Just a theory,
just as needing low pH and mineral content in some S American dwarf cichlids is important to fry survival and development...
Lake Turkana has a normal pH range of 8.6 to 9.4. (average pH 9)
Conductivity averages around 3000 or more microsiemens.
And salinity is quite high, in the dry seasonal as waters concentrate, it can reach 35 ppt ( same as the ocean).
One might theorize that in order for fry of this Hemichromis to develop normally, some or all ,of these parameters may need to be met.
The easiest way to determine....
My first experiment would be to bring salinity up when spawning is eminent.
Maybe a salinity of 3 ppt (3 lbs of salt per 100 gallons),considered slightly brackish.
next spawn (if survival of the 1st was minimal), would be to double that concentration and so on, to determine which, or if salinity increased ratio fry survival.
Lowest average Lake Turkana water temp is 77'F rising to 86'F, this may also be a consideration.
I had pairs of the species Alcolapia alcalicus I was working on, that come from a similarly warm, saline lake, Lake Natron.
To get fry survival, I didn't need to exactly match the lake temp or salinity, but meeting those parameters halfway helped fry survival.
I found a saintlty of 3ppt, and temps in the 80s, really helped.
But I ended up with fry being all females.
Doubling salinity evened out the gender gap.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/alb...a3e56.jpg?width=450&height=278&crop=fillAbove Alcolapia spawning, below female carrying
below fry
