Breeding My Ssox..

cepon3

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jun 12, 2006
898
0
16
The United States Of America
As alot of you know from the various posts I have up all over the site that I have acquired some of the hardest fish to find from lake malawi. Rhamphochromis esox. Maxing out at over twenty inches this fish is pure predator.. Three to four months ago i had acquired a "male" about 8 inches in length from a good friend over at WW. After three months of growing my guy out, I had noticed that the egg spots on his anal fin dissappeared to a pure white coloration. My male was just a dominant female, and she reverted to her regular female coloration after being in seclusion for that period of time. She is extremely aggressive to any slender "pike" shaped fish that is introduced to her tank.. After getting some Rhamphochromis macrapthalmus to add to her tank the hunt was on for a male esox.. Took a bit of searching and some begging and some cash, but i finally got my male.. he is just smaller then my female but he has a thicker head and a much larger mouth.. Even with these differences my female runs the show, bashing all the other fish that stand in her way..

My question to you guys is..

I would love to breed these guys, i found this excerpt from a gentle man that bred the smaller sp. macrapthalmus. Do you guys think that the process will be the same but just a larger scale?

"...NOT SUITABLE FOR THE HOME AQUARIUM." "NOT A CANDIDATE FOR THE HOME AQUARIUM." "THIS SPECIMEN GRADUALLY STARVED TO DEATH." "NOTHING IS KNOWN ABOUT THEIR BREEDING HABITS."




These are quotes concerning the cichlid genus Rhamphochromis from Axelrod's Lexicon of Cichlids. Published in 1993, this information, probably a bit dated by the time of publication, is no longer valid ass they are now commercially available. Publishing such statements guarantees some aquarist will succeed with the fish in question, and commercial breeding will soon follow. This article will describe my experience with keeping and breeding R. macrophthalmus. Having witnessed the first spawning of our pair, I have several observations concerning the behavior of this fish which set it apart from other fish from Lake Malawi (including predatory fish such as the Nimbochromis).

The cichlids of the genus Rhamphochromis, from Lake Malawi, haven't received a lot of attention in aquarium publications, and this is not surprising. They are large (10" to 24"), deep-water predators with drab coloration and a decidedly nasty appearance. Resembling barracuda or pike with more "reasonable" dentition, they do attract those hobbyists interested in keeping something out of the ordinary. Dr. Axelrod's admonitions about these fish remain pertinent in the sense that these fish have definite maintenance requirements to be kept and bred successfully. The smallest species of the genus, R. longiceps and R. macrophthalmus, require a minimum tank size of 125 gallons if they are to reach full size Also, from a purist point of view, we are not likely to see much of the fish's natural behavior in the confines of a home aquarium. While this is true of many fish that aquarists may keep, it is especially true of a fish which hunts in packs and frequents depths of 200 feet or more in their natural habitat. Presently, our pair of R. macrophthalmus have reached 6" standard length (SL), and there are indications that a 6 foot long, 125 gallon tank will not be adequate in the near future. Although they are predators (no one seeing the fish for the first time would believe otherwise), they will take a variety of foods in the aquarium. The pH in this tank is kept at 8.3, with a hardness of 15dh and a temperature of 80-82 degrees F. Filtration is a double Fluval 403 canister (a non-motorized unit filled with biological media connected in series with another), and a Supreme Aquamaster for particulate matter. The intake tube on the Fluval has been shortened to mid-tank level and the currents adjusted so the canister does not take in much solid waste, and therefore lasts much longer as a biological filter. Chemi-pure is added to the canisters, and African cichlid salts and Tetra Cichlid Vital also are used in recommended quantities. Water changes of 40 to 50% are done weekly, but the tank is nowhere near the stocking density it was when the mbuna were kept. Feeding consists of our own mixture, composed of flat fish (sole, haddock, flounder) canned baby shrimp and crab meat, and blanched spinach which is run through a grinder and frozen into patties. This delicious mixture is augmented with feeder minnows and goldfish (no guppies!), Doro Min, frozen bloodworms, and, occasionally, earthworms.

