Satanoperca Mapiritensis Holding (EPIC DAY FOR ME)

[JK47]

I have been working with this species for a while now and today, finally made some progress! To my knowledge this a very rare thing to view.. I have not read any accounts of Satanoperca mapiritensis being spawned in the US to date (probably been done but I can't find it). Not going for bragging rights, just saying there is no good info out there to reference. I picked up Thomas Weidners book hoping to pick up some tips to trigger my group to spawn but even "South American Eartheaters" has nothing helpful, quote of entire section pertaining to breeding below from the above mentioned book, page 240:

"Breeding behavior:
Because there are no reliable records of this species being maintained in the aquarium, nothing is known of it's breeding behavior"

The female holding eggs. (note the tumbling of traditional mouth brooders) I will keep at the videos once it gets dark and try to show the actual aggs. The glare on the glass makes it impossible for my crappy camera to focus. I have to be pointing downward.

[YT]mr4phY2lEgE[/YT]

Bonus vid of the the female, the male and tank. I only have 4 in this group. (2m/2f)

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The information I have noted so far: the female is holding the eggs, the male pays no attention what so ever and she very aggressive towards pushing anyone away from the corner of the tank. I have tried everything to get this group to spawn and it was one simple thing that tirggered them. I'm actually irritated with myself for not having figured it out before. Oxygen... S. mapiritensis is found in both blackwater as well as clearwater enviroments. My disolved O2 levels were too low in the tank, IMO. I have two airstones mounted behind the 3D background but just for experiment sake, I added another larger capacity airstone/pump inside the main area of the tank and within 24 hours had a spawn..

The temp is at 84 degrees, pH is 7.0 (70% RO/30% tap mix) I will try and get my kH/gH and TDS readings tomorrow.

So any advice on helping this spawn along to hatching and stripping the fry? I doubt anything will come of this spawn, but it would be nice if I ould help them along.

 

[pshtex]

congrats on the brood hope things turn out well for u that is a really nice looking geo.

 

[Dan F]

Wow, that is awesome!

It makes me think I am going to have to clear out a tank and get a new membrane for my old R.O./D.I. unit.

As far as stripping the fry, why? I am a total newbie when it comes to SA cichlid breeding, so it may be a dumb question. My G. steindachneri female is a great mom - I just throw her in an isolation tank when she is holding and then take her out once she stops sucking up the fry.

 

[bigfishrcool1193]

Hope you can eventually get some fry Justin!

 

[JK47]

congrats on the brood hope things turn out well for u that is a really nice looking geo.

Thanks, they are a really undrated/overlooked species. They don't have all the colors the cichla guys go nuts for but are beautiful to me.

Hope you can eventually get some fry Justin!

Thanks Eric!

Wow, that is awesome!

It makes me think I am going to have to clear out a tank and get a new membrane for my old R.O./D.I. unit.

As far as stripping the fry, why? I am a total newbie when it comes to SA cichlid breeding, so it may be a dumb question. My G. steindachneri female is a great mom - I just throw her in an isolation tank when she is holding and then take her out once she stops sucking up the fry.

I may do that but only have one spare tank ATM and do not want to move her to that tank unless I have to. IME with most mouth brooders, the first couple spawns don't go so well until they get the hang of things. I yield more fry from stripping them from the parents.

 

[Dan F]

I may do that but only have one spare tank ATM and do not want to move her to that tank unless I have to. IME with most mouth brooders, the first couple spawns don't go so well until they get the hang of things. I yield more fry from stripping them from the parents.

Even in my own limited experience this is true - my steini's first spawn only yielded 20 fry, her second yielded 120. She is holding again as of yesterday, so it will be interesting to see how many she has this time.

Know anyone who is in the market for a few hundred Red-Humps? Cheap!

 

[aclockworkorange]

Since Justin is being modest I will throw it out there and let everyone know what a BIG accomplishment this is in the Cichlid hobby. I would not be surprised, if/when you get fry, that a publication or two would be interested in a well written account of the whole thing. I can ghost write it if you want (if you're busy or something, obviously you are not illiterate... I was a English major though). I would say there's some sort of clever fee or something, but I don't want any fry and I've bummed enough equipment off you already.

 

[JK47]

Since Justin is being modest I will throw it out there and let everyone know what a BIG accomplishment this is in the Cichlid hobby. I would not be surprised, if/when you get fry, that a publication or two would be interested in a well written account of the whole thing. I can ghost write it if you want (if you're busy or something, obviously you are not illiterate... I was a English major though). I would say there's some sort of clever fee or something, but I don't want any fry and I've bummed enough equipment off you already.

Thanks Jeff. There are a few of us keeping them out there but unfortunatly, not many. I spoke with Wayne Leibel a few weeks ago and it sounds like he still has a few but not many left. I was really hoping he would do some of the dirty work and fill me in on the details haha.

Ironically Rapps has F0 maps in right now. I should take advantage while I can and stock up on bloodlines. I'm just glad of all the SA species I could have kept, I stuck with my goal on this species. Hopefully in the next 6 months I'll be able to get some fry from them.

 

[fishmamma]

Congrats Justin! I'm happy for you... !!

In reference to the Steins, I've stripped my female.. mainly because I wanted to practice stripping.. now I'm not sure what I'll do with so many fry... feeders?

 

[Chrisplosion]

Very nice!