Hi everyone--Bruce Haynes here (Tiedyeman) here. I am sort of new to West Africans and have some questions about the above named fish. I just acquired a group of 5 and was wondering about their care, water and feeding requirements etc. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
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Pelmatachromis Buttokofferi Questions
- Thread starter Bruce
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- Location
- Stoughton, WI
I have a new group of these fish too. Pelmatochromis is an interesting genus. I belongs to the tribe Pelmatochromines which only contains two genera. There are only four described species in the genus Pelmatochromis. There are some scientists who think that they should be moved into the tribe with all the Tilapines, because they are similar in so many ways. I think that there are some similarities to Hemichromis too... but closer to Tilapines for sure.
The most common of the genus in the hobby is P. nigrofasciatus, which is a beautiful fish with the reputation of being easy to spawn. P. buettikoferi is not as common, nor as easily bred. Reports vary, but the people I know who have been repeatedly successful with spawning it use soft water in larger aquariums (50 gallon plus) with dim light and a lot of cover for the fish to hide in. I have not set mine up to try to spawn yet. That is a project for late Summer this year.
The most common of the genus in the hobby is P. nigrofasciatus, which is a beautiful fish with the reputation of being easy to spawn. P. buettikoferi is not as common, nor as easily bred. Reports vary, but the people I know who have been repeatedly successful with spawning it use soft water in larger aquariums (50 gallon plus) with dim light and a lot of cover for the fish to hide in. I have not set mine up to try to spawn yet. That is a project for late Summer this year.
Thanks Ted, I am growing mine out a bit. The largest is 3.5" and the smallest is about 2" so doubt if they are ready to spawn at this young age, but they are in a large tank. Not in the least skittish. I am looking fwd to seeing these fish in their adult colors. I also just purchased a small group of P. Nigrofasciata and these are tiny, but stunning when adults. I am getting as excited about westies as I am about SA cichlids! p.s. they gobble up the Rapashy foods 
Rumple
New Member
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Hey Ted, I believe the group of P. Buttokofferi you have were mine (acquired from the SWMAS auction). If so I bred them in a 125 gallon tank in regular Grand Rapids tap water. They spawned multiple times and I usually siphoned out 1/2 the fry when they first became free swimming. Hope this helps, Good Luck
Rumple
New Member
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Could be, I know I had the group and their offspring in 3 or 4 tanks for a while. I hated to move them on but I had other fish coming in so they had to go. Very cool fish.
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Most, if not all of the P. buettikoferi in SW Michigan originated from a group I brought back from OCA several years ago. I split the group with Chase Klinestekker; we both spawned and distributed them widely. One other person brought some back as well, but he was unable to breed them for some reason. Possibly due to the skewed sex ratios, as females seemed to be few. Mine have bred in my very hard well water, and in moderately soft water (mostly R/O with some well water added for "flavor").
One of the things to remember with these fish is that the male needs targets or he will beat the female badly. Unlike P. nigrofasciatus, they lack obvious sexual dimorphism, though males usually end up a bit larger. They are generally not very aggressive unless spawning; I had them in a 90 with a pair of Heros sp. "Atabapo" and they were fine until both pairs of fish spawned at almost the same time. The Heros started looking ragged, so the buettikoferi were moved.
One of the things to remember with these fish is that the male needs targets or he will beat the female badly. Unlike P. nigrofasciatus, they lack obvious sexual dimorphism, though males usually end up a bit larger. They are generally not very aggressive unless spawning; I had them in a 90 with a pair of Heros sp. "Atabapo" and they were fine until both pairs of fish spawned at almost the same time. The Heros started looking ragged, so the buettikoferi were moved.
