Breeding Hints and Tips
My Experience with Paratheraps fenestratus
Written by Wednesday, 29 October 2008 00:00
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I am a catfish person. I am personally very content seeing a tank with just catfish in it; so much so that when looking at a tank I look at the bottom, under the wood and stones. My only criterion for selecting fish other than catfish for my tanks is that these would not in any way upset my catfish. Yet, as it happened, I got presented with a young cichlid, which I could just not turn away.
When I first set eyes on it my immediate reaction was a no-no. But how can you tell a friend, who went to all the trouble to get you something they thought you liked, that they made a big mistake? I was watching the fish as I was considering how to refuse the present politely and during this short period of time the fish won me over. It was not his looks – it was his behaviour. Totally oblivious to our presence and clearly not at all disturbed by the transportation the fish was playing with an ornament placed for him in his transportation box.
I was both intrigued and amused by his game and personality so I decided to keep him. With the help of George we eventually identified the species and sex of the fish: it was a young male Paratheraps fenestratus, the blue variety.
The fish joined his new tank in style. The way he was swimming around indicated he was quite comfortable in his new environment. He immediately set out to get familiar with the surroundings, every nook and cranny of it. I named him Zouzouni (meaning cute beetle) due to him constantly moving and going into every little corner he could fit.
Zouzouni soon noticed he was not the only inhabitant of the tank. The Leporacanthicus at the bottom attracted his attention. He first observed them carefully, then decided to get closer to see what exactly these animals were. Having reassured himself they were not dangerous he decided they were his new toys. He spent the rest of the day trying to drag my male L282 out his cave by the tail.
He did not leave the females undisturbed either. By the evening the whole L282 colony had declared war on him. They were waiting under the rocks and were hitting him on the nose every time he would come close to the substrate. So Zouzouni changed his target and started chasing the Leporacanthicus (L264) instead. Unfortunately, this resulted in a loss. Croc, the largest male from the previous spawn, sized about 6 cm, passed away when the P. fenestratus dragged him over a sharp stone while trying to pull him out of his cave. Zouzouni (cute beetle) was renamed Tomari (Beast) a name which he proudly bears to-date.
Croc’s death resulted in the tank being redecorated. I added a huge piece of slate and 10 Kg of extra bogwood; the new furniture did not allow Tomari to reach the bottom of the tank and disturb the catfish, or so I thought. Tomari reacted in a very positive way. He took the opportunity to improve his swimming skills by performing various voles planées among the wood pieces – impressing even George who took some pictures of him doing dips and dives:
In the days that followed Tomari kept himself busy rearranging his tank; he moved the wood and dug the sand in an attempt to correct the layout which was obviously wrong. I, on the other hand, was furiously trying to find him a female. That did not stop me observing him daily; I noticed that the fish was, from time to time, clearly bored. So we started playing. His favourite game was to chase the red point of a laser pointer between the pieces of wood. His responses to different stimuli were really impressive – to the point that when I teased him a lot he would show his anger most usually by refusing to eat. To give you an example of his “intelligence” and the kind of interaction we had, let me mention this: the fish, on a daily basis, was removing sand from the front part of the tank, digging a tunnel. His aim was to make space under the slate so he could get to the Leporacanthicus. Every day I kept putting the sand back and he had to start afresh. On one occasion that I had destroyed (for the twentieth time in a row) the tunnel he was digging he got really mad at me. He hid for two whole days (I didn’t see him at all in the tank). In the end I got worried and I removed all the wood and rocks to look for him. In his mind this was a clear victory. For the next few days he was proudly swimming in the tank with a completely smug expression on his face (you will only know this if you have seen a fish doing it, but believe me, it is true).
The fish kept himself really busy. Though the tank was not particularly big - it was only 600 lit - every time I would enter the room I would see him doing something. He would be either digging, or moving a piece of wood, or trying to swim through tight openings or chasing the catfish. Very soon he noticed the other fish in the surrounding tanks and he spent some time observing them. He interacted best with Wussy, the green Heros efasciatus living in the tank next to his. Zouzouni spent a lot of time watching Wussy through the glass, or trying to get to him. Every time he wanted to do something he would first watch to see where Wussy was and if he happened to be near the glass he would wait for him to leave prior to embarking onto his new project.
This kind of behaviour is very characteristic of him. Tomari insists on being the chief male and makes this absolutely obvious to all and everyone. He is extremely playful, very competitive but not an aggressive fish. He may do some damage in the tank (after all he is responsible for the death of Croc) but this is due more to curiosity and playfulness than to sheer aggression. He will challenge and expect to be taken seriously, but will not move on to cross swords if his opponent will stand up to him. An interesting incident happened when I introduced a large catfish to his tank temporarily. Tomari started manifesting an odd behaviour, like a child throwing a tandrum. He would go up to the catfish, who was not bothered in the least by his presence and try to make it leave the space it was occupying. Naturally he failed every time; the catfish was having none of this. Tomari would leave, his colour would darken considerably and would then go to 'sulk' in his cave. He would stop eating for a while and on occasions he would swim erratically. It was only after the catfish left his tank that his behaviour returned to normal. All in all, if I was to describe this fish in a sentence I would say it is an extremely interesting fish, clearly thinking, clearly needing stimulation, very playful, not aggressive and with lots of personality.
In the meantime the search for a female did not bear any results. Tomari was growing fast and had already hit the 20 cm mark. With the help of George, who decided to get involved in this seriously, we searched in Greece, UK, USA, France and Belgium. Still no results.
However,“Who dares wins” (this is the moto Tomari lives by, too). In one of my visits to my LFS I spotted a 12 cm fish (another return by someone who didn’t want it any more) which looked a lot like Tomari. The label said “Redhead Cichlid” which was not very helpful. After long discussions and extended use of the Atlas (P. fenestratus looks very similar to several other species as a juvenile) we agreed that I would get the fish but I would return it if it didn’t get along with my male. This would at least save me from the drama of two male cichlids in the same tank.
The minute the newcomer joined the tank, Tomari graciously retreated to his private compartments to examine the situation and decide his course of action. Another interesting behaviour: he did not go to check out the newcomer or get involved in a fight. He preferred to observe and consider the situation. In the meantime, my largest male T. meeki started displaying to the newcomer and chasing him/her. Just as the newcomer was getting cornered Tomari gallantly appeared and saved the day.
The two fish started flirting at once with the newcomer following her hero (Tomari) who showed her around the tank. This behaviour confirmed that the newcomer was indeed a female since Tomari would never show this kind of love and tenderness to a male conspecific. I was expecting much more active courtship and displaying but according to George Tomari was a rather young fish which had not spend much time alone so he was not very keen to get a partner. He clearly thought of the newcomer as a nice addition but nothing to really cheer about.
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