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Hi All,
well today I made my trip down to the Capital
to pick up my N. Transvestitus!
The fellow was very knowledgeable, and has been
keeping them for about 2-2.5 years now, and the
juveniles I have gotten are from an F2 Female and
a new male from the wild that he got this year.
They have been acclimated since they were born
pretty much to tap water, somewhere around a ph
of 7.0 even with pretty much 40-60ppm GH, about the same
softness and slightly higher ph than my waters.

First off, the thing that suprised me was the tank
in which the adults were kept. They were in a nice roomy 20-25g tank with 2 pairs in it, then another same size tank with another young pair he has kept.
Couple things caught my eye ....the substrate firstly.
Just regular gravel! Small of course, but normal gravel.
Secondly, tons of plants and next to no caves! And last of all was the amazing small size of the adults!
About 2.5-3 years old and barely notching the 2.5 inch
mark!

The juveniles were being kept in a room 33g growout,
with just sand substrate (pool filter sand), with only 2
large rocks and some vallisneria plants.
According to this fellow, these fish rarely dig, if ever,
and yes indeed do cave spawn, but rarely spend any time in the cave otherwise.

So, after selecting his 6 best for me, I have continued home with. I was very impressed with his collection of extremely rare Madagascan Cichlids....many of which I have never even heard of. His large breeding tank of Tropheus also was very impressive!
Some that caught my eye of his fish included:
Pelvicachromis pulcher
Pelvicachromis subocellatus "Moanda"
Nanachromis Transvestitus
Tropheus Moori "Bulu Point"
Tropheus Moori "Ikola"
Biotodoma Cupido
Geophagus Stenidachneri
Gymnogeophagus Balzanii
Paretroplus Menarambo
Pythochromis Oligacanthus

His breeding group of Paretroplus Menarambo,
of which may be one of only a dozen such groups in
North America were amazing.
So friendly they would stick their heads clean out of
the water for a fish pet and a shrimp treat!

So, having returned home with my small prize fish,
I have been acclimating them slowly to my slightly higher PH water.
Heres the first pics of them in the bag, with more to
come!









Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

The little guys adjusted well to their acclimation,
and have thoroughly enjoyed some frozen bloodworms
today!
I hope to get a few pics tonight if they will
go along with it.



Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

Surprised not a single comment about these
little fish.
Hmmm.


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

Been tied up elsewhere.

I could see the tail banding on your females even while they were still in the bags. They look like a prime collection of Cichlids. And, I don't doubt for one moment they enjoyed their Bloodworm ... did they smile when you dropped the Bloodworm in?

Some pics later on once they've settled in and they're showing their colours properly should show everyone what these guys are truly like ... if you can catch them on film while in breeding dress, the pics will be show stoppers!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I cant even believe how much they eat Cali!
Ive been feeding them as much as they will eat in
10 minutes 4-5 times a day.
They are growing at a rapid rate, the largest female,
whom I think is certainly becoming the most dominant,
has nearly doubled in bulk just since Ive had her!
They are all growing so fast.

I noticed when I was watching them, that they have a
very unique looking mouth, kind of down turned, flatish,
with big rubbery looking lips. They certainly look specialized to eating something in particular.
Any ideas what they might eat in the wild ?


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

Food in the wild? Ah, you've got me there.

However, given a few details about the natural habitat, and the way they feed in an aquarium, it's possible to make a good educated guess.

These fishes originate from a lake called Lac Nai-Ndombe in Zaire, which differs greatly from the Rift Lakes in that it is a blackwater habitat - pH regularly hovers around 5.0, and hardness is very low (something around 2 degrees DH or so). The fishes live in fairly shallow waters, but seeing them is difficult because the water is so heavily stained with humic acids from tree debris that if you insert your hand in the water, you can't see it when it's just 30 cm below the surface! More details can be found here.

The rocks that are found amongst the tree debris are encrusted with freshwater sponges of the Genus Spongilla, which have silica skeletons and are sharp edged. The substrate is described on that page I linked as "a hard-packed fine sediment littered with finely divided vegetable debris", which probably means amongst other things, decaying tree leaves, remnants of dead aquatic plants, that kind of thing.

