If you want to successfully breed or breed a large Featherfin hatching fish like Blue Wave, you have to spend more effort than you think. The water quality environment in the aquarium is not a key factor in the success of breeding, but it does not mean that the water quality can be completely ignored, but for fish species such as Blue Wave, the size of the aquarium and the correct feeding are the most important.
The blue wave of the genus Cup-throated cichlid is one of the prettiest and most attractive ornamental fish in Lake Tanganyika. It is associated with the genus Ophthalmotilapia and the genus Cunningtonia, collectively known as featherfin Cichlids. The fin-and-mouth hatcher is a rather popular fish species, it is characterized by the slender and long tail end of the ventral fin, and the blue wave is the largest of the three line fin hatchings, so the name "large fin-mouth hatcher" refers specifically to the blue wave. The genus name of blue wave is Cyathopharynx, cyathos means "cone" in Latin, and pharynx refers to the throat tube, which means that there are prominent conical spines on the throat bone of the skull; its species name is furcifer, furca is the Latin "fork", and ferre means "carrying", meaning "carrying a long fork", where the long fork refers to the angle of the blue wave's tail fin fork is very large, like a fork.
Is it a mutant or a radically different species?
The total area of Lake Tanganyika is about 34,000 square kilometers, and the total length of the surrounding coast is about 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers. In such a large area, traces of blue waves can be seen everywhere. It is not very difficult to separate the different variants, appearances, and different species of blue waves. According to the color of the fish body, blue waves can be divided into three types, namely blue and blue-black black as the main color. In addition, in some areas, such as Moliro Bay, although the local blue wave regional variant has been confirmed, in these areas, it is still possible to find fin-mouth hatched fish that look very similar to the blue wave. According to a 1992 article published by Konings and Dieckhoff, these finned hatchlings, which are similar to blue waves, need further testing to determine whether they are also variants of blue waves, or whether they belong to other different species. In 1992, Schupka also said that of all the blue wave variants, the most beautiful one was the blue wave variant that appeared in the cape cape of the Cape Kabog ditch.
Feeding tips
Observations of blue waves and stomach tests revealed that this wild fish, which inhabits transitional terrain, looks for saprosis as its main source of nutrients in a thin layer of silted mud. There are two kinds of humus, one is organic fine particles, which are decomposed from the debris of animals and plants; the other is inorganic fine particles, such as sand. These two fine particles are either suspended in the current or deposited on the bottom of the water or on the surface of the rock. In order to be able to fully absorb the nutrients in the saprosis and completely digest the nutrients that are not in it, what Blue Wave eats will stay in the intestinal digestive system for a long time. In addition, fish that feed mainly on saprosity have a habit of eating continuously throughout the day, which is to ensure that there is enough food in the intestine, because the food is stagnant in the intestine for a long time, so the fish evolves a longer intestine. For example, fish that specialize in plant-based decay have intestines that are five times longer than their own. The inorganic substances in the saprophyte are formed by constant erosion of the surface or rocks, decomposed into fine particles, and finally accumulated, which does not contain any decomposition as food, but it can help decompose food in the intestine and promote digestion. This phenomenon can be found in lizards, birds and birds, and mammals. The small thorns protruding from the bones of Blue Wave's throat can grind the food thinner before swallowing.
There are many species of cichlids, including blue waves, which become less appetizing when stressed, and may also experience faster digestion. This is because the digestive juices in the body are reduced from the normal pH of 1.5 to a lower level, and the concentration of digestive acid increases, which will promote the digestion of food in the intestine. If the fish are in a tense state, the concentration of digestive juices will increase, the digestion rate will be abnormal, and then affect the health of the fish, although wild cichlids will continue to eat all day in the natural environment, but when we raise them in the aquarium, we must not overfeed. After careful observation, we can surely find that the cichlids, who should have been full, are still very hungry, constantly looking for food in the aquarium, because most of the artificial feed cannot provide a complete camp meal after all. In the wild, the fish themselves find a variety of food, and the nutrients they absorb are of course more diverse. Therefore, wild fish have a longer period of hunger tolerance after each meal. When the fish are caught from the natural ecology, they are distributed to different owners. At this time, their food is instead supplied by the owner. But artificial wonton farming and the original foraging behavior of the squatters in Tan Lake are completely different. In an aquarium, because the number of fish is usually too large, the fish must scramble for food as soon as possible to support themselves, so as not to move too slowly and starve. So they eat the amount of the day they had previously foraged for in just a few minutes. The number of times to eat is only once a day, coupled with the lack of activity space in the aquarium, the result is that the owner unconsciously raises the fish too fat. As soon as the fish becomes fat, its physique is not conducive to reproduction. An improper feeding may only cause constipation in the fish, but if it accumulates over time, the consequences are not only to cause hypertrophy of the cod liver, but also to damage the ovarian function of other organs, especially the female. In addition, it is quite frightening that it will also destroy the balance of good and bad bacteria in the intestine. If the fish's bowel movements are white mud, they must be treated with the six-flagellar treatment used when raising colorful immortals.
