# Limbochromis robertsi - Rare Beauty



## cichlid-gal

I just got in a pair of these (they have been on my wishlist for quite some time) and have put them up in my 90G for now (today was their 2nd day here and they came out and about for a little bit today). I'm not done with the aquascaping yet as I have a piece of mopani driftwood coming that will go in the tank once its prepped. I'd also like to have some floating plants but will have to wait for warmer weather shipping.

This is my 1st attempt at a video that shares more than simply pictures of my species so hopefully I did this well enough to make a few of you pause and think about setting up some tank space for fish such as these that are threatened and losing their natural habits and health due to various issues. I cannot think of better use of tank space than to try to save species like this for future generations to enjoy.


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## vann59

Thanks for sharing that, very nice. I assume you are going to try to get them to spawn?


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## cichlid-gal

vann59 said:


> Thanks for sharing that, very nice. I assume you are going to try to get them to spawn?


Not sure that is in my control Vann59. I will give them a good home...great water (I'll try to keep that as close to their preferred parameters as I can), good food with regular meals and such...LOL, room accommodations that are conducive to making things work...but in the end, its not in my hands, it is in theirs. Of course I would love to see them spawn but my readings and input from others has indicated that might not happen so I will just have to take a wait and see on that part of things. For now I will just enjoy the beauty of them.


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## GTZ

Gorgeous fish, I wish you the best of luck with breeding. Also, fantastic job on the video, very well done! =D>


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## cichlid-gal

GTZ said:


> Gorgeous fish, I wish you the best of luck with breeding. Also, fantastic job on the video, very well done! =D>


Thank you GTZ...from you I take that as the utmost compliment, truly. Thank you very much.


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## cichlid-gal

Update...day 5...more color and some stripes showing... @ around 36 seconds the male comes out from under the rocks and POPS...LOL...truly...... its breathtaking ... wish I had better camera for these guys and one less scratch in my tank ... haha


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## cichlid-gal

This will be a rather involved update for those that are interested. So feel free to opt out now or cruise to the bottom for the latest video if not interested in the details 

Since I received these beautiful fish about a month or so ago, I have spent my time reading what articles I can about them as well as trying to ensure that they are settled and happy. Initial tank setup was mostly rocks with little to no vegetation.

1/9/13 - Male and female put on exquisite coloration (see day 5 video).

1/14/13 - At about day 10, I found my female trying to hide on the back of the tank and trying to keep away from the male who was not necessarily attacking her but was "striking" at her whenever she came in proximity to him. I watched what I thought were spawning behaviors from her&#8230;digging an area in the tank, attempting to invite the male to it. Her choice of location, the front corner of the tank, was not the ideal situation. The male was having none of it.

Having read that males of this species could be very aggressive to the point of killing the female, I felt I should attempt to provide the best possible tank situation for the female by adding additional cover to the tank. As I tend to do, I probably went overboard but nonetheless the fish seem to be quite happy with the new arrangements. Some articles I read indicated that L. robertsi were cave spawners. I did not have anything on hand that I felt could pass for a cave so I found a small clay pot and had my husband cut part of the side off of it and placed the "cave" into my now highly decorated tank.

1/16/13 to 2/4/13 - The male was the 1st to check out the cave and within a few days the female was visiting the cave also. Shortly thereafter, I noticed that the male and female where "sharing" the tank rather than the male dominating the tank. The male and female would swim around the tank, sometimes together, sometimes individually but never showed aggression to one another. Days passed and I observed the female creating additional "private" areas in the tank &#8230; areas between rocks, area behind the cave, and areas under other rocks. The pair began spending more and more time in the proximity of the cave, sleeping beside it, swimming in and out of it. I noticed shimmies and shakes from both the male and female. Both the male and the female proceeded to excavate the entire tank in regards to areas that were scaped with rockwork&#8230;every nook and cranny around or between rocks and crevices were totally emptied of all sand. The male and female join each other rather than swimming away, they seek each other out in the tank. They stay in close proximity. They have bonded to one another. And yet, there is nothing further than a few shakes every now and then.

