Old Blue Eyes: Spawning Archocentrus spilurum
by Wayne Toven
First published in "Tank Topics", Greater Akron Aquarium Society, Feb/March
2000
Aquarticles
A. spilurum is a cichlid that has been involved in the name game. Way back they
were called Cichlasoma, then Hericthys, but the latest name is Archocentrus.
Or you could just go with the common name of the Blue-eyed cichlid.
A. spilurum comes to us from Central America, in the Guatemala and Belize
area. They are not picky about their water conditions. In my fish room, that means well
water, pH of 7.4, medium hardness, and 73 degrees or whatever the room temperature is, and
no heater.
Spilurum are relatively peaceful cichlids. The males, according to Dr. Axelrod, can
attain a length of 7-1/2 inches. I've never seen any that big, but he's the expert. The
females are smaller. These fish have a fairly deep body, with the forehead rising sharply
from the mouth; the older males can develop a hump on their heads. Basic body coloration
is olive-green to yellow-brown. The dorsal fin and tail are red with blue spangling. The
males' dorsal and anal fins are longer and more pointed than the females'. The females are
less colorful than the males; they exhibit a series of distinctive vertical bars, one of
which extends to a dark spot in the middle of the dorsal fin. Both sexes have a golden
yellow color from the mouth down through the belly.
I got my spilurum as fry last year at one of the many auctions. They took up residence
in a 10 gallon basic tank setup: sponge filter, bare bottom, and a few rocks for them to
swim around. When they grew to 1-1/2 inches they were moved to a 15 gallon tank. Same
setup, but with a couple of flower pots added. It turns out that I have 3 males and 4
females. They are fed like everyone else; various flakes and floating pellets, twice a
day. Water changes are about 25% every 2-3 weeks.
When they reached 1-3/4 inches for the females, and 2 to 2-1/2 inches for the males,
nothing was happening, possibly due to overcrowding. I moved the best looking male and
female to another 15 to see if I could get them to spawn. They still look good, nice color
and all, but have shown no interest whatsoever in spawning. Meanwhile, back in the other
tank, about a week after the pair was moved out, I noticed a male and a female had both
changed their coloration. Instead of the golden yellow throat and belly, from the eyes
down to the mouth and back through the belly was now jet black. The ventral fins were also
black. The female's bars were absent, and both developed a horizontal striped pattern on
their sides. Whenever I got near the tank the female would dart into one of the pots,
which was lying on its side. "Alright!", I thought, "They're getting ready
to spawn. I'll move them to a tank by themselves." I netted the female and the flower
pot since she was in it, when I looked in the net there was a lot of newly hatched
wrigglers. Oops! Already spawned. I quickly put the female back and placed the pot and
wrigglers into a fry tank, a 10 gallon bare bottom, with a sponge filter and heater set to
77 degrees. Apparently I missed a few wrigglers in the main tank; they were moved by the
parents to another pot. Within 5 days they were free swimming. In the fry tank the
wrigglers had small egg sacs, and gathered in small groups on the bottom, there they
stayed, wiggling their tails. It took them 6-1/2 days to become free swimming. Maybe the
lack of parental care caused the time difference. The wrigglers were not even 1/4 inch
long when they were free swimming. I fed them finely powdered fry food 3-4 times a day.
Weekly water changes of 25% were done, carefully matching the temperature so as not to
shock the fry and kill them. There is around thirty or so fry - it's hard to count them
when they won't sit still.
In the main tank the same pair has again taken on their spawning coloration. The female
just as before, would guard the opening of the pot, which was facing the front of the
tank, if I got anywhere near. I finally got a peek and sure enough there were eggs on the
wall of the pot. I guess she didn't want me watching her, because overnight the pot was
turned with the opening toward the side of the tank so I couldn't see in. The pot is only
a 3 inch one, with part of the top edge cut away so it would not roll, laid on it's side.
However, to these 2 inch fish, that's pretty good sized. I would have liked to have seen
these fish pushing this pot around.
This time the parents are going to take care of the eggs and fry until they are free
swimming. Besides, it's their job not mine. I'll be there to net the fry out before they
get eaten. Now what am I going to do with the young adult pairs since they spawned for me?
Oh yeah, it's time for the spring auctions to start real soon. See you there!.
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