Emperor Cichlid a close relative to Cichla? Discussion please!

[tydus]

That's what they say, now, since a new Cichla has been caught at 40" I am wondering when someone will have the patience and luck to catch the largest Boulengerochromis.

Realistically, I would say 30" for the emperor. I have still yet to see a 3ft emperor as well.

 

[GiangNOOO]

• http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Animalia/Boulengerochromis_Genus.asp
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulengerochromis

• http://zipcodezoo.com/Key/Animalia/Cichla_Genus.asp

I apologize for not researching more in depth, but if you allow me a few personal observations, I think we are talking here about two similar, but diametrically opposed evolved species. Boulengerochromis is a pursuit predator, endemic to Lake Tanganyika, Africa; slender, long body that gives it strength and speed for the chase.

Cichlas on the other hand, are chubby, lazy bums, ambush predators. Look at the large mouths that they have. The cavernous entrance of their digestive system is made for one purpose only: A LARGE GULP, to suck their pray in. Large, deep bodies gives them an initial push of speed once the pray is spotted, but nowhere near to the slender and pursuit designed body of the Boulengerochromis.

I know there's been a few sightings of Cichlas larger than what Boulengerochromis was thought to be, but I still think there's "emperors" out there that a Cichla can bow to . I've observed wild Boulengerochromis in my tank, and upon feeding them live fish they would struck from across the tank ...catch speed and snatch their pray. In most of the videos of Cichlas in aquariums one can observe the "ambush" techniques.

Sorry for not being able to give a more scientific and compelling answer, but to date, I have yet to access some more data on their molecular structure. I'm new at this


Enjoy some of the pictures of my wild pair bud.

​

can we get a full tank shot looks amazing

 

[ewurm]

That's what they say, now, since a new Cichla has been caught at 40" I am wondering when someone will have the patience and luck to catch the largest Boulengerochromis.

I have seen some massive Temensis on fishing shows, had to be bigger than 3 feet. I'd like to see an Emperor Cichlid at that size.

 

[Marius]

I have seen some massive Temensis on fishing shows, had to be bigger than 3 feet. I'd like to see an Emperor Cichlid at that size.

You cannot compare Emperors with Cichlas. Cichlas are riverine fish man, lazy ambush bums. Boulengerochromis are lakewide spread and the biggest of them are deeper into the lake. Take Blue Zaire fronts for example, they are usually found at depths of 70-100 feet. Large Boulengerochromis would be found deep as well, is my guess.

The problem is fishing for Emperors is five times more expensive and more dangerous than having a stroll in South America. The lake is so big and the political environment is so unstable and dangerous that not a lot of anglers will pay for the posibility of getting shot. Lots of rebels, pirates and what not. And when Ad Konings takes someone to Tanganyika, they usually just collect cichlids, and they do more research.

I'm waiting for Angel's book now (Tanganyikan's Inland sea), and I'll ask his permission to post some pics over here. One little thing I dream about is catching a massive Emperor in the wild.

 

[tydus]

You cannot compare Emperors with Cichlas. Cichlas are riverine fish man, lazy ambush bums. Boulengerochromis are lakewide spread and the biggest of them are deeper into the lake. Take Blue Zaire fronts for example, they are usually found at depths of 70-100 feet. Large Boulengerochromis would be found deep as well, is my guess.

The problem is fishing for Emperors is five times more expensive and more dangerous than having a stroll in South America. The lake is so big and the political environment is so unstable and dangerous that not a lot of anglers will pay for the posibility of getting shot. Lots of rebels, pirates and what not. And when Ad Konings takes someone to Tanganyika, they usually just collect cichlids, and they do more research.

I'm waiting for Angel's book now (Tanganyikan's Inland sea), and I'll ask his permission to post some pics over here. One little thing I dream about is catching a massive Emperor in the wild.

He makes an awfully good point there.

 

[Marius]

I have seen some massive Temensis on fishing shows, had to be bigger than 3 feet. I'd like to see an Emperor Cichlid at that size.

Here's a video taken by a friend of mine from trophs.com Anyone good with scale math? I'd say that male is 30"+

[yt]RMj_0jvRN90[/yt]

 

[ewurm]

You cannot compare Emperors with Cichlas. Cichlas are riverine fish man, lazy ambush bums. Boulengerochromis are lakewide spread and the biggest of them are deeper into the lake. Take Blue Zaire fronts for example, they are usually found at depths of 70-100 feet. Large Boulengerochromis would be found deep as well, is my guess.

The problem is fishing for Emperors is five times more expensive and more dangerous than having a stroll in South America. The lake is so big and the political environment is so unstable and dangerous that not a lot of anglers will pay for the posibility of getting shot. Lots of rebels, pirates and what not. And when Ad Konings takes someone to Tanganyika, they usually just collect cichlids, and they do more research.

I'm waiting for Angel's book now (Tanganyikan's Inland sea), and I'll ask his permission to post some pics over here. One little thing I dream about is catching a massive Emperor in the wild.

I appreciate the knowledge. Am I right to say that the species has not really been studied that closely? They seem to have the same body shape and behavior of Cichla from what I have seen, but that is very limited. A search for the species yields little information, and it looks to be mostly incorrect. Any scientific papers about the species?

 

[Marius]

I appreciate the knowledge. Am I right to say that the species has not really been studied that closely? They seem to have the same body shape and behavior of Cichla from what I have seen, but that is very limited. A search for the species yields little information, and it looks to be mostly incorrect. Any scientific papers about the species?

In regards to the literature on the matter, I don't think there's an exhaustive research on the specie. It has been originally described in 1899 by George Albert Boulenger, but besides a known case of aquarium breeding, I am not aware of any available literature, or in depth description of the specie.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulengerochromis
• http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=89

As mentioned above, I have a pair now and it will be interesting to see, if their behavior will change more as they mature, more than it has changed so far anyway.

Besides a couple of morphological differences, yes, both species (Boulengerochromis and Cichlas) are highly specialized predators. I have never kept Cichlas though, and I cannot make a comparison between the two, but what I've observed in the Boulengerochromis' case, is that the fish presents a high degree on intelligence.

There was an incident that I was lucky enough to witness, but not lucky enough to record on video, unfortunately. This male Lobochilotes Labiatus (7"ish) was pestering the female every now and then, because he'd always go into her little corner (thought at the time she'd get ready to spawn). He was always looking through the substrate for MTS, and every now and then the female's patience would reach the limit and a chase would ensue. Now, after a couple of those chases, where the male Lobochilotes would dart to the other side of the tank and squeeze through a pile of rocks to loose the female, then he'd dart back to the other side of the 8'er ...after a few of those episodes, the female skipped the "chase all the way to the rocks part, and she glided over the rock pile and SNAP, she caught him mid body when he was exiting the rock pile on the other side.

Nothing serious happened, but a few missing scales and a very wounded pride, but I've never seen the Lobochilotes male in the female's corner anymore.

I'm going to try to raise these guys to their maximum potential, maybe even get a couple spawns out of them.

 

[Marius]

I should add that I am waiting on Angel Vitor's "Tanganyika, Inland sea" book. From what I've seen, it must be the best photo documentary of Lake Tanganyika's bio-diversity.

 

[Pharaoh]

A good range to say would be 30-36". To address Tydus' statement.....doesn't JohnPTC have a huge emp? not sure, but I thought he had a couple 30"+