Care and breeding of Telmatochromis bifrenatus
By Terry Ranson
From Vol. 1, No. 9 The Newsletter of The Tri-State Aquarium Society August 1999
Aquarticles
While Telmatochromis bifrenatus don't have the brilliant colors or extensive
finnage of many other Lake Tanganyikan cichlids, nonetheless they have much to recommend
them. For one thing, their shape is unusual, to say the least. Their elongated body seems
out of place considering their round, blunt head. T. bifrenatus almost appears to
be cross between a cichlid and an eel! T. bifrenatus is also blessed with a small
size, the adults growing about three inches total length, making them perfect for tanks as
small as ten gallons. Additionally, they are very peaceful, at least with other
Tanganyikan cichlids.
I am currently keeping nearly half a dozen or so T. bifrenatus in a 55 gallon
tank, together with Telmatochromis caninus, Julidochromis ornatus, Neolamprologus
cylindricus, N. caudopunctatus, N. leleupi, N. buescheri, Altolamprologus calvus,
Lamprologus brichardi, and Cyprichromis leptosoma.
A word about feeding: I feed all my fish, from discus to Congo tetras to mbuna, flakes
in the morning, and pre-soaked Hikari Koi staple pellets in the evening, after work. (This
was an accident. I kept, and bred, fancy goldfish for several years, and fed them
pre-soaked Hikari Koi Staple. When my discus ate it with gusto, I began feeding this
inexpensive food to everything I own, and the results have been quite satisfactory). Later
on in the evening, I feed whatever live food is convenient - sometimes it may be
whiteworms, other times it may be frozen adult brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms. During
this hot summer, mosquito larvae has been my food of choice.
Breeding T. bifrenatus didn't present much of a problem. I bought a few small
fish at an auction in Cincinnati, plunked them in the above mentioned 55-gallon aquarium,
and a few months later (or less - I really can't remember) they began a bizarre courtship
I had never witnessed in cichlids, or any other fish I've kept. One of the fish - the male
I guess, it was the larger of the two - performed a rapid forward and backward, eel-like
motion in a wide, up and down crescent direction. It's hard to describe, but that's about
the best I can do.
Needless to say, I wanted to see more of this breeding behavior, so I tore the 55 down
- a lot of work considering it was filled with rocks, live plants and driftwood - and
transferred the pair to a twenty-gallon high set up with plenty of rock work, an empty
marine snail shell and floating Java moss. Of course, they both hid completely after the
move, and I never again witnessed the same behavior they exhibited in the larger tank.
Actually, they hid almost completely, and I seldom caught a glimpse of them. Dammit.
Anyway, I pretty much forgot about the pair of T. bifrenatus. I kept feeding
them well, and doing bi-weekly water changes, but assumed they would not breed. Then, a
couple of weeks later, my wife, Sheri, called me over to the tank, saying, "Honey,
are these fry in this tank?" - Yes, the fish had bred by themselves.
The young were easy to raise. Newly-hatched brine shrimp are a perfect food for both
fry and adults. Young T. bifrenatus grow quickly, and are quite hardy. Dried food
is accepted well. Newly-hatched brine shrimp are better. Six months later, the young from
my first spawn are now pairing off in the Tanganyikan tank, staking out territories in
scattered marine snail shells.
T. bifrenatus are easy to keep and breed, and every aquarist I've introduced
them to has liked them. I'd have to give T. bifrenatus a hearty
"thumbs-up," and I recommend them with no reservations - something I can say
about few other fish.
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