Callochromis pleurospilus
A Lake Tanganyikan Mouthbrooding Cichlid
by Larry Jinks
First published in Shoreline, Jersey Shore Aquarium Society
Aquarticles
I obtained a bag of four (3 females, 1 male) Callochromis pleurospilus at the
NJAS October 1998 Weekend Extravaganza, as well as a bag of four fry. This sand-sifting
Tanganyikan mouthbrooder, unless in a very large tank, should be kept with only one male
per 3 to 4 females.
The four adults were set up in a twenty gallon long aquarium with a crushed coral
substrate, two box filters, and lava rock. The fry were put into another twenty gallon
long to grow out with other similar sized African cichlids. I fed them on flake food,
pellets, frozen brine shrimp and blood worms, and live baby brine shrimp. The tank was
kept at 78 degrees Fahrenheit with a pH of about 8.5 and about 225 ppm hardness.
The adults hid a lot, except at feeding time, so it was hard to check on their
behavior. After several months I found the male dead. Fortunately one of the fry had grown
into a small, adult male. I introduced him into the tank with the three females, and after
about a week, I saw a female with eggs in her mouth. I let her release her fry in the
tank, but only retrieved two. I next decided to move the next female with eggs to a live
bearer breeding trap with the bottom in place to keep the fry from getting into the tank.
After a week there were about eighteen fry in the trap. I removed the female and put
the fry in a separate container. I repeated the procedure with another female and she
released over twenty fry. The fry fed right away on crushed flake and live baby brine
shrimp. I recommend trying this interesting fish and believe it could be housed in a
community tank with other peaceful Tanganyikans.
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