Just Put two of them in a tank Together
After my recent experiences with Nannacara anomala, I can definitely recommend these peaceful dwarf cichlids as beginner fish. I have to conclude that all that has to be done to breed these fish is to put two of them in a tank together. After obtaining a trio of them as Fish of the Month last May, I immediately set them up in my community tank. They have distinctive, attractive coloring for such a commonly available and inexpensive fish. The male coloration is highly variable, normally with four longitudinal alternating dark and light stripes. The abdomen is nearly white, overlain by a dark stripe along the lateral line, and with another white stripe and a slightly less dark stripe along the dorsal region. When excited or in nuptial coloration, the adult males are almost entirely translucent blue. In some varieties, including mine, the male has a splash of red at the rear part of the dorsal fin. The female is colored similarly to the normal male coloration, except in times of breeding, when she is marked with a coarse checkerboard pattern.
After observing my new fish for several weeks, I found that I had three males rather than two males and a female, as I had thought. The male juveniles have very similar coloration with the females. After several months, I have found that coloration is not a reliable method of distinguishing the sexes of these fish, unless you’re lucky enough to be looking at a pair that have just spawned. I have learned to look for a slightly longer dorsal rear portion of the dorsal fin to tell male from female.
Once I realized that my hopes for spawning were not likely to be realized by my three males, I sought out three females from fellow GSAS member Jackie Bergstrom. I set up a 10 gallon tank for the largest male and two of the females and made preparations for broods. After consulting various references as to the water conditions these fish like for spawning, I made sure that the breeding tank had soft water (easy in Seattle) with moderate to low pH and temperature about 80 degrees, basic South American cichlid conditions. Obeying the law of unintended consequences, however, I ended up with successful broods with the remaining female and one of the males in my community 45 gallon tank.
To date, the breeding pair have had two successful spawns. In both cases, the female laid the eggs on a piece of driftwood protected by a really impressive amazon sword plant. About two days after spawning, the eggs hatched. The female took this opportunity to move the babies to a nearby location. For one of the spawns, the nursery moved to a large leaf closely sheltered by another leaf. On the second occasion, mom moved the baby fish to another location on the same piece of wood. After about another week the fry became free swimming, and mother could be seen touring the lower regions of the tank with a swarm of fry around her. This particular fish is an excellent mother, aggressively defending her brood even from the full-grown angelfish that share the tank.
Since I have a small apartment and am not really set up for a large-scale breeding operation, I have been keeping the number of fish down by leaving the juveniles in with the parents for several weeks longer than is really necessary. I have been satisfied with this approach, as I get hardier fry that have survived the community tank, even if I do end up sacrificing a few more fish from the brood. I have gotten about 30 fish from each brood.
Finally, I had an experience that strongly reinforced my opinion
of how easy these fish are to keep. One evening I was looking at the
15 gallon tank I am using to grow out the juveniles, and I found that
two of the babies
had spawned. These fish are about 5 months old,
and are not more than an inch long. I would hardly have called them
adults, but there was a proud mother, in dark nuptial colors,
defending a clutch of eggs she had laid on a small rock. To be honest,
I haven’t been that diligent with the water changes in that tank. If I
were a fish, it wouldn’t be my dream home, but there they were,
showing how easy it is to keep these lovely little cichlids.
Now if I could only get my Rams to spawn...
Tom Price has been a GSAS member for a year or two. In addition to spawning free fish from the club, he has interests in keeping aquatic plants.