# Hemichromis stellifer Spawn with pics!



## redzebra24 (Sep 28, 2005)

A couple weeks ago I picked up a pair of Hemichromis stellifer from club member. These guys were really cool and moved from tank to tank as I got new fish in. They spent about 2 weeks in a 29g, then a couple days in a 20 long. I put them in a 10g on thursday. As I was doing stuff in the fishroom this afternoon I saw that the female was picking at one of the terra cotta pots. I was like it can't be doing what I think its doing.. CAN IT?!?!?!?!

At the first pass the female laid eggs, they went at it for over an hour and now I have a good part of a terra cotta pot COVERED! Pictures to come. ;D

Radek


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## redzebra24 (Sep 28, 2005)

As promised, pictures of the spawn. They are all in order from roughly 4pm till 5:30pm.













































































































I can't wait to see the eggs turn into fry. I will be taking pictures along the way for the next couple days. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking.


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## Chromedome52 (Jul 25, 2009)

Those photos are really great, but unfortunately they also make it clear that your fish are not _Hemichromis stellifer_ but the more common _H. guttatus_. The absence of proper facial markings and no vertical bars on the flanks pretty much eliminate _stellifer _as a possible identification. If you look at the profiles here, you can easily see the differences.

_H. guttatus_, is quite variable as to the amount of red in the body and the number of spangles on the flanks. In fact, most of the fish labeled as _lifalili _are _H. guttatus_. Anton Lamboj's book on West Africans is probably the best source for information, and he recently published information that the _Hemichromis _Sp. "Moanda" is the real _lifalili_. That information has not yet been updated in this site's profiles, but they do have photos under "Moanda".


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## oldwheat (Dec 24, 2007)

I agree 100% HEMICHROMIS GUTTATUS - Lome Lagoon, Togo. I can stick out my neck on this I.D, which is 'chancy' at best with red jewel species, as I am the person guilty of bringing this particular race of jewels into the country way back in the 1970's. I received a number of african fishes from Dr. Paul Loiselle while he was serving in the Peace Corps in Togo. Your pair are almost dead-ringers of my breeders ( talk about line-breeding) & they look every bit as good even now. I believe that a pic of the breeder male can be found in Loiselle's book 'The Cichlid Aquarium' but haven't actually had Paul confirm this. Some of the females of this morph show the same bright red in the top half of the body & are a bright canary yellow on the bottom half! I would be interested in re-aquiring this strain.


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## Randall (Jul 2, 2003)

Hello redzebra,

Chromedome52 is quite right. Your photos depict Hemichromis guttatus, the common jewelfish of the hobby, and not H. stellifer. In addition to the points of distinction cited by Chromedome52, your fish do not exhibit a discrete pattern of blue scale edges on the body. You have a beautiful pair of fish there, however; enjoy them!

As for Hemichromis sp. "Moanda/Muanda" agreeing with H. lifalili, I'm waiting on clarification from Anton Lamboj but will probably not change the species profiles here on Cichlid-Forum until Dr. Lamboj publishes in the peer-reviewed literature.

All the best,

Randall Kohn


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## redzebra24 (Sep 28, 2005)

Thanks everyone. I had suspected that they were not stellifer when I got the pair but I figured I would soon find out after posting pictures online. Thanks for the help and the ID!

Radek


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