Re: Laetacara thayeri and parenting

[Lisa Brinkman <lisab@netrover.com>]

V Kutty wrote:

> Yup, they are the shiest fish I've ever kept.  The only way you'll get them
> to stay unhidden is if you have them in a tank with a million other bold
> fish.  Dithers dont help.  Plants, floating or otherwise, dont help.
> Driftwood and caves dont work.  In their 60-gal tank, my eight thayeri
> banged and bashed their empty little heads up against everything, everytime
> I walked into my fish room.  So, to keep them from giving themselves
> concussions, I took the drastic step of covering up the whole tank with dark
> paper with a small peep hole (3 inches by 6 inches) on the side for me to
> observe.  This helps with the head-banging but is a sorry and pathetic way
> to enjoy cichlids.  I really dont blame them because there were Hoplias
> (nasty Wolf fish) everywhere in their habitat.  The very closely related L.
> flavilabris that I have in a tank right next to the thayeri are not shy at
> all.  Flavilabris is not as colorful as thayeri but they have incredibly
> beautiful, long fins like Acarichthys heckelii.  I'll hang on to the thayeri
> for one more year and if they still dont breed, I'll go out and get a
> Hoplias and start feeding the little numb skulls to the Hoplias one by one.
> :-)
>
> Vinny

Hey Vinny,

I am keeping the flavilabris as well however they seem act in the manner you
described for the thayeri.  Very skittish fish.  I rarely saw them before I added
some more fish to their tank.  I have my extra male killies and a pair of M.
parkinsoni in the tank with them.  I do occasionally see them now.  However (if I
walk by their tank too fast) they will bash right into the tank cover.  As to
what you said about their fins... GORGEOUS.  I just love the threadlike
extensions these fish get.  Even the females seem to get some nice filaments as
well.  They have spawned twice for me so far but have eaten the eggs both times
after a day or two.  I'm not yet worried on it since they are new to breeding
(and they are in a bigger tank now too).  I do hope to spawn these guys
eventually though.

Lisa




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