2/5/13 - I changed the clay pot out for some homemade coconut caves I made today. Both the male and female seem very interested in these caves. The female spends time excavating one of the caves while the male looks on. At times the male would also swim into the cave to check the progress. On two occasions the male and the female both occupy the cave&#8230;to the point that the cave "shakes". At other times one occupies the cave while the other observes the excavation progress from the front of the cave.

Running out of battery I turned the lights out on the tank tonight but know that I will anxiously await tomorrow morning and the opportunity to observe the pair yet again with the hopes that at some point I will see more than passing advances.

A video showing changes to the tank and some of the pair bonding behaviors:





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Tank: 90 gallon tall, decorated with sand substrate, live and artificial plants, Mopani driftwood, coconut caves and rocks.

Tankmates: African red-eyed tetras.

Feeding routine: Day 1 - spirulina flake (morning) and NLS cichlid (afternoon), day 2 - tetramin chips (x1), day 3 - frozen brine shrimp, day 4 - no food, day 5-8 repeat day1-4.

Water: Every 5-6 days 50% water change. Tap PH 7.6-7.8, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 20 max before water change.

Filtration: Emperor 400, Penguin 350, Fluval 306. I had ordered 2 different filters (used) from ebay only to have them arrive with broken parts. I'm still working on repairing them but will have at least one new used filter up and running and available shortly. I will need to decide if up-ing the filtration and flow on the tank will increase my chances of spawns with this pair&#8230;or based on circumstances and behaviors decide if they are happy with things status quo.

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I'm thinking we need a *pool*...an L. robertsi spawning pool (betting on the spawn I am, yes, yes). Say first person to guess the day that I see babies gets a pair of these guys OR in the alternative a pair of juvies from some of my other homegrown fry. All shipping and such paid by me. So...this is a game...just something fun. Do you think they will spawn? And if so when? 1st person to guess the right date WINS.


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## cichlid-gal

ack...I should say a pair of the L. robertsi from the 1st spawn (if all goes well and they do spawn...and the babies survive...and...and...anyway...you get the point)


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## GTZ

:lol: Sounds like you're enjoying these fish a great deal. Nice music selection for the video by the way 
Put me down for Feb 14th


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## Fogelhund

Congrats on obtaining an interesting and unusual cichlid. Nice looking fish too, and great videos. I'll go with March 17th.


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## cichlid-gal

GTZ and Fogelhund...my calendar is marked  and GTZ...I was cleaning those dang coconuts and started singing that song...got it stuck in my head so felt it was the right choice for the video ...


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## witamygreatdanes

Hey cichlid-gal! Great videos as always! boy, they sure got more comfortable from the very first video. They are very beautiful, elegant fish! I am POSITIVE you will get them to spawn!! Ok, I think you will see babies March 3rd!  Good luck!


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## Catfish Dan

opcorn:


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## lkelly

Put my money on March 8!


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## cichlid-gal

GTZ said:


> :lol: Sounds like you're enjoying these fish a great deal. Nice music selection for the video by the way
> Put me down for Feb 14th


Happy Valentines Day GTZ....alas no little babies today. Still lots of use of the caves by both the male and the female and he will stand guard when she occupies the cave. Dances and shakes and shimmies but I don't think they have spawned yet. I'm going to leave things status quo for another week then if nothing, I need to upgrade the filtration (finally have the filter ready) and that will increase the flow in the tank. I'll have to see if they like that or not.

I've been reading about their feeding preferences and microorganisms are mentioned and the fact they like to sift the sand and push their faces into it. I see them do this more often following the live food feedings. Does anyone have any food recommendations with regard to microorganisms and fish that have preferences for those? Was thinking maybe being able to offer more of their food preferences would help also.


