# Latest addition - Laetacara dorsigera.



## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Well, thanks to the help of dwarfpike I am not not only going to be getting dwarf pike/s, but I have also been sold on the Laetacara sp. Awesome fish :thumb:. I can't wait to watch these little characters grow up, they've already got me glued to the tank.

I think I like them so much because they make me think of a pelvicachromis/keyhole/salvini cross, the ultimate dwarf if you ask me. :lol: My Bolivians are completely at ease with these fish and leave them well alone, even though they are just half their size and happily seem to swim over to check out what these big fish are up to. In fact my large male Bolivian doesn't quite know what to make of them, it was very entertaining to watch such a tiny fish with its inquisitive nature, spooking out a big hyper territorial male.

Anyway, I wanted to share pics and share my enthusiasm for these little guys. 1 is what I hope is the male, 2 with any luck is the female.

1:



















2:


















Together:



















Scale:









You know you want some!


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## shef (Oct 3, 2004)

Awwww, they are very cute!


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Heh heh heh ... my first convert!!!


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

:lol:

Here's a video for you guys:
http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m15/ ... AugSAs.flv


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Ignore that last video link, the quality is terrible, I'm working on finding a better video host that displays the video at a decent resolution. Here's the same video but higher quality - I'm trying to get it so that you can watch high quality fullscreen without having to do anything other than click. **** those fiends for shutting down Stage6.


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

Cool video. I love the way you have the huge fish among the little ones


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I kept expecting to see a disgruntled caveman.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Joels fish said:


> I kept expecting to see a disgruntled caveman.


Ok, you lost me on that one! :lol:


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

We have a car insurance company over here that uses that song and a disgruntled cavement in their tv commericals.

It was nice to see your male with fins extended so early in your tank. From what I've noticed in mine, rather than flaring fins when aggitated ... they fold their fins when stressed and keep them up when feeling settled. Which of course is the opposite of most cichlids. The pikes only flare their fins when facing down another cichlid.


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

awww... that reminds me. I miss my first pair I cichlids *** ever spawned, a pair of blue acaras.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

dwarfpike said:


> We have a car insurance company over here that uses that song and a disgruntled cavement in their tv commericals.
> 
> It was nice to see your male with fins extended so early in your tank.


Ah that makes sense now, interesting car insurance music choice, I wouldn't have thought of Royksopp as advert music, but there you have it! :lol: I was watching the video over and over looking for some hidden meaning that could be taken from it.

These Laetacara make me laugh, they're permanently cruising around all puffed up like they own the place. The Bolivians are totally at ease with them, no problems there, even had a pair of them fighting with a little Laetacara calmly chilling in the middle of it all :lol: Since the re-scape the little "fella" instantly took to the biggest territory in the driftwood, very amusing to have this tiny fish sat bang in the middle of a Rotkeil sized territory (the piece on the left).

Instant addiction, I want more Laetacara already.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

So do I, and with only 6 species in total, 4 of which are dwarves ... they make a nice addition to a lot of tanks. They are deffinately spunky, but not the crazy insane spunky of convicts or jewels. I am a little weary of _L. thayeri_ though ... had a rogue male decimate a tank with rare dwarf pikes and zerba plecos. :x


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Wow you're up early, it must be like 6-7am there!

Funny you mention the _L. thayeri_ though, I was looking into them and thought they were quite the cool fish, I like how much lighter they are than the _L. curviceps_ but then I got to their size and that put me off - I like _really_ dwarf Cichlids. How long did you have the _thayeri_ for? Did you breed them at all? I wonder how their parental instinct/behaviour differs in comparison to either the _curviceps_ or _dorsigera_.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

I think this might help put the caveman thing into focus 



.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

:lol: You guys have some crazy adverts. Geico ads, they're the recent ones with all the birds in and stuff right? Saw a few when I was out there last.

Unfortunately I don't have a pet caveman, if I did, you could be sure he'd be well trained at water changes.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Naw, it was only 1am or so. 8)

I had them about 6 months or so, bought as curviceps. But their size (male was about 4.5 inches SL) and the way the midlateral flank extends upwards into the dorsal fin at an angle told me they were either _L. thayeri_ or _L. flavilabris_. Either way, there was only one female in the group so got one male and one female. They deffinately never paired, the male ruled the tank he shared with the female, 4 noto dwarf pikes, and 10 zebra plecos. While I was at work one day, he just snapped and did his best green terror imitation and killed everything in the tank. I deffinately did not expect that from a _Laetacara_ species. The loss of the zebra plecos and noto's still sting badly, so while I do want to breed them ... they will probably be the last of the group, and will deffinately do more forcefull tankmates like proteus pikes.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Wow, that's not the sort of behaviour I would expect, so much for a peaceful temperament. They're not the sort of fish I'll be putting in my aquarium any time soon then. Sounds like they need something capable of giving them an "attitude readjustment" should they attack, it's always a pain when a fish has that nasty streak.

