Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdahl!ames!hc!lll-winken!gryphon!richard
From: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: Re: kenyi
Summary: African cichlids 101
Message-ID: <2481@gryphon.CTS.COM>
Date: 9 Feb 88 23:12:45 GMT
References: <1992@ukecc.engr.uky.edu>
Reply-To: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton)
Organization: Trailing Edge Technology, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 46

The Rift Vally system in Africa is comprised of lakes Malawi
(previously Nyassa), Tanganyka (sp), Victoria, and probably
more I can't remember.

Fishes belonging to Family Cichlidae from these lakes
are collectivly called 'mbuna', or 'african cichlids'
by hobbyists.

The water in the lakes in the Rift Vally is somewhere bewteen
tap water and seas water in specific gravity - ie. it's FULL
of dissolved minerals, although all the lakes differ with 
respect to this.

the primary diet of mbuna is stuff called 'aewofe' (I know I 
spelled it wrong, but I don't have my books handy at the moment)
which is a algae/zooplankton mixture growing on the bottom 
and rocks of all the rift vally lakes.  It's growth is supported
by the mass quantities of bird guano.

Mbuna are both terratorial and chooling at the same time.  Large
colonies of Mbuna congregate, but during breeding season, males
(or females) will stake out a terratory and defend it.

They will mate with a passing by member of the opposite sex, but
not set up a pair bond like other cichlids.

This then is your problem.  To breed african cichlids, the ideal
environment is a BIG tank with lots of rocks and a dozen members
of 5 or 6 species.  When you see a female with a moiuthfull of eggs,
remove her.

A pair of mbuna is almost a guarentee that the male will mercilessly
attack the female, and eventually kill her.

They are community breeders, and the only thing that prevents a male
from killing a female he just mated with is the distraction
of other fish, be they members of his species or not.

If you can put other Kenyii in the tank as well, that would be a good
start, although ideally you have a big tank and lots of different
africans.


-- 
               "It's too dark to put my legs in my munitions"
                          richard@gryphon.CTS.COM 
   {ihnp4!scgvaxd!cadovax, philabs!cadovax, codas!ddsw1} gryphon!richard