Curviceps breeding questions

[Jayhawk]

First off - it's incredibly cool to find a board devoted to dwarf cichlids!

Now my issues:

I have a pair of Laetacara curviceps (or are they dorsigera?) that I've had for about 7 months now. They came from the same shipment at the LFS, and one is about two thirds the size of the larger one and also has more rounded dorsal & anal fins - so I'm guessing the smaller one is the female. First question - is that the correct way to sex these fish?

Right now the smaller one is probably one inch long and the larger one is 1.25 or 1.5 inches or so. If they are a pair, how much bigger do they need to be to start breeding? Also, my set-up has lots of live plants, 3 hunks of driftwood that create 3 hiding areas, and a few places with small flat stones. I've read that they are not cave brooders, so I don't have any classic caves but I do have lots of places to hide. Until last week, I had 2 small stone caves, but they ignored them. If anyone has bred these fish, I'd love to hear their stories and set-ups for breeding.

One last bit of info., they are in a 20 gallon high tank with 1 cory (the last one to survive an ice storm with 3 days without power and 52 degree water!), 3 otos, and 3 platys.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Neil]

Jayhawk,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

It is very likely that the smaller fish is a female and that you do have a pair. They are pretty hard to tell apart, but sometimes the female has a little larger spot on the dorsal fin. If you compare the spot on both of your fish and the smaller one has a comparitively larger spot that you almost certainly have a pair. The standard fins being a little more extended in the male might be another thing to look at.
If you do have a pair, they probably are big enough to spawn right now. They are open substrate spawners and will lay eggs on a flat rock, piece of wood , leaf, gravel, etc. Good luck, Neil

 

[Jayhawk]

Neil,

thanks for the welcome and the reply. I does look like the smaller one has a proportionally larger spot on the dorsal fin, so it looks like they are a pair. Now, they only need to take a liking to each other!

 

[Randall]

Sexing L. curviceps

Dear Jayhawk,

Neil's right on, again! A more prominent dorsal blotch, or even a double blotch, is a good way to sex L. curviceps, but not in all populations. Males grow larger than females and tend to grow longer, more pointed unpaired fins. This is only very apparent in more mature fish, however. Another factor is the head. Hey, they don't call them "curviceps" for nothing. Latin, "curvus"=curved; Latin "cephalus" from Greek, "kephale"=head. Male curviceps will have a more compressed head shape that kind of gives him something like a forehead, while a female's head is more elongate, with not too much of a forehead. Does that make sense?

Your tank sounds fine for breeding. Just keep up with frequent partial water changes. You may have to wait until your fish grow up a bit more, say about 2". If there's no activity at that point, try adding another pair.

Good luck!

Randall Kohn