# Retroculus lapidifer courting



## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

I got these fish at about 2 inches in November, 2013. They were aquarium bred, which was quite unusual, though my source would not tell me the name of the breeder. I've been raising 7 in a 125 gallon tank, and in the last couple of days these two started acting up. Here they are fanning at one another. The male is now about 6 inches TL, a little better than half of max size. They are currently digging a spawning pit, pushing around sand and pebbles. Quite a rare fish in the hobby, as they are thought to require a strong current to simulate the fast streams where they are found. I have my fingers crossed right now!










Tried to get some video, but the only camera I have is a webcam, and the video is really bad.


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## eaglesgift (Apr 25, 2015)

That's an impressive looking pair of fish. I read in the species profile that they will sometimes bury themselves up to their eyes in the substrate if they are startled - have you ever witnessed that behaviour?


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

They did that once when they were young (I was moving them to the big tank), but adults are more likely to make a fast run. When they are sifting, they go nose first up to their eyes, then blow the sand out their gills.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

The ones I got from you did the same thing a couple of weeks ago. But no spawn.

I think the Geophagus brokopondo they share their tank with broke it up.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

The female's belly has gone flat, I think she laid eggs sometime during the night. They are currently guarding a spot off to the side of the huge pit they dug, a small gap among some pieces of red slate. They have filled this gap with pebbles, and I just saw her chasing even the plecos from the area. The female occasionally does the "egg fanning shimmy". It was their first time, so I'm not that hopeful, but perhaps in a couple of days they'll surprise me with some wigglers.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

What was the outcome?


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

It was their first spawn, and while I'm sure there were eggs, they stopped guarding before the end of the day. Either the eggs were eaten, or raided by the other fish in the tank. Good news, the two involved have started territorial activity again today. I am going to see if I can get a tank prepared in the fishroom to move either the pair or the other 5 _Retroculus_, or at least some of them. Catching fish from this tank will be extremely difficult.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

Exciting stuff. Keep us updated and good luck!


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## jamntoast3 (May 15, 2015)

Yea, these fish are super cool. Do you do anything special in that tank?


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

Nice metallic blue color and red!

Their body shape and color look similar to Geophagus tapajos 'Red head' that I keep. So I wonder if they're also delayed mouth brooder?


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Video of SPAWNING! I was shooting some courting activity, and while the camera and computer were still set up they started laying eggs!

I tried to make it into a movie, but the movie maker software squished the image for some reason. Still, you can make out the activity and two spawning passes. When I saw them moving the eggs to another pit I knew they were done laying, so I tried to siphon a few eggs out. The adults panicked and scattered some eggs around, so I tried to get what I could find - not easy, the eggs are the color of sand! An hour after I took about 50-60 eggs, they had gathered the remaining eggs and were burying them under a pile of pebbles. So I have them keeping a few, and I can try to artificially hatch the batch I pulled. I hope the male is mature enough, he certainly made enough effort to fertilize the eggs!


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Same video, better movie making program. This is what it's supposed to look like!





Eggs in the tank were gone the next day, but the ones I pulled don't look exactly right. I fear they are infertile, but I can't tell due to the sand stuck to them. I will give them a couple more days, if nothing hatches I'll wait for the next time.


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## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

That is awesome!!!! Congratulations man, and wow stunning fish. The male you have is really something else.


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## jamntoast3 (May 15, 2015)

congrats!


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

congrats, nice timing, they are a fish I have been watching out for for a while but don't appear here in the shops too often.
I will be following this thread with interest, good luck with the eggs
joe


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Well, as I suspected, the eggs were infertile. The pair was acting up again the last three days, but as of yesterday afternoon they stopped. Female is thin, so I'd guess they spawned and the eggs were eaten faster than before. Or I just missed it altogether because I wasn't home.

It could be a while before the male is mature enough to fertilize the eggs. Females often mature long before the males in a lot of fish species. I believe that, in the wild, this encourages young females to mate with older males who have proven the ability to hold a territory.


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## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

This is still great progress! You sure don't see these guys too often in the hobby, and when they do appear they are $$$. Best of luck with the spawning!


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

They spawned about 5? days ago, I think. I once again pulled eggs, yesterday saw some fungusing eggs in the container, figured I had another infertile batch. This morning I went to the fishroom to see if they were all bad, and guess what I found:

*WRIGGLERS!!! *

Moved about 25-30 with tails showing, though only about half of those were visibly wiggling. Sorted through the rest of the eggs, still about 40-50 unhatched after removing all the fungused stuff. I will watch those closely for any more hatching.

Eggs were in a 1 gallon drum bowl with a strong aeration running from an open line. Temperature was about 84F due to being on a high shelf, no heater required. Good eggs and wrigglers were moved to seperate containers with clean water from running tanks, as the water in the bowl had started to get cloudy.

I have not yet tried to get photos of the larvae, hopefully will do that later today.

According to Weidner, the next stage - raising fry - is the difficult part. Extreme cleanliness is supposed to be necessary. We shall see if I can manage to keep them healthy.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Here is a shot of a larval Retroculus. The lower scale is numbered at cm.


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## Narwhal72 (Sep 26, 2006)

Congratulations!


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## FishMaster43 (Feb 20, 2015)

Well done, hope they survive for you.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

I have video of the parents guarding the fry! I have seen many videos on youtube of fish with eggs, and fry after the fact, but I cannot find any other video of parents with the young. I believe most fry are the result of artificial hatching, as I have observed things from this event that I have not seen in any previous reports.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

Just a note, there's also a thread at Cichlidae with photos, details, and videos. That was late last summer. I sold 80 of them at the OCA Extravaganza, still have about 30 young. However, the reason I am posting is to let everyone know that I wrote an article about the process for *Cichlid News* magazine, and it was published in the April 2016 issue!!!! They used several of my photos, even put a little insert photo on the cover to promote the article.

If you want to know everything about breeding these fish, go buy a copy of *Cichlid News*!


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