Re: humilis

[Mike Downey <windwalker@uky.campuscw.net>]

>I have also gone through the "watch the male kill the females" with
>humilis.  I have a pair I've had now for well over six months.  I designed
>their tank as one would for the large south americans that don't cohabit
>well.  They're in a 55, the bottom is littered with broken flower pots and
>lots of pieces of PVC that are too small for the male to enter but large
>enough for the female to do so.  For a while they shared the tank with a
>large female Hemichromis who kept both at bay.  I replaced her with 8
>Thysochromis ansorgii which gives the male something to chase.  There are
>enough of them that the aggression seems to be adequately dispersed.  I do
>have to ensure that the female gets an opportunity to eat.  The female has
>been courting the male but he has responded by, at best, simply tolerating
>the female. Although Linke and Staeck mention spawning, has anyone on the
>list had any luck?  Is there a spawning trigger?
>
>Charles Ray

     My females would swell with eggs and court and take the abuse and the
males were only interested in abuse. The males incesently dig and I have
had several males develope a facial erosion the eats away all the flesh. I
beleive the substrate must be either sand or mud to avoid this. The males
never bother any of the dithers in the tank, large west African tetras etc.
I even keep some P. taeniatus and P. pulcher that spawned and raised some
fry in the 75 gal tank with them.
      The females were always provided with places to hide. The males were
longer but the females were wider and places to occupy that isolated them
were difficult to provide.
     David Soars said he had had some luck spawning humilis, but we somehow
never finished the conversation, I believe tequilla had something to do
with it. ;-o  I do know it was not the Guinea variety.

MikeD










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