In the Rainbow Bream family, the fish girls are all beautiful fish born with high appearance. Relatively speaking, the appearance of the fish boys is much inferior, and their bodies are dull.
It is highly unusual in nature that a female fish can hold a more gorgeous and colorful body color. Just as the first women's liberation movement experienced in human history is staggering.
The story told today is a bit legendary and quite foolish.
A group of beautiful girls, an elegant coat, handsome and uninhibited, a little rebellious but extraordinarily annoying.
When Girls will be Boys.
A natural story of fish feminist independence.
Today we will talk about it: rainbow snapper
Nanochromis transvestitus.
Figure | Rainbow bream female fish, photo by Wang Zhongjing
Who says male fish must be prettier than female fish! The common rules for this fish are not universal.
In the rainbow snapper
Nanochromis transvestitus
In the family, the fish girls are all beautiful fish born with high appearance. Relatively speaking, the appearance of the fish boys is much inferior, and their bodies are dull.
Behind the story is full of positive energy.
Figure | Rainbow bream male fish, photo by Wang Zhongjing
Imagine growing in Coca-Cola-like tannin-colored waters with low visibility and difficulty for light to penetrate. In the darkness, a light flashed under the water, and I saw a beautiful fish fairy flying in.
The black and white striped tail fins, the gorgeous blue-purple abdomen with a hint of cherry color, the bright edges are like a bright light in the darkness. Yes, that's what the Rainbow Bream girls are stunning.
Figure | Rainbow bream female
Source http://diskusmann.de/
In fact, this beauty is not accidental, nor is it to please the aquarium breeders. It's more like a gift from God.
The good looks of the fish girls are full of deep strategy, not only a family symbol, but also a family mission. In the limited light of the native land, its vibrant colors and excellent visual performance can penetrate the darkness, attract the opposite sex (courtship boasting), and at the same time be a natural tool to protect fish eggs.
As the guardian of the baby fish, the stripes on the fins of the mother fish constantly remind the fish treasures: "Mother is around." In the course of natural evolution, body color improvement is more beneficial to female fish than male fish.
This is the "Rainbow Snapper."
Legendary family history.
Scientific Naming:
Donald Stewart & Tyson Roberts, 1984
The rainbow snapper has long been a delicacy on the local table. It wasn't until 1973 that Donald Stewart and Tyson Roberts first described the bream. It was only in 1984 that the scientific description of them was finally established, and that was around the time when they officially entered the aquarium market.
Figure | Rainbow Bream Female Fish © JJPhoto
Source: http://www.seriouslyfish.com
Figure | Rainbow bream male JJPhoto ©
Origin: Main DongBei Lake
A shallow lake rich in tannins
Rainbow snapper is found at the lowest elevation in the Congo River Basin: Mai-Ndombe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). It is 135 km long and has an average depth of only 3 m. But it is still a bit deep for rainbow bream, and in general they are rarely found in waters below 1 meter. Such shallow waters are often accompanied by sandy bottom bed laterite rocks, and are covered with deciduous leaves, the water is full of humic acid, and the water quality is strongly acidic at pH4, and the hardness is barely measurable.
They prefer to live in sandy bottom beds shaded by rocks. Naturally, this is a refuge from predators and bad weather. Often, ferocious storms are common in lakes, with shallow waters often churning and shaking, and strong winds and waves lappling on the beach. Therefore, when the wind blows, for small cichlids, lying down may be the wisest choice.
Body length: 7 cm for males, 6 cm for females
Personality: Territoriality is not too strong, even during the breeding period. But broodstock are still aggressive to their kind
Lifespan: about 4 years
Figure | Rainbow bream, photo by Wang Zhongjing
With some basic knowledge, pairs of rainbow bream will happily be polycultured with small and medium-sized fish. Artificially bred rainbow bream are physically strong and can generally be raised of water quality, but soft water must be used when breeding. As long as you have some of the water flow generated by your filtration system, they can be as natural as living in a lake. Laying some fine sand for them to dig, some hidden caves and a variety of daily diets can keep them healthy.
Rainbow bream is a peace-loving fish species that is not very territorial. Even when laying eggs, no hyper-defensive behaviors were observed to protect offspring. However, broodstock are still aggressive towards their kind. It is recommended to be reared in pairs.
Breeding behavior: The female will shake the abdomen of the potential object and bend the body to dance the courtship dance
Reproductive water quality: pH between 4-5.5.
Feeding: Pellets, bounty, bloodworms and water fleas
Look, this weird action, exaggerated expression!
Bending over, opening his mouth, shaking his belly ... You know, what is it doing?
—— This is the courtship dance of the Rainbow Bream Girl!
Introduction to breeding |
As with many species, there is no optimal way to breed these fish in aquariums. I bred in two completely different fish tanks and both succeeded. My guess is that cichlids are naturally adaptable in the wild. I always think the focus is on water quality, it has to be acidic soft water. RO water is a common choice at the moment, but I collect rainwater and reproduce it through activated carbon filter boxes. If you choose the former, you have to add some trace elements to the water.
Feeding can be widely used in a variety of different combinations such as pellet feed, widows, blood worms and water fleas, which will quickly get your fish into the breeding stage, and the mother fish will show a dazzling body color when it reaches sexual maturity. With a plump belly and a mouth-watering cherry body color, it is a feminine outfit used to seduce a spouse. Totally irresistible! The girls bent their bodies in front of their intended husbands, shaking their bellies and dancing. Once a male fish has surrendered to her magic, she will set out to find a suitable place to build a love nest.
Shortly after the fish arrived, I started my first pair of rainbow snappers from a player. In trying to breed them, I found some strange equipment to try to replicate their native natural environment, but apart from knowing that they live in Africa, my knowledge of them was limited to the fact that they were cave spawners. Luckily, I found a book about the lake in an old shop. Although it is not very detailed, from the words between the lines, it brings me some successful landscaping concepts.
I put some stones of different sizes on top of the bottom sand and buried some 7.5 cm high cut half clay pots. Once placed, a small built-in filter is installed in this 120 x 30 x 45 cm fish tank and the temperature setting is maintained at 25°C.
I added some oak branches and leaves to the fish tank, and although it wasn't a popular practice at the time, I did it anyway. I tied large branches to the rocks with fishing lines and buried them under the sand to prevent them from floating. My only spare lighting fixture is an old-fashioned 38cm Sun-glo tube that creates perfect low-light conditions.
It is worth mentioning that when entering a new environment, my pair of broodstock quickly looked around, and there was a gesture of looking up and opening their mouths. Within two weeks, the female became distinctly rounded and obese. Like an excavator, they began to dig sand from one of the pots, in the shadows under the branches, and the strong contrasting body color of the mother fish was like a wild hair color, which was amazing!
After two days of hiding in the hole, the female was found to be showing signs of spawning. The male fish occasionally come over to make a tour, but apart from that, the care of the eggs is the responsibility of the female.
The entrance to their nests was facing the front of the tank, and I didn't notice anything unusual about their home at first glance, until on the eighth day I noticed that the mother fish was guarding the side of about 50 juveniles.
With some help from the fish father, these fry are carefully guarded, so that they slowly dare to go around the fish tank to pick up food and peck at anything that can be eaten. Shrimp fry are usually fed to the full year, so that the fry grow rapidly and begin to show the legendary stripes on the body within 10 days.
At this juncture, the small fish begin to receive fine-grained food, during which time their parents do not have time to eat.
The article is reproduced on the Internet