Nanochromis transvestitus Breeding Vids.

As promised (on www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...refully?limitstart=0), here's a few videos of Nanochromis transvestitus Stewart & Roberts, 1984, breeding.

This little species of African Cichlid is now an Endangered species (Endangered B1 on the IUCN listings).

First described by Stewart and Roberts in 1984, and described as coming from Lake Mai-N'dombe.

I have a feeling that these fish were amongst species I had in the 70s as 'undescribed' but that is only based on my memory of fish in Nanochromis batches that I could not identify.


Typically, breeding Nanochromis species can be difficult in view of the often poor nature that the fish arrive and in the shear relentless aggression shown by the fish to their own kind.

The female in this video has a history of killing the males, so I decided to use the method I have used for species such as Teleogramma and other highly aggressive African Cichlids (that does not include Malawi cichlids as they are only mildly aggressive).

Conditioning Parents.
Is very important to have well fed parent fish on a mixed diet of meaty (frozen foods) and good quality dried food (I would favour a dried food specifically developed for either Bettas or discus).

The water is very very peaty with quite low conductivity.
Cones and leaves are added to the breeding tank to allow a colony of small creatures to develop (=first food for fry).
Temperature is 24 to 26 C.

Here, the male and female are separated by glass dividers.

I have included a freshwater protein skimmer within the glass divides.

The main fish seen here is the female, but the male can be seen in the second video.






Initiating Courtship.

The water is then diluted with some RO water and JBL NitraEx is included to partially remove tannins and reduce conductivity (the water is now clearer).

The protein skimmer has been removed, and the water is made less turbulent.

Note: the male 'owns' the territory in which the spawning will take place.




Guarding the Eggs/Fry



The parents take it in turn to guard the entrances to the breeding site.


The New Swimming Fry Emerge




The water is quite peaty....and so video shots are not easy.

There are some more recent shots.....just need to load them off the camera.

Ian

Cheers JohnH.

It was only rushed together before going out shopping today.

I should add some informational text on the species and the parental behaviour to give it a more 'complete' feel.

ian

Well done Ian. Nice videos.
Jamie

Very well documented, thank you for taking the time of recording and sharing these!

Melander

Great watch from start to finish.

Mark

Cheers guys.

Here's a later video of the bigger young with a parent.



ian

Now that's a piece of serious work. I'm jealous now. Failed so many times with those fish.
This post makes me feel like trying again

Many thanks Bart.
I've been a bit bad in not continuing the follow-up videos as the young have grown.
They are doing quite well......at that awful stage where growth slows for a while before the next spurt.

Do try again. Great fish.

ian

Hi Ian
Just wondering how your sex ratios have turned out? Mine seem to be female heavy

ricko10 wrote:

Hi Ian
Just wondering how your sex ratios have turned out? Mine seem to be female heavy

I am having problems seeing males through the females.

Ha ha. Same issue as me then. It's not a big issue really as females are stunning.

As with any of this group of cichlids, there is often a wild sway towards one species or the other.
Environmental conditions tend to affect the brood.

There must be some evolutionary survival advantage.....but, as with anything like that, the best we can do is to put 2 and 2 together and rationlise that it comes out to be equal to 4.

What we might measure as a difference, might simply be a coincidental factors eg we measure pH, but the pH may just be coincidental with the real reason for causing such changes in sex distribution. etc

I must agree to that.
In two different batches of P. taeniatus from 2 different parents but kept in the same water(the tanks were connected). 1 batch was roughly 50/50% the other is around 15% males.
Both pairs spawned within 3 days from each other. Water parameters exactly the same (soft low pH). There is common understanding that water pH influences the sex ratio with Kribs. But i think what was observed is based on breeding and raising of P. pulcher and not necessarily applies to other similar species.
As Ian said some "Survival advantage" is probably involved, triggered by God knows what

Where a fish is observed to produce a skewed sex ratio under a given pH doesn't necessarily mean the pH affected the skew.

It may, but in reality such conclusion should be supported with proof that no other parameter have changed.

Much of the stuff on kribs is more anecdotal rather than scientific.

However, such things as calcium flux and membrane potentials modified by the environment are likely to affect the eggs.

ian