Acei Fry

Meant to post this earlier, but the Malawi forum went AWOL.

Here's a picture of Acei fry that are just over a week old. I have 1 male and 3 female Acei and one femlae spat tne the other two are currently holding. The male has been a busy boy;)

You know who to contact in a few weeks if you're looking for Acei.

Nice one Ken, I got some Acei off Anthony recently & they look like they are getting frisky so I might have some fry myself shortly!

Are the fry the same colour as the adults? I can't tell from the photo?

Cheers,
Patrick

They are a bit small to tell at the moment, but look to be a similar dark blue colour.

They've doubled in size in just over a week. I feed them on finely ground spirulina and New Live Spectrum.

I got about 30 from the first fish so could have close to 100 in a couple of weeks. time.

That is a serious amount of fry!
Shouldnt be hard to get rid of them though - they are such a popular fish & you hardly ever see them in the shops.

30 seems like a huge brood! Nice one.

As far as I know they are totally unclassified.The 2 types commonly known are Acei Ngara (Dark Navy Blue with white trim on dorsal and caudal I think) and Acei Yellow Tail (neon blue with yellow dorsal and caudal).

Acei Ngara


Acei Yellow Tail


Acei Tanzanian Black are said (by a small few,not me though!) to be hybrid of the 2 mentioned above.Obviously with Malawi speciation being the way it is it is very likley this genus occurred naturally.Either way they are one of the best Mbuna I have ever kept.They are peaceful,colourful in a discrete classy way and breed like nothing you have ever seen before. They are strict vegetarians and will not appreciate a high protein diet.They are like a barometer in the aquarium and will notify you if there is any aggression,poor water or heat problems by fading in colour.


Juvenile Male:
Males will reach 5\" while females will reach 3.75\"


One of the most amazing sites I witnessed in fishkeeping was when I got a brood of 86 from a large female about 18 months old.Even better was when I reared them to around 1.5\" (3 months) and saw them schooling.They would swim against the current picking algae from the glass at the back of the tank,in unison.A truly amazing sight.

Large Dominant Male


The dominant males will all colour up to a Velvet Navy Blue base with a neon head with a yellow dorsal and caudal fin but the alpha male will have a neon head,with further neon blue reaching towards the caudal along the lateral line, fading all the time.The females retain a deep velvet like Navy Blue colouring.They do not do well with aggressive Mbuna but seem to be relatively unphased by Peacocks and Haps.

Breeding occurs in the typical fashion of Mbuna.The fry darken up after around a week and it is very noticeable by the shape of the head and mouth that they are Acei fry.

As far as I was aware I was the only person in I knew of that was keeping and breeding these fish.They are one of the rarest Mbuna you will see in Ireland or England,I cant speak for anywhere else,whether this is down to the fact they may be hybrids or not I dont know but they really are an acquired taste due to their relative peacefulness for Mbuna and subtle beauty.I line bred these fish for around 5 years and managed to get a a male with a deep orange (instead of yellow) tail fin and more neon blue than usual.By line breeding I mean I would take the most colourful male and breed it with the most colourful female.

The fry can be fed on crushed spirulina flakes or any other flakes but their main diet should be vegetable based.They dont appreciate rapid changes in pH or temperature.I found they did best at 24-25c.They really respond to slight increases in heat as a trigger for breeding.

Give me a message when these are ready to go. I'd love to have a ciclid tank. I am reading up on it at the moment. I'm about 5-6 weeks away from stocking my tank. They look fantastic.

Chris - according to Aqualog they are pseudotropheus.

The ones I have are yellow tail. I picked up one in Whackers a few months ago then two from Anthony the other day.

Lovely fish. Not so sure about being peaceful though - Acei & Livingstonii are the only fish I have kept that have bitten me!
In fact I was bitten twice earlier by the Acei as I was cleaning the tank. Little buggers..

I can't imagine a brood of 86 - that is something else.. How did she fit them in her mouth! Hopefully I'll have some fry soon myself, there's some shimmying going on the past few days. Fingers crossed.

Congrats on the fry and loads of quality info from Chris. Its times like these when you wish you had 20 tanks to accomodate all of the cracking fish on display.

Sorry Patrick,the Acei Tanzanian Black are unclassified.The other 2 are as fas as I know.