Alcolapia alcalicus

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I decided to start a new thread on my alcalicus in the West African section, although it's not the best fit, geographically speaking. I posted a couple of better pictures here: http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=9418

Looks like I lucked out quickly, and one of the females is already holding:

My apologies for the blurry picture. I'll have to dig up stand and extra lighting this weekend and try to do better.

 

[freshwaterfishfan]

Nice work. Get those guys breeding.
Are you keeping them with the Iranocichlas?
Steve

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Nope, they have a tank (40G breeder) to themselves; most of them are really small right now. I'll probably split the group up pretty soon to minimize the risk of losing them all should disaster strike (cracked glass, or so).

 

[ed seeley]

Well done! Can't wait to see more pics.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Looks like the female lost most, if not all, the eggs. She's is still VERY young, and I hope she will do better the next time.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Two of the females are holding again. I isolated one of them (small tank in the large tank) and left the other in the large tank. Let's wait and see if I get anything this time.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I've had some of my females holding a few times, but they always ended up eating the fry. About 10 days ago, I noticed that one of the females was holding again and put her in isolation. I'm not a friend of stripping fish, but this time I didn't want to take a chance by waiting too long. I've got eight babies with egg sacs (shown below). Obviously, I could/should have waited longer, but previously my females swallowed their fry right around 10 days after I noticed they were holding. I didn't get all the fry, but didn't want to force the issue (the female is still very small and didn't want to cooperate). Well, still long ways to go for the eight young ones, but perhaps a first step towards setting up a second colony...

 

[aquaticclarity]

Congrats Janos! It's great to hear that another rare fish in the U.S. hobby might be able to start getting spread around sooner then later. Maybe you will have some fry ready to go by the ACA convention this summer...

Jeff

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Thanks Jeff, but for the time being I'm only cautiously optimistic. Never had to work with larvae that young. I peeked in the tank this morning. Larvae and the holding female seem to be doing well (both are isolated in two small tanks sitting inside the big tank).

Janos

 

[aquaticclarity]

Looks like you could use an egg tumbler for the fry. But if you can keep them lightly bouncing in the tank/container that they're in you should be good.

Welcome to the world of mouthbrooders!

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I managed to raise three free-swimming alcalicus from another female that I stripped a while back. Finally! I'm cautiously optimistic, although the threesome is probably not totally out of the woods yet! Now that I worked out what needs to be done, I hope to be able to raise some more fry in the near future. The females are still pretty small and produce not a whole lot of eggs. I hope to take some pictures this weekend.

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I finally had the time to take a couple of pics -- the three juvies are pushing 1/3" now. I stripped another nine eggs from a female today and think that another female is holding.

 

[levine]

Congrats - I can swing by anytime to take some of those guys off your hands. :biggrin:

 

[ed seeley]

Awesome, well done! Have the females got any better at holding or are you still not risking it?

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Ed: I'm still not taking a chance with the females. I'd like to devote a second tank in my fishroom to another group of alcalicus as insurance against desaster (broken glass) and to maintain some genetic diversity. Once that's accomplished, I'll let the females hold to term and pass any surplus on to fellow hobbyists. At least that's the plan.

Janos

 

[ed seeley]

I don't blame you; that sounds like a very sensible plan. Always good to have an insurance policy!

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

I have been growing out as many juvies as I could produce. The progress is really slow, but I have about 18-20 now in a grow-out tank. I hope to put up some for sale on Aquabid pretty soon. See here for a videoclip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v42X0Fv1wh0

 

[freshwaterfishfan]

Water conditions

Janos,

What kind of water conditions are you getting them to breed in?
Steve

 

[Nebraska_cichlids]

Steve:

As you know, the tap water here in Nebraska is pretty hard, which happens to work well for the alcalicus. I add about 10 grams of table salt per gallon during water changes. I use the salt without iodine but don't think that matters too much. The fish like it relatively warm: about 27 degrees Celcius, but can handle temps higher than 30C.

Janos

 

[wethumbs]

The iodised salt is not harmful to fish. Only free iodine is toxic to fish. The iodised salt typically uses potassium or sodium iodate/iodide and at an amount of milliliter to 1 ton of NaCl. So the iodine in 1lb iodized salt only amount to microliter or ppm level.