Some update shots of the L. dorsigera, settling in nicely and really exlporing the tank now, swimming through the swarm of Bolivians :lol:.

The one whose behaviour strikes me as male:



























The one that seems female, starting to get nice pink in the fins (doesn't really show in these pics).


















:thumb:


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

I was deffinately shocked, nothing I read on them suggested that. I think mine was deffinately an exception to the rule, it happens. Will probably try them again eventually ... with full size pikes. 8)

Excellant pics! Deffinately looking more and more like a male and female. And hopefully a pair though mine weren't quite as ready to form pairs as convicts or jewels.

The camera I borrowed was the same day I got mine dorsigera, so I only got one decent pic of them:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Cute pair blair, theyt look like they'll have some nice purple hues to them. And OMG what type of steriods are you feeding your corydoras. :lol:

And Ruurd, c'mon...ya know ya want some.


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Hahahaha,...yeah I would like a pair of dorsigerus. They are from the same habitat as Bolivians and would make my Bolivian tank more interesting. The only problem is the shrimp that are in there. I don't want to lose the colony. The Bolivians occasionally feed on baby shrimp but leave alone the adults. I'll expect the Laetacara to snack heavily on the shrimp.

So a question,....who is experienced with shrimp and Leaticara in the same tank????


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## a7oneal (Dec 30, 2004)

I love L. dorsigera. You'll enjoy these guys!


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## Dutch Dude (Sep 14, 2006)

Probably I would enjoy them! I maintained some in a large tank in a local rest home. I also know they can be a bit more territorial at breeding time and try to swallow my finger :wink: The problem is,.....what will they do with the shrimp,...snack one occasionally or eat them all in a short time. And,...will they be compatible with the bolivians. It is a 50 gallon densely planted tank with sand substrate and lots of hiding places.


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## blairo1 (May 7, 2006)

Hey guys thanks for stopping in and commenting.

Peter, :lol: corys on steroids, nah he's just in the foreground a bit more so it accentuates even further the size difference. Glad you got the visual cue for a joke .

Ruurd, bud these guys get on so well with my Bolivians, it truly is as if they recognise each other (instinctual) and just get on. I've had the _Laetacara_ and Bolivians feeding from my hand side by side, the _Laetacara_ will happily swim through the group of Bolivians and it's like they don't even notice one another. The Bolivians can be in the middle of a tussle and still if a _Laetacara_ gets in the way they don't even so much as flare at it.

I've even had one of the little _L. dorsigera_ gently nibble the caudal fin of my big Bolivian purely out of inquisitive nature and there was no repercussion as a result (whereas another Bolivian would have got a major ass kicking.)

As for shrimp, having not kept them with shrimp I cannot really accurately say, but what I can tell you is that from their cheeky, curious, inquisitive nature, they seem like proper shrimp hunters. I cannot imagine these fish ignoring a juicy little snack size shrimp, no chance.

Their confidence, behaviour and mood all seems to follow mainly one thing - their gut. I've never seen such a small fish be brave enough to eat a pellet from in front of my Rotkeil, a fish more than capable (and tempted) to eat them, yet they'll dive in, grab it and casually swim off to the next bit, leaving the Rotkeil hovering momentarily thinking.... what the...!


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Blair...your description of these guys is fantastic!
I've seen them here before, and I was very tempted to pick some up, but my tanks apparently had other plans in mind, lol. Anyway, I think you've convinced me I've made a mistake in passing them up...and I mean that in a good way, of course! :wink:

Cute fish...I hope they continue to get along.
I love envisioning them swimming about so non-chalant past the Bolivians and Rotkiel. :lol: 
BV


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

I orignally got 4 and let them pair, with the idea of doing a planted 20 long with the pair and some green fire tetras (_Aphyocharax rathbuni_). But now I am thinking of doing my empty 40 breeder with the pair, a pair of bolivians, my female _Cr. regani_ and black phantom tetras.

Decisions decisions.


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## straitjacketstar (Mar 8, 2004)

I looooove dorsigera! It's their sweet faces and inquisitive yet harmless characters that get me.
It's awesome watching them grow and develop into really handsome adults.
I got my last set from PetSmart, starting out like this.








Then growing into this.
















That particular little male turned out to be as personable as any larger SA/CA cichlid I've ever had. Always out and about and first to the front of the tank when I'd walk up.
I turned out to have a reverse trio although I wished my males were more interested in vying for the female's attention rather than trying to figure out which of them was prettiest.
I had them with my bolivian rams too. Great combo! I miss it.


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