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In this Special Pet Fish Talk Show Tom tells the story about
his so-called Red Zebra Cichlids, Percy and Flame, that spawn in spite
of problems and distraction caused by three male fish named Tré, Tan,
and Julius. |
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Click
here now
to hear "Mbunas
Spawning", which is about
52-minutes long.
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| 1. The picture above shows a mature male so-called Red Zebra on the left and a mature female Red Zebra on the right. Their scientific name is something like Pseudotropheus Maylandia estherae. Pseudotropheus is a genus of fish in the group called Mbunas that live among the rocks along the shores of Lake Malawi in East Africa. These fish now live in Tom's Mbuna Aquarium with about 20 other Mbunas, plus a Plecostomus Catfish, and Julius, a male Cichlid, whose ancestors lived in Lake Victoria in East Africa. |
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| 2. Here's the same male looking inside a Cichlid Stone. I've named this male Percy. |
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| 3. This fish is Percy's rival. I named him Tan. He is also a mature male Red Zebra but a lighter tan-colored variety. Tan is bigger than Percy and more dominant in Tom's Mbuna Aquarium. |
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| 4. Here Tan guards the opening to a Cichlid Stone and spreads his fins out wide to intimidate Percy, but Percy just ignored Tan a swam the other way. |
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| 5. In the picture, just above, you can see the two males: Tan on the right and Percy in the middle-foreground. The third fish, which is on the left, I named Flame. She's a female Red Zebra. Flame likes Percy and ignores Tan. |
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| 6. Flame can just barely be seen inside the Cichlid Stone, while Percy swims outside. |
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| 7. Here's Tré, a young male Labeotropheus trewavasae, which is another species of Mbuna. As Percy and Flame spawned, Tré seemed confused and tried to attract Flame, but she ignored Tré. |
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| 8. Here's Julius. He's a Cichlid too, but his ancestors came from Lake Victoria, which is about 500-miles north of Lake Malawi in East Africa. Julius always fights with all the other fish and so contributes to the confusion. |
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| 9. Here is Flame, below, and Percy, above. They often interact by circling about each other, rubbing and poking each other, and in many other ways. In this picture if you know just where to look you can just barely see the very small bump on the rear of Flame's abdomen that is the tube that delivers her eggs. |
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| 10. Flame apparently spawned with Percy inside this Cichlid Stone. She is a mouthbrooder, which means she lays the eggs and then picks them up in her mouth, where she will incubate them for about 21-days. |
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| 11. Flame ignored Tré, but he caused problems by going inside the Cichlid Stone, and disrupting the spawning of Percy and Flame. |
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| 12. Here Percy is hidden inside the Cichlid Stone, Flame is about to enter, and Tan is trying to attract Flame inside his Cichlid Stone. |
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| 13. Flame goes into the Cichlid Stone with Percy and ignores Tan, who waits nearby. |
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| 14. Percy is on the left, Flame above, Tan on the right, and two smaller Mbunas are below on the left side. |
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| 15. Percy and Flame would repeatedly exit the Cichlid Stone then circle about one another, as shown here, then go back inside. |
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| 16. Here is Flame with her mouth bulging with freshly laid eggs. That's Percy on the right. |
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| 17. Here comes Tré again with his fins spread wide, trying to attract Flame, but she swam the other way. |
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| 18. From top to bottom this is Percy, Flame, and Tan. When Tan was nearby Percy did not spread his fins. Tan constantly had his fins spread and swam in front of Flame. She ignored him. Again you can just barely see the tube at the rear of Flame's abdomen. |
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| 19. Tré swims past the Cichlid Stone again. He was very energetic. His coloration was less blue and more white. |
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20. Flame swims right across in front of Percy. She constantly encouraged him. Here again you can just barely see the tube at the rear of Flame's abdomen. |
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| 21. Flame with a big mouthful of freshly laid eggs. Here again you can just barely see the tube at the rear of Flame's abdomen. |
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| 22. The spawning went on for over an hour. From time to time Flame would go hide in a smaller Cichlid Stone. Later to come out, ignore Tré and Tan, while looking for Percy. Am I imagining things, or can I actually see eggs inside her slightly open mouth ? |
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| 23. Tré back again looking to make things difficult for Percy and Flame. |
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| 24. Tré displaying his fins to intimidate Percy. Percy took a few glances at Tré then swam the other way. |
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| 25. Julius never stopped flashing his bright colors and causing more confusion. |
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| 26. Here is Flame in the middle. Percy is on the right. On the left in this picture is another young smaller Red Zebra that was born and raised in this aquarium. |
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| 27. Flame, on the left, swims with Percy after spawning. |
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| 28. Flame in front of Percy. |
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| 29. Percy looking at Flame's bulging mouth. Actually the eggs are held in her buccal cavity. |
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| 30. The spawning is over but Tré, on the left in this picture, is still excited. |
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| 31. Flame and Percy have finished spawning and are still together. |
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Click
here to go a page in AquariumFish.net with more details about
keeping and breeding Mbuna Cichlids in aquariums.
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