Breeding Sp. Belly Crawler?

[jkingsley3923]

Hello all!
This is my first post on MFK, I creep through the forums pretty regularly though, lots of good info here! So I figured this is where I would start looking for some info about breeding. About a week ago my LFS ordered some Crenicichla cincta for me and what came in looked to be that, but after taking one home I have Identified it as a Sp. Belly Crawler, and a female at that, nice round belly, and a pretty pronounced oceli on the dorsal fin. There is still another one at the store (both the same size, around 4.5 - 5 inches) that has no oceli, a larger head, and is more elongated, still a Belly Crawler though from what I can tell. I will post pictures soon, but my female will not come out of her cave, so I figure I will give her some more time to settle in.
My real question now is whether or not it would be worth it to go and pick up the other one in hopes of it being a male, despite them not being cincta...my first choice I really like these little guys and would love to breed them. So if anyone has any info about getting these guys to breed (parameters, special foods...etc.) please feel free to share. Thank you!

Right now: Just the one female in a 20 long (eventually a 55)
Ph - 7.8
GH - 7
KH - 5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - <10

-Jordan

 

[GoingCichla]

i use to have one. they like to hide. and chill in caves. I had a castle in my tank. Mine use to swim backwords into the tower and poke his head out.

 

[darth pike]

Do you know how hard your water is? With that high of a pH, I'm guessing it's decently hard. These fish come from the Rio Meta in Colombia, which can sport sub 5.0 pH. I would think you would need to soften the water to have a chance at breeding them.

 

[jkingsley3923]

The General Hardness tends to vary between 6 and 7 dGH. That's how my city water comes in, so I think I'm going to start dosing some discus buffer to lower the ph and gh if that would give me the best chance. Any chance that you know if they tend to breed in captivity or is it going to be really hit or miss?

 

[BigPic]

I have tried to work with Belly Crawlers a couple times, I have a group of 8 right now. I haven't had any luck with breeding, but, I have had a lot of luck breeding Sveni (often caught together in Columbia) with water params very close to yours, ph closer to 8.0. Crawlers are awesome pikes and are usually very outgoing. . . snap up the other one, you won't regret it!