color phases of bartoni

[duanes]

With very Parachromis like attitude and looks, Herichthys bartoni is a great alternative for those who don't have the space, or cannot for 1 reason or another have large tanks.
Fairly slow growing, a pair can be kept in a tank as small as a 55 gal, and the color changes can be quite interesting.

 

[BlesOne]

Awesome photos , amazing species. GJ


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[Endo]

Love the colors of the female in spawning dress...
such an awesome species at such a small size
guess they don't bloat as easily as their cousins the beani do?


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[duanes]

I have not had bloat issues with them at all, at least not so far.
By doing every other day water changes of @1/3 tank volume, nitrates stay in the 2-5ppm range, so water chemistry is not a problem.
But beyond water chemistry,
I believe stress is the basic factor in the cause of bloat, and this species (maybe because of its small size) has a much higher threshold for being intimidated by tank mates, it tends to bully much larger tank ones itself.
My group grew up with a group of H carpintus, at least double their size, and were not in the least bit bothered.
I now have a pair in a 120gal with Madagascans (some triple their size), and the pair of bartoni own 1/3 of the tank.

The other pair are alone in 55 raising fry, and are very attentive parents.

 

[duanes]

little update on the fry


and an adult

a bit blurred in the face, but then the color in the posterior becomes sharper

 

[jadedreams]

Very nice to see the various photos of different stages, thanks for posting those.

 

[pckts]

I love little bartoni.
They are called the tuxedo cichlid right?
They are tough little SOB's grammodes always get all the love as Lb for lb toughest, but I would put Bartoni right next to them at the top.

 

[petspoiler]

I didn't know bartoni were that tough.

wow, even the little fry have sparkles

 

[duanes]

The bartoni are pretty spunky, I keep another pair with Madagascan cichlids 4 times their size (Paratilapia and Paretroplus), and they have no trouble hanging in with the big guys.

 

[Cichlidfever]

I didn't know that Bartoni was that tough?