malawi sand diver

I have 1 acuticeps left in the prime of its breeding life 2 years old. It is the one that was here years ago. Got the parent ages ago from @sorrozFrom chilumba. Both imports to aust on west coast. More recent from senga bay. My one not senga bay. I am happy to donate it to someone if they can prove to me if that variant is still around and they have a colony of that type. I have no use for one. Should be bred if still around fyi @humbug

They are the hardest malawi hap to sex by site and for some reason they are a bit tricky to vent sex aswell. I've kept a lot of haps before and they are my favorite. They look a bit like a marine fish aswell. And coming back to the thread topic, I reckon we are lucky to have Labyrinth Aquariums, best in Australia for cichlids - so if you like cichlids and live in Sydney, we are pretty lucky. Its worth visitung to see the spectacular 10 foot malawi hap tank and the variety of cichlids.

The thing I like about white lip mdoka is that the females are just as colourful as the males, so if you have a colony they are all bright blue. In terms of price you are looking at a similar price to other less common malawi haps.

Species information Species: Stigmatochromis Pleurospilus Synoma: Cyrtocara Pleurospilus, Haplochromis Pleurospilus Common name: None Origin: Lake Malawi, Africa Localities/Morphs: Specimens have been collected in the far North of the lake Malawi. The catch locations have been at Lupembe sand-bank, Mdoka and at Ifungu. Maximum size: 25cm Natural habitat: Shallow sandy bays of depths between 10m and 40m. Natural foods/prey: Piscavore - hunts small fish in sandy environments Water chemistry in the wild: ph 7.7-8.6 Predators: These fish grow large and will hold their own against other large malawi haps. Brood size: Around 25 Breeding method: They are a colony breeder. The males construct a large bower of around 1m to 1.5m in the sand. They reach sexual maturity after 8 months. Husbandry requirements Minimum tank size: 6x2x2 foot Sex ratio: 1 male to 3 or more females Sex differences: Males have a yellow belly with pastel blue on the head and upper parts of the body. The male has a light blue patterning on the dorsal fin with yellow spots Tolerance of conspecifics: agressive - in my experience slightly more agressive amongst themselves than to other species. Tolerance of heterospecifics: agressive Water chemistry in aquaria: ph 7.8-8.6 Temperature range: 24-26 degrees C Foods accepted: Will readily accept good quality pellets but as they get bigger their diet will need to be supplemented with regular live food such as live brine, daphnia, shrimp or small fish to keep them in good breeding condition. Special requirements: A large tank is essential as these fish are large streamlined predators with a muscular torpedo shaped body and are quick swimmers. This post has been promoted to an article

Hi Nikki Sorry to hear about the death of the yellow. The white stringy stuff indicates digestive problems/bloat. Feeding the blood worms would be what has caused it - african cichlids can't eat blood worms, meaty foods and some cheaper pellets. In the wild, the yellows would mainly graze on a diet high in algae and relatively low in protein. They can't handle the high protein content. Best way around it is to feed them new life spectrum cichlid food. Your parameters looks OK but the temp is at the higher range, maybe aim for around 25-26. For africans, the PH could be slightly higher around 8. I understand you may have kept it a bit lower to not stress out the bristlenose and Jack demsey. When these are gone, you could add some more buffer, holey rock, coral/coral sand to keep it high. Good luck with the africans. The way you post photos is to upload them to picasa/photobucket etc and then add a link to it in the post. Regards, Rob

Some name them "Tropheus duboisi Golden Firefox." They are not naturally occuring and are line bred from T. Caramba. Regards, Rob