Stomatepia mongo

[Milingu]

I got 8 juvenile Stomatepia mongo.
I want to give at least 1/1 to a friend.

They are too small to vent at the moment. At least for me.

Does anyone have an idea whether they will show gender-specific characteristics later?

 

[tlindsey]

I got 8 juvenile Stomatepia mongo.
I want to give at least 1/1 to a friend.

They are too small to vent at the moment. At least for me.

Does anyone have an idea whether they will show gender-specific characteristics later?

View attachment 1403907

james99
RD.

 

[RD.]

Sorry, I have never even seen any in person. Good luck!

 

[james99]

They're not something I've ever come across either.

 

[duanes]

I have kept S. pindu and mariae, but not mongo, I could visually start sexing the pindu at maybe 3-4 inches.
The females retained the torpedo shape, and the males started showing more masculine, steep profiles at that time, and same age males were always larger.
Males were quite tough on females so I kept them in 6 foot tanks to lessen aggression, which could be quite strong during a rut.

You can see the steeper profile of a male, and egasturated features, even in these bad shots, he is about 7"-8".

Females remained less steep.

The one below is a young male, maybe 4"


The mariae, beat each other to death before they had a chance to spawn, or even tell gender.

The pindu would produce 12-15 fry, and I had to get them to spit at 12-15 days, or I'd only end up with 1 or 2 survivors.

 

[Milingu]

Thanks Duanes.
Interesting information.

 

[duanes]

To clarify that's 12-15 days after noticing the female was carrying.
As soon as the Pindu were ready to spawn, one of a pair would dig a typical "Tilapine type", shallow depression in the sand about 5-6" in diameter.
It's interesting to me how similar the young Pindu looked, to your mongo, of course they are probably only half chromosome of separation.

These were some of my all time favorite predatory cichlids to keep of all time, I always wanted to try mongo, but they were never available, so congrats, quite a coop to get them.

 

[Milingu]

That's an impressive specimen.
I never saw any pindu. S. maria was available a few years ago.

I think mine will take some time to reach spawning age.
At the moment one of the smaller ones starts to show some black on the belly.
At the fish store they all were showing different shades of black.

 

[Milingu]

Update: Nothing changed. They are still showing their brownish colours most of the time.

I found someone else who keeps S. mongo and also was able to spawn S. maria several times.
He says that the males will show a more pointed anal fin.
I still can't see any difference.

 

[Milingu]

Finally managed to take some Pictures.