Now, this immediately opens up a question. Do the fishes bowse upon the sponges? Confirmation of this would be useful in determining an aquarium diet that matches their wild diet, though cultivating freshwater sponges would probably prove difficult to say the least! Another thought that occurs to me at this point is this: do the fishes appear to feed preferentially from the bottom, or do they take food in midwater? The shape of the mouth would suggest that they are preferentially substrate diggers that seek out and devour small invertebrates in the substrate, but the lips may also be adapted for scraping aufwuchs from rocks.

Given that your fishes have proven themselves to be ravenous feeders, I'd venture to suggest that they would make short work of just about any small invertebrate they came across, despite being small fishes themselves - juvenile Amano Shrimps wouldn't stand a chance with them! In fact, if you can get hold of Gammarus freshwater shrimps (there's at least one native species here in the UK, so I'd be VERY surprised if there weren't similar small shrimps living in North American waters), they'd appreciate that addition to the diet greatly. Another freshwater shrimp I'm on the lookout for, from the standpoint of cultivating them as food, is Crangonyx pseudogracilis, which is smaller than Gammarus, and which is a North American native that was introduced into the UK (unkknown whether this was by accident or design) and which is a favourite food of trout type fishes. This can be found in some UK watercourses, and should be easy to find in North America as it is supposed to be abundant there! Indeed, it is cited as a native of watercourses formed during the recession of Ice Age glaciers, so if you're close to a nice big valley with some oxbow lakes in it, you should find Crangonyx in abundance. These amphipods like clear, unpolluted water, so putting a good number in a 2.5 gallon aquarium with an airstone, a couple of sprigs of Hornwort, the odd sprig of Elodea densa and feeding them vegetable enriched flake foods shoudl provide you with a nice culture of amphipods to toss in with the transvestitus, who will probably enjoy hunting them down!

I'd medicate the first batch of amphipods prior to starting your culture, then let them grow and breed for a good while before letting your prized transvestitus loose on some, just to make sure that the amphipods aren't carrying any diseases with them. Once you have a Crangonyx or Gammarus culture, chances are you'll find your transvestitus love munching on them!

I'm willing to bet that an amphipod of like kind turns up in the wild diet, so if you can set up a freshwater amphipod culture, chances are you'll have happy Cichlids!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Hey Cali,
thanks for the link and your information.
Sponges huh?
These fish definitely prefer to take food at the
bottom level of the tank.
They havent even ventured as high as the mid water area
that the glowlights/neons swim in.
Today I noticed that the small amounts of green
algae covering the stones/decor in the tank has disappeared, and testing with an algae wafer these fish
devoured it rapidly!

As for shrimp - I have a breeding colony of ghost shrimps in my 10g tank - do you think they would be able to eat
small ghost shrimps?


Come Play Yahtzee With Me!
http://games.atari.com
Http://www.myleague.com/yahtgames

If your "Ghost Shrimp" is one of the Natantia species featured on this page, then I uspect your transvestitus will make short work of the juveniles no problem. Whether they would be able to deal with the adults is moot.

Checking further, Natantia species reproduce in a mnner similar to Brine Shrimp - the new hatchlings are nauplii, and spend time as planktonic organisms before maturing. The question is, will these nauplii hug the bottom of the aquarium? Because if they do, the transvestitus will seek them out no problem. If they swim about at all levels, then your other fishes are in for a treat too.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Any pictures of them in the tank yet? It was hard to see what they're like in the bag? I tried to find out by looking at their profile here in FP, but alas, no picture there either.

Sounds like you're enjoying them. /:'

Cheers
TW

Some photos from around the web until Sneaky's specimens are settled in ... just for you Tankwatcher!

Nanochromis transvestitus set 1 - females have vertical stripes in the tail fin

Nanochromis transvestitus set 2

Nanochromis transvestitus set 3

Enjoy!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

ahhhh, they are pretty. You couldn't tell from the fish in the bag. Nice purchase.

Cheers
TW