Nanochromis transvestitus

Hi

After having many unsuccessful attempts of breeding this beautiful species i finally got all bits and pieces of puzzle together in wright order. Very soft, very mature and very acidic are the key words for the water parameters.

dH 1, pH 4, 27 degrees Celsius

I let the pair spawn couple of times in larger tank with other fish in it. The eggs were eaten of course. Than i moved them to the usual 54l tank with cascade filter and sponge guard on inlet. Spotting if female is ready is rather easy. She gets very plump and courting gets very intensive.
It took 3 days for eggs to hatch and than another 5 days for larvae to start swimming.
And here we are

Well done Bart, I love these Fish.

Kev.

bart fair play to u, do u ever stop :L:L

sean

MEGA.

As simple as that. These have some superb breeding and raising behaviour.

ian

Indeed breeding behavior is great to watch. Colors intensity, dances, female caring for eggs. Unfortunately i have no camera that records video, only my good old EOS 400D.

Forgot to add that the fry is big enough to feed them baby brine shrimps and micro worms from very beginning.

I have pair of Nanochromis nudiceps waiting for free tank, not as beautiful some might say

@Bart...N. nudiceps is just as beautiful in my eyes. Another superb little fish (and pity that you don't see them for sale that often).

I find the african riverine cichlids to be so much more interesting to breed than most other cichlids. Even our old fav the Krib are great species to watch.

Is this the first time you've got Nanochromis to breed, Bart?
How many fry do you recon you have?

ian

@Ian
This is the firs time i got the eggs to hatch successfully. Most of my problems was due to aggression this species show during breeding. For the last year i had specimens from different sources and was trying to get them to breed, without killing each other. And believe me they are. Even perfectly matched pairs can snap and u find male or female dead next morning and all eggs gone.
There is all the fry visible on last photo, i think it's 19

bart wrote:

@Ian
This is the firs time i got the eggs to hatch successfully. Most of my problems was due to aggression this species show during breeding. For the last year i had specimens from different sources and was trying to get them to breed, without killing each other. And believe me they are. Even perfectly matched pairs can snap and u find male or female dead next morning and all eggs gone.
There is all the fry visible on last photo, i think it's 19

You've noted the biggest problem with breeding these.
I have one female left after she very effectively and very quickly was able to take-out males. She has a habit of attacking the top of the eye in one swoop. Males didn't stand a chance.
So, she will now remain a maiden.

Yep, if you have an aggressive individual then it is relentless non-stop aggression (and even a monster fish tank isn't good enough).

Cool stuff, and good that you have a good pair.

ian

Well done.Thanks for sharing.Regards,Tim

@Ian
Yup i had opportunity to observe one of those lethal attacks on male. The blow was so powerful that it killed poor husband in an instant. But there is always two sides to the coin. I lost females as well due to extreme harassment from male. And that's not quick one blow death i tel ya.

Anyways fingers crossed

The biggest problem african cichlids that I've had the experience of are the Teleogramma. I've had some good but sporadic breeding success with Teleogramma, but all too often the males simply terrorise the females even in massive tanks (and these are not big fish). These fish go down hill very quickly.

Ian

I saw them once for sale i Poland, never again. Must be pretty rare in the hobby. Problems with breeding might explain that.

I know that this is slightly going off topic (but we can soon bring it back to your nanochromis spawning ), but it is a great pity that riverine african cichlids are not more popular.
There are too many problems to making them popular.....price (many can have a price tag higher than a budget-fish), breeding is problematic, some species demand pretty good water conditions without compromise (often quite hot, uber clean water with low pH and loads of oxygen, housing more than one of them in a tank of their own or similar species is a deterant, and many are not as colourful or as active as SA/CA and rift valley cichlids.

Hence, my interest in this thread. And....being cheeky, to keep interest in these species going in the hobby.

Again, great stuff Bart.

