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Helen Burns wrote:
>Don't get me wrong she is fabulous, the only
dwarf species I have observed that chews
>the food and spits it out in a cloud for the
fry to eat.
Actually, I've observed this behavior in the world's smallest known
cichlid,
Neolamprologus multifasciatus. It is a Tanganyikan "dwarf"
shell-dwelling cichlid...
the male getting to be a max of 1.5" - 2" while the female is a tiny .75 -
1" at adult
size. I first observed this when I started putting in Wardley Shrimp
Pellets as a
longer-term food that they could pick at and graze on ("they" being the
fry). Well,
the younger ones couldn't really pick any off. This is when I observed the
female
taking a large gulp and mouthing it. She would then deliberately find the
largest
concentration of small fry in the tank and spit it out for them. She'd go
back and
fourth doing this for the smaller fry. Quite interesting behavior, and fun
to watch.
-- Derek Wingert
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