Steatocranus sp. "square head" pics

[DaveHansen]

I recently acquired 4 of these. They are small but I thought I would share my first couple of pics of them.

[westafrica]

Thank you very much for these pics Dave, I was looking forward to see pics of them (more than 1cm long )! It would be great if you could send some more on a regular basis, which would allow to compare the growth schemes with other Steatocranus species.

Thanks in advance!

[Thomas Andersen]

Sweet little critters

[Cichlidenwelt]

Hdllo Dave,

you got them finaly. Congratiulations. Your Pictures are allways better than mine.

So we seem to have brothers and sisters of those now

[Cichlidenwelt]

Hello Dave

do you have pictures now from the adult Steatocranus sp. Squarehead?

[DaveHansen]

Here are some more recent pics...they have gained size nicely, but slowly. I am not an overly aggressive feeder either in frequency or amount

[Dave Schumacher]

I can definitely see where the name came from in that last pic! Great shots, as always!

[westafrica]

Hi!

Great pics dave (as usual), thanks a lot!

Because of you and your nice pics I acquired a small group of them, thanks to Dr. A. Lamboj, I hope you're proud, temptator .

Here is a (bad) pic of the 2 biggest among my 5, I hope this is (will be) a pair...



Have yours already started to display? If so, could you please describe us the display behaviour?

They seem indeed to be slow growers, your impression is shared by other aquarists who have been keeping that sp. for 1 year.

[DaveHansen]

To give a little history on my group. I acquired them last year and I had 5 of them.. Everything was fine until about the last month or so. I was starting to see some dominance issues and was keeping a close eye on the group. Unfortunately I still lost two of them to aggression. I have 3 of them left. Two of them have have taken ownership of a breeding log which can be seen in the last picture I posted. They only venture away from it at feeding time and chase all other fish in the tank from the area. The 3rd one is quite a bit smaller and still roams freely throughout the tank without any issues. I have for the most part left them alone as they gain size and only recently has there been any pair type behavior between the two that have claimed the log.

[westafrica]

Hi Dave,

Thanks a lot for these precious precisions, I think they will help me with mine. Your description triggered a few more questions if you don't mind :

- What exactly do you call "pair type behavior"? Have you noticed any display, and if so what did it look like?
- What do you feed them, and have you noticed a preference for a particular type of food (algae / vegetal food, shrimps, snails...) ?
- Would you describe this sp. as "shy" compared to other Steatocranus or to other Westies in general? I know that they can be violent, your experience also shows it, bur fearing everything & killing tankmates seem to be compatible...

Thanks a lot for your answer!

[DaveHansen]

I say pair like because it was not nearly as obvious as most pair bonding fish I have kept. The female would allow the male in the area, but they never seemed totally at ease with each other. The first indication for me was when the others were killed.

I feed them for the most part spirilnua flakes, though it is a general flake that does have some other types in it, but about 75% algae based..they also occasionally get some frozen foods, but that is maybe once or twice a month. I avoid pellets with any of my westies. I had a bad run of fish deaths a few years ago and maybe it was just bad luck, but I was feeding pellets at the time

I have found them to be very reclusive, much more so than other Steatocranus species. It has been a real chore to get pictures of them.

I was feeding tonight and found a nice suprise..The male is in the vicinty, but not really paying much attention at this point.

Not great pics as they won't come out of the breeding log, but pretty excited about these.

[westafrica]

Hi Dave!

Congrats on this breeding! It's really exciting! BTW your pics are great as usual.
And thanks a lot for your answer, based on it :

- I will start giving more vegetal food
- I will be watching their agression level
- I will stop hoping to see them more often

Regarding that food aspect, I had a first indication of what they may eat, at least occasionally, in the wild : Yesterday, my supposed male (the one with the biggest hump on my pic above), killed at least 3 Melanoides, and ate part of them. His technique to do so seems very natural and very perfectionned at the same time : 1) take off and head turning 45° to the ground 2) assault on the snail from that position, with a fast jaw squeezing + torsion move (this second steps is very quick), resulting in a broken shell, sometimes with the clear half moon shaped jaw mark.

So maybe like S. gibbiceps this sp. is more or less specialized in snails eating, or maybe it is just an opportunist, feeding on algae as well as snails & shrimps.

Please don't hesitate to keep us posted about this breeding story, and to give us behavior elements!

[Ken Boorman]

Congrats on the spawning Dave!

Ken