# Dicrossus maculatus pics



## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

OK, here are my photos of the new pair. The shots were taken on their second day so they will likely color up a bit more. And the female will be less camera shy as time goes on, likely.  They are pretty little fish, and longer (vs. wider) than the other SA dwarves. They also swim in small little bursts - swim, pause, swim, pause, swim, pause. They seemed to acclimate and become comfortable almost immediately. They go all over the tank and peck around at the leaves and algae looking for tidbits. The single female Apisto has relaxed about them being around since they "listen" to her and don't seem to be a threat. They're all getting along fine now.

Excuse the tank - I went on a 3-week trip (no tank cleaning, just a friend feeding them), and then was back for 2 weeks and then had knee surgery, so there's some algae on the glass and during that time black brush algae decided to come say hi. So I need to do some more cleaning up of the tank now and replace a few plants.

Here is the female









And the male



























If anyone else has had these guys, I'd love to hear about your experiences with them.


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## jkcichlid (Mar 15, 2012)

nice shots of some beautiful fish. Nearly had a pair of d. filamentosus a while back but never panned out. Plan to set up a 33G for these in the near future

Good luck with these beauties


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## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

That would be a nice tank. Setting it up as a planted breeder, then with some tetras, pencilfish or hatchetfish would be lovely! 

Oh, so many ideas... so little space....


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi magpie,

Thank you for sharing your great images; well done.

Thanks,
Matt


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## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

Thank you, photography is a hobby of mine, however fish are difficult to shoot since they dont' tend to stay still for long, and shooting through the water can be tricky. I end up taking a bunch of shots to get a few good ones. 

Anyone have any experience with these guys (or filamentosus) and want to share?


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

hi, beautiful pictures there , i have kept the filamentosa, actually i still have some, all females though  
I ordered the maculata, they came, about 1.5cm in total length (w.c.) and of course when they grew they turned out to be fliamentosa, still a beautiful fish, I have kept them in a planted tank with a very low ph and regular water changes, they grew fast and the sex ratio turned out to be 12 females and 1 male!! they started to spawn regularly, always spawning on a leaf surface the female guarding the eggs diligently and the male taking no part after spawning, every time i lost the fry after a day or two free swimming and sometimes lost the eggs before they even hatched, not through fungus but just disapearing over night, I put it down to the other fish in the tank more than the female eating them, someone suggested leaving a small light on near the tank and this solved the problem of the disapearing eggs / fry, it seems that the females just lost them in the dark! i never managed to raise any fry though I put it down to tank mates picking them off one by one. the male died and i looked for ages to pick up another, finally getting one last year i set up a tank heavily planted with three females in it and no other fish, i added the male, straight away he displayed and began courting the females, one after the other, next morning i found the male dead on the floor! it had jumped from the tank managing to find the only small opening in the corner of the lid. i am still on the lookout for a male, since then i bought 5 young fish, two died within the first week and the other three turned out to be females!!! so to date i have not had much luck with this species!


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## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

Wow, sorry to hear about your bad luck! I really appreciate your info, though.

I have heard that the Filamentosa are a bit more difficult to keep. I'm lucky in that my LFS has a fantastic selection of healthy fish - and they must have a local person who breeds them as I see the Maculatus fairly regularly in their tanks.


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

you are welcome, all the checkerboard forms can look very similar when very young and that is generally the way they are seen here in the shops, i think most if not all the maculata you spot in the shops are wild caught, but i could be wrong


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

I know nothing about this species or about SA cichlids but I can never pass up the opportunity to thank people who post pictures of their fish. Thanks magpie for sharing your wonderful photographs of these beauties. Spectacular!


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## magpie (Nov 12, 2011)

joemc said:


> you are welcome, all the checkerboard forms can look very similar when very young and that is generally the way they are seen here in the shops, i think most if not all the maculata you spot in the shops are wild caught, but i could be wrong


My LFS has at least F1 Maculatus, and I'm fairly positive that they've had tank-raised as well. They always mark their fish that are wild-caught. Not sure how common it is, but someone is doing it. 
Here's their fish list where you'll see the F1 designation. 
http://www.wetspottropicalfish.com/inde ... &Itemid=64



cichlid-gal said:


> I know nothing about this species or about SA cichlids but I can never pass up the opportunity to thank people who post pictures of their fish. Thanks magpie for sharing your wonderful photographs of these beauties. Spectacular!


Thank you! I'll need to get some updated ones as they've colored up a bit more now, especially the male. I adore these guys!


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## joemc (Sep 23, 2012)

now that is a very impressive shop stock list, to say i am jealous of you having a shop like that near you is an understatement!!!!! :drooling:


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