For years now, I've been hearing from many sources how inept the Paretroplus genus is at parenting, particularly of their eggs . It goes something like this:
Pair lays eggs - pair guards eggs - pair squabbles and eats eggs
or
pair sees food coming and leaves eggs unattended whereupon they are eaten
or
pair gets distracted, forgets to stay with eggs, and they get eaten.
Well my experience with this genus ('maculatus', 'kieneri', and 'menerambo') tends to contradict these observations to a degree. I can see how these scenarios can happen, in that the Dambas are a high strung, rather nervous lot, incessantly squabbling, along with the strength of their pair bonds being somewhat suspect. But in my experience (at least within the last couple of years), they have been displaying exemplary capabilities in caring for ( at least) their eggs (that's only as far as I've allowed it to go).
They have tended to be very attentive to the egg plaque, with one parent (female) always close by, fanning them, and keeping a watchful eye while the other (male) is mostly doing periphery duty (does most of the chasing away). They work well as a team carrying out their tasks efficiently and choose spawning sites that are safe and secure for the young and easiest for them to defend. Can you tell I'm impressed? You betcha'. The funny thing is that any pair of CA or SA cichlids pretty much always displays the utmost in parenting skills as a matter of course. No big deal for them. But for the Dambas, I suppose it's “a work in progress”.
****I just went downstairs to pull the spawn, and the eggs are gone. Oh well, just disregard my positive comments.****
JUST KIDDING! They were still there and I've now moved them to a hatching tank.
Here's a video I took this morning of my pair of 'menarambo' guarding a spawn (occurred last evening) that supports some of my comments. This is their third spawn in 15 weeks.
[video=youtube_share;s5-0bYjMXHc]http://youtu.be/s5-0bYjMXHc[/video]
Pair lays eggs - pair guards eggs - pair squabbles and eats eggs
or
pair sees food coming and leaves eggs unattended whereupon they are eaten
or
pair gets distracted, forgets to stay with eggs, and they get eaten.
Well my experience with this genus ('maculatus', 'kieneri', and 'menerambo') tends to contradict these observations to a degree. I can see how these scenarios can happen, in that the Dambas are a high strung, rather nervous lot, incessantly squabbling, along with the strength of their pair bonds being somewhat suspect. But in my experience (at least within the last couple of years), they have been displaying exemplary capabilities in caring for ( at least) their eggs (that's only as far as I've allowed it to go).
They have tended to be very attentive to the egg plaque, with one parent (female) always close by, fanning them, and keeping a watchful eye while the other (male) is mostly doing periphery duty (does most of the chasing away). They work well as a team carrying out their tasks efficiently and choose spawning sites that are safe and secure for the young and easiest for them to defend. Can you tell I'm impressed? You betcha'. The funny thing is that any pair of CA or SA cichlids pretty much always displays the utmost in parenting skills as a matter of course. No big deal for them. But for the Dambas, I suppose it's “a work in progress”.
****I just went downstairs to pull the spawn, and the eggs are gone. Oh well, just disregard my positive comments.****
JUST KIDDING! They were still there and I've now moved them to a hatching tank.
Here's a video I took this morning of my pair of 'menarambo' guarding a spawn (occurred last evening) that supports some of my comments. This is their third spawn in 15 weeks.
[video=youtube_share;s5-0bYjMXHc]http://youtu.be/s5-0bYjMXHc[/video]
