Aequidens pulcher

I first spawned these little jewels in the early months of 1993. They are so beautiful with the blue and red speckling and the males and females both look identical. I really enjoyed keeping and spawning this species.

I set my pair up in a 30-gallon tall aquarium with a four inch clay flower pot that I placed on its' side. It did not take them long to decide to spawn. They laid their eggs on the inside of the clay pot on the lower left side. The female would make a ‘dry run' over the site she wanted to lay her eggs on several times before actually spawning. This ‘dry run' means that the female goes over the site letting her ovipositor touch the site without any eggs being deposited. I have seen this in several cichlid species that I have spawned through the years. I can only assume that the female's ovipositor is very sensitive to the touch and that is why they can tell they are laying their eggs in single rows without placing eggs on top of one another.

The pair I spawned were approximately three and a half inches in length for both sexes. They had very dark vertical bands while they were spawning.

My water conditions are 7.6 pH and my hardness is around 150 ppm's. I do not have a heater in the tank and keep the tank at room temperature which is approximately 75° F. I did twenty five percent water changes on their tank every two to three weeks.

Once the pair were finished spawning they took turns in fanning the eggs with their pectoral fins. The parents were constantly digging pits in the gravel and moved their little charges a couple times a day to different pits. It took three days to hatch and another five to seven days to be free swimming.

When the fry were free swimming, I began feeding them newly hatched brine shrimp nauplii. The parents were fed a diet mostly of flake food and sometimes I added live tubifex worms and frozen fish foods.

These are a very colorful species that is easily spawned in one's aquarium and the parental care is so much fun to observe. I would recommend these fish to anyone that wants to keep and try breeding a smaller cichlid that is very colorful at the same time.

References: