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so far the longest lasting spawn of Paretroplus maculatus - a Madagascarian cichlid species- in my showtank.

these brave fishes manage to keep off 1 Clarias and 9 Synodontis off their spawn, not to mention a lot of other madagascarian cichlids, including 16 speciesmembers.

they're getting better at it:
this particular spawn was made 2,5 days ago.....

they manage to defend the eggs against all catfishes during the night and they don't loose it during feeding times either.

the color is wrong I think (fertilized eggs should be pink, right?), but no fungus and their behaviour is getting better. not so very dumb anymore








it's the male guarding the eggs. his female I can recognise; she's got a wee bit less tail than him and a different shading on the body; broad dark bars.
only at the moment, cause once they join the shoal, they turn into regular mode and they all look the same then.

Congrats! Those fish look great

Great pics, beautiful fish.

Must be fiece parents to fend off those other fish!

Nice job on providing the environment for them to breed.

Nice.

--
Mats

Nice !!

How old are they at the moment ? what other madagascarian do you have in the tank ?

Do you keep any Paretroplus kieneri or lamena ?

Wow, that's one beautiful fish, very elegant. Congrats and keep us posted, can't wait to see the fry

Do you keep any Paretroplus kieneri or lamena ?

unfortunately no. these are very very hard to come by in Europe

apart from Paratilapia; it's quite possible I'm the only keeper of Madagascar fishes in Netherlands.

there are keepers of kieneri in Germany and Scandinavia that I know of and possibly in the UK or France.
Lamena's (P nourissati) are kept in the UK, Greece, France and maybe in Germany.
all those cases are just a few hobbyists. and that's the ones I know of.
that's about it.

apart from Paretroplus maculatus I have P damii, 2 species of Ptychochromis, 1 Paratilapia and Bedotia's.

the age of my fish I have to guess. some I bought as 2-3" youngsters, others as 3-4" slightly less youngsters and I mixed those groups. i DO know all are F1's, bred from very large aged adults that have been imported back in the 90's by Jean Claude Nourissat, these fishes are still alive.

Paretroplus grows like a bonsai tree, very very slow. and I'm glad, because if they didn't my tank would be far too small. ;)

Nice!!
Amanda

looks like I have several threads on my Madagascar tank

oops. anyway, I'll revive one, just 1 and here's a bunch of pix

NOT taken by me, but by Wilfried van der Elst; the curator of the fish section of Antwerpen Zoo in Antwerp; Belgium.

I've known Wilfried for years and he con tacted me a while ago; he wanted to give a lecture on Madagascar freshwater fishes and lacked proper dia's and pictures. these fish are rare as hen's teeth in our hobby
shame, cause they're among THE most catfish friendly cichlids I've ever seen.

a few species. ALL are kept by me, pix are taken from fish that dwell in my tanks.

Bedotia madagascariensis:



Paretroplus damii





Paretroplus maculatus:








Paretroplus nourissati:






Ptychochromis grandidieri:






Ptychochromis oligacanthus 'Nosy Be Bempazava':






Wilfried gave me the green light when I asked if I could dump all this online

Keep up the good work
Nice photos .
Well done with the breeding .

Great photos of some fantastic looking fish