Hemichromis exsul

[Magnus_Bane]

I personally had a turquoise jewel and a Hemichromis Bimaculatus pair that sadly never produced anything but eggs. Their main problem was the convict cichlids I had with em constantly bullying them. My female was a bit weird in the fact the she would only breed with males half her size. Always heard that the female would only breed with a male that was larger then herself. The Hemichromis Bimaculatus was the female btw.

 

[tiger15]

I posted a thread of this rift lake jewel. I am lucky to get a pair out of 4 and they are breeding at size of only 1.5 inch. I’m raising a batch and hope to introduce a bunch to colonize my planted tank.

Im not impressed by common riverine jewel fish that tend to drab out if they are not happy. The Turkana Jewel is unusual in that the color is as stable as Mbuna.

Lake Turkana Jewel Cichlid

Has anyone kept this jewel cichlid? This is not a riverine Hemichromis species from west Africa, but a rift Lake species from Lake Turkana in east Africa. I saw them for sale in my lfs and it has striking color resembling Mbuna. Lake Turkana is an alkaline / brackish Lake, so I would like...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[ryansmith83]

A little tricky to see, but the female moved the wrigglers into a pleco cave. It looks like quite a large spawn for a 2.5" fish.

 

[Niki_up]

A little tricky to see, but the female moved the wrigglers into a pleco cave. It looks like quite a large spawn for a 2.5" fish.

Man their gorgeous! That smooth red body color with the blue fins ?

 

[The Morning]

Anyone able to give link where to buy these?

 

[ryansmith83]

Anyone able to give link where to buy these?

I got mine from Ben @ FishToYou. These are rare fish that are not being imported frequently in the US.

 

[ryansmith83]

Man their gorgeous! That smooth red body color with the blue fins ?

I've seen them much redder. It could be the light sand washing them out, or it could be my water quality. This species of Hemichromis is not a riverine fish from West Africa like the others; it's a Rift Lake species from a brackish lake with a high pH. My pH is only about 7.8 with moderate hardness. I read the pH of Lake Turkana where they come from is somewhere around 8.5 to 9. I'm thinking their color may be more intense if I raise the pH and salt levels a bit. Right now I'm not messing with water chemistry too much because of the fry.

 

[tiger15]

I raised my Turkana at pH 7.5 and gH 5, so my water is only mildly alkaline. The fry are doing well with no die off for weeks, so Turkana is adaptive and no need to have liquid rock water to thrive. I think they originate from riverine species too but how they got into Lake Turkana was a mystery as I am not aware of any riverine Hemichromis exist in East Africa, or perhaps they exist but cant compete with mouth brooding Haplochormine in great African rift lakes. I paid $20 a fish but they are so easy to breed that I think price will drop soon when more are available.

 

[ryansmith83]

These are now 30 days free-swimming and right around 1” long. They’re weaned off BBS and eating Bug Bites granules.

They have developed tiny, iridescent blueish-white spangles all over the body. I initially freaked out because it looked like ich. The video doesn’t pick it up unfortunately.

 

[tlindsey]

These are now 30 days free-swimming and right around 1” long. They’re weaned off BBS and eating Bug Bites granules.

They have developed tiny, iridescent blueish-white spangles all over the body. I initially freaked out because it looked like ich. The video doesn’t pick it up unfortunately.

Congrats! That's awesome. First Batch?