The type of feed and the way of feeding must match the natural habits and physical needs of Blue Wave:
● The composition of the feed should be as similar as possible to the saprosity of Lake Tamziyka.
●When the situation requires, the number of fish in the aquarium must be reduced.
●Observe the principle of eating less and eating more
Saprophyll-based fin-mouth hatched fish like Blue Wave can only feed a small amount of cow hearts, or red worms can be used as animal food. At the same time, it should also be noted to take enough plant-based bait, such as spinach, peas or seaweed, which are the best choice for plant-based bait after being chopped or ground. Alternatively, you can opt for commercially available feed pellets that contain only plant-based ingredients. This feed can be placed in an automatic feeding machine. When the owner goes out, he doesn't have to worry about the fish in the aquarium. However, it must be noted that the general ordinary pellet feed, for this fish that is only accustomed to ingesting a small amount of food and has a particularly long intestine, is too nutritious and too high in calories, so it is not suitable.
Aquarium capacity as well as water flow filtration equipment
If you want to breed blue waves (its adult fish are about 20 cm long), the 160 cm fish tank will generally be too narrow. It is recommended to use an aquarium at least two meters long, and its width and height should also be increased proportionally. The reason for choosing the large fish tank is that because the male fish of the blue wave will pile up a castle similar to a crater in the sand layer to reproduce, such a breeding behavior requires a wide bottom sand layer. Large fish, coupled with large fish tanks, can accommodate more excrement. Because the excrement increases, it is easy to cause the nitrate content to be too high, so it is necessary to be equipped with a filter in the aquarium, which in addition to purifying the water quality, but also can maintain the chemical composition of the water at a level. As for the water flow intensity of the circulatory system, it should be adjusted to medium and weak, because Blue Wave does not like the environment of strong water flow.
Reproductive behavior
Owners who want to successfully breed blue wave offspring must first carefully study the breeding behavior of the lagoon in Lake Tanganyika. The males of the blue wave will first pile up a crater-shaped sandcastle, and then bow | the sandcastle to lure the mature female with eggs into it for mating. The diameter of this sandcastle is about fifty centimeters, and the shape of the inside of the sandcastle may be as narrow as a crater, or as flat and spacious as a dish, and this sandcastle, which is independently completed by male fish, can reach a diameter of up to one meter wide. In Lake Tanganyika, males build sandcastles only in the morning. If the bottom of the water is only a few meters deep, the completed sandcastle will soon be washed away by the current. In order to be able to suck the bow of the female every day to spawn, the male must constantly rebuild new sandcastles, or at least repair the previous one. At the same time, it is not possible to continue to forage. During this mating season, we can see these sand castles that look like craters from different angles.
Then, at last, mating officially began. Whenever the female approaches the sandcastle, she can find the owner of the sandcastle, the blue wave male, impatiently agitating the dorsal and tail fins of the sandcastle. Most males of the Blue Wave variant have a wide or narrow yellow edge around their tail fins. Its function is similar to that of the large-scale macular ventral fin of Ophthalmotilapia. When the female looks at the perimeter of the sandcastle, the male proudly displays its tail fin, attracting the female to lay eggs inside.
Immediately after the eggs are fertilized, the female takes the fertilized eggs into her mouth and begins to hatch independently, while after three to four weeks, the fertilized eggs hatch into juveniles. The length of incubation time depends on the water temperature; at 27 °C, it takes about three weeks. Although the newly hatched juveniles are still very small, the juveniles will grow very quickly if they are fed a nutrient-rich feed, such as Artemia Nauplian shrimp, Cyclops and artificial feed with finer particles.
When rearing juveniles, it is recommended to move the fry to a separate aquarium. The width of the aquarium is about 120 to 150 cm. Special attention must also be paid to the nitrate content in the aquarium. Acidification of water due to excessively high levels should be avoided. In the local natural environment of Lake Tanganyika, the pH of water is between 8.8 and 9.0. In captivity, the minimum pH of the fish tank cannot be less than 8.0.
Reference is "Aquazoonews (2003.11)"