Opthalmotilapia ventralis
by Eric Rogne
From "Splash" Milwaukee Aquarium Society
Aquarticles
Opthalmotilapia ventralis is known as one of the feather-fin cichlids of Lake
Tanganyika. The vigorous personality and vibrant color in territorial males is what
intrigued me about this species.
This species has a large distribution over Lake Tanganyika with many color variations
over different locations. Males display bright variations of metallic black and blue with
gold, light blue, white, black etc. highlights. Some yellow forms are even known in the
northern part of the lake. This species has a fairly streamlined body. Males have
extremely elongated pelvic fins with yellow lappets at the tips. These yellow lappets are
the most realistic egg dummies known. Males also have slightly elongated dorsal, anal and
caudal fins. Males obtain a size of around 15cm. with females slightly smaller. Females
display a silver-gray coloration.
In the wild males defend territories on rocks meters above the lake’s floor
chasing away conspecific males and attracting females. Females school in groups of 500 or
more. A male will display and lead a female from the group to his territory. Males usually
don’t make an elaborate nest in the wild. They usually move a little sand around that
is located on a flat rock. When courting the male will lead the female in a head to tail
dance while he flutters his fins. At times he will lift his body from the nest, while his
pelvic fins remain in contact with the nest. Being mouth brooding, the yellow lappets
attract the female to place them in her mouth. The lappets, being so identical to real
eggs in color and size, ensure proper fertilization of the brood of eggs. A single female
will spawn with various males in a single brood, generally holding 20 to 30 eggs.
In captivity it is not as hard to spawn Opthalmotilapia ventralis as it is to
get the females to hold for even a few days. The males are extremely aggressive towards
both males and females of conspecific. I suggest housing this species in a six foot 100
gallon or larger aquarium. I recommend the use of sand as substrate. I also use piles of
rocks on both ends of the aquarium with the middle open. I used limestone sheet and slate
rock. Tall plastic plants can give holding females a place to retreat from a dominant
male. Purchase a group of Opthalmotilapia ventralis to minimize direct
aggression. I also would mix a large amount of dither fish. Various Lamprologous
species work well, but I found Malawian Haps of the same size to be more effective. I had
the problem of losing Opthalmotilapia ventralis from a group and couldn’t
get the female to hold longer than a day for a few years. One day I placed many mid-size
to larger Alonocara, Protomelas and Copadichromis males into the Opthalmotilapia
ventralis 125. These were fish that I was clearing out of the fish room and wanted to
open up more table space. I over- stocked the tank. A few days later I noticed another
female holding. I didn’t want to deal with stripping her that day, so I let her be. I
found that with a tank full of large haps the dominant male Opthalmotilapia ventralis
was too preoccupied to harass the female to hold six days before stripping her and moving
the fry to a tumbler to develop.
The young developed well and were rather large in size. They also tend to be dominant
when housed with other African cichlid fry. Growth also seems fast, being similar to that
of Malawian Mbuna.
Opthalmotilapia ventralis is an exciting species of fish to watch with their
flashy color and vigorous personality. Although they don’t always maintain bright
colors, if you add multiple males with higher ratios of females, at least one male will
maintain full color. Subdominant males will flash colors on and off when challenging other
males. Although a large aquarium and lots of other fish are needed, Opthalmotilapia
ventralis is certainly worth the space occupied.
|