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## GTZ

cichlid-gal said:


> GTZ said:
> 
> 
> 
> :lol: Sounds like you're enjoying these fish a great deal. Nice music selection for the video by the way
> Put me down for Feb 14th
> 
> 
> 
> Happy Valentines Day GTZ....alas no little babies today.
Click to expand...

 :x Well I guess that's what I get for being sentimental. :lol:
Good luck, I'm sure it won't be long.


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## vann59

Ok, well how about April 15? I friend has had his sons born on commonly marked calendar dates, which was good because he has a bad memory. You have made it a romantic little home now, including the 'shimmy shack', which probably needs a little sign making it official. Time to turn down the lights and put on some smooth jazz.


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## NJmomie

I pick March 18 to commemorate my wedding anniversary.


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## dmiller328

Very nice fish and they look very happy in their home.

My pick for fry date is March 28


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## cichlid-gal

witamygreatdanes said:


> Hey cichlid-gal! Great videos as always! boy, they sure got more comfortable from the very first video. They are very beautiful, elegant fish! I am POSITIVE you will get them to spawn!! Ok, I think you will see babies March 3rd!  Good luck!





lkelly said:


> Put my money on March 8!


Kathy and Lkelly...although I see daily "flirting" and action with my pair they have yet to spawn. I'm not certain what might help.

Lacking competition is probably one of the biggest factors...they actually get a lot more active when I am sitting and watching the tank. The male always keeps me in his sites and will actually sift sand and spit it at me. He swims under the driftwood and "eyes" me...or in front of the cave while the female is in it and watches me intently. Both the male and the female will inhabit the cave and shake and shimmy and dance with one another and I even think I've seen the females egg tube drop slightly. What I have not seen is the "next" step where they guard the cave as possibly they have actually spawned in it.

My PH is a little high for them as its testing at 8.0. I think I've got filtration/flow in the tank right on as they love swimming the bottom of the tank and have even ventured a little higher in the tank lately (I upgraded filtration to a Eheim 2028 (removing the Fluval) with the spraybar mounted on the side of the tank and added a smaller powerhead almost right under it to increase directional flow. They seem to love the frozen shrimp food much more than the flake or pellet food but I'm not sure if feeding primarily frozen food is good for them. I'm trying some Repashy as an alternative to the flake and pellet and they seem to be liking that.

So, still working on things and just waiting. I have to say they are the most beautiful pair of fish I own as the female displays so much color and the male is just, for lack of better words, stunning.


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## Skeezer

I see you are in WA. Not sure where in relation to Portland you are but the "main" fish distributor here has a 2" wild pair for sale for $100. I know links are prohibited so PM or a quick Google search of "Limbochromis portland oregon" and it will get you what you needed. They actually have posted them twice on Aquabid with no bites.


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## cichlid-gal

Attending a presentation tonight put on by the GSAS (Greater Seattle Aquarium Society) ...Ted Judy will be speaking on the genus Pelvicachromis. I also believe he has had some experience with Limbochromis so I am looking forward to hearing him speak.


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## cichlid-gal

Fogelhund said:


> I'll go with March 17th.


No Irish luck for me yesterday Fogelhund 



NJmomie said:


> I pick March 18 to commemorate my wedding anniversary.


*Happy anniversary NJmomie.*..hope you have a wonderful day. As of right now, no babies either.

Skeezer - my original stock came from the Portland store. But as this pair has bonded so well and continues to show mating behavior (just not getting the finale) adding another pair does not seem to be the right the direction to take and could be a very expensive mistake. I did get a chance to speak with Ted Judy and he made some suggestions which I'm in the process of implementing. Still having fun and loving these guys...so we will just have to see what come of things.


