Dwarf Cichlids: A Primer

[Northernguy]

Thank you Dave,great read and very educational!
I hope it gets stickied!

[troy]

Good primer!

[robnepper]

Hey Dave, great info! Not to mention I just got a pair of Kribs and already have fry. I was wondering what kind of leaves I could put in the tank.

[Dave66]

Hey Dave, great info! Not to mention I just got a pair of Kribs and already have fry. I was wondering what kind of leaves I could put in the tank.

I use fallen, brown, Oak leaves and boil them a couple minutes so they will sink and are sterile. It's kind of neat when the Kribs pick up an leaf to see if anythings under it to eat.
Some better shops, especially those that cater to Bettas, carry tropical fig leaves that you could use the same way; just boil them and sink them.
I suppose Maple tree leaves that have fallen in the fall would work, but I haven't used Maple.

Dave

[Taurus]

Dave-
Wow! Outstanding write up and just what I've been looking for. I'm relatively new to the idea of keeping cichlids and this primer is just what I needed. This should be a sticky or part of the forum library. Thanks for your outstanding effort. It truly pays off.

[NickFish]

Geez Dave, I didn't think this was possible, but you've really outdone yourself!

Amazing, amazing primer. I hope you don't mind if I print the whole thing out and tape it the side of my tank.

Truly outstanding work, this should be a sticky for sure.

[NickFish]

I have a question now about the apisto cacatuoides.

You say at the end that if the males are triple red the offspring likely won't be. Is there any color variety of cacatuoides out there where the male's color stays with the offspring? At least most of the time?


Also, if I had a mating group (lets say 1m and 3f) of cacatuoides in the tank.....that and a non-breeding pair of bolivians, how many caves should I have, and how far about should the be?

[Dave66]

I have a question now about the apisto cacatuoides.

You say at the end that if the males are triple red the offspring likely won't be. Is there any color variety of cacatuoides out there where the male's color stays with the offspring? At least most of the time?


Also, if I had a mating group (lets say 1m and 3f) of cacatuoides in the tank.....that and a non-breeding pair of bolivians, how many caves should I have, and how far about should the be?

Nick,
The triple-red morph is by selective breeding, that is, the fry with the most red in their fins are carried on, and the fry without the red are culled. That gene that tells the fish to have red fins is recessive, that is, it's only expressed a small percentage of time. Probably nine out of 10 fry would be either in the natural color matrix, which is genetically dominant, or various different color morphs that were bred to achieve the triple red variation.
The recessive genetic morph that makes the triple red males very, very rarely is carried over to the next generation because of the dominance of the natural color matrix.
Which is no bad thing. Cockatoo males are just as beautiful in their natural colors as they are triple red or any variation.
It's just like people. A small percentage have blue or green eyes, the vast majority have brown or shades of brown. If you continued to breed blue-eyed people with other blue-eyed people, only a small percentage would actually be blue-eyed, as it's a recessive gene. Brown and shades of brown is the dominant gene.
In my family, my three brothers have brown eyes, my sister brown-hazel, and me blue. That's one out of five.

Dave

Dave

[miquel]

nice reading material, but just 2 little remarks

you wrote Dicrossus filamentosa, this should be Dicrossus filamentosus, and for the same reason its, Laetecara dorsigera

but good work never the less

[doug z]

Thanks, Dave!

Some interesting reading, especially re: the cockatoos..