Dicrossus gladicauda

[Yo-han]

Mine are going through my ferns for food most of the day, or swim just above the sand/aqua soil. So I don't expect that to be much of a problem. I bought them from Utaka as well. I hope they turn out to be gladicauda but I guess we need to wait 3-4 months.

 

[merlin]

The price was indeed on the low side. The shop were also selling maculata and filamentosus. I never saw the size of any but the gladicauda were pretty small. I am hopeful buy realise fish do get mislabelled. At the least I hope I get pairs of whatever it turns out to be.

 

[Yo-han]

The filamentosus were the same size but half the price. The maculatus were (young) adults and were 3 times the price of the gladicauda. I hesitated a lot about the maculatus. They were beautiful and easy to sex. But in the end I took the shot with the gladicauda

 

[merlin]

Yo-han have you seen any development on your gladicauda yet.

 

[Yo-han]

No, I guess we've the same shipment, so we'll see development at the same time. All five are doing great, eating algae wafers, frozen food, everything! Here are two pictures of two of them:

 

[merlin]

Are yours showing colour in the bottom fins. Mines still showing white. One of you pics hints at red.

 

[Yo-han]

Yes, two of them have that. And a little more color in the dorsal fin as well. A little whitish purple. I'll try to get a picture of it.

 

[merlin]

Hopefully that is the start of them declaring there sex.

 

[Yo-han]

I hope so!

 

[PhilipAG]

How are they right now?

 

[Cooder]

Very interesting thread, i quite enjoyed the read. Its made me look for some scientific description material on the Dicrossus Genus in general,
Thanks

 

[merlin]

My gladicauda are now starting to interact ie displaying and posturing. If what I see is true then ive definitely got "a" male and female. Size appears to be defining sex as well. At least 2 are stretching and happen to be the ones chasing the others. Colour wise I still see no difference.

 

[Yo-han]

I start to see a size difference as well. 3 are definitely larger than the other two. Colorwise I see a little difference in their pelvic fins. The smallest has the most white pelvic fins (and a little white edge on the dorsal fin) the other small one only a little white in her? pelvic fins. The three larger ones appear to have more red in their pelvic fins. The biggest the most.

I assume smaller means more likely to be females. How about the colors? Does red vs white tell anything about their sex or is it a coincidence?

 

[Mike Wise]

Have the caudal fin extensions developed yet?

 

[Yo-han]

Nope, but I know from filementosus cichlids that they need to be about 1 cm larger before they do.

 

[merlin]

Mine follow the same description as above. Smaller fish still show white in the pelvic fin. Larger fish pelvic fin clear at this time. What do you think about the square spots on the side. Filamentosus show a different number to gladicauda looking at pics.

 

[Mike Wise]

Nope. See the quote in my response of Dec. 4 to this thread.

 

[Yo-han]

I've read it somewhere too. But you can find filementosus with 6 and 7 spots so it seems to be random like Mike said.

But does the white and red in the pelvic fins in juveniles tell you anything Mike?

 

[Yo-han]

It is in English... Or do you mean a dowload location? http://cichlidae.us/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Dicrossus gladicauda.pdf

About the 6-7 spots. You can read a clear example in the paper. The picture from the holotype has 7 blotches, the picture from the live fish 6.

 

[Yo-han]

And this is stated:
"Six or seven flank spots of variable shape (longer than deep, shorter than deep or squarish) between operculum and caudal fin. Seven dorsal spots between nape and dorsal edge of caudal peduncle, last two very narrow.

Dicrossus gladicauda is most closely related to Dicrossus filamentosus. Both species are very similar and cannot be separated by proportional or meristic characters, but differ significantly in the shape and colour pattern of the caudal fin of adult males."