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## anthraxx4200

start hatching baby brine shrimp and toss em in there, once they start sifting em up i wouldnt be surprised if breeding occurs. but in either case put me down for exactly 12 days after the introduction of the BBS


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## cichlid-gal

dmiller328 said:


> Very nice fish and they look very happy in their home.
> 
> My pick for fry date is March 28


dmiller328...I thought we might have a hit yesterday as the female's belly really colored up (its been a pinkish color mostly but yesterday got to be a deep pink/magenta looking color) and flirt activity was in full gear. Based on Mr. Judy's recommendations I've changed their foods up a bit. I think they are liking the changes. Competition was the other thing I discussed with Mr. Judy. He gave me some suggestions there also. I am working on implementing those but for now have just made the food changes.



anthraxx4200 said:


> start hatching baby brine shrimp and toss em in there, once they start sifting em up i wouldnt be surprised if breeding occurs. but in either case put me down for exactly 12 days after the introduction of the BBS


I've never fed or hatched BBS. I did order in a hatchery a while back thinking I would use it for my fry but it was delayed in shipment and came in after the babies had grown a bit so I haven't set it up. Having made the feeding changes recommended by Mr. Judy, at this point I'm giving those some time. I don't want to change too many things at once and like to give them some time to settle. This could be a further step anthraxx if the above feeding changes don't help but for now they are looking healthier and even are watching for me to bring their food now.

So again, for now just waiting and watching and enjoying my experiences with them.


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## dmiller328

Sounds like you are on the right track,it just takes some time for wild fish of any species to settle in to get the female back into breeding condition.


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks dmiller328. I hadn't thought of that but it took my WC zebra golds 6 months to spawn.


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## cichlid-gal

Vann59...sorry, April 15 has come and gone and still no babies but I haven't given up. My female and male still show spawning behavior and the female is looking better every day. This last week they have been much more territorial as a pair with the male darting out at any fish that swim over the females cave area of the tank.

The new food I tried has not been too successful with them...they are the pickiest eaters I have and much prefer to sift things out of the sand. I have returned to simply feeding a good all around flake food along with tetra min chips and some frozen brine shrimp (about once a week). The female looks more conditioned to me but that could just be wishful thinking. I still have yet to try the BBS...can someone tell me...if you feed those, is that something you do everyday? How does that work?

I did relocate a couple of my mixed community fish (2 electric glow tetras and one roseline shark) to the tank. So far they have fit in well.

Never being happy until things are the way I have envisioned them, I have spent the last few months working on the tankscape items as I've been setting up driftwood with anubias and ferns on it. I wanted the tank to have a lot of hiding places as I still have concerns for the female and her well being in the long run with only the pair in the tank. I have tried, in my final layout of the tank, to make sure that there are a lot of "line of sight" breaks and lots of holes and spaces to hide in. The male has taken up residence in the wood and rock cave to the far left of the tank while the female lays claim to the area at the far right of the tank. I left the female with two caves...one is the coconut shell which I placed under some rocks with just the opening and a little of the top showing and the other is a cichlid cave turned to face the back of the tank. The caves are at the slower flow end of the tank. The female has excavated the coconut shell and built a rise of sand in front of the opening. She and the male have frequented both caves but I'm pretty certain no true spawning has occurred yet.

OK...I will cease and desist with my ramblings. At some point in the future I will be moving this group to a larger tank (I have a 125G tank I want to put them in...I just need the stand). So until then they will be left on their own...except for my daily visits and observations.

Latest video update and last until a spawn or 125G tank


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## cichlid-gal

Today is a very special day for me as I think my L. robertsi pair spawned. I was going around today observing my tanks and saw the male hovering over the ceramic cave in the middle of the tank. I sat down to watch what was going on and saw the female exit the cave and the male swim in. He stayed for a while then the female went back in for a while. She exited and then the male went back in. This went on for a while with times of both of them occupying the cave.

Of course, I ran to get my camera. After filming for a while I had to leave for the morning. When I returned, the male was hovering outside the cave and swimming around scooping up sand and spitting it at the sides of tank surrounding the cave, building up the hills that were already there. The female was "bobbing" up and down in the hole. I suspected she might be "fanning" the eggs (if there were some). Filming again and as I finished I noticed a small yellow circular thing resting at the edge of the hole to the cave. There could be no mistaking it, it was an egg. So, they have spawned and have eggs. Now what?

