African Riverine Cichlids

African Riverine Cichlids

An example:

We saw some really interesting footage of some Wallaceochromis humilis in the wild, how they were moving through a stream with a sediment-laden bed, with virtually no vegetation. They were a pair and the female had some sort of ‘cave’ where the photographer assumed she had eggs or fry. The entrance to the cave was small, so that the larger male fish couldn’t enter. These fish are quite territorial, so adjacent males were frightened away.
One of the features of a cichlid is their degree of parental care.

Riverine cichlids are found in West Africa from Guinea to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Not necessarily the most stable political areas, not conducive to fish collecting expeditions.

The cichlids of these regions are mainly freshwater, and the ones from blackwater rivers (acidic water), are generally harder to keep in captivity. Males are generally larger (7 to 12 centimetres, females 6 to 10). They are generally sexually dimorphic in their colouring too.
This is the home territory of Kribensis species too, and because they are generally easier to breed, they are more readily obtained.  

P. pulcher

At this point, Glenn gave us some idea of what the facilities are like for importing fish. Imported fish need to go to a specially designated quarantine facility with specially trained staff. The fish need to come with a Health Certificate and then they are kept in the quarantine facility for a certain period of time. The time varies according to the species.

Some genera of fish like Corydoras and Apistogramma are all importable, but some import permissions are species specific.
We saw a video of a Singapore fish farm with several rows of tanks of just neon tetras. They specialised in ‘bread and butter species’. Some livebearers have to be transported with an empty gut, such is their potential for waste. Transport might take up to 2 days, so they don’t want to be sitting in dirty water. Import restrictions preclude any plant material, snails or stray fish.
Aquarium Industries (A.I.) for example would get 6 to 10 shipments from overseas weekly. They are mostly kept in quarantine for 7 days, but it’s 21 days for goldfish.

The water the fish come in is treated, then disposed of into the sewerage system, as per Biosecurity Australia instructions. Some fish such as Tiger barbs can be affected by a build-up of CO₂ in the bags, so they have to be carefully re-oxygenated before eventually being removed from the bag.
All marine imports are wild caught and they are imported one fish per bag. Freshwater fish are usually imported with one species all the same size, so that there can be many fish per bag.

In A.I. most of the tanks are bare. Any sick fish are inspected under a microscope, and a record taken of any treatment or cull. Officers from Biosecurity Australia come to inspect fish on the day they are due for release.

So, let’s go back to West Africa.

Kribensis species are easily the most popular cichlids from this region. Some have been selectively bred in captivity to emphasise the colour, size and number of fin spots, etc. There are even some albino kribensis available. Most originate from the rainforest areas near the coast, and are eventually exported from Nigeria. Some do come from the D.R.C., but shipments are not as reliable.

As well as Kribensis there are some popular “oddball” fish from this region, fish like the butterfly fish; elephant nose and upside-down catfish. And of course the Congo Tetras. Several of these species are now captive bred in Asia.

 Butterfly Fish

    Elephant Nose

   Upside Down Catfish

   Congo Tetra

 

How to keep Kribensis happy

The minimum tank size recommended has a base 60 x 45 cm. It should have several hiding places, and plants on wood are a good idea because they give security and can’t be dug up!

Water should be 22° to 27° (the warmer end of the range for breeding, pH 6 to 7.5 and fairly soft. The addition of peat moss would make the water more acidic. Generally if the water is acidic, you get more males, and with a higher pH, more females. The pH may even affect the colours of male Kribensis (pulcher).
Ideally, they would be fed a few times a day, besides using commercially available dry and frozen foods, Glenn also makes his own frozen mix of raw prawns and cooked vegetables. Because these fish are basically bottom dwellers, any tank mates should be fish that usually occupy the upper strata. They are cave breeders, you could use coconut shells, half small terracotta pots, etc. Glenn warns that the breeders become aggressive when they have fry, particularly aggressive to any large fish.

Fry can be fed on baby brine shrimp and microworms and small dry food. The fry are quite peaceful.

So the genus is Pelvicachromis and the main species available in Australia are P. pulcher; P. taeniatus; P. silviae and P. sacrimontis (the largest of the genus). Recently P. taeniatus has been split into P. taeniatus, P. kribensis and P. drachenfelsi, the latter is a more difficult species to keep as it is a black-water species. Other species known include P. roloffi, and P. subocellatus.

    P. taeniatus

   P. silviae

   P. sacrimontis

   
Glenn had some lovely video of parents and fry. It was noted that when the parents sensed danger, the flicked their fins and the fry became motionless.

Other small cichlids from this area include:

The African Butterfly Cichlid Anomalochromis thomasi. They are a relatively peaceful fish that will lay their eggs on a leaf or a rock.

 

The Forest Jewel Cichlid, Hemichromis lifalili. A fish that is easy to breed, very colourful but very aggressive.

 

 

The Transvestitus, Nanochromis transvestitus, a beautiful fish from the dark water habitat.

           

 

Steatocranus casuarius, the African Blockhead and S. tinanti the Slender Blockhead, elongated grey fish that tend to be on the bottom of the tank. A cave spawner that digs and comes from fast flowing streams.

 

We covered so much in Glenn’s talk that there was plenty to talk about when he’d finished. The highlight had to be the video of the kribs and their family. Thanks Glenn.            

Cuz