# Anyone else out there keeping Dicrossus?



## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I don't do a lot of SA cichlids anymore, but I thought it was time for a change, so I traded in my multies for some checkerboard cichlids (actually my multies were driving me crazy with their digging up of my plants) and was just wondering what to expect from them. Are they similar in behavior to apistos? They seem pretty laid back so far (comparatively), and they have tiny mouths, I hope they'll be able to get on better with my lampeyes than the multies did.


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

Both are great species to work with. I would suggest trying D. filamentosus for two reasons they stay smaller and and in my experience are less aggressive. In addition and very important they tend to be cheaper and more readily available.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

By the looks of things I have D. maculatus, as I don't see the caudal filaments forming on the male fish. Perhaps it'll just take some time. They're currently in a 3' with just some lampeyes and some SAEs.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

If you can post some pics, we should be able to tell. The checker pattern is differant on the females. _D. maculatus_ are the prettier of the two IMO, and easier to keep as they are a white water species vs a strict blackwater like _D. filamentosus_. They can be a touch rougher with each other though. They are harem spawners like apistos.

How big are they? Odds would say they are _D. filamentosus_ as they are commonly available and not very expensive. _D. maculatus_ is still fairly rare. Depending on size, they might not have the tail extensions or pelvic extensions yet, but the facial pattern is differant. _D. filamentosus_ will hafe a red line under the eye with a blue on under that. _D. maculatus_ with have a second pair of red/blue lines under the first.

There is also an undescribed sp. 'red fin' but it has a completely differant checker pattern, four rows instead of two. There is also the new _D. gladicauda_ which will grow a swordlike tail extension ... but these are even more rare than _D. maculatus_.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

The one I suspect is a male is over the 2" mark, he hasn't really coloured up I suspect another one of the smaller fish is a male as well. I know its hard to tell without having fully mature fish, these fish seem to be of a slightly deeper body than D. filamentosus images I've seen. I just want to know whether or not I need to drop my pH because I'd prefer to leave it around 7. I'll try to snap some pictures, I'm awful and impatient when it comes to fish photos, but I know it makes a huge difference in IDs.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

It will depend on the species ... _D. maculatus_ and _D. _sp. 'Tapajos' will both do fine at 7.0 pH with no lowering. The other three _Dicrossus_ would do much much better with a much lower pH.

_D. maculatus, D. _sp. 'Tapajos' and _D._ sp. 'Redfin' are a bit more high bodied than _D. filamentosus_ and _D. gladicauda_.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Okay here are some images of some of my fish, best I could do in short order.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Preface: I am deffinately not a _Dicrossus_ expert.

Pics 2 and 4 look like _D. filamentosus_ and pics 1 and 3 look like _D. maculatus_. I'm basing this on the number of blotches (7 for filamentosus, 6 for maculatus - at least in the pics I have, not sure if it always holds true 100%) and the higher body on the two that look like maculatus. Plus the blotches on a female maculatus are taller (more rectangular with long end going up and down) than filamentosus (more square) ... but hopefully someone more knowledgable with the genus can pipe in (*Apistomaster* perhaps?).


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I should also mention that fish 1 and 3 is significantly larger than fish 2 and 4. I think the best thing to do in this case is just wait a bit for the fish to mature. I'll give an update once the fish are showing more colour.


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## apistomaster (Jun 22, 2006)

Darkside,
Unless you paid a great deal of money for your Dicrossus then you have D. filamentosus.
D. maculatus have not been imported from the wild for many, many years so all stock(if you can find them) are tank raised.

I had 3 pairs of D. maculatus but I recently gave one pair to a good friend.
Mine have spawned several times but the females have eaten all their spawns so far.
This is a common problem with ll Dicrossus species.
My personal favorite has always been the more common D. filamentosus.
I have been working with them off and on for 40 years.
Here are a few photos of my last specimens spawning mode coloration. First a pair.








Female with new eggs.








