Re: Crenicara Puncutulatum

["Newman, L" <Lee_Newman@bc.sympatico.ca>]

Gareth Casey wrote:
> 
> I have some questions about theses fish if anybody could please answer
> them. They came into my LFS mis-IDed as D.Maculata and now that I know
> what they are I am still considering purchasing some of them. Any and
> all info would be greatly appreciated.
> TIA
> Gareth Casey


Gareth,

I had the opportunity to collect some Crenicara punctulatum in Peru in
'93. We caught them in very shallow water near the river bank at night
(during the day they were nowhere to be seen). Probably staying out of
the deep water at night to avoid being eaten. 

They adjusted well to aquaria, but always remained a little shy.
However, with suitable dither fish, they were constantly active, looking
for food and interacting with each other. At no time did I observe
aggression towards other fish or any damage as a result of intraspecific
aggression. I'd call them very peaceful cichlids. A small group should
not need more than 55 gallon aquarium. They are not what I would call a
dwarf cichlid (although they seem to find themselves in the books of
dwarf cichlids, probably on the basis of their non-aggressive
behaviour), my males grew to about 5" and the females to at least 4".

They accepted all the standard foods (flakes, pellets and frozen stuff)
and did well in aquaria with water conditions similar to those found in
their natural habitat; a pH of around 6.5 and carbonate hardness less
than 5 German degrees. I generally kept them in planted aquaria (they
ignore plants and seem to like the security they afford) with a fine
sand bottom (they appear to like to look for food under things they can
lift or push over with their mouths). I used plants that did not require
intense light and used peat in a box filter to lightly stain the water.
  
All of the fish we collected looked like females, then eventually, after
several months, one started to change into a male. The males are very
nicely coloured and the females retain the red ventrals and anal fins
til they begin to change into males. I think, that if the first male is
left in the aquarium, the other females will not change sex, but I'm not
sure.

They are interesting fish and rarely spawned, I'd give'em a try. I
wanted to collect them in Peru this past August, but we did not find
any.

Good luck, if you get them!

Lee Newman
Vancouver


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