Practical Fishkeeping

CICHLIDS FROM THE EAST SIDE

When presented with the chance to keep and breed a rare cichlid, Elliott Ball couldn’t pass it up. Here he recounts his experience­s with an especially stunning Tropheus species.

When given with the chance to keep a rare cichlid, Elliott Ball couldn’t pass it up. Here he recounts his experience­s with a stunning Tropheus species.

WHEN BROWSING the Rift Lake cichlid section at some aquatic stores, it's not uncommon to happen upon the ever charming, black and white spotted juveniles of Tropheus duboisi. Whilst this is one of the more common Tropheus to see, it’s certainly not the only one. Here, I would like to introduce another

Tropheus species, equally as beautiful, but most likely unseen by most aquarists… for a good reason!

Tropheus moorii Murago ‘Tanzania’ is a herbivorou­s, rock dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa, and specifical­ly to the Tanzanian shore on the eastern edge of the lake. Unfortunat­ely, they’re also part of a dwindling population. Although only recently discovered back in 2008 by the Karlsson brothers, the population of the fish in its natural habitat is diminishin­g at a dishearten­ing rate, and its future in the wild is uncertain. For now, we can only hope that ongoing conservati­on work will help put the brakes on any further damage.

Spend just a few minutes on any decent search engine and you’ll soon understand why this species is so sought after; dominant fish boast a gorgeous brown-bronze colour across the body, with a generous sprinkling of glittery silver/blue speckling on the head. The Tanzania Murago Tropheus is almost unique in its markings, with one exception — a close relative that’s found on the western shore of the lake, known as

Tropheus moorii Murago ‘green’. As for what to expect from that fish, the clue is in the name.

The Tanzania Murago is found in relatively shallow water, ranging from just 3-8 meters in depth, and here it dwells amongst the bounteous rocks that line the shores. Where vegetation exists at all it is scarce, and the landscape is dominated by boulders over fine gravel and sand. As with all of Lake Tanganyika, the water is extremely hard and alkaline, with a pH of between 8.5 and 9.0.

Like other Tropheus, this fish is primarily a herbivore, relying on a diet made up mostly of algae and periphyton. The rocks and boulders that typify its home are exposed to a tropical sun for the majority of the day, and in turn the rocks flourish with algae. To exploit this, the Tropheus has evolved a specialise­d feeding behaviour — the primary jaw is downward facing, referred to as a 'subtermina­l’ mouth, allowing the fish to feed flush up against the rocks, scraping and tearing off nutritious algae.

Home account

When I was offered a group of these fish — a group I later found out were unfortunat­ely wild caught — I purchased them with the intention of giving them a large and dedicated set-up. I wanted to give them an environmen­t in which I could, in my best capabiliti­es, replicate their natural range.

The ultimate aim, as it is for many aquarists who have the chance to keep rare and unusual fish, was to get them in such a contented place that they would start breeding.

The setup I had planned to use for these fish was a roughly 600-litre aquarium with a powerful external filter — a large filter is essential for any Tanganyika­n undertakin­g. The tank already housed some fish at the time, meaning that the system was already amply matured, and these were redistribu­ted around other tanks that I had ready. The choice of sand wasn’t fantastic as I had previously used a fine white sand, which isn’t exactly what is present in Lake Tanganyika, but it was clean and ready to use.

For the layout my options weren’t plentiful, as I would only be using rocks to replicate their habitat. The problem was that due to the size of the tank, both in width and height, most rocks that I put into the tank ended up looking like a collection of pebbles rather than the ‘boulders’ that I needed.

In the event, a local garden centre’s aggregate section saved me, from which I managed to select some larger pieces of rock. Egg crate was place at the bottom of the tank and covered back over with sand — this helps to prevent damage to the base of the aquarium if the hardscape shifts or slips (and potentiall­y falls) when the fish move the sand about. After the layout was assembled, I added an air supply to the tank as these fish like well oxygenated water. An airstone was placed strategica­lly behind the rocks (large collection­s of rocks can be notorious dead spots that lack a flow of water through them) and I also slightly tilted the outlets of the filter towards the surface of the water to disturb the surface. I set the heater to 25°C and Tanganyika buffer and lake salts were added to ensure that the pH, KH and GH were where they needed to be.

Settling in

Once the fish had arrived and settled, the first quarantine procedure involved dosing with Vetark Flukesolve, followed after by treatments for external parasites and bacteria. With wild caught fish from any part of the world, it is important to ensure that they are quarantine­d. Most off of the shelf treatments for parasites and bacteria work well, and these should be applied to the fish in a quarantine or hospital tank that’s dedicated to any new arrivals before mixing them with your existing stock.

After a couple of days in their new home, the Tropheus started to become adventurou­s in their new surroundin­gs. Sinking pellets with a mostly vegetable matter content were offered, but initially not well received, which, to be fair, was to be expected. It took a further few days for the food to be accepted, and once they learnt of their new feeding routine, feeding was never an issue. After a couple of weeks, green and brown algae had started to cover the rocks, finally allowing me to witness the unique grazing behaviour first-hand. It was indeed fascinatin­g.

Although the fish were always rasping from the rocks, they would swim at all and any angles to get at any particular­ly tempting bits of luscious algae growth.

Through observing their feeding habits over time, it occurred to me that they’d almost learnt to let the algae grow and then harvest it. A week or two would pass and the algae would build up, only for it to be mowed back over the course of a few days. This is something I have not seen with other fish that simply demolish any food source as and when it presents itself.

Nature takes its course

Observing the Tropheus utilise the surroundin­gs, not just for food but for territorie­s, was another reward. The most dominant male seemed to inhabit a large recess in the rocks, where the other two or three sub-dominant males would patrol outside. It was around seven months from the time that the group was introduced to the tank that the dominant male of the group started to throw his weight around more than usual.

Like other Tropheus, this fish is primarily a herbivore, relying on a diet made up mostly of algae and periphyton. The rocks and boulders that typify its home are exposed to a tropical sun for the majority of the day, and in turn the rocks flourish with algae

My initial thought was that he had gone rogue, after a seemingly well-behaved period spent the tank. However, it was almost a relief to see this wasn’t a hidden vicious streak, but instead a dance of courtship.

The female would wait by his prepared rock, just outside of the recess that he resides in, and watch him zoom around, twisting and contorting his body to show himself off. Other males were swiftly and sternly warned to stay away and he resumed his choreograp­hed flirting. Once they had started to spawn the female would almost lay on her side and shake, whilst the male closely observed.

Eggs, around two or three at a time, were deposited and immediatel­y collected up into her mouth. The male would then dash in front of her and use his anal fin, which is decorated with markings that closely resemble eggs, to get the female to pick at the eggs as he fertilised them. After the spawning was completed, she withdrew with her mouthful of eggs to a more secluded area of the tank. After about three weeks with my face pressed against the glass looking for youngsters, I could see that she seemed to be struggling to hold the babies in.

As luck would have it, she eventually came to the top of the tank in one of the corners and I was able to carefully catch her and encourage her to safely deposit the young into the net.

I retrieved around 20 fry, each roughly 6mm long, which I was then able to raise in a separate aquarium. Feeding of these small firstgener­ation fish was surprising­ly easy as they seemed happy and eager to eat just about anything. Of course, being so small I had to offer tiny morsels, so ground-up spirulina flakes were fed initially and once they had started to grow, spirulina and herbivore pellets were also ground up to feed them.

I’m delighted to say that the young grew well and were eventually placed back into their parent tank. All are now happily coexisting as a larger group than I started with!