Re: Gibbiceps & temperature

[Pete Johnson <petej@wordsanddeeds.com>]

On 9/11/97 10:02 AM, Ed Pon edpon@hotmail.com wrote:

>This fish seems to be extremely difficult to keep alive just based 
>on my experience.

I can keep them alive with no problem -- other than the first group that 
Ed & I bought from a local dealer. Those fish died within a few days, 
probably from damage suffered during shipment.

A. gibbiceps which have I have subsequently acquired do well in my tanks, 
but I have yet to see any sign of spawning and some of them have been 
here close to a year.

Uwe Romer recently visisted my fish room and remarked that some of the 
tanks were a bit warm for spawning -- he singled out tanks with A. sp. 
"Pandurini," A. sp. "Sunset" and A. nijsseni, based on their habitats, 
which he said are forest pools. These tanks will cool as our local 
temperature drops, but it reminded me of the importance of water 
temperature, and that we should note it when talking about spawning.

Ron Coleman, a local researcher, has conducted experiments (I believe 
with Midas cichlids) and verified that they have strong temperature 
preferences for spawning. He hooked together several tanks with 
variations of a couple of degrees apiece and allowed the fish to select 
their setting.

Which brings me back to A. gibbiceps. I know that Mike Jacobs, who has 
spawned them, lives in Florida. I also know that he has talked about 
skewed sex ratios in developing fry (of other Apistos). Both of these 
clues suggest to me that his fish room is pretty warm. Does A. gibbiceps 
perhaps require a high temperature to spawn?


Pete Johnson  /  San Jose, CA  /  petej@wordsanddeeds.com