Breeding Competition in the Crater Lakes

[RD.]

Ran across this old paper today from the late 1970's, some interesting reading regarding the competition for breeding sites amongst the various species of cichlids found in Lake Xiloa.

http://proyectoecologico.org/papers/competition.pdf


On page 10 they discuss how in the rainy season citrinellum chase away all large fish from their breeding territories, including the "mobbing" of dovii by several pairs of citrinellum.

Just thought some people might find this an interesting read.

 

[trace]

Very interesting. Definitely a must read! The breeding info and territory info was very thorough and intriguing.


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[tydus]

Thanks for the awesome read!

 

[Regalblue]

Thank you, this is pretty damn cool

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[DIDYSIS]

I'm bored at work and needed something and this was good thanks

 

[RD.]

Yes, an interesting read that touches upon numerous species of cichlids found within the crater lakes. I think one thing that everyone can take away from a paper such as this is that during the spawning period, many of these fish have zero time to feed, and all reserves are used in defending their territories and/or fry. In the case of citrinellum, with some pre-spawning conditioning, those fat reserves can last them a good 8 to 10 weeks. From what I've seen over the years some periodic fasting of most fish kept in captivity probably wouldn't hurt either.