Eggspots Elsewhere - Welt der Fische / World of Fishes

In February 2006 I finally again saw live specimens. Once again the females were in the
majority, but at least there were several males this time. Nevertheless I bought just one
pair, as I had learned in the course of time that in the case of Pseudocrenilabrus species
and some other haplochromines it is unwise to keep a single male with a “harem” because
of the aggression of the females among themselves. Because the weakest individual is
then attacked by all conspecifics, the desired effect of spreading the aggression often
becomes precisely the opposite.
Male Pseudocrenilabrus sp. "Ruaha" enticing the female to the spawning site.
By and large these fishes can be maintained like other Pseudocrenilabrus, but my initial
fear that the species was somewhat more sensitive and delicate was to be confirmed.
Initially, however, the fishes did quite well and spawned regularly, but it took four
attempts before the female finally brooded to term. Unfortunately the fry took hardly any
food and died fairly quickly. At the next attempt only bellysliders were produced - the
reasons for this are unknown, but I had previously also had this problem with P.
multicolor. Perhaps it related to the condition of the female, so I separated the fishes for
a number of weeks.
When the female’s genital papilla was clearly visible I put the male back with her, and he
immediately began to court her. I was now able to observe the courtship and spawning
behaviour in full detail. The male approached the female in an unusual way. He adopted
a diagonally downward-pointing position, with all his fins erect. Apart from the rapidly
fanning pectoral fins the fish looked as if he had been struck rigid as he slowly moved
towards the female. When he reached her he began typical quivering behaviour,
displaying in front of the female in a slightly curved position, dorsal fin slightly folded,
anal fin spread, but not extended towards the female in the way with which I was familiar
eggspots No. 4
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