I do not have any other cave spawning species so I am a little at a loss as to what to expect next. I also am uncertain how to proceed with my regular maintenance things...water changes (I assume the same), vacumming (I assume just steer clear of the cave), anything else I should know? I was also in the process of setting up a 125G tank for my Western African group so I will probably need to put that hold for a little till I see how things transpire with this spawn. If you have suggestions or anything to share...Please feel free to chime in.

My video is not as clear as I would like as my water tends to be a little darker (due to all the wood, a catapa leaf, and some alder cones that discolor it) but it still shows some of the beautiful colors of the female, the copper is incredible.

I hope you enjoy the video and keep your fingers crossed for all of us...what an exciting day though!!!! Yippee!!!


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## Demigod

Congratulations!


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## Mr Chromedome

Fantastic! Yeah, I'd say the massive breeding tube sticking out of the female should have been a dead giveaway that they were spawning! :lol:

I'd just let things play out naturally, but certainly continue your maintenance, especially water changes. If they are like Krib types, the fry won't be out of the cave until they are free swimming, so they should be safe from vacuuming. Only thing I would be concerned about with vacuuming is that it might upset the parents. However, if you skipped that one or two times it shouldn't kill the tank, and they ought to be out and swimming within a couple of weeks, so you should only have to skip once or twice, at the most.


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks Chromedome and Demigod. I was just making some spawning notes on them so I knew what was going on as things are different with them than the other fish I have. I'm excited to watch this journey unfold but also fearful that things may go south or that I will do something wrong and mess things up. The articles which I have, I have read a number of times but as usual it always takes the actual events to make you stand up and take notice of things. Here's what I made note of:

_*From An extraordinary cichlid Ghana By Anton Lamboj, October 2006.*_


eggs deposited (counts have indicated up to 120 eggs can be deposited in one spawn)

65-80 hours larvae break out

larvae left in cavities/caves and mouthbrooded

mouthbrooding can occur with both male and female but readings indicate care is primarily given by the female and the male is the defender of the territory

fry are kept in the mouth 8-10 days

thereafter the fry, once live swimming, are guarded by both parents for six to eight weeks

*From Limbochromis robertsi - The ghost returns! Finally success with Limbochromis robertsi By: MCW Keijman*


Eggs deposited

after 3 days wriggling larvae

Holding of the larvae can be from several minutes to an hour or more

At 8 days they swam

Fry were left with parents until courtship behaviors showed up again


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## cichlid-gal

Pretty sure they ate the eggs. This morning female was out of the cave when I turned the lights on. She and the male visited the cave off and on a bit but neither was staying in it. As of last peek at the tank the female was back to her corner of the tank. Hope it was just spawn immaturity since this was the 1st time.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Sorry to hear Gal... I'm sure they'll go all the way soon!


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks Iggy...crossing my fingers on that too!!!


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## cichlid-gal

Time for an update on these guys.

My L. robertsi (Wild caught) pair doing their beautiful dance...it reminds me of a Tango. They just recently moved to their final home...a 125G mixed community tank. They seem to be pretty happy in it. Excuse the bubbles and other stuff...I just finished feeding when I took this.


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## Iggy Newcastle

Nice. Do you find the music gets them in the mood?

Are those all live plants? Looks like an underwater jungle! Very cool...


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks Iggy. I think they are so busy they don't even hear the music...LOL. As for the plants...all are real except for the a couple of the hanging ones (the ones with red in them...those are silks).


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## Halmiris

Very nice fish and interesting. A diary as nice but I think you're quick to put the community. I would have had a little more patience with them. ​​.


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## cichlid-gal

Thanks Halmiris. They seem pretty happy in the big tank so I'm just in a wait and see mode. I am still hopeful they will spawn. There are many caves and places and I have had another species spawn in the community already. So I haven't given up...not at all.


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## Halmiris

Ok, more progress.


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