggression towards their tank mates. Ignoring their tank mates, the two pairs separated the tank in two territories which were located at the opposite sides of the tank, as expected. They met daily half way, at the centre, and displayed to each other although in a very gentle manner. Their threats to jaw lock resulted in what seemed to us kissing attempts yet they were correctly interpreted by the other party. They grew to over 32 cm TL in less than a year. One of the pairs resumed spawning activity almost immediately after the move.  They continued to spawn regularly,  every four months. Interestingly enough, the larger pair never spawned. They were never frightened by our presence. On the contrary, they would come close to the front glass to play “hide and seek” by slowly hiding behind a stone and then rising a bit to see if we were still looking at them. This was quite funny as half their body was in the open and visible (the stone was too small for them to hide behind it). Their peaceful nature and the fact they were not afraid helped other fish in the tank, especially the catfish, to feel safe and settled. 

Sand proved to be, time and time again, their preferred substrate. Though they do not spent ages digging it, it comes in handy when they are digging a pit for their young.  Plants are well appreciated as salad ; if you plan to keep the fish make sure that you are comfortable with your plants been devoured prior to placing them in their tank. We made stone and wood caves for them and the fish absolutely adore them. They use them to swim under, sleep, even rest inside. The stones and wood are big and heavy as this fish is quite sturdy and strong and can easily move lighter tank furniture around. Despite its 'solid' appearance this is a really playful fish which adores exploring its surroundings and will swim under any “tunnel” formation available in its tank.  We often notice our pairs playing hide and seek under the rock formations. When selecting bogwood or creating a tunnel with stones, you should take the final adult size of the fish into account, as well as the sheer power of the fish. Better glue the stones together or use really large pieces.

ex-Cichlasoma pearsei, if kept on their own, are graceful feeders. They prefer to graze slowly throughout the day; they never show any kind of hurry to get to the food. However they are quick to change their eating habits if their tank mates are quicker getting to the food. We used automated feeders in the big tank and the P. maculatus were rushing to the food first.  Some young P. sp. Andapa who were growing up in the tank would also run to get their share while the catfish would soon clean up whatever was left from the cichlids. It was not long before the ex-Cichlasoma pearsei changed their approach to eating. They adjusted their internal clocks according to the scheduled feeding times; five minutes before the food was to be released all of them were gathered below the feeder and lined up in accordance with the hierarchy of the species. The two males waited at the top, each within his 'own' half of the tank; each female waited under her male. The two catfish would wait at the bottom of the tank while the P. maculatus and the P. sp. Andapa decided to wait a bit further away since they could not physically push the pearsei away. Even so, the pearsei only gained a marginal advantage to their tank mates; they had the first bite. Following this they could not keep up with the speed with which their tank mates got to the food. The fact that their mouth is rather small compared to their big size and cannot store a considerable amount of food did not help either. You can see what happened during feeding times in this short feeding video.

Pairs bond well and stay together. Once paired off, females follow their males around the tank; the pair will chose a corner which will be their 'cave' and sleep there together. We have never noticed any signs of aggression from a male towards his female. In fact, pairs fight off opponents together; individuals will stand by their partner. On one occasion our smaller female was trying to get her partner out of a rock hide out; as he refused to do so, she started biting his tail. On seeing that the larger male approached and started doing the same thing. Immediately the female turned against him and chased him away. The smaller male soon emerged to join forces with her. When she saw her partner cornered, the bigger female  rushed next to him and we ended up watching the usual 'scene': the two females threatening to jaw lock under their males, who were doing precisely the same thing.

ex C. pearsei show an excellent parental care and will take care of their young for a long time, especially in a large aquarium; there is no need for removing the fry, except if the parents are housed with fish which will attack them. Most of the times you will not even notice they have spawned till you see the cloud of fry under them. They will never harass other fish in their tank but they know how to defend themselves and their young if need be.The fry seem indestructible and can be given to fellow hobbyists at the age of three months without any problems. They can do well in almost any type of water (extremes are to be avoided anyway) and can feed on anything.