The key to breeding either species is very clean soft and acid water but most importantly, having a female that provides good brood care.
D. filamentosus are usually a bargain but a pair of D. maculatus could easily go for $100.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I didn't pay anything for my Dicrossus, I traded my N. multifasciatus for them. I never asked the fishkeeper I got them from what they were, he just told me they were checkerboards and he was moving away from SA fish and over to tangs. I've never kept any Dicrossus species before and I haven't had any SA fish since I sold my dwarf pikes 2 years ago. The colours on your filamentosus more closely resemble the fish I have, how large were they at this point? I'll continue to keep tabs on them and I'll post some updates as the fish mature. I guess I'll also bring down the water parameters to be a little more along the lines of their natural habitat.


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## apistomaster (Jun 22, 2006)

That is a big male D. filamentosus, about 3 inches but most don't grow quite as large. My D. maculatus are larger. They are the largest species in the genus.
They are a great little SA Dwarf Cichlid which I'm sure will enjoy a lot.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

You were right apistomaster, I think these fish are filamentosus I'll get some pictures up tomorrow.


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

As we speak I have two spawns of _D. filamentosus_, one batch nearly free swimming and I just discovered moments ago a second clutch of eggs from my other female. These fish ( 2 pairs) are together in a 20 gallon tank. I havent checked tank parameters for a while but I am sure my PH isnt all that low Actually their tank is rather cluttered with 6 L134 (Thanks Larry), and about a dozen black darter tetras (_Poecilocharax weitzmani_) which I dont see much of due to their usually hanging out down in the oak leaves I have on the bottom of the tank. So we shall see how they do. Ultimately I need to get the pairs into their own tanks, as I do need to do for the _D. maculatus_ as well.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

My fish have now started to develop streamers, so they are definately D. filamentosus, I'll try to get some pictures where you can see the fins changing shape. These are pretty outgoing fish so its hard for me to get them to stay still!


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

Free swimming D. filamentosus as of today, fingers crossed.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Any luck with the spawn?


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

So far momma is being very diligent. I think unless I do something stupid they may well make it. Considering how crowded that tank actually is, it is a miracle.


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## apistomaster (Jun 22, 2006)

Hi Gordon,
Aren't the Checkerboards diabolical?
Normally a very difficult fish to breed and raise by the natural method but when a female decides to follow the text books, there is not much that will stop them from being good parents.


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

Larry
So very true, and if you saw how I treated these things you would be aghast. I even had to do a filter clean and add water the tank this more which created a god awful mess due to the decomposing oak leaves in the tank. May have lost a couple but over all they all came thru like little troopers.


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## Navarre (Apr 14, 2009)

Well done on your Spawn
I understand I have what appear to be the only checkerboards here in Godzone (New Zealand)
I had them imported some months ago and initally had 9 fish.
I am now down to 5 after sending 3 to a friend.
I have the fish in a tank that is run on air driven filters and it is 120cm long by 40x 45 cm
I have peat in teh water and do frequent regular water changes
I have guppies as dither fish but have at this time no luck in spawning these fish.
I feed a mix of high end flake and mostly newly hatched brine shrimp and daphnia
Do you have any "tips of the trade" to get these guys to spawn?
With Thanks
Nav


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I looks as though I have quite a few males


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## Gordon C. Snelling (Apr 15, 2007)

Unfortunately the first clutch disappeared after a week and a half of being free swimming. No fault of the mother I am sure as a day or so prior to the disappearance I had noticed them becoming a bit lethargic. I suspect it was a lack of a decent supply of suitable food for the fry. (My BBS supply was sparse.) I now however have a new clutch from the same female so I have hopes that this clutch may actually make it. Fingers crossed once again. As mentioned earlier the tank they are in is a bit crowded 6 of Apistomasters L134, about a dozen black darter tetras. I have plenty of oak leaves on the bottom of the tank.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Thought I'd give an update on my checkerboards. They're really peaceful compared to what I'm used to and they seem to be pretty hardy. They live in a 35 gallon, standard along with a male ram, a gravid kuhli loach, 7 lampeyes, some SAEs and a couple bn pleco fry. Here are some updated pictures:








Thumbnails to save image shack some bandwidth


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Amazingly these guys even leave shrimp alone.


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