NEWS106
6
But, as already stated at thebeginningof
this article, it isn’t always just sizebut also
behavior that actuallycountshere.And so
L. caeruleus
"Yellow" can only be recom-
mended for a Lake Malawi community
aquarium forpeaceful dwarf mbuna.
Cleverdecoration
Howpeacefullyor aggressively the cichlids
portrayedherebehave intheaquariumalso
dependsonhowclevertheaquarist is inde-
Lexicon
DwarfMalawi cichlids...
Pseudotropheusmeans "falseTro-
pheus";Tropheus isanother cichlid
genus.
demasoni: inhonorof LaifDeMa-
son,anornamental fishbreeder
based inFlorida.
Melanochromismeans "blackChro-
mis ";Chromiswas for a long time
usedas thename for all sortsofper-
ciforms.
auratusmeans "golden".
cyaneorhabdosmeans "blue stri-
ped".
Iodotropheusmeans "red-brown
Tropheus".
sprengerae: inhonorof aquarist and
authoressKappySprenger.
Labidochromismeans "forceps
Chromis ", referring to thedentition.
caeruleusmeans "skyblue"
andanmbunamale selects this rockpileas
thecenterofhisterritory,thenthreequarters
of the territorywill lieoutside theaquarium
without the territorialmale feeling there is
any spatial limitation. This type of
knowledgeofanimal-psychologyshouldal-
waysbeapplied insmallertanks.Itwouldbe
totallywrongtobuildawallof rockstheen-
tire length of the aquarium. A dominant
malecouldclaim theentireaquariumashis
territoryand tyrannizetherestofthepopu-
lation.Bycontrast it iswisetohavearockpile
ateachendandanopenareaofsand in the
middleas aneutral zone.Plants suchVallis-
neriacanbegrowntheretoprovideadditio-
nal cover.
Controlledoverpopulation?
This method is a must for the larger and
more aggressivembuna,but not somuch
for the species under discussionhere.And
theratiobetweenthesexesalsoplaysasub-
ordinate rolehere.Females remain smaller
inall the speciesmentionedand their colo-
ration issomewhat less intense;butessenti-
allycourtingmalesofall thespeciesmentio-
nedherewill react inexactly the sameway
toamaleconspecificas toa female:hedis-
plays to the conspecific to see what hap-
pens. In addition, with time fishes get to
knoweachotherpersonally intheaquarium.
So thespecies listedherecaneitherbekept
intheclassicmannerwithonemaletothree
or four females,orsimplywith fouror five in-
dividualsof the species inquestion regard-
less of sex. Perhapswith theexceptionof
Labidochromis caeruleus
, in which the old
malecanbequite intolerantofothermales.
If necessary just apairwill be fine in these
peacefulspecies,butthis isalwaystheworst
solution,as the subsequent introductionof
newly-purchased individuals to anmbuna
aquarium,asmaybenecessary ifoneof the
pairdiesthrough illnessoraccident,isalways
aproblembecause it disrupts theexisting
social statusquo.
Tosumup,the“giantaquarium”that isLake
Malawi hasalsoproduced species that are
relativelysmallandpeaceful,soevenaqua-
ristswith limitedspacecanenjoy theseco-
lorfulmouthbrooders.
Labidochromiscaeruleus
„Yellow“,particularlybrightly-colored specimen.
signingtheset-up.Itshouldbestatedclearly
that cichlidsof all kinds,nomatterwhether
large or small, have individual traits. Every
speciescontainsparticularlybelligerentand
particularlypeaceful individualsAnd even
themostpeacefulcichlidwillexhibit increa-
sed aggression for a short while when a
(temporary) spawning territory is establis-
hed.But theaquarist is responsible forhow
serious theeffectsof suchundesirablecha-
racteristics turnout tobe.When settingup
thetank it is importanttocreate line-of-sight
barriers. As far as a fish is concerned the
aquariumglassesdon’t exist, it is incapable
ofunderstandingsuchthings.If,forexample,
there isapileof rocks inacornerof the tank
Labidochromiscaeruleus
„Yellow“
