New Fish: Keyhole Cichlids

[sandtiger]

I just bought this pair of keyhole cichlids a couple days back. My fingers are crossed that they are a breeding pair. They were with another keyhole in the shop and had him cornered and badly beat up, they also had a spot in the back of the tank where some of the gravel had been removed and a slight depression was made. I'm almost positive they are a m/f pair. Being that they were an impulse buy I had to setup a tank from scratch. I setup a 10g for them, added gravel and filter media from an established tank and they were ready to go. Been checking parems often and so far so good, no ammonia or nitrite. I also added 4 local minnows that I had on hand to serve as dither or target fish but they show little interest. So far these fish are great, not nearly as shy as I thought they would be. They started eating today and have been displaying and swimming about the tank.

Here is the suspected male

And the suspected female. You cannot really tell by the picture but she looks rather plump.

Full tank shot with both fish.

 

[AquataHolic420]

i like em, no idea on exact species... Good luck with the breeding!

 

[ewurm]

They look very nice. Sounds like a pair to me, based on behavior description.

 

[fivespeed302]

Nice find, keyholes are a great fish that often gets overlooked.

 

[K C]

One of the best looking pairs I've seen, very nice set-up.

 

[Hawkfish3.0]

Very nice looking pair of keyholes. Good luck with the spawning!

 

[sandtiger]

Thanks guys, gald you like em

 

[thebestincali2000]

i think those are still juviniles.i have a book that shows them as juvis and as adults.the adults had no dark markings except on the tail and the juvies looked like yours

 

[sandtiger]

i think those are still juviniles.i have a book that shows them as juvis and as adults.the adults had no dark markings except on the tail and the juvies looked like yours

I agree, I think the markings are juvinile but they are also displaying pair bonding/breeding behavior so I think they might be sexually mature. Maybe they mature before they loose the color. Some of the black markings on them in the pictures are do to stress (from the move and picture taking) and have pretty much vanished today.