Paratilapia polleni sp Andapa spawn

[ciclasoman]

Hola:
I am very excited to see my fish spawn overnight. I have two matched pairs of P. polleni sp Andapa- very large spots in separate tanks. The fish were given to me by Michael Negrini in France, a friend of mine brought them on a trip from UK to Texas on route to Mexico (thanks Alan).... Anyhow, I believe this particular fish is only available in Europe by dedicated aquarists in France and also a good friend of Malagasy fish George Reclos- the fish are direct descendants of fish collected by the late Jean Claude Nourisat and Patrick de Rham. I took precautionary measures and removed the eggs, something I would not have done with a first spawn but I am compelled to ensure that the eggs hatch... I will try to add info as incubation progresses.
The particular pair spent about a monthon an outdoor pond until about last week when I moved them indoors after temps dropped into the high 50's - cold by Texas standards.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa29 ... 117c6c.jpg

[Mark Smith]

Congradulations Cichlasoman! Keep us up-to-date with photos, if possible. Can you post photos of the spawning pair? This variant is quite spectacular.

[ciclasoman]

This is a poor quality picture of the parents. They are about 18 months old and as with all Malagasy cichlids at the prime of reproductive lives. The eggs have turned dark with embryonic features, so some fertilization did occur luckily.

[SergeS]

Wow. I've seen Polleni's before, but never realized they could have different colours than black and white. The Yellow blaze is spectaculair indeed.

How big is the male? It looks pretty massive to me.

[Mark Smith]

Gorgeous pair! As Serges asked, how large is your pair?

[Dan Woodland]

Well done!!!! Make sure those get distributed, a beautiful rare fish indeed!!!

[ciclasoman]

I am indeed committed to distribute these guys just need to contact breeders here in the US to pass along some fry- these fish must be kept separate from other Paratilapia to avoid hybridization as these are considered to be separate species. The male Andapa is around 8 inches and if memory serves me well this species is the largest of the known Paratilapia genus.

[sidguppy]

these are real beauties!

but the largest species of Paratilapia?
I really don't know; I have seen fully grown males of the "small spot species group" (wich includes the ones with the tiny blue spots) that had reached sizes more familiar with male Oscars or fully grown frontosa's

so truly huge.

what is the biggest Andapa around at the moment?


a completely different question: how do yours behave?
my current experience with Paratilapia is quite bad.
I've tried with different fish of different sizes and ages and despite the tanksize (315 gallons/1200 liters) it always ends with the male going in search and destroy mode on the female

even matching pairs that spawn turn vicious on each other in time and then it's all downhill from there


and the weird thing is; I have Paretroplus wich are perfectly well behaved to each other and the species are nourissatti (!), damii, maculatus and menarambo.
wich should be nasty, but they're not. the only one that gets bitten is yours truly cause he likes to handfeed and the fish have no fear at all

but Paratilapia over here seem to focus on just one thing and that is wholesale destruction of any speciesmember in the same tank.

right now I have 2 7 cm/2.5" "small spot east coast" and they can and will find each other to bite and rip, despite the huge menarambo's being the top honcho's in the tank.

[ciclasoman]

Hi:
I don't know what the largest Andapa is or possible size because mine are just over 1 yr old but at that the male is around 8 inches long. I do know Paratilapia are not pair forming and though they may take care of the spawn, they will tipically alternate the care of the eggs and fry until the male decides he has had enough. Then the female's life is in danger, He will relentlessly chase and peel every scale on her body. Paretroplines are different in that regard.
I have used a young male about 1/2 the size of a female and had multiple spawns with moderate aggression until the time he was larger than the female and so she died!! I use tons of hiding places, caves, rocks and plants. There must be ample space for the female to hide. George Reclos and Francesco Zezza have a nice report (s) on these guys in the MCH site, the old one. That is where I got the tip to plant very heavily the tank so hopefully the female will scape death until I can rescue her if necessary.
Regards

[Michael.NEGRINI]

Hi José,

very happy to see the young are now beautiful adults ! Once again congratulations !

As I told you by email, it is possible that the Andapa population is a variant of Paratilapia typus. If I remember well what Patrick de Rham told me, the big spot Paratilapia from North-East madagascar are generically distinct from big spot Paratilapia from the North-West (P. polleni). Andapa is not very far from Mananara river where Paul Loiselle caught Paratilapia typus (at or near the type locality).
In many books or old magazines the Andapa Paratilapia is labelled P. polleni or P. polleni Andapa, but I think it's better to call them Paratilapia sp. Andapa, Paratilapia typus Andapa, but not P. polleni

A video of pair spawning (brothers and sisters of José's pair) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbXhBtAMsiA

[ciclasoman]

Thank you Michael for shining light on the issue of the different Paratilapia species. I have to say that that is the first time I see Paratilapia spawn though I have had several spawns, just never been lucky to catch them in the process. I have now set up 2 tanks- 200 and 240 gallons, each housing a pair in spawning dress, they are quite incredible to see.
Best regards
Jose

[Jshakour]

I saw these fish before in a breeders shop, only the pair was made up the same black fish as pictured above and instead of the gold markings they were greenish blue and the mate was white with the same greenish blue markings. I'm not sure which fish was the male and which was the female.

Can somebody explain?