Breeding Stomatepia pindu |
Lake Barombi Mbo
Stomatepia pindu is a
mouthbrooding cichlid prevalent to Barombi Mbo, a lake located in Cameroon, West
Africa. Cameroon is famous for its rich collection of different
volcanoes that have been dormant or at least semi-dormant long enough to turn
into crater lakes. Barombi Mbo is such a crate lake, and due to its isolated
location, a lot of endemic species has evolved here.
There are currently 11
described endemic cichlid species in the lake and more are expected to be found
once the lake becomes more thoroughly explored by fish experts. Barombi Mbo is
not a big lake; it’s only 2.5 km across.
The crater is however very
deep and the maximal water depth of the lake is 110 meters. Since there are no
major currents in the lake, only the top 40 meters contains enough oxygen to
sustain fish and other vertebrates.
Barombi Mbo Cichlids
All the cichlid species in Barombi Mbo
are believed to hail from one single species that lived in the lake 10,000
years ago. This species have now turned into no less than four
different genera: Konia, Myaka, Pungu and Stomatepia.
If you want to keep cichlids
from Barombi Mbo, you can for instance look for Konia eisentrauti, Myaka myaka, Pungu maclerani, Sarotherodon lohbergeri,
Stomatepia mariae or Stomatepia pindu.
Stomatepia pindu is
naturally also a great alternative, and this article will focus on how
aquarists can breed this interesting species in their aquariums. Getting
Stomatepia pindu to spawn in captivity is important, because the species is
listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The wild population should therefore not be
harvested for the aquarium market and only captive bred specimens should be
kept by hobby aquarists
Stomatepia mongo |
Breeding Stomatepia pindu
- Breed Stomatepia pindu;
- Keep the water high alkalinity A pH of 8.2 and relatively hard water is recommended and required.
- Water temperature 25-28 degrees C range
- Include good hiding spots like caves in the set up and try to mimic the natural Stomatepia pindu habitat as closely as possible.
- During the actual spawning, the couple will simply leave their sheltered spots and spawn throughout the aquarium.
- Stomatepia pindu they do not dig out any nests, clean a spawning site or similar.
- Stomatepia pindu female will release the eggs and the male will promptly fertilize them.
- Stomatepia pindu female will pick up the eggs and keep them protected inside her mouth.
- When the fry has been released by the female, you can start feeding them powdered flake food, micro worms and newly hatched brine shrimp.
- During the first few spawning, it is common for the female to eat the eggs or spit out her offspring prematurely. Don’t loose heart when this happens; it will get better after the initial spawning.
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Stomatepia |
Stomatepia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Stomatepia
- Stomatepia mongo
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Actinopterygii
- Order: Perciformes
- Family: Cichlidae
- Subfamily: Pseudocrenilabrinae
- Tribe: Tilapiini
- Genus: Stomatepia
Stomatepia is a genus of
fishes in the cichlid family. The three species are all endemic to Lake Barombi Mbo in western Cameroon. They are critically endangered because of pollution and
sedimentation due to human activities, and potentially also by large emissions
of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the lake's bottom (compare Lake Nyos). Konia, Myaka and Pungu are three other equally threatened genera of cichlids
that also are endemic to Lake Barombi Mbo.
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