Re: P. Taeniatus male that won't eat

[Frauley/Elson <fraulels@minet.ca>]

Pat Bowerman wrote:
> 
> > Pat,
> > Some questions:
> > how big is he relative to the females?
> 
> He is nearly twice their size. I believe that he is a fully adult male.
> 
> > What other fish are in the tank? (an important question)
> 
> The other fish in the 75 gallon are 6 juvenile Angels, 1 agassizzi female,
> 3 SAE's, 2 Otos,2 pencilfish, and of course, the 2 females.
> 
> > are his feces stringy and white?
> 
> I'm not sure, but I lost the Aggie male with stringy white feces. This was
> after keeping him for several spawns. The aggie male died maybe 6 months
> before the  P. Taeniatus were added to the tank.
> 
> > I kept Moliwes for several generations, and have seen a lot of males
> > waste away (rarely females), and those questions generally point to why.
> > - -Gary
> >
> Gary, thanks, and please share your thoughts. Feel free to e-mail me
> privately if you don't feel that this is interesting enough for the whole
> list.
> 
Hi,
I asked those questions as I find taeniatus males to be very strange
characters. Pelvicachromis in general seem to have a potential for males
with no sexual energy. My last pair had a female who just about stood on
her head crackling with colour to get attention, and a male who ambled
about like he was waiting for the millenium so he could see if his
computer would break. 
Other pelvicas have shown the same frustrating pattern. I figure these
fish are easy to breed, if you get a male who isn't a nerd.
This has other repercussions. Taenie-nerds get pushed around by
everything. Some males will dominate a tank, most seem to take the
passive-aggressive "you gonna bug me? Well I'll just die of a bacterial
infection and you'll feel pretty bad" approach to life's hassles.
I've saved frazzled taenie-nerd males by giving them their own tanks,
fattening them up, then introducing ONE female. On occasion, they've
spawned, but most of them lived healthy lives, succumbing to old age as
vaguely confused virgins.
At this stage, I would never keep taeniatus in with any other cichlid
unless they were a proven pair.
If you see white feces, there's already a bacterial infection or
parasite at work.
Good luck.
Gary
> 
>


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