Keeping and Breeding Taeniacara candidi
by Rick Kraft
From the July 1999 issue of "The Daphnian", Boston Aquarium Society
Aquarticles.com
For months I had been trying to locate the Taeniacara candidi. It is a Dwarf
Cichlid, a close relative of the Apistogramma family. As a matter of fact, at one
time it was known as Apistogramma weisei. According to Hans-Joachim Richter in
The Complete Book of Dwarf Cichlids (1989) it is found in the Upper Rio Negro region of
Brazil. Well, after locating them two times on the internet and having the deals fall
through, I was becoming quite frustrated.
Then much to my surprise I met someone in my local killie club that kept and
successfully bred the fish. Can you believe it, a killie keeper branching out and keeping
other species of fish? I arranged to purchase a pair for the quite reasonable price of
$25.00. Not bad when you consider the reputed difficulty in breeding them.
I had it all set up, I was to pick up the fish on Monday. Much to my dismay Virginia
had the one snowstorm they get a year on Sunday- and it dumped 15 inches on much of the
state. I thought I was going to have to wait another week but it turned out that Monday
was a bright sunny day. I spoke to my contact and he told me the weather was great, the
snow was melting off the roads, and if I wanted I could come by and pick them up. Well,
seven years in New England had taught me how to drive in snow, so melting snow wasn't
going to stop me. With all the businesses closed for the day the driving was easy. A few
hours later I had a nice pair of Taeniacara candidi.
The fish were small, the male approximately 5 cm. and the female approximately 3 cm.,
but they were both healthy. Their fins were in incredible condition, which says a lot for
the original owner of the fish because he kept them in with others of the same species.
Males have a tendency to fight and torn fins can be common from what I have seen.
According to my research the males will top out at 7 cm., so I knew the fish were still
growing. It is easy to tell the males from the females. The males have a "spade"
tail and much longer pectoral fins. There are three different color variations from what I
can tell; Red, Blue and the more natural color. The fish I purchased were of the natural
coloring but that does not mean that they are drab. The male I owned had an orangeish tint
to its fins but otherwise was light brown with a visibly dark lateral line. It had light
blue spots on its tail. The female looked like many Apisto females, but also had the light
blue spots on the tail.
Knowing I was going to eventually get this species I had set up my tank early and had
it running for approximately three months without any fish in it. It was a 20 gallon long,
filtered by two sponge filters. The water had been taken from my 55 gallon tank, in which
all the water is filtered through peat moss. I placed a nice sized piece of driftwood on
one side, pre-soaked oak leaves (so they would sink) on the other side. I also placed
water sprite and duckweed in the tank to darken the tank. I don't use a substrate in my
cichlid tanks so there is often a glare. The oak leaves not only cut the glare but soften
the water and provide hiding places for the fish. I had better mention the water source: I
use 100% RO water in my 55 gallon. The hardness does not measure on my testing strip and
my pH is under 5. I failed to mention above that these fish come from blackwater and while
my fish were tank raised, they appeared to appreciate the conditions. I did not have any
other fish in the tank.
The fish were fed exclusively on newly hatched brine shrimp. However, since I first
obtained them I have mixed in a feeding or two of white worms weekly. They have refused to
accept flake food, I guess they are spoiled.
Within ten days I thought I had done something drastically wrong. I could not find the
female anywhere. However, after throwing a fit and almost taking the tank apart, I found
the female. She was under one of the oak leaves guarding twenty three eggs. She looked
much like an apisto female, bright yellow with a horizontal black stripe. Unlike the
literature I read, it took six days for the eggs to hatch and another six for the fry to
be free-swimming. I counted seventeen fry the first day they were free-swimming, so
somehow a few did not make it. The fry immediately took newly hatched brine shrimp and ate
the "gunk" on the bottom of the tank.
One month after hatching I only had seven fry left. This is not due to the parents. The
female alone looks after the fry but she was quite good at it, especially since this was
her first spawn. Around this time I noticed the male was not doing well, he just was not
eating. Within days he was dead.
For me, the fry are growing slowly. I am down to four but they are in great health.
They are approximately 1 1/2 cm. but not sexable yet.
A few things I have found along the way that might help in keeping this fish.
- The female was the more aggressive sex. Even when not guarding a spawn she bullied the
male. This is not consistent with this fish though, as others I have spoken to find the
males much more aggressive.
- The fish prefer the side of the tank with the oak leaves.
- My fish did not like water changes. They would hang out at the bottom for a day after a
waterchange. So now I just siphon up the dirt at the bottom of the tank and slowly add the
water, which is 100% RO water.
- Artificial raising of the fry may be the way to go. I have had three subsequent spawns
with the fry disappearing within 1 month of hatching.
I hope this will assist anyone trying to spawn this fish. I have found it to be a
beautiful animal that is quite a challenge.
Sources
Complete Book of Dwarf Cichlids, Hans-Joachim Richter (1989), Pgs 173-175.
Baensch Aquarium Atlas, Volume 3, Dr. Rudiger Riehl, Hans A. Baensch, (1996), Pg. 874.
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