Breeding the Sulphur-Crested Lithobate
Otopharynx lithobates
By Richard Brown
First published in Tank Talk, Canberra and District Aquarium Society, Australia
Aquarticles
The Sulphur-Crested Lithobate is a species of Cichlid from Lake Malawi. Lake Malawi is
one of the great Rift Valley Lakes of Africa that were formed around three to four million
years ago when the eastern side of Africa began to split from the west and are the home to
more than 600 Cichlid species. The Sulphur-Crested Lithobate’s scientific name is Otopharynx
lithobates. ‘Lithobates’ literally means ‘rock dweller’ and this
is certainly apt given the habits of this interesting member of the Cichlid family. In
this article, I shall describe the breeding habits of this fish. The methods used are
generally applicable to most Malawi mouthbrooders.
I have kept the Electric Blue Cichlid (Sciaenochromis ahli) on previous
occasions and marvelled at the brilliant colours and fascinating spawning practices.
However, as anyone who has kept a spawning Electric Blue male realises, this is a
particularly aggressive fish apt to kill females of its own species and any other fish
that gets in the way. Unless you have a large tank, preferably 4ft x 2ft x 2ft, and/or
large and pugnacious tankmates, it is probably best to concentrate on other more docile
types of Cichlid.
Early in 2002, I prepared a standard 4ft tank (190 litre) and placed an Electric Yellow
(Labidachromis caeruleus), some Bronze Catfish (Corydoras aenus), a pair
of Bristlenoses (Ancistrus temmincki) and an Upside-Down Catfish (Synodontis
nigriventris). I was looking for a species of medium size African Cichlid that was
colourful, had interesting habits and would not be too hard on the other fish in the tank.
With the possible exception of the last of these traits, finding such a fish is not a hard
task, the problem is always deciding which. While at Jem Aquatics, I noticed that some
nice Sulphur-Crested Lithobates had arrived. None had coloured up and so, trying to pick a
male fish, I asked our old friend Evan Needham to net the largest one (around 4-5cm). This
fish appeared to have a few egg spots, a good sign. As luck (bad) would have it, the fish
was female but I was not to be sure of this for a month or two - Lithobates are difficult
to sex at a young age.
When dealing with a wild form species, I always prefer to source fish that I wish to
breed from separate shops, preferably different sides of town or even different cities. By
breeding fish with different genetic backgrounds, the chance of breeding deformed or
substandard fish is minimised. Although, I should note that breeders of fancy fish such as
Guppies and Mollies often “line-breed” their fish so as to reinforce particular
traits that they are they are attempting to select. For club members, CDAS trips to Sydney
and Melbourne offer the breeder an excellent opportunity to access different genetic
lines.
Thanks to Eejay, a trip was organised to Sydney in April. Among other things, I managed
to buy several fish including a Black Ghost Knife that has grown from five to about 18cm
in around six months and two more Upside-Down Catfish for the four foot tank. Importantly,
I also purchased three Sulphur-Crested Lithobates from three separate shops. Subsequently,
I discovered that these were two males and one female.
Some of the websites that I have accessed on Lithobates claim that they are slow
growers and that patience is needed. I quickly discovered that nothing could be further
from the truth. They are voracious eaters and mine grew from 4cm to around 12cm in a
matter of months. Sulphur-Crested Lithobates will grow to over 15cm when fully mature. The
males are slightly larger but the size difference is not as pronounced as what it is in
most other Malawi Cichlids. The fish have three dark spots on their flanks, one just below
the shoulder, one at the base of the tail and one roughly midway in between. These spots
are prominent on the females and immature fish. The male also has these spots but, similar
to the Venustus, they virtually disappear in mature fish unless they feel
threatened. The male displays a blue colour similar to the Electric blue but more subdued
and generally darker. The most remarkable feature of the male is a bright yellow blaze
which runs from the tip of the nose right through to the tip of the tail. The bottom tip
of the tail is also yellow and the anal fin tends to an orange colour with non-distinctive
egg spots.
With two male Cichlids in a tank it is often quite normal for one of the males to
become dominant and the other sub-dominant. The dominant male will display bright colours,
elongated trailing dorsal and anal fins, and will monopolise the females for the purposes
of breeding. The sub-dominant male will display a subdued brown colour very similar to the
female. This is what occurred with my Lithobates. With my sub-dominant male, even the
general body shape remained somewhat similar to the females.
Although not a large cichlid, I would still recommend a minimum four foot tank to keep
this fish. They do not appear to be diggers and so it is possible to run an undergravel
filter with them. My tank has an undergravel filter and a internal Fluval filter to remove
any suspension from the water. I have some Anubias plants on mangrove roots, and
these get left alone by the fish. I keep the water hard (Carbonate hardness of around
250ppm) and alkaline (pH around 8) simply by adding a teaspoon of Rift Lake water
conditioner (various mineral salts) for every 10 litres of water put into to the tank. I
do a 30% water change and vacuum the gravel every three weeks.
The breeding ritual for Lithobates was a little surprising. Instead of building a
concave gravel pit for the eggs to roll to the bottom as most Malawi mouthbrooders tend to
do, the male selected a flat rock and used colour and body shaking to attract the female.
Then they quickly circle each other, the female laying eggs on the rock and the male
fertilising them as the female picks them up in her mouth. The incubation occurs in the
females mouth for around three weeks. I have found that one of my females tends to hold
the eggs quite well whereas the other one spits them out after a few days when she decides
that eating is more important than raising young.
Around 18 days after breeding, I captured the female in a net and placed her in a
bucket of water from the tank she just came from. While gently grasping her in the net, I
use my index finger to delicately open her mouth. Some people advocate using a cotton-bud
stick stripped of the cotton or a sharpened pencil to open the mouth but I think that by
using the index finger, there is probably less chance of exerting undue pressure on the
fish. After opening the mouth, most of the young fish will be spat out but it is worth
persevering to ensure that they are all gone. Around 40 to 50 fry are then placed in a
separate tank away from the adults that would otherwise surely eat them. Although, I have
now successfully raised two lots of young using the separation technique, not one fry has
survived when I have left the female in the original tank.
When separated from the parents, the fry are quite well developed, at around 4mm in
length, even displaying the three spots so distinctive in adult Lithobates. They are fully
independent and will accept crushed flake food but daphnia small enough to go through the
mesh of an ordinary green fish net are perfect for growing healthy fish. Three to four
small meals a day seems ideal but they will survive with just one or two.
I have recently purchased, through the trading post, another four foot tank as a
“growing out” tank for young fish. I find that having this amount of space means
that the fry are able to grow very quickly. Also, there is nothing quite like watching a
large school of young fish moving as a single entity in a spacious tank. Young Lithobates
are fast growing fish that always demand to be fed. Again, I find live and frozen daphnia
a fantastic and cheap way to quickly grow young fish. An added bonus has been that local
aquariums have been quite happy to purchase Lithobates and so my growing out tank has
already paid for itself.
I was quite surprised to find out that Sulphur-Crested Lithobates had not been recorded
as being bred by anyone in the CDAS as they are easily found in most of the local
aquariums in the ACT and surrounding districts and seem quite easy to breed. I can
recommend this fish to anyone who keeps or is thinking of keeping African Cichlids. This
spectacular but relatively peaceful fish has many of the endearing qualities that makes it
perfect for the medium sized aquarium.
Further information on Otopharynx lithobates can be found at the following informative
site: http://www.cichlidae.com/tanks/t044.html
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