Ian

Draco wrote:

igmillichip wrote:

I know that this is slightly going off topic (but we can soon bring it back to your nanochromis spawning ), but it is a great pity that riverine african cichlids are not more popular.
There are too many problems to making them popular.....price (many can have a price tag higher than a budget-fish), breeding is problematic, some species demand pretty good water conditions without compromise (often quite hot, uber clean water with low pH and loads of oxygen, housing more than one of them in a tank of their own or similar species is a deterant, and many are not as colourful or as active as SA/CA and rift valley cichlids.

Hence, my interest in this thread. And....being cheeky, to keep interest in these species going in the hobby.

Again, great stuff Bart.

Ian

Ian, this same problem was once the Discus, and now, see, people breed them at pH 7 (or more), and even now prices are not the "cosmic" as before. Everything changes, but unfortunately not always for the better. Bart sorry for OT.

This is were Bart's efforts in breeding these fish comes to be important (well, in my eyes anyway).
There are people who have an interest in them, and so often (now and over the past 40 years) I have gone along to a new wild congo et al delivery to see some pretty sorry looking cichlids attempting to survive the trip and the tank they've been put into. They survive for a short while, but will soon plummet.
I must say that it was a book I got 40 years ago by TFH called 'African Cichlids' that tempted me into this group of cichlids as the main fish in that black and white book were the riverines.
Some of these cichlids come from such extreme conditions within the river that many simply cannot cope with being brought near the surface and out of the water torrent.
Captive bred african riverines such as these are adding to the advancement of the hobby.

Ahhh the dreams
All of us fish keepers would love to see more of this and that in local fish shops. Unfortunately majority of sold fish are species most popular, easiest to keep, easiest to breed in captivity.
I would love to see some selection of rainbows, not only usual 4-5 species available for ridiculous money. The reality is that we will never have what majority of the customers will not buy. And majority of fish keepers are interested in relatively maintenance free aquarium, without daily water testing, preferably water changes few and far between and so on.
I think we can safely assume that one of the main factors in popularity of particular species is its feasibility in terms of profit.
Over the last year i had many opportunities to meet whole bunch of professional breeders in my home country and it seems like almost all the work is done exclusively for profit. Almost none side projects to satisfy the need of exploration. I asked about getting in to breeding this and that and the answer was....yes u guessed, it will not sell!!!
Activities like this are left to hobbyists and specialized collectors, and if something works it's quickly picked up and commercialized.
Well we all put our small brick towards bright future in the hobby when one can go to the local fish shop and pick up species that one was dreaming about.
I wish that to all of us

interesting thread with good information/advice based on solid practical experience. well done bart on succeeding with this difficult species. just to keep them alive and healthy requires a fair bit of skill/patience.

@ian. there was a time when the riverine species had a degree of popularity but their unsuitability as a community fish (maybe the krib group excepted)led to a decline in interest and i'm sure you'll agree,they are really fish for the more experienced keeper who is willing to set up a dedicated species tank or tanks.
having said the above there are plenty of good fishkeeper/breeders about these days and maybe they will make a deserved comeback.

@Derek...good words from you. I was wondering if you'd seen Bart's thread or not.

ian

Update
I feed them brine shrimps, micro worms and some finely chopped white worms. The growth is pretty rapid as u can see on the photos. Just raised the pH an notch yesterday and all seems to be ok.

Its great to see someone else breeding these. I had a very good pair up until recently that produced fry monthly. Unfortunately i lost the male, so would be looking at getting another male if you find you could part witu one.
thanks
jamie

Unfortunately i must report complete fiasco in this project.
The female killed the male without any reason. She was beaten so badly herself that she died few days later.
My work commitments sent me away from home for couple of weeks and caring for the fry properly was impossible.
When i was back they were in so poor state that nothing i did helped and i slowly lost them all .

Well hopefully better luck next time.

That is one of the unfortunate and often common outcomes with these fish.

Soz to hear that.

ian