NEWS107
3
e immediately received several
communications fromexperienced
keepers andbreeders ofMalawi cichlids -
many thanks for that!Theyhadcome to re-
gard
Pseudotropheus demasoni
as one of
themost aggressive of all mbuna,whose
long-termmaintenance can present pro-
blems even in very large aquariabecause
of itsmarked aggression. Sowhat lies be-
hind theseverydifferentopinions?
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
in thewild
Andreas Spreinat,bookauthor andoneof
the world's top experts on Lake Malawi
cichlids, writes on page 218 of his book
LakeMalawiCichlids fromTanzania,publis-
hed in 1995 (VerduijnCichlids, Zevenhui-
zen),that "Mostspecimensobservedbyus
were solitary and in a given area were
mostly loyal toone site.However, this ter-
ritorywasnotdefendedagainstother fish.
Wealsoobserved that the territorywasso-
metimes abandoned. In some places, we
found several specimens together. Intra-
species aggression appears to be quite
weak;mostof the fishbehaved ratherpea-
cefully."
Veryaggressive in theaquarium?!
By contrast, experienced aquaristWerner
Hieber of
writes
(translated fromGerman):
"On reading thearticle 'Dwarfcichlids from
LakeMalawi /
Pseudotropheus demasoni
' I
W
InNews106wediscussedvariousLakeMalawi cichlids thatarewell suited
tosmallaquariabecauseof theirsmall sizeand relativelypeacefulbehavior.
These included
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
,a specieswhose total lengthof
6-8 cmmakes it one of the smallest of thembuna, the name sometimes
given to the rock-dwellingcichlid species from the lake .
Onceagain:
Dwarf cichlids from
LakeMalawi
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
byAndreas Jung
was very surprised atwhat it said.A. Jung
writes that
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
isone
of themost peaceful mbuna. But I refute
that and assert that it is themost aggres-
sive of all mbuna in the aquarium. I don't
know the extent of its aggression in the
lake.Healsowrites that thisspeciescanbe
kept in small aquariaand iswell suited for
beginners. I refute that aswell and assert
that an aquarium for
Pseudotropheus de-
masoni
shouldhave a volume of 300-400
liters and a lengthof 150 cm.This species
isbestkeptalone ina tank.It'sbehavior re-
sembles that of the
Tropheus
of LakeTan-
ganyika,withall themales in the tank that
areweaker than thedominant onebeing
killed. This also applies to females that
aren'tquickenough to findahiding-place.
Ihadmybestexperienceswith thisspecies
in a 375-liter aquarium populated by 6
malesand15 females.Afterawhile thesur-
vivingpopulation settleddown together,
but I am certain therewas only onemale
among them.Therewere thenno further
changes to thepopulation.“
Different strains?
As canbe seen from these statements, it is
hard to imagine twomoredifferent views
of the behavior of a single fish species. A
pair even spawnedduringaphoto session
ina really small photographicaquarium in
the editorial office andbehaved verypea-
cefully towards each other during the
spawningand thereafter.Soare therediffe-
rentstrainsofP.demasoni intheaquarium?
Or is the aggression linked toother, as yet
unstudied parameters (food, water, light,
etc)?Wedon't know.Tobe safewe recom-
mend followingthesuggestionofmainten-
ance inaspecies tank,themoresobecause
P.demasoni
issometimes rather fussy inthe
matter of food; the aggression can, of
course,beavoidedor spread inanoverpo-
pulated tank,but that isclearlynotwithout
risk.For the reasonsgiven,theaquarium for
P.demasoni
shouldnot be less than80 cm
in length,even fora species tank.
Cichlids
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
Photo:FrankSchäfer
