NEWS 110
6
foods, be it dry, frozen, or live. The fry initially
have a typical black longitudinal streak and
are slightly reminiscent of
Nannostomus
species.They can be fed with
Artemia nauplii
from the first day on. Later on they lose the
longitudinal stripe and at the same time
abandon their juvenile shoaling behavior.
Interestingly, however, the young can be left
with the parents for a long time, and aren't
attacked even at a length of 2-3 cm, when
they already look like miniature copies of
their parents. Sexual maturity is attained at
the age of around four months, by which
time the young males are around 5 cm long.
In my view they are at their most attractive a
length of 6-7 cm,as they are fully colored but
still graceful. Later on (at least in the
aquarium) they become very "beefy" and are
less aesthetically pleasing, and the coloration
looks a bit washed out.
Theway the aquarium is set up is all the same
The pair of
Hemichromis
sp. Fire Lips described in the text, in brood-care coloration.These are the same
individuals as on page 3.
more prolonged ventral fins and a steeper
forehead. I have never yet known a pair put
together arbitrarily that didn't get along.The
various wild forms of Hemichromis guttatus
at least are usually very peaceful fishes,
towards both conspecifics and other species.
Of course you need to keep an eye on them
when they are spawning and leading young,
as they are exceptional parents and will
vigorously defend their territory and their
offspring. Red jewel cichlids of this group are
all open spawners with both adults
performing parental care: that is,they spawn
on a hard substrate (a rock, a piece of
bogwood, etc), but not in a cave, and both
parents guard and shepherd the young.
Water chemistry (hardness and pH) is
unimportant as long as it lies within normal
parameters, ie if possible pH not appreciably
less than 6 or more than 8.5 and hardness
between 3 and 25 °dGH. The water
temperature should be between 22 and 28
°C.These cichlids will eat any of the usual fish
Almost all the juvenile Fire Lips exhibit a clearly
visible lateral spot at the age of eight weeks. In
only a few is it absent or only weakly expressed.