When I came across some R. macrophthalmus at Aquarium International in 1995, I purchased one small individual, barely an inch and a half long. I placed her in a 29 gallon tank which held various young fish we had either purchased or bred. When the fish reached a strapping 2 ½ inches, I moved it into a 75 gallon tank which housed a community of young L. tretocephalus, and Julidochromis. At this size, R. Macrophthalmus is easily at a disadvantage in a Malawi community tank; they do not attack food with the gusto of the mbuna and more robust haplochromines, such as Nimbochromis. Fortunately, we found a food the fish relished in frozen bloodworms. Our fish would grab a chunk of this delicious treat which was larger than any minnow it might otherwise accept. On a daily basis, Doro Min proved to be a favorite as well (it may be the elongated "noodle" shape which appeals to similarly shaped fish), and these foods enabled our individual to survive after being moved into our 125 gallon Malawi tank once it reached about 3" in length. I should note that even in the company of other Malawi predators of similar size, this fish did not pursue and eat feeder fish of any kind prior to attaining a length of 4". After this time, minnows and small goldfish were taken regularly. Interestingly, a male Aristochromis christyi purchased at 4" SL also did not take feeders until recently. A slow grower, it seemed to me that he was "convinced" to start taking live prey by example: all the other residents of this tank helped themselves without coaxing. Even a 2 ½ " D. compressiceps, added recently, grabs minnows with enthusiasm. The Aristochromis now takes his meals in the fashion typical of the species and Tyrannochromis as well: assuming a stance at an oblique angle over a prospective meal, then striking rapidly. This is a "contemplative" method of hunting, which may prove to be futile if the other predators in the tank do not recognize or respect the christyi's claim, and may explain why this fish did not take live food previously.

In July of this past year, a new batch of R. macrophthalmus appeared at A.I. I purchased a 2 ½ inch individual which was silver with yellow anal and caudal fins, which I hoped was a male. (Our original fish has a coppery cast to the body, with the fins being colorless as well.) When the two were introduced, it was obvious we had a pair. The smaller fish had a definite interest in the other, occasionally displaying in front of her or chasing a bit, in a manner much closer to courtship than territorial aggression. (There's often a fine line there, but we've come to rely on observing and recognizing this type of behavior when the gender of fish cannot be easily determined) The new fish quickly caught up to our 4" female, and, at this writing, he's perhaps ½" longer. Definite courtship behavior did not begin until the fish reached 5" SL, and breeding quickly followed. Neither fish showed any changed in coloration. One change had been made just prior to this spawning: we removed the full plastic hood and fluorescent lighting fixtures, replacing them with a glass lid and overhead track lighting. These lights are currently 2 feet above the tank, effectively cutting the illumination in half. (I had plans to move the lights closer to the water surface A few days ago, a pair of Apollo sharks (Luciosoma sp.) also spawned in this tank. We keep these as dither fish, and they've proven to be especially valuable as target fish as well, since they were often seen scuffling with the Rhamphochromis. They are not easily bullied, and perhaps the Rhamphochromis were particularly offended by the fact that the sharks should serve as food rather than dithers. It's not certain that any of the aforementioned conditions played a role in the spawning, but I've included them here as possible stimuli nevertheless.


R. macrophthalmus mating 'spin'

The spawning itself took place during mid-afternoon. It seems our fish prefer an audience for breeding, as we've recently witnessed 3 Otopharynx spawns in addition to the two mentioned here. I realized something noteworthy was taking place after seeing all residents of the tank clustered on the far left, with the Rhamphochromis pair circling each other on the far right. The pair stayed near the surface of the water, with the male mouthing the female's vent, presumably to stimulate egg production. A single egg would drop at this time, which the female retrieved in mid-water. She would then reciprocate the mouth/vent maneuver, thus fertilizing the egg. The eggs were spherical, dull orange in color, and perhaps 3mm in diameter. They appeared to be a bit smaller than the eggs of the Nimbochromis species, and clearly larger than those of the mbuna. Since this was the female's first spawn, I did not want to chase her with a net simply to measure the egg size and risk her spitting out the eggs before being caught; there would be other opportunities.

