# Pundamilia "blue bar" experiences



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

In searching for a "replacement" for blue rock kribs, I found this species. The pics look great, I just wanted to hear some personal experiences, especially how their aggression compares with other vics. I'd like to keep them in a colony with probably one male and 10 or so females. Some short chasing and aggressive darting is okay, but I don't want constant aggression, or laps around the tank. Thanks for reading, best of luck with your fish.


----------



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

The only video I've found: 



 They don't seem to be too bad, although the clip is rather short, and I didn't see any other fish in the tank, so there may not have been another fish to chase  .


----------



## fulu-1 (Oct 14, 2007)

i keep this species. raised them from 1 inch fry. i had two males but it didnt last past 3.5 inches then they constantly sparred. they wernt to hard on the other fish in the tank. but now are in a species only tank. they do dig a pit for spawning and the females seem to enjoy hiding among the rock work. over all i have found them to be a great addition to my vic collection.

here is a couple videos of when they were young spawning. not great quality video



one of my males when he was 1.5 inches









both males sparing

















male at 3.5.inch









male at 4 inches


----------



## Guest (Apr 2, 2011)

gorgeous fish... vics are so awesome lookin when they color up.. my ruby green rarely ever colors up.. but thats cuz theres no female vics in that tank... sometiems he does.. he's also kinda small... my flameback is like never fired up... got 3 kyoga flamebacks growing out hopin some will be female to make the other vics color up


----------



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks! Your male is quite stunning. The videos were great too! They don't seem to be as aggressive as other vics are when spawning. Very nice color scheme, I like that green patch near their tale, and the red fins are nice, too. Thanks again for sharing.


----------



## fulu-1 (Oct 14, 2007)

dont let the video fool you they were quite small then and now when its spawning time the male doesnt tolerate any fish play. but really they are a great species and i have no doubt the would be enjoyed. :thumb:


----------



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

I have a pretty good idea what you mean, but could you please elaborate on "not tolerating any fish play"? Specifically, how hard is he on the females? Do you think it's better to have a second male to keep him from killing the weaker females, or do you thank that a single male colony would result in less turmoil due to the spread out aggression? Sorry for all the questions, in short, I can handle dominance, but not a constant war zone  . Thanks


----------



## fulu-1 (Oct 14, 2007)

with pundamilia i have had the best sucess with 1 male and 4+ females. always give your females time to recover after spwaning.


----------



## fulu-1 (Oct 14, 2007)

here is a breeders award program report i wrote on the blue bar.

pundamilia sp. blue bar. or pundamilia blue bar, is a maternal mouthbrooder native to lake Victoria, in southern Africa.Kenya. is is found near hippo point in the Mwanaza gulf.. The climate is sub-tropical and native waters for this fish are pH of 7.6-8.4. I obtained six, 1 inch long fish from draf. Two males and 4 females.

Males achieve a size of 14 cm. and the shape of this fish is typically pundamillian. The adult male is colored blue from head to tail. While young they present with a lime green starting from mid flank to the tail. this may be more pronounced in some and less in others. The head is colored with bright, light blue, this goes down the flank to about 1/4 of the tail. This species has five to seven vertical bars that are colored dark blue, to deep purple starting from right behind the gill plate. The dark blue bars extend usually from the dorsal to the belly becoming solid 3/4 of the way down the flank. There is a dark bar that runs from the top of the head thru the eye and down to the bottom jaw line. The pectril fins are dark blue the anal fin is bright red with several pale egg dummies. The tail is red through half. The dorsal fin is also blue tipped in red.

Females achieve a size of 12 cm and are the female is a tan color through the entire body, they also have between 5 and 7 vertical stripes as well, darker in color than the rest of the body. All of the fins have a yellow coloring to them. and there are some very faint egg dummies in the anal fin. .

The fish bred in a 100 gallon tank which contained small gravel with crushed choral. No plants ere present. . The tank was filtered by a two canister filters and two hob power filters, and had a pH of 8.2
I performed weekly water changes equal to 25% of the tank volume. I used fluorescent lighting for a duration of 14 hours each day. I fed the fish dinanchi color supreame and frozen brine shrimp.

When spawning, the blue color of the male intensifies. Females colors also intensified, and presented a blue hue. i observed the male of this species excavate a pit, and leave his pit and approach a female and shimmy and flash in typical haplochromine fashion to entice a ripe female. Once he has attracted a female spawning was also typical haplochromine.

The pair laid approximately 28 eggs. After spawning, the female retreated to a hiding place to avoid harassment by the male. After two hours she was removed to a holding tank. No special care was given to the eggs she was allowed to hold the eggs until release 17 days later. Approximately 28 eggs representing 100% of the total hatch were viable. The fry were free swimming upon release and are less than 1/16 of an inch.

The fry didn't require any special care on my part. I left them in the 10 gallon tank. and removed the mother. The tank used a small hob filter with a screen covering the intake. Once the female released the fry, she would stay very close to them, taking them back in at any signs of a threat. I started the fry off on Cyclop-Eeze/crushed flake. After two days I started feeding crushed flake food. The fry grew moderatly.

One of the interesting things about this species is that the females seem to have some level of female on female aggression and female on male aggression when not ready to spawn.
I have really liked keeping the Pundamilia blue bar. The coloration of the adult male makes this even more rewarding, along with the rather easy spawning and care of the young make this fish a great Victorian cichlid to keep in my collection. With the relative easy care this species requires, and the level of activity, both among female and the male of this species, I would highly reccommend the Pundamilia blue bar as a fish to keep.

I have had 4 other very successful spawns from this group. and practice responcible redistribution of the fry, for others to enjoy.


----------



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

WOW! Thank you. You have been very helpful. I'm actually glad to hear that the females are somewhat assertive themselves, maybe they will be a little more resistant to the aggression of the male. Also, I am thinking that removing all holding females within a few days (or just long enough for the eggs to be fertilized :wink: ) might reduce aggression, because you alluded to the males harassing the holders, which is something I have witnessed even in my malawian haps. Anyway, thanks again and good luck to you and your fish.


----------



## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

If I seem over-paranoid about aggression, it's because I used to have nyererei, and they terrorized my tank. It was a 55 gallon, and had a mix of fish in it, peacocks, a couple yellow labs, and a female hap. There were too many males (I think I had about 5 males to 5 females), and only one nyererei female. These were, of course, less than ideal circumstances, but I don't want that much aggression again. I hope I can do that by keeping a large colony with one male, and taking the previously mentioned measures, but I may just have to stick to more peaceful species. What bothered me the most was the aggression directed at a certain male peacock: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1315 so I feel reasonably confident that I will be able to spread the aggression out a lot with ten or so females. Once again, little spurts of chasing here and there are okay, but I don't want another chasing marathon like my gold peacock endured. Thanks for reading.


----------

