Re: P. altispinosa

["Darren J. Hanson" <djhanson@calweb.com>]

At 03:45 PM 10/30/97 -0200, Carlos Eduardo Alves Ribeiro wrote:
>Hi, I have some experience with dwarf cichlids and would like to try
>something new. I`ve bought six one-inch Pap. altispinosa and would like to
>breed them in the future. Could anybody give me some advice about this fish
>? Thank you.

I spawned a pair back in 1994. I put them in a 20 gallon tank with just 2"
fine sand, 3" ceramic flower pot and they had only the light from the
window. Their tank overgrew with algae on the glass so it was difficult to
see in the tank without a flashlight. One day when I went to do a water
change (soft water, 5.0 hardness and 7.0 pH.) I thought I might check to see
if the pair was even still there. Indeed they were. They didn't use the
flower pot for spawning. Instead they made a bare spot in a circular pattern
in the sand and that's where they spawned. They hatched their eggs and
raised their own fry. I still have the original pair in a 100 gallon
community tank with several of their offspring. (They don't seem to be of
much interest here in Sacramento, CA.) I fed them flakes and baby brine.
Other than that, I just left them alone. I didn't do a water change for 3
weeks prior to this one.