Re: Steatocranus casaurius

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Steve,

I just got back from a week long vacation, but
didn't see any response to this question. Since
I've kept and bred this species before I will try
to give you some answers.

I spawned my Buffalo Heads (S. casuarius) in a
20L. It had about an inch (2.5 cm) of sand on the
bottom and completely covered in rock and
driftwood caves overgrown by Java Moss. They bred
in my tap water (dGH 3º, dKH <2º) at pH 6.5 and
79ºF (26ºC). I used air driven sponge filters that
moved a lot of water. Since these fish come from
water with high rates of flow, they seem to prefer
a lot of motion in their water. I found that the
real trick to breeding success is to find a
compatible pair. I started with 6 young fish and
let them pick out their own mates. Before this I'd
always tried to force a male & female to pair off.
This didn't work for me. My pair behaved very much
like apistos - the female took care of the eggs
and fry while the male defended the breeding
territory. In this set up I often had 2 or 3
different broods of juvenile fish. The adults
would drive off the older fry when they started
breeding again, but didn't seem to try to kill
them. Hope this helps.

Mike Wise

Kim Rogers or Steve Hatfield wrote:

> Hello AllI just got some steatocranus casarius
> anyone out there ever keep this fish?? any
> spawning suggestions would be appreciated Thanks
> Steve



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