The cycle of circling, egg dropping and fertilization continued for approximately two hours, and continued well beyond the last egg. This activity was punctuated by the male charging any other fish that ventured into the center of the aquarium. These charges were swift and vicious, and successfully prevented any theft of eggs. The female seemed willing to comply with continued invitations from the male for the better part of the afternoon, although no additional eggs were produced. The male became less insistent toward the latter part of the afternoon, and by 5:00 PM the other residents of the tank were allowed to move out of the "cowering area". The male continued to make several half-hearted attempts to resume relations thereafter, with the female showing an equally half-hearted desire to accommodate. She was not harassed or aggressively chased by the male at any time afterwards, which we thought was peculiar since the female was the only prospective mate present, and always in sight. She was left to carry the eggs in relative peace, unlike most Pseudotropheus and other mbuna.

Having no idea of the incubation period for this species, I decided to remove the female 9 days after spawning. I had a 5 ½ gallon tank ready and waiting, equipped with a shallow net and air stone for artificially hatching the eggs in the event she spit the eggs out during or after capture. (I have found them sitting in the net in similar circumstances prior to this, and was caught unprepared each time.) These are very fast fish, as the oversized, fan-shaped caudal fin indicates, are are probably good jumpers, although there hasn't been a problem with this. Fortunately, the female was netted without hassle, as I trapped her between two nets, a method which I found works very well when removing a fish from a tank filled with rockwork and caves. I expected a gestation period of 14 to 20 days for these fry, as this period is common with most other Malawi cichlids. I was very surprised to find three small fry in the net with her, egg sacks not copletely absorbed. Placing her in a 5 gallon bucket that I had filled with water from the 125, she immediately released the rest of the fry, perhaps 30 in all. These were placed in the 5 ½ gallon tank; they were mobile, but preferred to rest in the gravel, occasionally darting around the small tank. I also keep one or two small sponge filters waiting in other aquariums, as these can provide a good source of microscopic food for newly hatched fry, and added one of these to the fry tank as well. The fry were 7 to 8 mm in length. We compared these to our Otopharynx lithobates fry, which were perhaps 3 days old and no more than 4 mm in length.

Cichlids from Lake Malawi are widely considered to be among the easiest of aquarium fish to breed: Throw 'em together, feed, 'em, and, Poof!, they breed. The Rhamphochromis have proven to be the most "accommodating" species I have ever bred. The pair graciously allowed me to view the event. She then released all of her fry in the bucket, rather than in the net or previous to catching her, a full week before I expected. Additionally, she kept these eggs full-term, whereas it is more common for a female to have one or two unsuccessful attempts before instinct takes over completely. No site was prepared as the pair spawned in "open" water, leaving enough space below to allow retrieval of the eggs as they fell. No other aquarium residents were injured during this time, and the female was not harassed during the time she carried eggs. No fuss, no mess, no bother. Why, my presence was completely unnecessary, no?

Despite a spawning which appeared to be completely without challenge, there were points of interest here that other species do not present. In light of the open water courtship and absence of a prepared site, I would expect the R. macrophthalmus would spawn in deep water, which is why no previous spawning account was published: it was impossible to observe in the wild. At one time I thought perhaps they engaged in lek/arena spawning or a similar type of free-for-all, but that's probably not the case. Are the fry released in shallow water? Would our exemplary male be happy to service three, perhaps four females? If only this fish were in great demand... There is also the question of tank size. Should our fish approach full size (12"+) in our 125 gallon tank, the male would almost certainly be unhappy with the six foot length. Perhaps Dr. Axelrod was trying to tell me something?
Here are some pictures of my male and female much much more to come..
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

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